intimidated by students who are already nurses

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I just started the 3rd semester in my ASN program last week. I'm so totally, freaking out right now. The last 2 semesters, all the students were, pretty much, at the same skill/experience level.

Now, we've been joined by the LPN's in the Transition program. These gals have been actual nurses for years! I'm gonna be working beside them, sweating & shaking over my 1st cath or NG, & they'll be old pros at it. Is there any possible way not to look completely incompetant?

I wish I could make friends with some of the LPN's, but so far, no dice. The 2 groups, traditional & transitional, seem bent on self-segregating. I've struck up a couple of conversations, but they just fell flat. I also heard a group of them saying that they certainly weren't going to be carrying any "deadweight" students around on their backs this semester. I'm really feeling apprehensive about this!

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

let it go. you can't force your friendship on someone who doesn't want it. it's like a boy who wants to get a date with a girl who doesn't want anything to do with him--it ain't gonna happen. arrogance on the part of these lpns is wrong. they are acting immaturely. do you really want to be associated with people like that? i wouldn't.

they only think they have an advantage over you at the moment. give it a little time for the instructors and class work to bring their egos down a peg or two. trust me, i've been an rn for over 30 years. there's a great deal more to being an rn than inserting urinary catheters and ng tubes. we, rns and lpns alike, were beginners and didn't do real well the first time at these procedures. hands on skills can be improved with practice. nastiness is something a person has to cultivate from deep within our psyche.

being an rn is mostly about critical thinking and making decisions--something lpns are not taught much about in their training. every job i've ever held i was expected to make decisions and my skills ability, while important, was not as important as my thinking skill. they may think they know what decision making is. they may have seen rns doing it, but the buck (responsibility) has never fallen on their shoulders like they are about to discover. i have seen the transition that many lpns have made as they become rns. believe me, this group has a rude awakening coming. they just don't know it yet.

Specializes in Psych..

My only advice is try not to compare yourself to them. Work on yourself, and on improving your skills and knowledge base. You can't change them, you can only change yourself!

(I also have had a problem with comparing myself to the CNA's and unit secretaries in my class with tons of experience. It never did me a bit of good; it just made me down on myself and lack of.)

I'm an LPN bridging to RN and there is always some sort of drama in NS.

Having prior health care experience is only a bonus if you don't also have a case of the know it alls. Some of the veteran LPNs have difficulty with clinical skills because they have been doing things the 'short cut' way for years and they think it's silly to try to perform to textbook standards. They do have a point because school is not the real world but if it's what the professor wants why be stubborn about it?

So you actually may not want to learn from some of them.

Specializes in LTC, case mgmt, agency.

As a former LPN I used to love to help others out. All the nursing students knew they could come to me for help anytime. Now I am a new RN and Daytonite is right when she said they are in for an awakening. I am getting that right now. To make matters worse I am so busy trying to learn that I can't teach:( The worst part for me is that everyone expects that because I was an LPN that I should know every skill there is automatically. So the drama does not end in nursing school.

There's an old saying, " Nurses eat their young. " It is sooooo true.:nurse: There are a few good mentors out there. I have 3 preceptors, 2 are wonderful and 1 I don't like to work with.

Don't worry about them, focus on yourself and your pts.:D

Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

If they didn't still have something to learn, they wouldn't be there now would they?

Specializes in med surg.

I was an LPN and I did not mind helping other students. The trade off is you know the ins and out of the school, the scoop on the instructors, probably better with the computer and research. So if you see one of them struggling with some of these things offer to help and in return hopefully they will help you.

The thing about nursing is we should be a team and maybe the LPN's in your class have become somewhat cynical but trust me when I say they have a lot to learn and an instructor will bring them down and knock that attiude right out of them.

I saw it with other LPN's in my class and it was not pretty!

If they didn't still have something to learn, they wouldn't be there now would they?

That is one of the best lines I have heard in a LONG time!:yeah: I am making a career change from sales into nursing and just went through my first hospital orienataion, I kept thinking how will I ever know all the things that everyone appeared to know so quickly. Let's give ourselves a break here..we all have a learning curve and the patient care comes first, so no worries and never stop learning...no one can know it all:wink2:

Specializes in PCU/CICU.

I'm also doing the transitional RN program. I have been an LPN for several years and work in critical care. I find that the traditional/transitional students do segregate. But...I am hoping that once clinincals start that we will be more of a team. I never mind sharing my experiences and know I still have a lot to learn. Don't think that all of them are like that. :)

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
If they didn't still have something to learn, they wouldn't be there now would they?

:yeahthat: Should make a poster out of that!

Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

That's me, I'm an LPN and I'm in RN school. I will tell you straight up, I have days where I still feel like I'm clueless on the floor. I'll be able to hit every vein I see for a month, and then have a week where I couldn't sink a IV to save my life. I may have placed foleys and NG tubes, and rectal tubes, but that won't help me with things I haven't done, except I'll feel even more pressure to perform because I'm already a LPN.

I wasn't the nicest person in my first day, because I'd worked a 12 hr shift, and come straight to class after a really bad night (Acute CVA, one surgical, 2 dementias and 2 GI bleeders). When the teacher asked me what was the most important thing about nursing (everyone else was giving the "helping people and families in need" speech) -- I said, "keeping them alive 'til 7:45..." She laughed and everyone else looked agast.

Specializes in LTC/Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

The students who had the most trouble during my 3rd sem. where the transition students, the LPN to RN students. Seriously! They may be old pros at starting a catheter, but they still have to get through the theory coursework of third semester. Yes, the comfort at the clinical site is a plus, but that doesn't automatically mean success.

RELAX!!

I just started the 3rd semester in my ASN program last week. I'm so totally, freaking out right now. The last 2 semesters, all the students were, pretty much, at the same skill/experience level.

Now, we've been joined by the LPN's in the Transition program. These gals have been actual nurses for years! I'm gonna be working beside them, sweating & shaking over my 1st cath or NG, & they'll be old pros at it. Is there any possible way not to look completely incompetant?

I wish I could make friends with some of the LPN's, but so far, no dice. The 2 groups, traditional & transitional, seem bent on self-segregating. I've struck up a couple of conversations, but they just fell flat. I also heard a group of them saying that they certainly weren't going to be carrying any "deadweight" students around on their backs this semester. I'm really feeling apprehensive about this!

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