Is It Just Me?

Nurses General Nursing

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Is it just me that is noticing the large volume of new graduates, especially our younger graduates, that desire to spend very little time, if any, at the bedside before pursuing a non-traditional role in nursing. New graduates come into the profession and immediately want to go into an area such as case management or informatics which generally require over three to five years of clinical experience in order to provide high level service to the client or patient and family. What gives?

cindrnyc - you are wise beyond your words.

thank you but i know i have much more to learn, and i'm looking forward to it! :nurse:

Specializes in Emergency.
I was a little shocked when I found out, in my RN to BSN courses, there were many new grads (some had not even passed boards yet) who had not found their first job. I felt so bad for them, I asked around and found out what units at my hospital were hiring new grads. Went back to class the next week and told them to apply. The responses were:

1. I'm not working by choice. I'm getting my BSN first so I don't have to worry about being floated (her thought process was, since BSNs are put in charge more often, and when you are scheduled to be charge nurse you don't have to float, its better to have your BSN so you float less often). This was someone who worked as an aid at a nursing home during her school years.

2. I don't want to work at a hospital because they use IVs. Are there any units that don't accept patients with IVs? Only the really sick people get IVs and I'm not dealing with that. I work at a group home now and I'll keep doing that until I find a position where I don't have IVs to deal with.

3. I'm going to do mostly outpatient/clinic setting jobs until I have enough experience to become management. They get holidays off, don't do weekends and only work day shift. I'm planning on doing a few imunization clinics and stuff like that, and that'll count as my experience to get me in the door for management at a hospital.

Go ahead..........reread them if you must. I couldn't make stuff this good up. One person was interested, but afraid to leave his current position. Apparently, he worked at a group home with mentally challenged patients. They were so paranoid about people leaving, if they so much as gotr a phone call asking for a reference on you.........they'd replace you. So, even though he was interested, he never applied. He was too afraid he'd end up not getting hired and be left out to dry.

I don't think this is unique to nursing. I hear a friend of mine in Social Work complain that a lot of the new hires (young and old) simply are not "invested" in their work. Thats how he described it too..............."not invested." I think thats the perfect word for the behavior.

But, I don't frown on them for being that way. Employers/corporations have been showing how they are not concerned with us for decades now, hence people no longer are willing to invest themselves into a career. Too often, it is a one way street.

Before, the culture of nursing was that you had to earn your place, do your time at the bedside. People aren't willing to invest that kind of time and energy into a career. They come in, seek the most ideal situation for themselves, and if they don't get it, they move on...........quickly. Loyalty is a thing of the past. I honestly don't see why it should be any different. They are out to scam us, we don't fall for it anymore and................that's that.

I love this post and the one before it. I am a new nursing student and (40ish) and refuse to be dissuaded from nursing because of all the negative chatter and fear about the glut/shortage??? I have worked several other professions, most notably construction. It got to the point that anybody that could "buy" a hammer was a "carpenter". I have been seeing this fear cycle for years in most professions out there. I am ranting a little so excuse me if I am not clear...It seems from the posts above and what I hear as well talking to new nurses and new grads etc...that a lot of them are spoiled into thinking they are only going to work that "dream job". Personally that is totally unrealistic in any job....what ever happened to paying your dues. Sure- because I was always a great worker and was skilled I could just walk up to almost any job site with my tools and usually start work that minute...those days are pretty much gone for most professions...unless...again..if...you know somebody on the inside! So network...again I am rambling. It seems that most of this chatter about the "shortage" is based on these ideas...people are not willing to work...one of the reasons that walk on construction jobs are gone is because it quickly became selfish and every man for themselves...the corporations succeeded in dividing and conquering so they can now pretty much do what they want. we need unions...of course the management treats us terrible...we gave them all of our rights. Notice how on most jobs now you usually have to sign the employee at will sheet before you can work...well that is them telling you that you are worth nothing from the beginning...but a number and they can replace you at any moment for no reason...how blind we all are to this when we say there is no work etc...we are the ones who gave it up! I digressed sorry. Overall I agree with the above mentioned posts...If you do not want to work...Duh! Your not going to. Besides most people have no idea what they are getting themselves into anyway..untill they are actually working on the job. I still feel if you want to work nursing seems as compared to many many other professions to have an almost unlimited variety. I say this from the wisdom of two of my family that have been nurses for years and have weathered all of these gluts and shortages and whatever else the fear mongers concoct...you know why they weathered them? They are real workers.

