Okay I was doing orientation at a major hospital today...while there I had time to talk to new grads and students at the program I am going to enroll in.
I am hoping to get into the accelerated program. The standards are higher to be accepted in this program and although I exceed them, I still worry about getting accepted.
So I (know maybe rude) asked a few people what their GPA was in school. EVERY single person told me 4.0!!
This cracked me up especially the itty bitty girl who took a Nurse Tech position in the NICU.
I had orientation with her the day before and I couldn't help but laugh at her ignorant questions and statements. It was so bad I shared with my fiance when he got home.
When discussing warning signs for bleeding she stated decreased HR increased BP.....
This is just one the ridiculous things she said... and if not saying something ridiculous she said "I don't know"
Once again, she claims to have a 4.0...
And she has completed the first semester of Nursing School.
What makes this worse is if my child goes to NICU after birth, I will insist she doesn't lay a hand on him!!
I am also concerned how or why would any hospital hire an nursing student who couldn't tell a foley from an IV!!
I mean didn't the ignorance I have seen displayed over the last 2 days come out during her interview??
It mattered to me because I am transfering from another state and was trying to get statistical information on those whom I will be competing with for a limited spot in a nursing program.
If everyone of those nurses truly has a 4.0 then, yes I have reason to be worried I am slightly beneath that.
I am and was so harsh about this things because this was an orientation for CNA's and Receptionist. It was also pretty common knowledge stuff. Like a picture of a patient was presented drinking some sort of tomato based drink (could be alcohol/or not) but a sign above their head on a BIG RED piece of paper said NPO. She was asked what was wrong here... I don't know his head is to high?
I know she is a student nurse but she was supposed to be the most KNOWLEDGEABLE and EDUCATED person in the orientation. NPO is taught in MED Term before even entering the nursing program.
I am insecure and do worry I won't be accepted into the program. I have not hidden this fact and have made it very clear.
I don't expect her to know everything... but I do expect her to know vitals for the patients she is caring for. I do expect her to notice excessive vomiting, decreased urine output, dehydration, jaundice, and any other problems.
She is the first line working with this children. She got a difficult slot to get, NICU is high demand and very competitive to get into.
In fact she stated "I only applied for NICU, and they only accept 3 Tech's a semester"
If you were the top pick I expect to see the best from you!!
I don't consider not being able to know things that CNA's and Receptionist know to be the best or even acceptable.
I worry if the RN rarely gets into a patients room, and you don't know basic things that signal a decline in the patient status what's going to happen to that patient?
I am behind her education wise, I haven't been shown sterile procedure for foley's but she has.
I didn't expect her to know anything I hadn't already learned in obtaining my prerequisites.
SO yes, I am concerned to see this and if she really does have a 4.0 and would be accepted into the nursing program and I am not. I am concerned and would feel very upset that someone who's GPA was above mine by less than .31 percentage got accepted and I didn't. From what I gather if honestly all those nurses had 4.0's and there is only 30 slots, I may not even stand a chance.
SO yes it does worry me...
Cause maybe if I wasn't taking 18-20 hours a semester while pregnant and working full time then I to would of had a 4.0!!
This is a city with 400,000 people and only 30 RN/BSN slots available a semester, thats scary!!
Ok, this is going to come off as harsh, but really what you "expect" from this girl really doesn't matter. She will have to answer to her supervisors and her teachers if she is incompetent. You don't get a say in her training. You are not even a nursing student yet so you really have no idea until you are.
You work full-time and you are pregnant..these things are choices. Do you expect a pat on the back? Many of us have worked full-time and gone to school. Or went to school and had kids.
You are going to find out quickly that no matter how smart you think you are..you will make mistakes, you will do stupid things and ask stupid questions. That first year out of school has a way of humbling you mighty quickly.
Come back here in a few years and reread your posts on this topic. I would put money on the fact that you are going to shake your head and marvel that you were ever so arrogant. That is if you make it through school in the first place. Nursing instructors have a talent for sniffing out the overly confident ones so they can knock them down.
Specializes in PCU, Stepdown ICU, Home Health Case Management, ED.
i was always told the students who thought they knew everything, were the ones that rns disliked teaching the most, and usually were the most dangerous because they thought they knew everything and didn't need to ask for help. i always brought humble pie with me to school and definately to clinicals. if you like, i'll cut you a slice.
I worked full time through NS and carried a 4.0, passed the NCLEX with 75 questions, and am a damn smart nurse, but I don't know infant vitals. Put me in a NICU, and you'd be hearing a lot of "I don't know".
