I'm trying nursing, but I'm hardheaded..will I last?

[PopeJane3rd]

I think I'm going to go into nursing, but I am hardheaded. On the job, I have to be told more than once to do things, my attention to detail is not that strong. I tend to make mistakes, though not fatal errors usually. Do you think this might be a problem in the nursing field? I like to cut corners and do things that are easiest for me instead of going by policy.

[systoly]

What does it matter - you won't listen

[bill4745, RN]

Ditto. You need a different career.

[Sparrowhawk]

Why would anyone freely admit and be proud of cutting corners and going against policy...and want to be a nurse? O.o

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

One needs to learn the rules before they know if and when it is appropriate to break them.

In nursing school, breaking the rules will cause you problems, up to and including the potential for dismissal from the program.

In the real world, you'd better have a defensible rationale for everything you do. As others have mentioned, if something goes wrong, and it's discovered that you violated P&P, don't expect anyone to have your back. The buck stops with you.

So, assuming that what I am telling you is true, do *you* think you will last?

[silverbat]

this has got to be a joke, if so, it ain't funny. If not a joke, then I hope you have such a horrible nurse as you most likely be as your nurse if you become ill.

Don't mean to be hard hearted...LOL

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Don't even think about it anymore, if you're unwilling to change. Cutting corners and going against policy could get a patient killed. You would not want that on your conscience.

Or your bank account.

If I can be brutally frank, I will say that I"m guessing you're an aide right now and, if I had to work with you, I'd be writing you up - a lot. If you know you are doing wrong, why do you keep doing it? How do you get along when your superiors know you've violated policy or cut corners? Do you have a basic disdain for those in authority and for rules?

I think you should become a surgeon instead of a nurse. Then you can scream, throw instruments, break expensive equipment and not have to pay for it, instill fear and loathing into many, and just be as infantile as you like without fear of consequences.

You asked.

[aubreysmommy]

WOW! At least you admit this! There are TONS of nurses currently working that do this but don't own up to it. With that being said......you won't make it through nursing school, so I wouldn't worry about it. If you don't like authority then you will not really make it anywhere. If you have to be told over and over to do something you will not make it anywhere. If you cut corners you will not make it anywhere. Hopefully you will make some changes, so you can get a job (but please not as a nurse).

Not trying to be harsh.....just honest.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

are you kidding us? nursing is about caring, doing the right thing, teamwork, being a patient advocate and I can go on. what is your motivation to go into nursing if this is your attitude?

Caring, advocating, and teamwork don't exclude being innovative or creative, or equate only to doing as one is told.

Nevertheless, not following policies and approved procedures can land one in a whole lot of expensive hot water.

There's a time and a place for lots of things, including maybe feeding someone a few minutes early or finding an alternate way to put a certain color placard in front of a different color one.

I just think, though, that someone with such a strong personality is going to rub lots of instructors the wrong way. She needs to be the boss and nurses are not bosses in very many ways.

[Smackdown]

This is a joke, right? Please, don't become a nurse.

If a doctor or your manager/charge nurse has to tell you more than once to do something on many different occasions, I don't see you lasting long.

This is the type of nurse who would...Not wipe with alcohol wipes IV ports and cause patients infections because they are to "hard headed" and impatient...

[PopeJane3rd]

Gosh you sound like so many nurses I have met through the years,a bit of advice though..you'll never make it through nursing school unless you listen to your instructors,go by the book,and do not take shortcuts (I found nursing school to be the hardest part of my career!

Oh, I'll do well in school if I try hard enough, I'm talking about once I get out in the field. I might get discouraged in school if the instructors single me out and I heard they do to the weaker or "different" students.

[PopeJane3rd]

I think one of the biggest points in policies is that it is YOUR ass on the line if you don't follow it.

If for whatever reason you cut corners on a policy and a patient is somehow injured from it, your employer will not back you during a lawsuit. Healthcare is such a litigious area, its too dangerous to be someone who cuts corners.

Also, I worry about attention to detail. When you're talking about micrograms, milligrams, millileters, and math for medication, detail is your life for many hours a day.

Ok, I'm not thaaaaat stupid now. If a pt is supposed to get .5ml of something I'm not going to give him a liter of it. Now that's obvious the patient's system could be upset. I currently work in a lab and my attention to detail is not strong there. For instance, phleb.'s will not always send all the specs. together. So I'm told if a patient is missing a blood tube, to hold off on processing it because the blood tube might show up. Well instead of holding it I go ahead and process it anyway, because I'm tired of waiting. This is what I'm talking about attention to detail. Or maybe having hippa violations (I've had) like putting the wrong client id on a patients requisition by accident where not only the right doc will get his pt info but another doc. not of the patients will get a copy by accident.

[BreeLPN2RN]

Give it up. You are NOT good nursing material!!