New Grads Today v. New Grads From Years Ago

Nurses New Nurse

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I am currently a Junior nursing student (I will graduating next year). I read posts in the New Grad section of this website & always come across people saying how difficult nursing is when you start out. I read their frustrations and I get worried because almost everyone states how they have panic attacks, dread going in to work, and feel like they have no support from the other employees on the floor.

I wanted to pose a question for new grads and the more experienced nurses out there. My professors bring up in class about how the 'patient' has changed over the years, and in class today, one prof. made a good point that "Only the sickest of the sick are in the hospital, and everyone else is at home". People today are experiencing more chronic diseases at a younger age.

Do you more experienced nurses (nurse for 10, 20, maybe 30 years) feel like you've struggled as a new graduate? Do you feel as though the conditions that patients suffer with have increased with difficulty over the years? And finally, if you didn't particularly 'struggle' working as a new grad, do you think that the increasing complexity of patient issues are overwhelming new grads today?

New grads, what are the factors at work that make you feel as though you are sinking, so to speak? What can you do to improve upon those problems, if they are under your control?

Is there any particular area (oncology, med-surg, ED, ICU, etc) that you feel specifically challenging and difficult?

Just curious. I would like to have an idea on the thoughts of seasoned nurses and new grads. Thank you in advance.:redbeathe

as others have stated:

1. nursing is like anything else, the more u do it, the better u get

2. patients are sicker, but the technology we work with is better too

newbie nurses in general are smarter than newbie nurses from 10, 20, 30 yrs ago, it doesn't mean they're wiser or have more common sense though (that's were the newbies baffle me at times, b/c nursing is mostly about common sense).

i do think newbs of today have less real world and working experience though. way too many have NEVER had a job before or supported themselves. i think this is were many of the newbie nurse problems really stem from.

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Specializes in Oncology.
as others have stated:

1. nursing is like anything else, the more u do it, the better u get

2. patients are sicker, but the technology we work with is better too

newbie nurses in general are smarter than newbie nurses from 10, 20, 30 yrs ago, it doesn't mean they're wiser or have more common sense though (that's were the newbies baffle me at times, b/c nursing is mostly about common sense).

i do think newbs of today have less real world and working experience though. way too many have NEVER had a job before or supported themselves. i think this is were many of the newbie nurse problems really stem from.

Do you feel like its necessary/beneficial to have hospital experience (CNA/PCT positions, nurse externships, etc) before beginning a job as a new grad? Or is it important to have any real-world working experience?

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Specializes in Oncology.

& how long have you been in nursing?

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
as others have stated:

1. nursing is like anything else, the more u do it, the better u get

2. patients are sicker, but the technology we work with is better too

newbie nurses in general are smarter than newbie nurses from 10, 20, 30 yrs ago, it doesn't mean they're wiser or have more common sense though (that's were the newbies baffle me at times, b/c nursing is mostly about common sense).

i do think newbs of today have less real world and working experience though. way too many have NEVER had a job before or supported themselves. i think this is were many of the newbie nurse problems really stem from.

Really? You have data to support that comment, I'm sure.

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This is such a painful subject, for everyone involved. The older nurse think the newbies are dumb, the new grads think the older nurse eat thier young...etc.

Here is my take.

Hospital pt.s are sicker than ever before, what is now delineated to be MS was an ICU pt. 2 years ago.

New nurses are woefully undertrained. I have seen AS seniors walk onto a unit prepared to do nothing except "shadow" a nurse with a "really interesting renal pt." Why? The student has no clue, except that it's what her instructor said.

What happened to before the shift assignments, students doing research, reading and coming fully prepared to take care of a pt., including knowing his dx, meds, scheduled tx's and labs, as well as having a clue as to WHY they were ordered?

If you don't have practice RN scenarios, how well can you function in the real world?

THIS is why new grads are resented, and THIS is why new grads think older nurses eat their young.

We have certain expectations of you, newbies, and YOU think we are "mean" when we look at you crossseyed when you tell us, "Oh yeah, that wound has been bleeding all day, but I just reinforced the dressing 4 times."

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Do you feel like its necessary/beneficial to have hospital experience (CNA/PCT positions, nurse externships, etc) before beginning a job as a new grad? Or is it important to have any real-world working experience?

Darn skippy it is!

The more you know about hospital routine and culture, the better you will be able to interact and collaberate with the 12 OTHER people who are ALSO caring for your pt. on a daily basis.

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newbie nurses in general are smarter than newbie nurses from 10, 20, 30 yrs ago ...

That's certainly not been my experience ... Do you have some evidence to support that statement??

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care, Cardiac, EMS.
That's certainly not been my experience ... Do you have some evidence to support that statement??

Why, it's because we didn't have all that technological know-how and all them fancy gizmos and whiz-bangs, don't ya know? We actually were forced to do drug calculations on *gasp* paper - with a (horrors!) pencil and calculator - or even worse, in our heads!!! And figuring out drip rates without smart pumps? Geeze. We even had to call for orders on phones that had rotary dials!

I mean, if we didn't know how to run all of that technology - iPhones, BlackBerry, smart pumps, etcetera - well, we were just so underprivileged and undereducated - we just must have been not quite as smart, right?

I remember working in the ER after my field time as a Paramedic - did the drug calculation in my head and the drip rate with my watch and Mark I eyeball - the nurse I was working with looked at me like I was a dinosaur. But my math was right ... and I still do my own math - even with medical calculator apps and smart pumps.

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

I think there is probably a lot of variation due to each person's unique personality and the "personality" of the first job they take - but even so I really don't remember feeling that the older nurses wanted to see us fail, or our peers tried to sabotage us (I started out with about 4 new grads at the time on our unit).

