Been on my own for 1yr now, was an aide for 2. I am sick of hearing about openness to learning and inexperience. I work on a cardiac step down unit that has a plentiful mix of med-surg patients. A few of the more experienced nurses have commented that I shouldn't do this or that due to my experience level. I have NEVER made any sort of mistake on my floor (but sure I will) but have not yet, and receive more positive feedback from patients than most on my floor. I do ask a lot of questions just not of those who criticize my work (imagine that).
Point is this. Experience doesnt make you good at anything necessarily. Lotta people have been driving their whole lives and are still poor at it etc. Some of us can do in 1 yr what others may need 3 to accomplish.
A good nurse is about time management, foresight, understanding complexities of patient processes/meds, bedside rapport, and others. Experience isnt a guarantee that any of those things develop.
So to all you vets out there recognize the talent not the years. I know many of you feel like you gotta earn your stripes in this work. Maybe be more concerned with the environment you create by trying to exert your stripes.
A truly good nurse has all the attributes to be a good nurse far before they are a nurse. Born not made.
Let me clarify since you want to be so literal. I have never made a med error, never hurt a patient, never had a patient code, never had to call a MIT, never had to elevate to ICU. And also, I also stated that I will, but until that happens units should recognize when they have a good one on their hands.
How would I know this ? Well I suppose there would be evidence.
I know good nurses who are relatively inexperienced.
I know experienced nurses who aren't very good.
I don't know any good nurses who could claim to have gone a year without making a mistake.
Or, at least I didn't until you introduced yourself.
Being human, I know I am not immune from human error. So I look for my own mistakes. Really hard. And when I find them, I try to figure out why I made them, and prevent recurrence. I have no idea if I make more or fewer mistakes than some of my colleagues, but as you know, confirmation bias has a huge role in this process.
Regarding the evidence of your errors, had you made any mistakes in your first year of nursing-
Medication errors are not all that well understood, and difficult to study as they rely largely on self reporting. Regardless , expert consensus is that many errors go unnoticed.
Some patients decline despite excellent nursing. Some thrive despite crappy nursing. Prevalence of codes and ICU transfers may not be the best gauge of nursing skill. I am an ER nurse. A lot of my patients die, or get admitted to the ICU. More frequently than many of my peers. Percentage wise, I would guess I have a lousy average. Statistically speaking, if you are inexperienced, or seen by your charge and peers as being not all that competent, you probably have a better batting average than me. Maybe I really suck at this- after all, I know for a fact I make mistakes. OTOH, maybe charge nurses give me these challenging patients because of my abilities, not despite them.
In the field of psychology, the Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority comes from the inability of low-ability people to recognize their lack of ability; without the self-awareness of metacognition, low-ability people cannot objectively evaluate their actual competence or incompetence
Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.
Let me clarify since you want to be so literal. I have never made a med error, never hurt a patient, never had a patient code, never had to call a MIT, never had to elevate to ICU. And also, I also stated that I will, but until that happens units should recognize when they have a good one on their hands.
How would I know this ? Well I suppose there would be evidence.
Let me clarify since you want to be so literal. I have never made a med error, never hurt a patient, never had a patient code, never had to call a MIT, never had to elevate to ICU. And also, I also stated that I will, but until that happens units should recognize when they have a good one on their hands.
How would I know this ? Well I suppose there would be evidence.
Maybe you have never had a pt go to ICU because you have not been assigned the critically ill pts.
If you think experience makes you a good nurse then you are the one making a mistake.
Wow, just wow. If that is what you think, then I don't think there is much anyone can say or do to help you. I think hhern nailed it with the observation about Dunning-Krueger.
Nothing less than stellar about being a nurse. It's one of the most serving, fulfilling careers there are. I've left others that pay more. And I'll let you in on something. Nursing school starts after nursing school. Do a little research about new nurse fallout and you see that if you aren't built for this before school, you wont be one after.
Not my first time at the rodeo. At 41, I've done my research about burnout and what I was getting into when I made a career switch, but what does that matter? I wasn't BORN a nurse.
I was, however, born with empathy, and developed a good skillset of therapeutic communication, client education, and interpersonal/interdisciplinary communication in my 15 years working in mental health and public health.
But again, what does that matter? I wasn't BORN a nurse.
Good luck sorting out your jealousy issues. I'll be over here, still dying of laughter and looking for that "NURSE" stamp on my butt.
As a less experienced nurse, I always got the most stable patients with predictable outcomes. So your floor might be trying to support you as you develop in your nursing career. If you have loads of extra time, look around and offer to help someone else who's drowning. Pass meds for someone caught up in an admission. Walk ALL of your patients. Get them up to the Stryker chair. Bathe everyone, get their sheets changed and help with the totals. If you don't feel challenged, apply for a new job, but they might want a nurse with more, uh, experience.
Guest219794
2,453 Posts
I know good nurses who are relatively inexperienced.
I know experienced nurses who aren't very good.
I don't know any good nurses who could claim to have gone a year without making a mistake.
Or, at least I didn't until you introduced yourself.
Being human, I know I am not immune from human error. So I look for my own mistakes. Really hard. And when I find them, I try to figure out why I made them, and prevent recurrence. I have no idea if I make more or fewer mistakes than some of my colleagues, but as you know, confirmation bias has a huge role in this process.
Regarding the evidence of your errors, had you made any mistakes in your first year of nursing-
Medication errors are not all that well understood, and difficult to study as they rely largely on self reporting. Regardless , expert consensus is that many errors go unnoticed.
Some patients decline despite excellent nursing. Some thrive despite crappy nursing. Prevalence of codes and ICU transfers may not be the best gauge of nursing skill. I am an ER nurse. A lot of my patients die, or get admitted to the ICU. More frequently than many of my peers. Percentage wise, I would guess I have a lousy average. Statistically speaking, if you are inexperienced, or seen by your charge and peers as being not all that competent, you probably have a better batting average than me. Maybe I really suck at this- after all, I know for a fact I make mistakes. OTOH, maybe charge nurses give me these challenging patients because of my abilities, not despite them.
I am sure you know about the Dunning Kruger Effect.
As a reminder:
In the field of psychology, the Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority comes from the inability of low-ability people to recognize their lack of ability; without the self-awareness of metacognition, low-ability people cannot objectively evaluate their actual competence or incompetence