Only charting?

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I'm a first year nursing student and to be honest, the majority of what I've seen nurses do is charting and give meds. Is this all I will do?

Specializes in Gerontology.
Yeah i just got done with my first clinical semester and i noticed this to.. Nurses spend a significant amount of time just handing out meds... And documenting... And doing boring ass stuff. However i knew going into nursing school that I didnt want to be a bedside nurse... Youre literally a waiter is how i see it. Ive seen nurses fetching pitchers of water for clients. Smh. For all the knowledge you have... :(

Frankly, I think its important to supply my pt with fresh water so they can remain hydrated, have something to take their meds with, and be able to rinse their mouth after using puffers.

Next time you take a swig out of your water bottle think about how you would feel if you were thirsty and stuck in a bed where you couldn't get out to get some water.

As for that "boring ass" stuff - I think you've been watching too much Grey's Anatomy.

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Well, Wuzzie, ya gotta consider that as a new nursing student the OP doesn't know anything more about nursing than the average lay person, which is to say, not much at all.

It wasn't the OP it was the poster referring to the "boring ass stuff" and likening us to waitresses that got me.

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Like the other posters (with RN after their names) have said, follow an ICU nurse with an unstable patient and see what we do besides pass meds and chart. A lot of times our job is in our head. We are comparing how the patient looked from the previous assessment to the current assessment, are the vitals trending down, is the patient acting different. You need to be observant of changes in the patient's condition especially in the NICU. Babies are very good at compensating until they stop compensating and crash quickly. You need to realize they are "crumping" or as we call it "Trying to high five Jesus" before they crash and you are playing catch-up, then I am not passing meds, but pushing meds and a lot of them.

crumping: slow change in a patient's condition (over a hour or hours).

crashing: rapid change of condition over a few minutes.

I'm not even a nurse yet (less than a year!), but I LOVE that you put "with RN after their names."

OP, I really hope that as you progress in school, you eat your words. Shoot, even med pass is not some boring, mindless task. You have to critically think about why a patient is getting this med, what would prevent you from giving it (low BP and Metoprolol for example) and any interactions. Don't even get me started on the complexities of IV meds!

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Yikes, do I dare respond? It must have just been the luck of the draw at our first clinical location, first impressions and all. We were assigned to a nurse and when we asked what they were doing they would say we're 'just charting' and send us on our way. Each time we came back it was the same response in an almost robotic disinterest.:( The nurse/pt interaction I saw was very minimal and it made me sad for my future.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
Yikes, do I dare respond? It must have just been the luck of the draw at our first clinical location, first impressions and all. We were assigned to a nurse and when we asked what they were doing they would say we're 'just charting' and send us on our way. Each time we came back it was the same response in an almost robotic disinterest.:( The nurse/pt interaction I saw was very minimal and it made me sad for my future.

They probably responded with an abrupt "just charting" because they don't want to be interrupted. Charting is a behemoth pain in the glutei maximi, but as I'm sure you've heard "if it wasn't documented, it wasn't done."

Also keep in mind that these are not credentialed nursing educators the way your faculty are. However it's on your school if they choose to turf you to a staff RN rather than teach you themselves; the staff RN might not have time to teach, might not be great at teaching, might not like teaching. They haven't been vetted as *nursing educators.* That doesn't make them bad nurses -- not every nurse is cut out to care for newborns, or elderly, or become an NP, or become a nursing educator. It is unfortunate for you though, if the staff that is paid to teach you (i.e. your clinical instructors) is not teaching you. That is their job.

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Sometimes i feel like nurses think they are the ****. Like ooo i just got through nursing school, it was the hardest thing EVER (lmao). And than here they are doing things at work that a regular person could do (fetching water, bed baths, cleaning up). And when a problem arises, its not even in your scope to treat it! Lol. Thats why i said youre like a waiter (a messenger). In my eyes nurses do all the boring work that comes along in health care. Oh i forgot to add, the pay is ****.

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Sometimes i feel like nurses think they are the ****. Like ooo i just got through nursing school, it was the hardest thing EVER (lmao). And than here they are doing things at work that a regular person could do (fetching water, bed baths, cleaning up). And when a problem arises, its not even in your scope to treat it! Lol. Thats why i said youre like a waiter (a messenger). In my eyes nurses do all the boring work that comes along in health care.

