I'm an OLD nurse, graduated from a BSN program 25 years ago. I see these posts about "my teacher did this" or "I want to be a nurse but....I don't want to do L&D etc", or "I got a new job but I will be charge nurse can I do it?" or "Why do nurses eat their young?" or "Am I being discriminated against?" on and on and on.....
I went to a 4 year college. My first year I did general classes that would lead me to nursing school, math, biology, chemistry, nutrition, psyc and human development etc...then the spring of my freshman year I applied to nursing school 72 were chosen out of 400.
My sophomore year in college it was game on, anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pharmacology, nursing 101, 102 (or whatever they were called) and some nursing clinical. We started out in a lab learning vital signs, making beds, general stuff I'd call CNA stuff..then quickly moved to a nursing home where we did those skills on real patients.
By the end of that year we were taking care of 1-2 hospital patients on a general medicine or med-surg or ortho floor during clinical hours. This was the days before computers. Our instructor would go on to the floor the day before and assign us 1-2 patients and that evening before clinical we would have to go to the floor and pour through the meds, the chart, the kardex and go home and prepare (pre-planning..we called it)...we had to have care plans ready, med cards ready (no cell phones to look up meds we had to look them up in a book and write them down on index cards) We had to have a plan and know how we were going to care for that patient, and we had to have in depth nursing care plans ready to go by 7am the next morning.
When we gave meds we had to have our instructor present, or sometimes the nurse overseeing the patient could watch, we had to chart, we had to do it. If you came to clinical without a starched white ironed uniform you were sent home. If you came unprepared you were sent home. If you had dirt under your fingernails you were sent home. If your shoes were not white enough you were sent home.. By junior year we were seeing 3-4 patients on a regular floor and less of course in specialty rotations.
We asked to do new things we had never done... If I had never inserted a foley I'd say to the nurses during morning conference, "If anyone has a foley/injection etc today could you let me know, I need the practice". It was a teaching hospital, they were good to help out. I practiced starting my first IVs and IM/SQ injections on each other in class and then got a little more practice in anatomy lab (we had human corpses in anatomy lab)...
We rotated through peds, psch, L&D, Ortho, OR, and ICUs that year. Our senior year was more to get us prepared; first semester I had to work with a nurse in the community for 24 hours a week, keep a journal and meet with her and my instructor weekly. I chose home health. Since she worked 8-5 I had to work 24 hours a week with her 8-5 that semester and work my other classes around that. Of course it was like with any other job in the beginning she did, I observed but by the end of the semester I was expected to be able to see her caseload, do all the necessary documentation and do what she did.
My second semester I had to pick something in the hospital, I chose peds. I worked with a nurse on the floor, again in the beginning I watched, then gradually she piled them on. I remember one day coming across a new med and I stopped to look it up, she asked me what I was doing and I told her...she told me "You have to become more efficient at this business because you can't be wasting all my time like this"...I was scared of her, but I learned so much, she taught me how to chart, how to give meds, carry a patient caseload.. I worked 8 hour nights with her again 24 hours a week was the assignment...I had to keep that journal and have weekly meetings with her and my instructor. OH and by the way in the last month of clinical if she was in charge...I was in charge...Of course she was always there to back me up for everything and she had to watch me get meds ready to give, I had to tell her how I was going to give them, and if it were IV meds or IVP meds she had to be present.
I guess what I'm saying is I don't know how nursing schools operate these days, but I hear so much whining and complaining on these nursing threads...and nurses are afraid of the new grads because they don't know anything...when I graduated after a 2 week orientation at my new hospital (I started out in peds) I was ready to take on my own assignment of 6 patients. After 6-8 months I was confident as a charge nurse. What's happening to our nursing schools and how nurses are educated?
Is it that there are so many more meds and technology has advanced so much after 25 years that it's not possible any more? Don't get me wrong...nursing school was 4 years of HELL..we didn't have computers, I had to type my papers on a old electric typewriter, I had to spend lots of time with my nose in books researching and learning...but it seems we have a different caliber of nurses coming out of nursing schools these days..Or do we?? Am I missing the mark? I'm just curious...
too much common sense health promotion. need to be learning more scientific aspects like more A&P, patho, etc. also, if i did not work on a cardiac floor, i would be graduating without knowing how to interpret an EKG strip :uhoh21:.
Had a couple of nursing instructors who graduated from the old diploma, live-in-the-hospital type nursing programs. Maybe this was just an exaggeration or I misheard, but they made it sound like hospitals used nursing students as cheap substitutes for "real" nurses. At night, you had entire m/s units staffed with nursing students (RNs) and maybe a couple of relatively more experienced LPNs. Definitely not a scenario that you would see today...
