Its night shift and this is where my brain is going. Just some fun at 3AM...
What are some common misconceptions and/or truths about your specialty, or that you have about other specialties?
For example, people often think in the NICU we just hold, cuddle and feed babies all day. Maybe in a level 2 unit, but many of our babies are so small, fragile or sick that we don't even touch them unless absolutely necessary. Also, I think there is a thought that NICU nurses are all sugar, spice and everything nice....when in reality NICU nurses have some of the darkest humor I've seen and are savage as hell LOL
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
Ortho is "hard" lots of physical pushing and pulling and lifting-no "real" nursing. Or that they are a bunch of pain med seekers.
Ortho is amazing!! There is a lot to keep people safe. We have to deal with all the medical comorbidities of the older population. Another plus is that most are not "sick" they have had a surgical procedure and are really nice people to talk to. They almost all go home quickly.
Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.
Myth- Psych is for those who don't want to deal with feces, urine, or blood.
Truth - we may not deal with as often - but when we do there is a good chance it is on the ceiling and the walls and EVERYWHERE - possibly being used as finger paint or possibly part of a serious emergency.
Myth: Psych nurses don't do "real" nursing.
Truth: In many settings you have huge latitude to work to full scope of nursing practice and more opportunities to utilize clinical judgement, nursing assessment, and psychoeducation skills than you may have in other settings. (Even if there isn't quite as much hands on medical care in many psych settings.... that being said I've still done lab draws, removed stitches, changed colostomy bags AND have had to rapidly triage life-threatening acute medical crises in psych world - where we don't have a rapid response team to call for help and are often the ONLY RN on site -- so medical skills do get some work out).
Specializes in Oncology, ID, Hepatology, Occy Health.
Oncology is people dying of cancer. You never deal with emergencies. They are all not for resus.
The reality is that oncology is a very acute speciality indeed. Many of our patients are very unstable while still being perfectly viable for resuscitation. Some have an extremely good prognosis, and those who don't may have a period of reasonably good quality life to go before being labelled "palliative" hence not for resus.
You will deal with septic shock, respiratory distress, cardiac arrythmia, intestinal obstruction, acute renal failure, acute pleural and pericardial effusions, PEs, acute neurological decompensation, endocrine crises, bleeds, sometimes horrendous side-effects from chemo, radiotherapy, curietherapy and immunotherapy. You will run for the crash trolley, put out the crash call and transfer many patients to ICU.
Yes, you'll talk to patients and families and make people comfortable in their dying hours, but you'll also do alot more than that. My acute nursing skills have never been so challenged.
It had to be. We were kicked out of the hospitals/clinics during clinical rotations due to the COVID-19 situation, so they came up with other solutions for a certain number of hours that would be allowed to be done by certain simulation scenarios. The rest were rearranged to be picked up by adding those rotation hours into other semesters. It's been a huge mess. I'm actually glad I'm going to a school that's not entirely online-focused and has had other opportunities for learning for us.
mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN
3,320 Posts
Ortho is "hard" lots of physical pushing and pulling and lifting-no "real" nursing. Or that they are a bunch of pain med seekers.
Ortho is amazing!! There is a lot to keep people safe. We have to deal with all the medical comorbidities of the older population. Another plus is that most are not "sick" they have had a surgical procedure and are really nice people to talk to. They almost all go home quickly.