How does nursing school differ from the real world of nursing?

[whiteoleander5]

Hello, I am in my first semester of an ADN program. I've heard my professors say this so many times... They are getting us ready for long haul but in "reality" we won't use all the information we are recieving. How is this true? How did what you learn in nursing school differ from your nursing job in a hospital? What information/skills/anything from school was irrelevant once you became a nurse?

Just curious, thanks...

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

In a word...CARE PLANS! Wait, that was two words..oh well..but anyway, I don't do care plans. We have a care plan coordinator who gets paid to do it! :yeah:So much for doing those papers from Hades! Having it drilled into our heads by our clinical instructors that they are always done, you have to know how to do it, blah blah blah. (all the while, an instructor who still worked a fulltime floor nursing job shook her head no, and told us..get through it here and you will probably never have to do another one..ever)

[debi49]

It differs in every conceivable way:yeah:. Mostly you dont have your clinical instructors there to watch everything you do. I was ready for that. You will find your own ways to do things, within proper practices of course.

[PiPhi2004]

It depends on what type of floor you go to. This will depend on what new skills you will learn and what skills you will not utilize on a regular basis. You will ALWAYS utilize critical thinking skills no matter where you go. I do ICU, and went into ICU as a new grad. I feel that I use most of the skills I learned in school, except maybe OB skills and assessment material. In the 'real world' I learned how to do things in a timely manner, fine tuned my critical thinking skills, mastered things that I learned in school such as lab values and what to do for highs and lows, procedures, hosptial protocols, etc. It really all depends on what skills you will use. I found nothing I learned in nursing school to be a waste of time, it all just prepares you to transition from that learning phase to the working phase and putting your education to use.

Also I do not believe careplans are irrelevant, they help you write down your train of thought and I believe they are a wonderful way to develop a 'nursing mind.' Critical thinking skills are crucial to becoming a good nurse, and they help to develop those skills.

[ErraticThinker]

I never use those nursing diagnoses that were in that big book they made me spend a hundred bucks on in nursing school. Other than that the information itself is useful. It all starts rushing back when you start to learn more working in a hospital setting.

You'll learn a lot more than you think. I still pull random bits of information and can't remember where i picked it up. But, then i think and remember it was in nursing school.

[Woodenpug, BSN]

Nursing school is nothing more than a hoop through which you must jump.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

nursing school prepares you to not kill anyone in your first weeks on the job

Reality is about a light year away from school clinicals. You learn enough in your school and clinical rotations to prepare you to learn what to actually do as a nurse, not to be a nurse right out of the shoot, IMO.

Nursing diagnoses, NANDA--as they are taught and drilled-- are totally useless IMO.

[Wise Woman RN]

All of the information that I learned in nursing school is stuck in my brain and won't leave, even after all these years... and every once in a while, something comes up that makes me glad for it... knowledge is never useless..however, a lot of stuff that comes from nursing school isn't used for tasks, rather it may come in handy sometime when no one around you has a clue what is going on, and you remember a little tidbit that you heard from one of your instructors, or something you saw in clinicals, and you will save the day.

[Runman1914, MSN, RN]

Its a day and night difference. Lately the students i see come to the floor for 2 or 3 hours, play on their cell phones and leave. The instructors are a world more lax than when i went to school. Im seeing straight A students that cant function on the floor after they graduate.

I guess it depends on your individual school.

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

Nursing school teaches you the correct way, the perfect way to do the perfect nursing job. In real life you often have to cope with less than perfect patients, less than perfect staffing levels, less than correct assistance from bosses, and the list goes on. You are given the tools to make you think in nursing school about the consequences of your actions while working.

Nursing is a tough job, you have to be committed and like something besides the money to continue to do it. Good luck.

[HonestRN]

How about the Krebs cycle. Never use that in nursing. ever

[daisydoll]

You CANNOT truly understand all that nursing entails until you are on your own, working without a preceptor. That's when all the responsibility falls on your shoulders. Looking back on clinicals I now see that I was experiencing nursing through rose colored glasses. There is always someone else there to guide you, to support you, to hold your hand. It is not your license on the line. Once you are out of school and working on your own, it is YOUR license on the line, and you have to protect what you worked so hard to earn. You are the one keeping up with orders, double checking everything, making sure your charting is up to par (and often this means staying late to make sure you CYA!). You won't see the whole picture until YOU are the one with the responsibility.

Having said that, I think that most of the info I learned in NS was valuable. You never know when that bit of knowledge you learned might come in handy in your practice. You will learn to develop your own methods and do what works best for you. Good luck!