Can failing to make a bed correctly make you fail?

OBNURSEHEATHER · Jan 17, 2002

Hey Moni! I don't usually post alot in student threads, but I totally understand where you're coming from!

My first semester, I had alot of classmates that had worked in healthcare in one manner or another. They had the practical experience (and the confidence in it) that I lacked. My best advice to you is to wait it out. It does get better. You'll find that all the time those people were getting experience working, they got out of their study habits. They'll be mad at you soon enough for being able to ace an actual test (with real questions). It all works out in the end, everyone's strengths are different. The confidence WILL come.

As for the bedmaking thing, it's beginning to sound typical of all nursing programs. That first semester is SO skill-oriented. I remember a 2 page, 52 step list of how to straight cath. If you mixed up the steps, even if it didn't comprimise the sterile environment or the procedure in any way, it was marked off. They scheduled us in 30 minute blocks to do the check-offs, and it would take us the entire time. PLEASE! 30 minutes to st. cath... the pt would have exploded long ago!!!!

I finally had an clinical instructor pull me aside when she sensed my frustration with this process. She told me that monkeys could be taught the skills, but they couldn't be taught the important aspects of nursing. Kinda put things into perspective for me.

I wish you well. The confidence will come, and the stupid bed making check-offs will pass.

I happen to make a crappy bed, and I passed boards!

Heather

moni rn · Jan 17, 2002

thank you so much, heather! you made me feel so much better. :)

{{{{{heather}}}}}

Furball · Jan 17, 2002

Nursing school is nuts. You spend all that energy making a bed?? Not your fault. I graduated without EVER placing a foley and only 1 IM inject. What the hell did I do for 2 years in clinicals? What a waste of time.

strangelilnurse · Jan 17, 2002

originally posted by rn2b_moni
(i hope this doesn't sound too bad!) in my other degrees, i was one of the smartest people in the class. in this degree, i feel so stupid! everyone already works in a hospital and/or doctor's office and have tons of experience. i feel like i am 2-year old at an adult cocktail party.

moni,

i totally feel the same way you do. i've always been one of the best students all through school...even my other two attempts at college degrees. i feel like i am the only one who doesn't have a medical background in my nursing 1 class...and it's very discouraging some days. i'm not as familiar with the terminology as most others and i feel like the developmentally delayed student...and i'm not. i know i'm just as intelligent as anyone else in that class...i just need to catch up i guess. anyhow...just wanted to say hi and that i understand where you are coming from.

good luck!

marieoct62 · Jan 17, 2002

Please Please don't stress yourself out on the little stuff!!

I am in a BSN program and In my sophmore year there was a lot of task oriented stuff like making a bed.

If there are others in your class that have had hospital experience please ask one of them to practice with you a couple of times. I did work over the summer as a student nurse while my other classmates took the summer off and when we started clinicals some of them were frustrated by bed making but I got on the other side of the bed with them and before you know it, it is pretty easy.

Just don't fret the small stuff, alot of the task things you will learn as you start to do them on a more regular basis. Concentrate on the big things like physiology.

Take care :cool:

fnimat1 · Jan 17, 2002

Don't worry Moni....you'll get the hang of it!!!

Fatima:D

Whisper · Jan 17, 2002

I feel the same way on my course Moni. A lot of the other students are working as Auxillary nurses, or have been one. So I feel very stupid when I don't know how to do things like make a bed. I finaly bought a proper sheet for my bed, so I could practice rather than taking the easy route with a fitted sheets.

I now have the hang of hospital corners,:)

And I also feel like a two year old at an adults party but then again I one of the youngest on my course. So there is a large age difference between me and my cohorts.

zacarias, ASN, RN · Jan 18, 2002

i finally had an clinical instructor pull me aside when she sensed my frustration with this process. she told me that monkeys could be taught the skills, but they couldn't be taught the important aspects of nursing. kinda put things into perspective for me.

heather,

when i hear those comments from teachers about how you can teach skills to anyone, but not nursing process...it doesn't make feel good. it's like if i feel like skills are hard to learn, it means i'm not even as good as anybody that can learn a skill lol.

z

cheri2 · Jan 18, 2002

Hi:

I am in my 1st semester of clinicals moni and I too am learning how to make a hospital bed. There are only two of us...including myself, in my clinical group that has not had experience as an LPN. Fortunately, the girls are more than happy to help the two of us learn what they do everyday at work. It is a bit intimidating to be among all those people who know things that we are just learning. I want to do so well, I find myself making things harder than they need to be. However, those people have learned differently on how to do what we are learning from scratch. I belive that in the end those people will have a harder time readjusting to learning things they already know but in a different way. I try to keep that in mind...and I also try not to worry so much about what others know. We are all nursing students and no matter what they know...they need to get their RN just the same way everyone else in the class does.

good luck to you..I am sure you will be just fine.

betts · Jan 18, 2002

Making beds in nursing school is used for training the student too learn patience,attention to detail,and be more observant,not to mention the fine to gross motor skills,eye hand coordination,and dexterity the nursing student will need in any of the nursing disciplines decided upon.

A waste of time? Not with this nurse.

Katnip, RN · Jan 19, 2002

Don't worry about the bed making thing-you'll get the hang of it. That's the only thing i knew how to do when i started skills. I droped syringes, sprayed the instructor with saline from an IV-all kinds of clumsy stuff. But I passed. Those things are just a matter of doing it so often it becomes natural. The THINKING part is critical, and you've got that down, so you're way ahead of some.