Future Nurses are Brighter Than Ever

[M1ST3R3DW1N0_RN]

How do you guys feel that student nurses (in CA) now have to have a 3.5 to 4.0 GPA to even be considered into school? Also TEAS standardized testing has to be at least 90 or above in order to be considered competitive. The GPAs are calculated by Microbiology, two levels Anatomy, Physiology, and overall science GPA. Even if students get past that threshold, they have to write essays, go to panel interviews, and are run through the ringer just to get into school which sorts through hundreds, if not thousands (SDSU) of applicants every cohort.

I'm curious to know if you think you could pass the standards that are employed today for today's nursing students. These students could probably be competitive candidates for medical school, where as in the 70's, 80's, and 90's you probably just had to sign the dotted line to get in. Do you think that if you had to do it again right now that you could get into a program and become a nurse?

I think anybody can become good at something if they do it long enough, especially nursing. But with the level of students that are applying today, the future of nursing looks very bright. I anticipate these new grads will stand on the shoulders of their predecessors and drive the profession into something great.

[murseman24, MSN, CRNA]

On 4/21/2020 at 10:38 PM, Wuzzie said:

Oh please. Three decades ago it was just as hard. We had to go through the same thing except instead of the TEAS we had the SAT AND the ACT (on which you had to score a 30 or better). Interviews with battle axe instructors who had no wish to be our friends, 3 letters of recommendation and if we got into a school we failed at a C. Followed that with a 2 day long exam on scantron sheets with, as I recall, 2000 questions. So to answer your question, yes, I would have passed the standards and while I don’t disagree that nursing students today are bright they aren’t any brighter than any of us were. You don’t know what you’re talking about and Lord I hope you’re wearing your asbestos undies.

What a stinker of a thread.

Whew! Saaaaallllty! LOL

[Wuzzie]

2 minutes ago, murseman24 said:

Whew! Saaaaallllty! LOL

And totally deserved. ?

[chrisjk]

All I can say is that the diploma program I went through(late 70s) was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life; that being said, everyone that made it to the end passed boards and the "real world" was a breeze. Went back for a BSN and it was ridiculously easy; I didn't go to graduation. It's impossible, with present patient acuity/staffing/computer "stuff"(even before china 19) to do nursing the way that I was "trained" back in the day; it's so very very sad. I see nurses great at clinical issues, etc but....it doesn't bother them that no one fed their patient, the patient has dried vomit on their gown, etc. Nursing isn't nursing anymore(imho)

[Tegridy]

LOL who doesn’t make an A in 100 level anatomy and physiology and micro.

every generation is going to think they had it the hardest, it’s the dumbest argument out there and doesn’t add any merit to anything.

[buckchaser10]

5 minutes ago, Tegridy said:

LOL who doesn’t make an A in 100 level anatomy and physiology and micro.

every generation is going to think they had it the hardest, it’s the dumbest argument out there and doesn’t add any merit to anything.

Couple things, first love the name! Second agreed, every generation thinks they had it harder while thinking generations younger than them are dumb. Third it is common knowledge that as new generations are made they learn more than previous generations. This is due to advancements in knowledge. I don't think anyone now would believe that Florence Nightingale knew more medically than even our baby nurses coming out of school. Florence more than likely was 10x the nurse any of us could dream to be. This new knowledge is great but it kind of takes the nursing out of nursing ya know?

[Wuzzie]

2 minutes ago, buckchaser10 said:

Second agreed, every generation thinks they had it harder while thinking generations younger than them are dumb.

I never said we had it harder but we certainly didn't have it as easy as the OP made it sound. Also, did not notice anyone here saying the younger generations are dumb and know for sure I didn't. I would disagree that there is much more medical content in nursing now than when I went to school. There may be new approaches or new discoveries but it is still basic information pertinent to basic nursing. Now, what you learn once you are actually working as a nurse is an entirely different animal but then everyone is learning the same things whether new or seasoned. In the end I would agree that nursing has changed but not so much the education to get started in it.

[Tegridy]

21 minutes ago, Wuzzie said:

I never said we had it harder but we certainly didn't have it as easy as the OP made it sound. Also, did not notice anyone here saying the younger generations are dumb and know for sure I didn't. I would disagree that there is much more medical content in nursing now than when I went to school. There may be new approaches or new discoveries but it is still basic information pertinent to basic nursing. Now, what you learn once you are actually working as a nurse is an entirely different animal but then everyone is learning the same things whether new or seasoned. In the end I would agree that nursing has changed but not so much the education to get started in it.

The medial literature has increased exponentially but the nursing hasn’t? Not saying you have to learn it all in school and yes the basics come first but every topic in the world is expanding.

32 minutes ago, buckchaser10 said:

Couple things, first love the name! Second agreed, every generation thinks they had it harder while thinking generations younger than them are dumb. Third it is common knowledge that as new generations are made they learn more than previous generations. This is due to advancements in knowledge. I don't think anyone now would believe that Florence Nightingale knew more medically than even our baby nurses coming out of school. Florence more than likely was 10x the nurse any of us could dream to be. This new knowledge is great but it kind of takes the nursing out of nursing ya know?

Yes the current generation gets to stand on the shoulders of the prior and generational arguments are silly. And I’m a millennial so I’m not backing the boomers or anything out of personal benefit.

[Wuzzie]

32 minutes ago, Tegridy said:

The medial literature has increased exponentially but the nursing hasn’t? Not saying you have to learn it all in school and yes the basics come first but every topic in the world is expanding.

As I recall I specifically said that nursing has, indeed, changed but the vast majority of what we learn is after we become nurses, most certainly anything that can be considered advanced. The basics have not changed enough to make them any more difficult now then when I was in nursing school.

[Tegridy]

4 minutes ago, Wuzzie said:

As I recall I specifically said that nursing has, indeed, changed but the vast majority of what we learn is after we become nurses, most certainly anything that can be considered advanced. The basics have not changed enough to make them any more difficult now then when I was in nursing school.

Ah OK. I understand. Even medically though the amount of basic knowledge to work at a most basic level has increased. Which is why we have longer fellowships and such. I am also assuming that’s why they want nurses to have BSN now instead of just ASN. I know this is splitting hairs, but even then I still think every profession out there has to learn more per degree now than they did in the past. In contrast learning resources are better now so I would not say it’s necessarily harder.

I know back 8 years ago in my BSN section we learned some more in-depth stuff than the ASN but it’s honestly all mixed together and hard to remember where I learned what.

[Wuzzie]

33 minutes ago, Tegridy said:

Which is why we have longer fellowships and such.

No, we have longer fellowships because current nursing students do not have the clinical experience necessary for them to function even at the basic level once they've graduated. It's a crying shame.

[LibraNurse27, BSN, RN]

I did a case management rotation with a nurse in her 70s. She did a diploma program at a hospital and said by her second year the nursing students were running the ER and Med/Surg floors on night shift, with support from nursing supervisor only if they called. She said "sink or swim honey, you learn by doing!" Sounded scary to me, but she was an excellent nurse! Also she found out which hospital meetings were going to have free food and signed us up for all of them... ? she had so many contacts at nursing homes, supply companies, etc that she just said her name and got what the pts needed. 8 hrs work done in 3 hrs, then 5 hrs to go around getting free food!

[Tegridy]

20 minutes ago, Wuzzie said:

No, we have longer fellowships because current nursing students do not have the clinical experience necessary for them to function even at the basic level once they've graduated. It's a crying shame.

They also have more diverse settings for both nurses and physicians now. Can’t really expect a nurse or doctor to know what to do on a specific floor they have never worked on. You only can get so much experience in any program.