Is It Just Me?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

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?

Bedside nurses are looked at as the "factory" workers of the hospital. I didn't believe this until I was no longer a bedside RN and saw first hand how leadership percieves the bedside RN. So anyone who has the ambition and drive to complete nursing school it makes sense why they might not want to be at the bedside.

Specializes in Trauma ICU, Peds ICU.

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.

Yeah, what you said.

I knew I wanted to be a flight nurse, so I'm left my first nursing position (Adult ICU) after only three years to work in a Peds ICU. I'll probably only be at this position for a few years before moving on again, until I land the job I want and I'll stay put.

I got a lot of flak from people when I gave notice. Comments like, "Oh, that's all young new grads do these days, is come here for the experience and leave. There's no loyalty."

"To h^%$ with loyalty," I responded. "I don't suffer under the delusion that [our employer] wouldn't let me go in a New York minute if it suited them."

Not two weeks later the hospital announced mass layoffs due to chronic low census. Never mind our CEO made 8 million that year. Guess I made the right call, huh?

Yeah, employers can take their notion of loyalty and shove it, because that's a losing game.

Yeah, what you said.

I knew I wanted to be a flight nurse, so I'm left my first nursing position (Adult ICU) after only three years to work in a Peds ICU. I'll probably only be at this position for a few years before moving on again, until I land the job I want and I'll stay put.

I got a lot of flak from people when I gave notice. Comments like, "Oh, that's all young new grads do these days, is come here for the experience and leave. There's no loyalty."

"To h^%$ with loyalty," I responded. "I don't suffer under the delusion that [our employer] wouldn't let me go in a New York minute if it suited them."

Not two weeks later the hospital announced mass layoffs due to chronic low census. Never mind our CEO made 8 million that year. Guess I made the right call, huh?

Yeah, employers can take their notion of loyalty and shove it, because that's a losing game.

Truth to power. To the OP, I think you got your answer to your original question. I want to be loyal to employers, but the reality is, if I don't look out for my interests, no one else will.

Specializes in LTC, Acute care.

I'm of the belief that each nurse is diiferent and so has different motivations/drive that compels them to do what they see best with their career. There should not be only way of doing things just because we are nurses. If people want to pursue a path that makes them skip bedside nursing entirely, that's their choice and they shouldn't be made to feel as if they are lesser nurses.

Personally, I'd like to be a bedside nurse for a long time even when I have advanced degrees just because I love interacting with patients, and teaching them. The next nurse might not share my opinion and that does not make him/her any less of a nurse as long they remain professional and responsible, and strive to be the best they can be.

Specializes in kids.
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......

Dude, seriously?!?!?

The ability to look listen and feel is honed at the bedside....walking into a room and knowing a pt is in trouble.....spending time with folks as you change their dressings, teach them about their meds...you better believe that is important!!! You need to have a working knowledge of A and P and how meds, food, complience and non complience plays a role in a persons well being

Specializes in Psychiatric nursing.

I graduated in 2010 from a diploma program for my RN. I want to go back to school for my bachlors degree eventually, but right now I want to gain some bedside experience. I work in 30 bed psych unit based out of a 400 bed medical hospital and I love my job right now. I don't know if I really want to ever get into management or anything like that.

Specializes in Med Surg.

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.....

Just because you aren't doing your job well by only doing 60 second assessments doesn't mean bedside nurses are incompetent.

How exactly did you decide that bedside nursing is terrible, and essentially irrelevant, in 30 days? That's not long enough to even begin to understand your new job, yet you managed to discard the work of hundreds of thousands of nurses in that short time frame?

If this is the kind of disdain you showed for your coworkers, it's no wonder you weren't able to make it a month in your new job.

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......

How VERY offensive to those med surg nurses whose assessments have transfered patients to the holy grail ICU, where the real heros can save them all. Every job , human EXISTANCE, can teach you- creative/defensive sharting/storytelling, jade you or make you callous, dread going to work dread life. anything . This is not exclusive to bedside nursing. (although the call light part might be, but I have seen customers ignored in many places ).

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

decided sentiments were already expressed by others

There's nothing wrong with deciding early on that you want to eventually get a master's degree as long as you're willing to put in the years of hard work in school and on the job that will get you there. My problem with people wanting to go straight for advanced practice is that they're deluded (egged on by schools making a lot of money of these programs) if they think they'll be hired as a nurse practitioner without at least a number of years of work experience first.

Turnover of new nurses is a separate issue from people wanting to get advanced degrees. I've only been working as an RN (med surg) about a year and I've seen quite a bit of turnover. Hospitals hiring new grads who then leave within 4-6 months are losing time and money training these people. Perhaps there should be a team of HR professionals and nurse managers to look at this issue and work out a plan to better attract and identify the right candidates and retain them long term.

Specializes in ER.

What I see:

There are lots of people who obtain an RN license so they can advance along the food chain; I personally don't think this is a bad thing for nursing. I think it attracts intelligent people to the profession who might otherwise use their skills to advance into a PA role without contributing anything bedside.

I will admit that its my tendency to think that your skills develop better if you are bedside first then advance before you go to graduate school. You really just don't know what you don't know that first year. I also think that a lot of nursing IS routine low level waitressing type stuff. You really are just waiting around to soak up some more assessment skills or learn a clinical pathology you haven't seen before, etc. sometimes.

There are lots of other people who become disillusioned with their bedside career quickly based on the bad working conditions and so so paychecks (though I note that the NPs I know don't really make more money as an NP). They then quickly try to go to graduate school.

I see it as a significant problem in nursing but I think ultimately it is up to nursing leadership both locally and nationally to convince these folks (both types!) that bedside nursing is a great career for them.

I can understand why new nurses don't want to do bedside nursing for long. Admit it, we get treated like crap. Most other professions would not put up with what we do. High patient loads, low pay, bad hours, mandatory overtime, working holidays, weekends, and rude doctors are just a few reasons. I have an associate degree, and I have seriously considered going back to school. But when I think about it, I also think I will be spending A LOT more money just to have a lot more stress. I really don't have any interest in being an NP. I have thought about getting my masters to teach, but I wouldn't really be making any more money than I do now. I may go back for my BSN, but right now I'll just stick with bedside.

+ Add a Comment