Level of intelligence

roser13, ASN, RN · Aug 23, 2009

I've often wondered the same, but have not been able to figure it out. I do think, tho, that those nurses give the rest a bad name.

Divest · Aug 23, 2009

I think they do as well.

The average person doesn't understand how difficult it is to both become and be a nurse. (I'm going through school, but I've heard enough stories to have respect). They don't understand that it takes a lot of patience and education to get anywhere in nursing. Most people assume that nurses are grunts; they're there to change sheets, wipe behinds, and cater to the patients family.

The less-than-intelligent nurses are only serving to perpetuate this image and further the stigma that nurses aren't skilled workers, but rather custodians.

GeneralJinjur · Aug 23, 2009

I find the flunky nurses inspirational. If they can make it through nursing school, so can I! I have no doubt I'll feel differently when we are co-workers. :)

loriangel14, RN · Aug 23, 2009

I agree. The spelling and grammar of some nurses alone makes me cringe.

NickitaBananna · Aug 23, 2009

My thoughts exactly!

I find the flunky nurses inspirational. If they can make it through nursing school, so can I! I have no doubt I'll feel differently when we are co-workers. :)

rn/writer, RN · Aug 23, 2009

There are "less than intelligent" people in every field.

A few are flukes who somehow got lucky.

Others are people who have mastered some areas but have gaps in others. They can recite the correct lab values for a chem panel but may not do the best job interacting with patients. Or they're great with patients but have to look up the lab values every single time. They may come off as intelligent or moronic depending on the task they're engaged in at the moment. Usually, they are competent overall and do a decent job.

Some nurses have excellent clinical judgment and patient-care skills, but they may have speech patterns or inelegant presentation that makes them seem uneducated.

Then there are those who have book smarts but they are devoid of common sense. These are the ones I have the most difficulty with. You can teach information, but sense is a whole 'nother animal. Fortunately, their number is comparatively small.

Finally, there are many of us who make mistakes on a regular basis who are neither ignorant nor senseless. We just make mistakes. (For instance, there are at least three mistakes in the opening post. :wink2:) Taken in isolation, such errors are not a good barometer of a person's worth--as a human being or a nurse. They just show that we all have our little flaws.

Divest · Aug 23, 2009

Well, your post seems to romanticize the concept of these not-so-smart nurses I'm talking about here. You're under the presumption that they're just misunderstood, when I can tell you flat out that they're dumb as a pile of bricks. Everyone makes mistakes and has their strong/weak areas, but what I'm talking about are the ones who are, for lack of a better word, blatantly devoid of common sense.

These are the same people who send their life savings to Nigeria because they received an e-mail from the prince, they don't put oil in their car for six months and then sit on the edge of the road wondering what happened, they don't eat anything but oreos and twinkies day in and out, yet they blame their metabolism for being overweight. Those are the people I'm talking about.

As I said, it's not very often I see them. It's very rare, as a matter of fact, but they're out there without a doubt.

timothymichaeljett · Aug 23, 2009

Thank you very much for calling of us "Allnurses" exceptions.

A general difference between brilliant, typical and remedial nurses

may be the programs they qualify for.

I am on the Deans list at HFCC and scored a 94% on my HESI.

I was told that I would not get into the program at Macomb.

Conversely, the college where I earned my NA (WCCCD) keeps losing its

NLN cert and the grads of their program have to start back at square one to get their BS.

My thoughts are that WCCCD may tend to turn out remedial nurses,

my school may tend to turn out typical nurses and Macomb may tend

to produce the academically savant nurses.

greenfiremajick · Aug 23, 2009

Going through nursing school, I have to say that it's overwhelming. They throw a ton of information at you all at once, most of which aren't on the exams (they don't tell you what information will be on the exams, either). It's so overwhelming that sometimes I think you have to be a genius just to pass these classes.
Then I meet nurses who are... well, let's just say they're not the brightest people I've ever met. Some of them have horrible grammer (they couldn't pass a 4th grade english class for the life of them), can't do math, and just have absolutely no common sense whatsoever. I worry for the people that these nurses take care of.
I've also seen some people post on this very site, posting things that don't make any sense with horrible grammer and exhibit no intelligence whatsoever... yet they're nurses. How the hell does that happen?
No disrespect meant towards anyone whatsoever, I'm not trying to upset anyone, but let's face facts, there are some less-than-average nurses out there, so how do they do it? Admittedly, I don't see them very often, but they're out there. That just scares me and confuses me at the same time.
How the hell did they get through nursing school?

You misspelled grammar...And with a built in spell checker, even.............

Lacie, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2009

I've seen many who were 4.0 GPA, on dean's list and near maxed thier boards yet when it came down to common sense or the ability to interact with patients, well let's just say they were lacking.

leslie :-D · Aug 23, 2009

You misspelled grammar...And with a built in spell checker, even.............

unnecessary input.

leslie