A tech in the NICU does not provide ANY care to sick babies! This is purely an RN function. You say such a cruel statement about a person without knowing how the NICU even operates.
Techs are utilized for babies that are quite stable for vital signs and feedings nearly ready to go home. And many other tasks that are not patient related. The itty bity girl will be provided an orientation to what she is doing as well. She will be delegated with tasks that she is capable of safely performing. With the experience she will gain, she will learn the vital sign parameters especially when she has to learn to count such a fast heart rate! It takes practice.
Please do not judge others so harshly, you will be judged the same way......
Good luck to you and I hope the NICU is not a place you will experience with your new baby....
I gotta say...I work in pediatrics where I take care of sick infants all the time and I don't think I could ramble off infant or peds vitals off the top of my head! Every kid is different. Some kid is going to have a low HR due to physiological issues or meds. Some my be fast. Some kids can sat in the 70's and that is fantastic. And while I don't have the exact ranges memorized, I am pretty good at looking at the monitor and saying, "Well that isn't quite right." or, "Hey, thats pretty good." And yes, I also carry a "cheat sheet" of normal peds vitals ranges on my badge.
I don't know how all NICUs operate but in the one at my hospital, the nurses sit in pods directly facing their patients. They can see monitors and all the monitors are linked so if there is an alarm, everyone can see it. In your pod is all the supplies you need so you don't ever have to leave. Therefore, there is always a nurse around and they are constantly in the rooms. Those babies are never left unattended. And to repeat, CNAs, techs, Care Partners, whatever you call them DO NOT ASSESS!!! EVER!!! Even if they are nursing students. It is out of their scope of practice. If something is abnormal, they report to the primary RN and then DOCUMENT that they relayed the information.
Good luck in school. None of the schools I went to based admission soley on GPA though.
Really, why do you even care what her g.p.a is. I don't like tudes that come across as someone thinking they are superior. Why not be nice and show her the ropes, my word.
Before nursing school, I was a 4.0 student and wouldn't have known how to answer that either. I'd never heard of a colostomy on top of the many 'weird' things they do in the medical field! It's possible to be very book smart and not have a lot of common sense..I'm guilty of this sometimes!
Also, techs don't have to have critical thinking knowledge..they can't assess and their jobs are more task oriented.
I think the OP was just nervous and trying to get an insight for the requirements of the program. I would hope she didn't mean any offense by it? But working full time and being pregnant, with the whole hormone thing, must be difficult. I say cut her some slack....... :trc:
If everyone actually has a 4.0, the standards are too low. I would expect graduates of this program to do poorly... or at least less well... on NCLEX. I personally would steer clear of a program where the majority of students have a 4.0.
The program I went to, about 15-20% FAIL out first semester. The school has over about a 97% NCLEX pass rate for the first try.
I think we have all looked at someone and wondered how they ended up where they are because from where we sit it's pretty hard to imagine. I also think it's natural to compare ourselves to others when we are in an environment like school where we are constantly being scored and compared by instructors.
However, I agree with most of the posters that rather than focusing on this girl and what you believe is lacking, perhaps you should focus on yourself. You might try asking her what all she did to prepare for the program aside from working on her GPA. Perhaps she does an amazing interview, has outstanding references, is incredible lucky or maybe she just knows the right people! It could be any number of things. You don't know what is that makes the hospital and school think she's worth giving an opportunity but they obviously see something there that you aren't aware of and I do think you could benefit from trying to figure that out rather than worrying about your GPA not measuring up to hers.
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GadgetRN71, ASN, RN
1,841 Posts
Ok, this is going to come off as harsh, but really what you "expect" from this girl really doesn't matter.
She will have to answer to her supervisors and her teachers if she is incompetent. You don't get a say in her training. You are not even a nursing student yet so you really have no idea until you are.
You work full-time and you are pregnant..these things are choices. Do you expect a pat on the back? Many of us have worked full-time and gone to school. Or went to school and had kids.
You are going to find out quickly that no matter how smart you think you are..you will make mistakes, you will do stupid things and ask stupid questions. That first year out of school has a way of humbling you mighty quickly.
Come back here in a few years and reread your posts on this topic. I would put money on the fact that you are going to shake your head and marvel that you were ever so arrogant. That is if you make it through school in the first place. Nursing instructors have a talent for sniffing out the overly confident ones so they can knock them down.