My BSN program was the same. I was often up until 1-2am in the morning doing the prep work, to be up by 5am. All written work from research in textbooks. I was caring for 3 patients last year on a Stepdown unit, and now in my final year am caring for almost a full load complex med-surg patients. I think you are focusing on the wrong types of students. I go to school with many high calibre colleagues. I respect my fellow students and teachers. And I have had many awesome preceptors who have set an amazing example for me.
And I resent when people mock my generation. There are many ungrateful and lazy people in all generations. I never had anything handed to me, and I am glad for it. The world owes me nothing, and armed with this information, I have really taken hold of a lot of opportunities and have a realistic view of this world. You have to prove yourself in order to earn respect. I have not yet proven myself as a nurse, thus I do not expect to be handed everything on a silver platter. So please be considerate of those of us younger folks in the trenches. I really look up to and admire those old school nurses who have been doing this a long time. They have knowledge and experience that I do not.
Just a thought as well. Our "generation" is taught in this way (to only learn to pass tests) not because of our attitudes and want it all now behavior but because of the older generations in management and higher positions making it that way! This is how it's been since I was a kid in elementary school. We are taught to pass exams, period. You think as a 7 yr old to now 24 yr old I, or anyone in my generation, could have done something to change it? If it's different now it's because of YOUR generation. Just my two cents :)
As a current student graduating in December, this is interesting to me. I'd hate to think that I as a new grad would have a harder time finding a job simply because the nursing school that I paid good money for and gave up years of my life for has so ill-prepared me to take on a real job that a hospital is scared to take me on, because they think I am gonna need a ton of more training that I should have graduated school with. I do hope this is not true, cuz if it is, I am screwed! Guess we'll have to wait and see...
My instructors have all started out as LPNs, and all except one currently hold their Masters degree. I absolutely love them, they all have had a lot of experience on the floor, in many different specialty's, and some in several states. They have all been the greatest instructors, and while they do prepare us for the NCLEX they are awesome about telling us what nursing is like in the real world. I think the quality of students depends on so much these days.... What kind of school did they attend, what kind of Instructors did they have, what were their clinical sites like, did they have the permission to do a decent amount of hands-on work to get them familiarized with real life, or did they have to do more watching? Then too, the generation gap is a huge thing! I am 22, but my parents are in their early 70's, and they raised me the old-fashioned way. I was taught to work, and to want to make a sucess of myself. I know that nothing worth having comes easy, and I am paying my own way through college. Nothing has been handed to me! However, in my class, the other students who are near my age are quite frankly, very blond at times, and seem to have little common sense. They do not want to get their hands dirty, and are going through school to make sure that they don't have to wipe butts the rest of their days. their college is being paid for them, or else they are being helped a great deal. they don't appreciate the opportunity they have. The "older" people in my class appreciate the chances they have to get experience, they don't argue with their instructors or nurses. They get out there and work, show some initiative. I think that the way the America today has raised her young people has created this mess. We live in a instant gratification world, where kids and parents alike often seem to think that they are entitled to something just because they want it. They don't show iniative and confidence as new grads on the job, because, #1, they've never had too, and #2, they dont see why they should have to put themselves out. Granted, this is a sweeping generalization, based on the majority of my peers that I see, and I know that not all are this way. Most of them are though.
One (or two) last things, then I'll get off my soapbox, but I'll give you a case-in-point. During clinicals, the first few weeks and months when all we had checked off on was "CNA stuff" I had to do vitals. I have been a CNA for 3 years now, so no biggie. My partner and I did them, and were finished by 10:00 am. My instructor was busy at the moment and had never given me another assignment. So I asked one of my classmates what he had done the time that he had done vitals. Did he do an assessment, help with baths, or what? He told me that he "just walked around, looked busy, maybe got a chart out so he would look busy so she wouldn't bother him with something else to do." Keep in mind that he is around 25 yrs. old. Friday we were at clinical again, and we had to do assessments, and he tagged along with 2 others, did not help with assessments, and charted his assessments on the data the others had gathered. With someone so unwilling to put themselves out to do what they consider to be the "boring" or "dirty" work, do you expect them to do well at a new job? Also, I honestly feel that some of the younger generation who has grown up with TV, reality shows, computer games, and less and less real work or even "real school" have very little common sense. Yesterday we had a test in Basic Nursing. One of the Q's had to with how we would help keep someone from developing "Compartment Syndrome" if they had a cast on their left leg. The answer choices were to a) elevate leg and ice it, b) elevate leg and cover with bath blanket, c) lay foot horizontal and use heater to help harden cast, or d) lower leg and ice it. When we went over the test in class outr instructor was like, "it's obvious that either a or b had to be the answer cuz you would never do the other two." One of my classmates spoke up, and said that she would have said ice and elevate, but wouldn't the ice melt and get the cast wet? and aren't we supposed to keep the cast dry? Our instuctor looked at her (somehow with a straight face) told her that he would use an ice pack, or ziplock bag to put the ice in. She was like, " duh! If I'd have thought of a ziplock bag I'd have got the right answer!" Then she said in a whisper to the girl sitting next to her that she also would have put to elevate leg and cover with bath blanket, but again, the bath blanket would've gotten the cast wet and she didn't think we were supposed to do that. I sat and wondered if there was no common sense left in this world.
