Interviews for BSN class needed

Many of us here have rather strong feelings about online interviews.

When your instructor gave you this assignment, there were multiple intentions.

1. So you can learn more about these areas of nursing. This is often where nursing students think the purpose of the assignment ends, but it's not. Really, it's the least important. You can learn more about areas of nursing by doing a Google search. This is not the main reason you have this assignment.

These are the real reasons:

2. So you can practice your communication skills. Both verbal and non-verbal communication are very important in nursing. When you interview someone, you get to practice lots of different types of communication. There is NO WAY that you can have the same interview experience by posting questions on the internet. What if a question isn't answered completely? What if you don't understand and need to ask follow up questions? What if you misinterpret the sarcastic meaning behind some words as genuine? See what I mean? There's no way that an interview can be accurate if you aren't face to face with the person.

3. So you can practice making connections, setting up appointments, and stepping out of your comfort zone. In nursing, you will have to meet with lot of people you don't know. You'll have to become comfortable speaking to doctors, patients, family, co-workers, and many other people. You'll have to step out of your comfort zone in order to be successful as a student and a nurse. Stepping out of your comfort zone means making phone calls, visiting locations, and having face-to-face conversations. Posting your interview questions on the internet instead of taking the initiative to contact professionals and set up a meeting is taking the easy way out.

There are dozens of places you can visit in order to speak to nurses in your area. Here's just a few examples:

1. Family planning clinic: You can call and ask to come in for a meeting or drop by to set up a meeting. You'll find nurses and NP's here.

2. Doctor's offices: Your local doctor's office or health clinic will have nurses, MD's, and NP's.

3. Hospitals: A no-brainer. You'll find nurses, administrators, and educators. Call the main hospital number and ask to be transferred to the nurse education office. Educators love to help students, and I'm sure you'll find many people willing to do your interview. Visit the hospital cafeteria at lunch time and look for nurses sitting in groups of one or two. Introduce yourself and explain your assignment. You'll be done in 10 minutes.

4. Your college. I bet anything your university has at least one nurse working for them. By the way, your instructors are also nurses.

Notice that all of these places require calling or visiting- not posting on the internet from the comfort of your living room. That's why it's called "stepping out of your comfort zone."

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 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.

go!