"I don't want to do bed side nursing"...SAY WHAT!

Nurses General Nursing

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had a couple different nursing students say: "well, i'm going to school so i don't have to do bed side nursing". one even told me she want to work in plastic surg. office, not at the bed side. o.k. , i'm an "old nurse...47 yrs old", but when i went to nursing school in the 80's , we knew we knew we would most likley have to work our way into other areas of nursing after some experience in an acute care facility or some other such place. i hate to sound like i want to eat my young but, a part of me wants to see these new nurses go through the ranks like many of us did. not because i want to see them go through he double thooth picks, but because i feel , taking care of pateints, hands on , learning orginizational skills, pt. asses. , are the best way to learn nursing skills. as a critical care nurse of 27 years, i continue to be amazed at how much i can find out about a pt. during a bath and bed change. we have beds that turn, vents that suction, monitors that alert a critical care team half way across the city, bells, beeps and whistles,,,,what ever happened to good old hands on. i think it is funny that a nursing student thinks if she goes to a plastic surg. office she will only see tummy tucks, face lifts and boob jobs. she's forgetting the big ugly draining wounds , burns, and amputations etc..these office settings see. would love to be a fly on the wall when she takes care of her first pt. with these things and says......"oh my gosh, a plastic surg. takes care of these people too...!" guess i'll go into dermatology.... ha , if you've been around the block you know what awaits her there too. hee heee....but i swear i don't like to eat my young !:lol2: :rotfl: :clown: :lol2: :lol2: :uhoh3:

Specializes in Developmental Disabilities, LTC.

LauraLassie, you'll love this:

I met a gal last year that had just graduated with her BSN in nursing and was about to start looking for her first job. I told her that I was currently in the nursing program and working as a CNA. She told me she'd never even worked in healthcare before, and I think I must have commented on how that surprised me and she said, "Oh, don't worry hun - before they even let us start clinicals, we had to spend a whole day making up beds - so I know what you're talking about!":rolleyes:

Specializes in psych, geriatric, foot care.

had to spend a whole day making up beds - so i know what you're talking about!":rolleyes:

lol...wish i could train her in cna work.

Lol Jessica! I did it for four years, and I can say for 100% sure that it helped me tremendously! I am sooooo glad I did it! It made me so much more confident in clinicals and when I first started as an RN because I was used to the setting. I don't think nursing school alone paints a realistic picture of a hospital setting because you're just not there enough to absorb everything that goes on.

As for not wanting to work with patients, there are some jobs where you can work as an RN without ever seeing a pt (e.g., drug rep, like someone said earlier), but experience is a very valuable teacher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.

Sounds like a girl I went to uni with who said she wanted a "short skirt and briefcase job". She did a double degree (Nursing/Health Promotion) and ended up working in OSHA at a corporate job.

My school requires that you be certified as a nursing assistant before you're even allowed to apply for the RN program...I am SO GREATFUL for that! It works out wonderfully, too, because while they don't require you to actually work in the field, most people end up doing it because they have that 2 year wait list to sit on. At least that's why I ended up being a CNA. And, like I said, I'm so greatful for that...as much as I detest the people I go to school with (yeah, that's a whole separate issue), not one of them can say they've never changed someone's pants, or helped feed someone, etc. Not only that, but the nurses (& the CNAs, which you rely on SO MUCH as a student nurse) at clinical have so much more confidence in you once they've found out you've already gotten your hands dirty. And it gives me more confidence as a jittery, timid student nurse at clinical when I find out that the big, bad, intimidating nurse I have to work with has only been in healthcare half the time I've been.

The fact that I've worked as a CNA will enable me to have better working relationships (I hope) with CNAs in the future (I hope they'll respect me a little more) as I become a nurse and appreciate their hard work.

I wish more schools would require a CNA license as a prerequisite for admission to their nursing program. Besides saving much time and money for students who would decide early on that nursing wasn't for them, the school could fill its scarce places with students who have already been exposed to real world nursing and will have much more confidence when they go through their clinical experiences.

In any profession, there are snobby people and people who do not play well with others. To say that everyone should follow the same path is being short-sighted. "Nursing", as a profession, is much broader now than 20 or more years ago. It's really more of a generic term than a specific job description.

Not everyone wants to wipe bottoms just like not everyone enjoys paperwork or 12 hour shifts or starting IV's or whatever. There are so many choices in nursing today, and that is a wonderful thing. But don't assume that everyone should follow the same path, or that everyone should suffer and "pay their dues" just because that's how it "used to be".

Aides and nurses and doctors and administrators all have different levels of education and experience. Ideally they are all members of the same team, with the patient at the head of the team. Realistically, there will always be people who look down on others or who build themselves up by treatng others badly. Let them spin their wheels! They are creating their own karma! Be responsible for yourself and your attitude toward others. Help to create peace in the environment, and become part of the solution.

Just a thought :monkeydance: :monkeydance:

I agree that nursing has changed a lot in the last 20 years. It is a completely different generation going into it. There are a lot of things working in there favor to start in the area they want to be in. A nursing shortage, for one. That allowed me to start right in an ER with no experince, and while I admit it might have been an easier path to work on the floor, I would have hated it. Nursing is also traditionally a part time second income job, and as baby boomer nurses are aging I think more are cutting back, or maybe reluctant to change jobs. I hear lots of nurses tell me they would do nothing but bedside nursing, and they have done it for 20-30 years. This means that the management jobs, the drug rep jobs, and many other 9-5 non pt care areas are sitting open (at least at my facility). Thus, less experienced nurses have better chances at getting them. I myself, after working a short time in the ER have moved into administration. I am the youngest one, with the least experience. But, they had an opening that no one else applied to. I can understand how it is awkward for a less experienced nurse to be in a supervisory or directory type role working with nurses who have 30 years experience. A lot of my coworkers could very easily be my mothers. But, I remind myself that the job I took was sitting open and no one else applied.

