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

Nurses General Nursing

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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.

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

I didn't say I was proud of that.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Sometimes it is best to not feed into posters....I too think this can't possibly be a sincere post.

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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

How can you wish bad luck on someone like that being a nurse yourself. Do you wish bad on patients you don't like? I'm sure you get patients that kind of get on your nerves when they don't mean to. This sounds contradictory to me.

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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.

No, actually I got a fairly good job review yesterday and a raise to top it off. I've been there 6 years. I am a top processor there, I just cut corners sometimes, but my nature of work it must not be fatal errors I suppose as I'm still there. I'm not proud of it, but I think it is a trap some can fall into when they are used to doing it, almost like some kind of disorder a person can't help or need assistance with. My superiors must know I'm not malicious. They probably think I don't comprehend well.

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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...

I just might wipe with alcohol wipes. So now what?

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Specializes in Peds Homecare.

Troll, go join another board.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
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.

HIPAA violations can get you, your workplace, and your school in a lot of trouble. I am sorry to say this but unless you change your attitude so that you can focus more on the details and not be so cavalier about violating principles such as patient privacy, you are a walking liability to the program that accepts you or the workplace that hires you. You, your institution, your school can all be sued if you violate your patients' privacy. You could also face criminal liability and even end up serving time in jail. This IS a big deal and if you want to progress at all in a health care career, you MUST pay attention to maintaining confidentiality. If you can't do it, you really don't belong in a health-related field.

You admit to putting the wrong ID on a requisition---do you honestly think you can safely administer medications if you're prone to this sort of error? If you administer the wrong drug to the wrong person, give the wrong dose, the wrong way or at the wrong time, is that being incompetent or is it just bending the rules?

Nothing wrong with having a strong personality---I've been accused of that a few times myself. However, I have a good bit of experience and education under my belt and I've never challenged anyone in authority without a damned good reason---usually because I have felt it necessary to advocate for a patient or for a student when I've taught nursing. As a previous poster said, you need to know the rules before you can judge whether it's appropriate to break them. Administering a tube feeding fifteen minutes early---that's no big deal. But when a nurse has a cavalier attitude about medications, particularly those that are on a strict schedule, he/she risks real harm to the patient if he doesn't follow that schedule.

I don't mean to be harsh here, perhaps a little blunt, but I want to be honest with you since you posted your concerns. If I were your instructor, no matter how well you did on care plans, no matter how well you did in your exams or papers, if you were unsafe on the floor, I would fail you. You would not pass my clinical. You would not even pass my skills labs. I have never failed a student but if I had someone who routinely cut corners, violated policy, didn't pay attention to details such as identifying the patient correctly, and who habitually violated the patients' rights to privacy and confidentiality, I would fail that student in a heartbeat.

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Specializes in NICU,ICU,ER,MS,CHG.SUP,PSYCH,GERI.
No, actually I got a fairly good job review yesterday and a raise to top it off. I've been there 6 years. I am a top processor there, I just cut corners sometimes, but my nature of work it must not be fatal errors I suppose as I'm still there. I'm not proud of it, but I think it is a trap some can fall into when they are used to doing it, almost like some kind of disorder a person can't help or need assistance with. My superiors must know I'm not malicious. They probably think I don't comprehend well.

Stay where you are then. Nursing doesn't need you.

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Specializes in PACU, CARDIAC ICU, TRAUMA, SICU, LTC.

"PopeJane3rd"

Are you for real?? IMO, you seem like you are craving attention, and you got it.

After reading both your threads, please seek psychiatric help. Life isn't "all about you;" you are not capable of becoming a nurse, as nursing = caring.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Med-Surg.

This person is obviously just a troll who is seeking attention.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
No, actually I got a fairly good job review yesterday and a raise to top it off. I've been there 6 years. I am a top processor there, I just cut corners sometimes, but my nature of work it must not be fatal errors I suppose as I'm still there. I'm not proud of it, but I think it is a trap some can fall into when they are used to doing it, almost like some kind of disorder a person can't help or need assistance with. My superiors must know I'm not malicious. They probably think I don't comprehend well.

Out of curiosity, I looked at some of your previous posts and noticed that you had complained about a previous HIPAA violation a few months ago. Hey, if your employer is satisfied with your work and has given you a raise, awesome. But you know, even nurses who aren't "malicious" make fatal errors. Moreover, just because an error isn't "fatal" doesn't mean it isn't serious. How would you feel if someone in the lab screwed up your results, sent them to another physician or insurance company or someone who had no business knowing if you had HIV or hepatitis or even diabetes. It might not mean much to you but it means a hell of a lot to the patient who is relying on you---right now---for accurate, confidential results.

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.

Uh, no. A good instructor won't single out a student who is "different" but if a student is weak, any instructor worth his/her salt will do whatever he/she can to HELP that student learn. There are instructors who are, to put it bluntly, absolute jerks, but most are committed to helping to educate the next generation of competent, caring nurses. Somehow I just get the very bad feeling that the OP is going to be very tough to handle in a clinical group and if she fails, she will find a way to blame someone else.

Sorry, don't agree that this is a troll---been here too long and has made too many posts.

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Specializes in CVSICU, Cardiac Cath Lab.

wow..when I first started reading, i thought maybe this was just some passive-agressive sarcasm directed towards a cranky coworker. I see that's not the case and all I have to say is wow.

Please, please stay stay out of nursing. I'm only a student, but I have a few classmates with similar attitudes who are not going to make it through the courses. Save yourself a lot of wasted time and money and save the rest of us from having to carry/ clean up after your mistakes.

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