Specializes in Emergency.
i'm 26 years old. right now i am about to start a concurrent associate/bsn program that will take about 2 years. after that i plan to work for about 2 -3 years before starting graduate school. honestly, i want to go to graduate school for the dnp because i want more control over decisions made for the patient, i want to make more of a difference in the nursing world, and i also want to make more money (dnp degree isn't cheap so this should be a motivation). i don't want to be under someone's thumb when it comes to making decisions for a plan of care (although there is always a boss no matter what). i have talked to other classmates that want more education only so they can "skip" the bedside work as an rn and go straight to the higher paying positions. i believe everyone has to start at the bottom and work there way up, i mean isn't that how you gain respect from your peers and subordinates???

this is exactly why i decided to do the cna course before starting ns, not only for the experience but i want to know what cna's go through on a daily basis so when it is time for me to delegate, i will have a better perspective. some of my friends discouraged me because they say it is "dirty work", i just think our society is "how can i make the most money, be most respected, and have the nicest material things, faster than anyone else??"

what about passion for nursing and making a difference in our generation?? what about furthering the nursing profession and making it stronger and more respected than it is right now???

i just don't get it..... when i meet other students that say "i want to go to nursing school so i can make a lot of money but i don't want to do the nasty stuff" i always tell them

"really? do you even give a crap about patient care? maybe you should change majors, try real estate or something......" lol

sorry for the long post but as a current student that feels passionate about nursing, this stuff just ticks me off.... :madface:

exactly!!! i am working as a cna for the same reasons! who do you respect on the job...the manager that has never gotten their hands "dirty" and has no clue or the one who always does...and...worked their way up. i agree that is how you advance- you work! it still amazes me that my aunt who has worked in hospitals for over 30 years as a physical therapist still does more "dirty cna" work than any new grad nurse she sees come and go daily!
why are people focused on other people's goals? let everyone be whatever they wish to be. let there be dreams to reach. not everyone needs to do bedside nursing!! if np, masters etc is what they are after then what's the issue? i like bedside, i don't blame anyone for not liking it so as its difficult and draining. i'm pro-dreams. and if i hear a new grad dream big, i feel joy for them because that's what they feel will make them happier or richer. so what?

amen!!! i came back to the board to get ideas for my own direction in nursing.

i can't believe the negativity, blaming, poor attiudes, and yes, harsh judgements of nurses on other nurses! new, old, student, manager....

new nurses have every right to do what they want with their careers.

guess what? they aren't making these choices based on their own imaginations. they are making them based what they see advertized to them by our culture.

when i do a job search, i see arnp after arnp position listed. very few entry-level or mid-level positions are there. what to work in psych? better have a msn. want to teach? you also need an master's degree.

interviewing or being evaluated? you had better be involved in some sort of higher education program, because if you aren't and say you just want to do the "bedside" job, you are a slacker. (my experience from one of my last interviews)

i agree with miller... focus on your own career.

As a new grad I will chime in here.

I took a job on a med surge floor. Bottom line is this, the modern hospital nursing job is very repititious.

Proving that I can shovel poop day in and day out for years at the bedside does nothing to prepare me to work as an FNP in a busy doctors office. Absolutely nothing.

No meds are passed at the docs office.

No IVs are started at the docs office.

No beds are made at the docs office.

No codes are run at the docs office (typically)

No bed baths are given at the docs office.

All modern bedside nursing teaches new grads is how to ignore call lights, how to become callous, how to chart creatively, and how to dread going to work.