Not to make myself sound better than anyone else, I do stupid stuff too, and I get scared and nervous at the thought of being in charge of pt.s all by myself the first while too. I am not so much smarter than the rest of my class, but I believe that I have an advantage in that I was raised by parents of a different generation, I was raised poor, and was raised to work hard for what I want, and that you have to be confident in yourself, that you have to be willing to get in and do whatever is required of you, and to go above what is required. My parents never had a TV, and I never watched TV at all untill I was around 18, and then only if I visited my siblings. My parents still don't have TV, and I still don't watch it. Instead, we traveled extensively, I saw a lot of country, got a lot of good learning experiences without realizing it. The books I was allowed to read growing up were good wholesome ones that I daresay most kids these days would barely be able to understand because their education level is no where near the same now as it was 20 years ago. I learned a lot by reading, and I read a lot because we had nothing else to entertain us and if we were bored Mom would put us to work. Now all those seemingly useless books I read have come back and helped me, because I am used to big words, I enjoy reading, and I actually can understand and comprehend what my textbooks say. There is a generation gap, and while I do feel we probably have a lot more to learn now in our time at school than those who graduated 20+ years ago did, simply because of the huge advances in medicine and technology, I think it depends greatly on the student themselves as to how they will be able to handle their first several days/weeks/months/years on the job.
Sorry for the letter, I just got on a soapbox of mine, and could barely get down.
I will get on my soapbox just for a few minutes. I have been a nurse for 5 years. I have always loved taking care of people. Nursing school was an experience I would not wish on my worst enemy but it was well worth it. I think there are a lot of differences between nursing school and the profession of nursing compared to 25 years ago. Basically the nurse has to do everyones job including the MD, pharmacy, and everybody else. We must be on top of everything to keep our patients alive and as a nurse that is what we signed up for I get that. But basically we call the docs and give them orders, we have to make suggestions, and hold everyone's hand. You have to come out of the gate ready. I have recently left the hospital setting, I love taking care of patients but the drive by nursing care, kicking patients out the door before they have recovered knowing they would be back by the time your shift starts in the am was too much for me. I want to help people get better or assist them through whatever transition, they are going through. I have since ventured in to home health. It's amazing how much information you can share with a patient when you can focus your attention on one person. It is also interesting to see a patient on Coumadin and Lovenox and it appears that the teaching was lacking. I could go on and on, but anyway. I know how it is trying to discharge a patient, give pain meds to another, and admitting another, and try to keep the other two breathing all in the blink of an eye. I am about quality not quantity. I agree nursing is hard in any era, but many things in nursing come with experience and someone taking the time to share knowledge. Instead of being negative take a moment to help a fellow nurse, because someone will have to care for you at some point.
I just graduated from nursing school, and I have to say that during the process my school did all that it could to wean out the "weak" or those who can't handle the course load and material.
I started out with 140 students and at the end 20 (yes 2....0) graduated from the program, and everyday for 3 years straight I cried my heart out..
My drive to completing nursing school had more to do with my desire to really help people, and less to do with the crap that they were so determined to put ALL of us through.
That is not to say that I am not traumatized....I have decided to stay out of the hospital setting.
And I know what you are thinking...I can hear you yelling it through the screen.."But you have to do 8 years of Med-Surg in order to be truly experienced"..yes I have heard that a zillion times.
But my desire to avoid hospitals COMPLETELY stems from a few things:
1. Lateral Violence...I honestly don't want to be in a position where someone's life is in my hands, and I have other nurse's knives in my neck. Its not fair to the patient and I love myself enough to NOT go through that.
2. Its not WHAT you know, its WHO you know.....the way things look in New York City hospitals, I don't think Jesus himself could obtain a position without handing his resume to a person that can "get him in"
3. My clinical rotation in a hospital in Brooklyn with a very seasoned RN (who volunteered to take a student mind you)...crippled me so much, that I vow never to step foot in a hospital again...
