Help please!

We get these requests a lot, so if there are any other students out there who might get this kind of assignment, listen up:

Part of your faculty's reason for giving you this assignment is to get you to go out there and speak to an RN face to face. A big email blast is not a substitute for shoe leather. AN is not Google.

See, in nursing, you will have to learn to speak to a lot of people you would not otherwise encounter; you might find yourself out of your comfort zone. This is part of nursing, a huge part. An anonymous respondent online, well, you don't really know who we are, do you? We could be the truck driving guy living next door for all you know.

So if all you do about learning new things is "Go to the keyboard and hit send," then you are limiting your chances of actual learning a valuable skill you will need all your working life.

That said: Where will you find a nurse? Think outside the (computer) box.

Local hospital: go to the staff development/inservice education office and ask one of them. They value education and will be happy to chat or to hook you up with someone who is.

Go to the public health department downtown. Ditto.

Go to the local school and ask to speak to a school nurse. Ditto.

Go to a local clinic / physician / NP office. Ditto.

Go to the local jail and ask to speak to the nurse there. Ditto.

Notice all of these say, "Go to..." and not "Email..." Remember that part about meeting new people face to face and comfort zone. All of these people will be happy to tell you why they went into nursing and answer your questions. Have fun!

Go!

In addition to all of the great reasons that GrnTea gave you for interviewing face-to-face, think about it as a great networking opportunity! Sure you are not yet in nursing school, but you never know when it might be helpful to get your face out there in local hospitals/clinics. The main reason I got a job as a new grad is because I put myself out there over and over and got to know a lot of people in the specialty I was interested in. Many nurses love teaching and talking about what they do, so have fun with this assignment!