Specializes in Rural Health.

I worked with a lovely new nurse a couple of weeks ago that announced to me (I'm a tech - graduate in 2 weeks from NS) that she did not go to school to wipe butts, help people to the potty or change "nasty" dressings and that if my call lights went off and any of those things were needed - she wouldn't help the patient so I better get my crap together and get those call lights answered promptly. There were so many things wrong with that entire converstation, to numerous to even start discussing.

What disturbed me the most is I met a fellow classmate of hers later that day (mom was in the hospital) who shared her similar thoughts and beliefs about nursing and both told me they were taught in school that nursing is about meds and charting.....that the facility employs other people to deal with the poo, pee and nasty dressing changes. Both felt it was above them to do any sort of patient care outside of passing meds. Both of them stated they picked their particular fields of nursing (cardiac, peds) because those are the less "nasty" jobs with little to no patient care (other than to pass meds). Now, I will tell you the one on peds has already lost her job after 2.5 months (could it be the attitude?????).

Now I realize that bedside nursing is not for everyone and the beauty of nursing is that there is so much out there to choose from and explore....but if it's not your cup of tea - get out.

Oh and this lovely new nurse wants to work ICU now......she thinks it will be like TV (she actually said this) where the doctors will do all the dressing changes and replaces all the tubes, lines, etc.....She'll just have to sit and look pretty while she charts and passes meds. :banghead:

I'm laughing becuase I can't help but wonder if plastic surgeons even hire RNs or they use medical assistants like most other offices?? ;)

If she's looking to work in a surgi center with a plastic surgeon I would "hope" that he would like a little bit of critical care of OR experience at least. :idea:

I'm all for doing what you love. If that's working in a doctor's office that's fine. The only problem I see is that most of your skills are really learned out in the real world so I think they would be severely limiting themselves by stepping right into an office. But to each their own. ;)

Oh and this lovely new nurse wants to work ICU now......she thinks it will be like TV (she actually said this) where the doctors will do all the dressing changes and replaces all the tubes, lines, etc.....She'll just have to sit and look pretty while she charts and passes meds.

Wow. Just.....wow.

Wonder where these nurses had clinicals in school? Because it sure doesn't sound like anything any of my classmates could have even imagined, after the first few weeks of Fundamentals! We learned DARNED fast what was expected of us: and nasty dressing changes were what we worked UP to, after proving ourself worthy of cleaning pee and poop, LOL....

This thread reminds me of a former classmate of mine, one with whom I shared a few pre-req classes. She was having a very difficult time passing any of them, had re-taken two or three already and still not allowed INTO the Fundamental core classes, and I offered the suggestion that perhaps the local LPN program, which didn't require the same college courses, might be a better fit. She told me that she had to be an RN, not LPN, because she couldn't do the physical work required of an LPN...she needed to be an RN because she had a bad back and shoulder, and couldn't actually MOVE anyone. She would use other people for that kind of work; she'd just do the meds and "check them over".

I didn't yet have enough of a clue myself (was still in pre-reqs) to let her in on the little secret that in the future we'd haul in administration as necessary to move patients around, no one gets away with NOT! :lol2: Believe me, I learned myself all too quick the following semester ;)

Specializes in jack of all trades.

Funny thing is when people think of plastic surgeons they think of only the face lifts, tummy tucks, and nose jobs. They dont consider the Burn patient needing numerous skin grafts, or the gunshot wound to the face needing complete reconstruction, or the kid with the cleft palate/lip needing significant repair calling for multiple surgerys. Plastic surgery is not just the "making you pretty" aspect and I have found with a lot those new nurses seeking out plastic surgery offices without the med-surg or other experience are looking for surgery themselves (expect flaming lol). I cant tell you how many have told me this very statement when rotating a day through our burn icu. I've even heard students tell me they were in it "to marry a doctor" of all things LOL. I worked Burn ICU for years and most the docs were plastic surgeons and thier nurses were ARNP (at least in my area) or PA's.

Specializes in pediatric critical care.

what disturbed me the most is i met a fellow classmate of hers later that day (mom was in the hospital) who shared her similar thoughts and beliefs about nursing and both told me they were taught in school that nursing is about meds and charting.....that the facility employs other people to deal with the poo, pee and nasty dressing changes. both felt it was above them to do any sort of patient care outside of passing meds. both of them stated they picked their particular fields of nursing (cardiac, peds) because those are the less "nasty" jobs with little to no patient care (other than to pass meds).

peds less nasty!?!?!?!?!?!: little to no pt care!?!?!?!?!?!:roll :roll :roll i am a peds nurse and let me tell you there nothing nastier than a peds floor maxed out with babies and toddlers with rsv and rotovirus! and if there's nothing to do but pass meds, than maybe i should find someone else do all the stuff i usually do...change diapers, feed babies, you know not all parents come to the hospital to be with their child. and even some of those that do will ask you to do everything for them that they normally do at home.

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