I just graduated in December with the second highest GPA in my class and I do not feel one bit ready to be a nurse on my own. This is not because of entitlement or for lack of trying. I studied my butt off and our clinical tools (paperwork) consisted of 25-35 pages of care plans and research (it was very common to pull an all-nighter the night before it was due). I can tell you everything you'd want to know about a disease, but have no clue how to put an NG tube in (unless you count the 15 minutes of putting one into a manequin). I've also only put one foley in. Is this the nursing students fault that there was no opportunity (if indeed that nursing student asked for any and all opportunities to practice skills)? The hospital we did our clinicals at had a plethora of schools to accommodate. The nurses on the floor (not all, but most: in my experience) were not very kind to the students and didn't make it an easy learning environment (I understand their frustration with having to share computers and machines to give meds etc). We had 8 students to one frazzled clinical instructor and the most patients we'd be assigned (even in our final semester) was two. I hope that one day when I am an experienced nurse...I will remember what it is like to be a novice nurse and take the time to take a new nurse under my wing. The better the nurses are that work around you, the easier your job will be. (This comment is not directed to the OP...just an observation I've made on these threads referring to nurses eating their own!) I was in a very good program and am confident that everyone in my class (except 1) passed the NCLEX and mostly with only 75 questions however there are only a handful (those with prior CNA or LPN experience) who are actually ready to be a nurse.
The original poster's nursing school experience doesn't sound that much different from mine except you were given many more patients than I was. I'd like to know if the nurses just graduating 25 years ago had the amount of responsibility and skill set required of nurses today? Did you have to know the amount of drugs that we have to know in two years or have they been added during your career and therefore more easily learned? Possibly these are some differences.
I am waiting to hear if I am accepted into nursing school and frankly these posts scare me. If what I am reading is correct, I will not know how to be a nurse once I am through school. I will know how to pass a test. I want to be able to have a patient load that I can manage and I want to feel confident that I will not kill a patient.
I did say no more....I had taken students out for years, I have been in home health for 20 of my 25 years of nursing experience. I don't know what students are learning in nursing schools. I went to a University that had a University hospital and I believe that we were the ONLY nursing school that practiced at that hospital, so we were able to get experience with skills if we asked. Not the plethora of nursing schools that flood the hospitals like you guys are saying. I know you may think I'm hard core for not taking any other student after that, but she whined, she cried...I had to accompany her to my employee health, then her school health, then go draw blood on the patient...I had 6 more patients to see and it was after 3 pm before I got done with the student. I struggled to see the patients from 330-10 pm to finally end a horrible day. I just would have thought that a month before graduation from a 4 year nursing school that at least you would have learned to NEVER recap a needle or if you do use the scoop method. I've had some WONDERFUL nursing students that would pick patients and do teaching projects and really rocked it out. But REALLY after the experience with the whining girl and how bad her finger hurt, and could we stop and get ice to put it in...drive 45 miles to my office, she cried when they drew her blood...it was just dramatic for me... I had been doing it for years and decided it was time for me to pass the duties down to other nurses. I want nursing students to have good experiences and I realized I was becoming the old cranky bat that everyone would fear :) so while I sound like a b###h I am....sorry...That was one of the FIRST things they taught me in nursing school, and I even went to nursing school BEFORE HIV was a diagnosis....no recapping of needles was still taught...I couldn't believe she didn't know better..but it was really her drama over the whole thing that did me in...
I give it to you nursing students today...KUDOS you have many more challenges...the patients I see in home health today would have been in an ICU when I started nursing school...I spend my days teaching patients, helping patients, 1 on 1 in homecare, sure there are challenges, but it's what I've done for the last 20 years and it's in my blood. Since I'm not exposed to nursing students any more, and I don't read the nursing student threads here, unless they carry over to a general nursing discussion..I just thought I'd ask what was being taught, and I see now that it's more competitive, and teaching to pass the nclex instead of teaching students NURSING is a little alarming to me, but to be honest...I doubt I could pass the NCLEX today.
I like some of the older posters grew up very poor, had to work for what I got and nothing in life is owed to me...I am not better than anyone, and I tend to shy away from people that feel they are better than me. I didn't know what was being taught in nursing school today because I am far removed...just read some posts and get a little baffled.I do understand that the acuity on patient is much higher now, because it even is in home health, there are many more meds, many more machines,many more tests...it grows by leaps and bounds...that is partly why CEUS are required and keeping updated in your scope of practice...so nursing school must be harder... I would chose a school that taught me how to be a nurse and not worry about the results of the test...the test answers should be obvious if you know the proper way to care for the patient... but I no nothing about what kind of questions the nclex asks these days. Hince my original post, I was not trying to cause a feud, I was just curious...I'm not better than any other nurse...I work hard to do my job and do it well and provide excellent patient care. I am proud of the job that I do.
Sorry for the ones I made upset about the 1 needle stick...but I felt that was safety 101 and she failed miserably...but her dramatic actions all day afterward is what really spoiled if for me...if she had been an adult and handled it better I might not have felt the same way...
sedation_season
11 Posts
in BSN program.
too much common sense health promotion. need to be learning more scientific aspects like more A&P, patho, etc. also, if i did not work on a cardiac floor, i would be graduating without knowing how to interpret an EKG strip :uhoh21:.
my