So why exactly are you on this site then? Are you a nurse? CNA? The fact that you think so lowly of nurses leaves me with many questions.

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Lightning90 is a nursing student in his or her second term of nursing... from the previous posts he or she has made. It's interesting that you have such negative opinions of nurses while you are in school to become a nurse yourself (and have limited time in a clinical setting). Are there aspects of nursing that aren't glamorous? Absolutely! There is also a lot more that goes into nursing that makes it a rewarding career. I recommend that you spend a little more time on the floor before you form an opinion. If it's still extremely negative you should probably re-think your career choice.

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Specializes in ED, psych.
Sometimes i feel like nurses think they are the ****. Like ooo i just got through nursing school, it was the hardest thing EVER (lmao). And than here they are doing things at work that a regular person could do (fetching water, bed baths, cleaning up). And when a problem arises, its not even in your scope to treat it! Lol. Thats why i said youre like a waiter (a messenger). In my eyes nurses do all the boring work that comes along in health care. Oh i forgot to add, the pay is ****.

Oy vey.

Sooooo many things wrong in this paragraph. I don't think you've truly seen and participated in "floor nursing." Or, you're truly not paying attention.

It takes a special person to know when to "fetch that water," do baths and clean up. Good gracious, when I did my final rotation it was on a med-surgical floor (neuro/tele), and there were many problems that developed, certainly within the nursing scope to assess and treat. With the many disease processes going on, with 5-6 patients each ... you do indeed need to be on your toes.

These nurses weren't merely messengers. They're heroes in my eyes ... and I am very nervous about starting on my own with floor nursing. And I absolutely should be.

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Sometimes i feel like nurses think they are the ****. Like ooo i just got through nursing school, it was the hardest thing EVER (lmao). And than here they are doing things at work that a regular person could do (fetching water, bed baths, cleaning up). And when a problem arises, its not even in your scope to treat it! Lol. Thats why i said youre like a waiter (a messenger). In my eyes nurses do all the boring work that comes along in health care. Oh i forgot to add, the pay is ****.

My husband is a leader in his field and makes big money. Yeah, he's a big shot, putting together big deals, playing the ulcer-inducing game of negotiation, and hobnobbing with other big shots. And sometimes he has to change a light bulb in his office or make a xerox copy. If you get too big to do the simple things occasionally, then you're too damn big.

Nurses have a limited scope. As do APRNs. As do PAs. But they don't spend all their time charting and fetching water. Come check us out in the ICU and see how well you keep up.

SMH...

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I'm a first year nursing student and to be honest, the majority of what I've seen nurses do is charting and give meds. Is this all I will do?

Please print your post, and about six months into your first job, when you are drowning and are wondering when you are ever going to possess the knowledge and skill of your experienced coworkers, read it again and enjoy the laugh.

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.
Sometimes i feel like nurses think they are the ****. Like ooo i just got through nursing school, it was the hardest thing EVER (lmao). And than here they are doing things at work that a regular person could do (fetching water, bed baths, cleaning up). And when a problem arises, its not even in your scope to treat it! Lol. Thats why i said youre like a waiter (a messenger). In my eyes nurses do all the boring work that comes along in health care. Oh i forgot to add, the pay is ****.

Doing tasks "a regular person could do". OK, let's examine this. Your patient who has low Hgb just had a bowel movement. You are in the room, cleaning up and notice that the BM is very dark, almost black. You collect a sample, ask the doc for an occult stool order and send it down to the lab. Lo & behold, there's blood in the stool. Bingo...possible GI bleed. Would a "regular person" know to do this? No. The RN assessing the situation would.

While you might think we have to do mundane tasks, there are REASONS behind it. Yes, there are things we can delegate to our CNAs or other staff, but as the RN, we are ultimately responsible for the patient's total care. If we ignored the issue in the scenario above, the pt could continue to bleed internally until the situation becomes an emergency. So, if you think you are above doing tasks like cleaning up a patient or "fetching water", then I suggest you go find another career to pursue. Arrogance in a nursing student is one of the worst qualities you can have. There is so much to learn and you cannot possibly be open to learning what you need to know if you're sneering at what you need to do in order to get to a higher level.

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