Have you ever had an assessment by a bedside hospital nurse? It lasts about what 60 seconds? They move the stethoscope around ones chest so fast you cannot tell me they are hearing anything.

I would go as far as to say that bedside nursing diminishes ones assessment skills.....

So please, someone please reply with why bedside nursing is so critical on the resume of an FNP......

The NLNAC and the CCNE both say that an NP needs no bedside experience. I had a concversation with the dean of the FNP program at an esteemed Ivy League school and it was her sentiment that bedside nursing was a waste of time......

I know some new grads who have decided to go straight into a masters program after graduation. But I don't agree with it at all. I think you need experience as an RN before deciding to be an NP. This title implies experience and skill at a much higher level than what a new grad has. I believe an NP should be an expert (or close to one) in their field/specialty.

This could be one reason why many MD's view younger/newest crop of NPs with suspicion not often disdain. I mean if the concept behind NPs was to move well seasoned nurses who by virtue of vast clinical experience had a firm foundation to build an expanded role upon, what does that say about programs who admit students with nil to minimum such qualifications?

All modern bedside nursing teaches new grads is how to ignore call lights, how to become callous, how to chart creatively, and how to dread going to work.

Have you ever had an assessment by a bedside hospital nurse? It lasts about what 60 seconds? They move the stethoscope around ones chest so fast you cannot tell me they are hearing anything.

I would go as far as to say that bedside nursing diminishes ones assessment skills.....

Um...excuse me? You haven't started your job on the med/surg floor yet, have you?

Actually he has started as a med surg nurse...licensed 6/8/12, quit his first job 7/3/12.

LOL, because you can totally figure out what nursing's all about in a month. Dude barely got his feet wet. Guess what kiddos, what happens in nursing school is almost nothing like real life. If you're expecting it to be, you're going to be sorely disappointed in Every. Single. Job.

All modern bedside nursing teaches new grads is how to ignore call lights, how to become callous, how to chart creatively, and how to dread going to work.

Have you ever had an assessment by a bedside hospital nurse? It lasts about what 60 seconds? They move the stethoscope around ones chest so fast you cannot tell me they are hearing anything.

I would go as far as to say that bedside nursing diminishes ones assessment skills.....

Wow, as many years as I've spent at the bedside, it's darn lucky I ever catch my patients decompensating, considering how diminished my assessment skills must be by now. Good thing you're getting out with only a month as a nurse. You'll retain your amazing assessment skills and won't be burdened by the humility actual experience would give you.

As a new grad I will chime in here.

I took a job on a med surge floor. Bottom line is this, the modern hospital nursing job is very repititious.

All modern bedside nursing teaches new grads is how to ignore call lights, how to become callous, how to chart creatively, and how to dread going to work.

Have you ever had an assessment by a bedside hospital nurse? It lasts about what 60 seconds? They move the stethoscope around ones chest so fast you cannot tell me they are hearing anything.

I would go as far as to say that bedside nursing diminishes ones assessment skills.....

So please, someone please reply with why bedside nursing is so critical on the resume of an FNP......

I am sorry that you provide such poor care to your patients that you think bedside assessments are a waste of time. Your hospital sounds terrible.

Floor experience allows you to see what the result of your future orders will be. It is one thing to order something, it is another to actually carry out those orders and see the effects in acute detail.

Floor experience also allows a FNP to compensate for the concern that usually follows a FNP in that there is a lack of a sufficient residency. Floor experience is not a replacement for a residency but it certainly helps to compensate.

I think one of the reasons there are so many angry nurses is because people aren't doing what they want to do.

I don't encourage anyone to work bedside if the whole time they do it, they are angry and see it as a "waste of time". If you want to avoid bedside nursing at all costs, PLEASE do so. You are doing everyone a favor. There are enough miserable nurses. We don't need anymore. Good luck in grad school is what I say. When you graduate, I'll still be here at bedside. Catch you later. No hard feelings.

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