Sometimes I felt I was being growled at for things like asking too late in the shift for my lunch break (now??? it's almost time to go home!!!!) New nurses are slower, OK? They wouldn't offer to help, but if you asked for it you got it. I had one manager I absolutely adored. If I asked her about something and she wasn't busy, she would just take me in and we'd do it together, her explaining her tidbits of experience and having me in awe about how smoothly she did things.

I had an anxiety attack every day as I walked past the volunteers by the door and headed to the elevators taking me to my floor, which was what you'd call an ICU stepdown today, but it does get better with time. You have to suit up and show up, as they say-- and it will get better. A little fear can be a healthy thing! It's when you've done something thousands of times you'll have to catch the tendency for your mind to wander.

Yes, patients are sicker-- or rather the average hospital stay for anything has been cut to the bare bone, so if you have 6 patients now there will not be a few who's last few days are spent smiling and walking around in their robe and scuffy slippers just there for obervation, advancing the diet and patient education.

That is so stressful - it makes assignments more difficult and the nurse never really gets to see the patient get better before they are shipped out to a less acute unit or sent home. What we do have now that we didn't then, is the technology allowing us to see what is going on inside someone faster and with more accuracy than previously, a huge plus that offsets the increased acuity to a degree anyway.

I read here pretty frequently talking about the "handmaiden" era of 30 years ago, but we were way out of that by then! In fact, I think nurses have suffered in the respect given us by the public and related healthcare disciplines, despite the efforts of the academic theorists. They seem not to have noticed the increasing corporatization of hospitals that have resulted in an actual lack of respect from the public at large.

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I am currently a Junior nursing student (I will graduating next year). I read posts in the New Grad section of this website & always come across people saying how difficult nursing is when you start out. I read their frustrations and I get worried because almost everyone states how they have panic attacks, dread going in to work, and feel like they have no support from the other employees on the floor.

I wanted to pose a question for new grads and the more experienced nurses out there. My professors bring up in class about how the 'patient' has changed over the years, and in class today, one prof. made a good point that "Only the sickest of the sick are in the hospital, and everyone else is at home". People today are experiencing more chronic diseases at a younger age.

Do you more experienced nurses (nurse for 10, 20, maybe 30 years) feel like you've struggled as a new graduate? Do you feel as though the conditions that patients suffer with have increased with difficulty over the years? And finally, if you didn't particularly 'struggle' working as a new grad, do you think that the increasing complexity of patient issues are overwhelming new grads today?

New grads, what are the factors at work that make you feel as though you are sinking, so to speak? What can you do to improve upon those problems, if they are under your control?

Is there any particular area (oncology, med-surg, ED, ICU, etc) that you feel specifically challenging and difficult?

Just curious. I would like to have an idea on the thoughts of seasoned nurses and new grads. Thank you in advance.:redbeathe

Welcome future new grad, sounds like a research project in the work. I've been an RN for 31 years. Started in OB, ended up in Critical care, flight rn and ED. Patients haven't changed, the process has changed. Pt's were just as sick with multi system failure as in the 70's. People were without insurance then as well. The area I feel has changed is that nursing students now have a different focus in school. No matter how or what we all learned in school, when it's all said and done, we still have to function as an RN in the clinical setting. ( REAL WORLD). That is where the real learning starts. However, I don't think the stress level or the " shock " of realizing that YOU ARE THE RN NOW, is any different than it was back then. We were just as stressed as new grads are today, although I do think, the trend then was , " ORIENTATION BY FIRE" That really sucked. We didn't have so much coust service issues to deal with, we had our own " evidence based process,,, we used what worked, didn't need a year long study to tell us that. So no matter how you look at it , each year things change, each year new students will have their own challenging issues, that aspect will never change. New grads in the 70's and 80's were stressed , so are new grads now and when you have been in nursing 30 years, the new grads at that time will be stressed, it's just the way it goes. I have to laugh though, all of the things we have seen change through the years make a complete circle. Old Florence Nightengale was a pretty smart girl after all. If you study her, most things we do today go back to what she told us we should be doing in the first place. Pretty amazing. Just remember when you graduate, you will be stressed, you will do good things, you will screw up, that is normal. I always tell new grads if an RN tells you they wern't stressed or they never made a mistake, they were too stupid to realize they made a mistake or they are simply fibbing. The wise RN is willing to admit they don't know everything ( even after 30 years) , we are all human and make mistakes also, we all need the help of each other. I am always concerned with those rn's that " don't need the help" of others.

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Specializes in MICU - CCRN, IR, Vascular Surgery.

What happened to before the shift assignments, students doing research, reading and coming fully prepared to take care of a pt., including knowing his dx, meds, scheduled tx's and labs, as well as having a clue as to WHY they were ordered?

I would love to have the opportunity to get the information and do the research the night before. My school does not allow this. They want us to show up and assign patients right then and we're expected to just run with it. We usually can't even look at our textbooks before doing the initial assessment and charting it because of the timetable that they want us to follow.

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as others have stated:

1. nursing is like anything else, the more u do it, the better u get

2. patients are sicker, but the technology we work with is better too

newbie nurses in general are smarter than newbie nurses from 10, 20, 30 yrs ago, it doesn't mean they're wiser or have more common sense though (that's were the newbies baffle me at times, b/c nursing is mostly about common sense).

i do think newbs of today have less real world and working experience though. way too many have never had a job before or supported themselves. i think this is were many of the newbie nurse problems really stem from.

based on your spelling, i'll assume you're not one of the smarter "newbs of today" but rather one of the ones from 10, 20, 30 years ago.

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