Is there any nursing job that'll make $30,000+/yr for the FIRST job?

nursemike, ASN, RN · Aug 14, 2006

I hear you, and don't disagree an iota. Mostly where I was going with that post was that there sometimes *IS* something about a person that the instructors know makes them less desirable as a nurse. I'm not so sure I'd say it was "indefinable", either. For instance, I recall a former classmate who was so very unsure of herself where skill evals and clinicals were involved. If you asked her to tell you her NAME, I think she'd give you one answer, then another, then declare she had to look it up . Obviously I'm being facetious, but that's the idea anyway.
She really had so little confidence in what she was doing that although she eventually DID it correctly (if left alone), she could very easily be swayed to an incorrect conclusion and it would take so long for her to make that decision it was just....too long. She was dismissed weeks from the end of the program. She just couldn't demonstrate the level of assuredness, competency that was expected by that point. You could say it was "undefined", but really, it wasn't. She passed all her tests, passed the perfunctory evals, but when it came right down to it, you wouldn't want her as your beloved's nurse.
Sometimes, too, it goes the other way. Like a student who didn't get past second semester because of the opposite problem: arrogance. This person was so sure she knew everything, she was also a problem. Did she pass tests? Yep. Did she pass skill evaluations? Yep. But she blindly charged forth, more certain of her own abilities than she should have been, with less than desirable results. Patients disliked her, floor staff disliked her, classmates avoided her, and well....eventually she was just deemed "unsafe".
I'm very glad that for you and your friend, you didn't fall into those categories. I believe a good instructor will know the difference between someone who is different from the crowd and will be a good nurse anyway and someone who is just different in the wrong ways and....won't be.

Can't argue with that. Of course, every step should be taken to correct the flaw through instruction. Given the high level of anxiety I've experienced, at times, I'm particularly sympathetic to others so afflicted, but I do think that is probably more correctable than arrogance or laziness. And if my instructors and program are any indication, I'm sure most educators do try to counsel and correct.

Nor would I deny that, ultimately, some people have no business being nurses. I do hesitate to draw that conclusion about anyone looking at nursing out of self-interest. I'm all for self-interest, as long as it's enlightened self-interest, which to my thinking includes recognizing times one has a duty higher than to onesself. Call it karma or whatever, there are many times in life when what's best for me in the long run may not be what looks the best in the short run. I firmly believe that simple truth can go a long way toward forming a nursing ethic.

For example, one night when a patient of mine inadvertantly snagged her IV site and pulled it out, it didn't fit at all well with my immediate plans. In the short term, starting a new IV site didn't seem to be in my interest, but I assured her that I understood that accidents happen, and, "Besides, I need the practice..." In the long run, starting a new site was good for me