Nursin' ain't easy...but somebody's got to do it!!

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · May 21, 2007

Do you come out of Nursing school as this "God of Diagnosis and Medicine"?

Wrong school of thought, buddy

Nurses don't do "diagnostic medicine" (if that's what you meant).

I came out of nursing school a walking zombie. My brain abused and tormented. My body a nervous wreck. My words and thought process incoherent from too much caffeine and too little sleep.

How I managed to clear the NCLEX and seduce my floor director into hiring me is a thing of mystery....

All nursing school did was teach me how little I knew.

All my new job did, was further emphasize that fact.

My preceptor tells me this is a good thing.

Get this through your head early: You never stop learning!

Good luck with school :)

cheers,

Roy

margaretptz · May 21, 2007

Thanks for helping me see I'm normal.

pink2blue1 · May 21, 2007

Shortly after I started work on a busy med-surg floor, one of my friends asked me if nursing school prepared me for the real world. Um, yes and no. I got a basic foundation, but nothing could have truly prepared me for what I have learned SINCE graduation in the real world.

I still ask questions and so do nurses who have been working A LOT longer than me.

Good luck in school.

And yes, Zombie is about what you are when you graduate ;-)

nursemike, ASN, RN · May 21, 2007

10-4 what Roy said, especially the Zombie part. It is amazing, though, how much useful knowledge can come bubbling up out of your subconcious, when you need it. Still, every experienced nurse I know says it isn't the newbie who asks lots of questions that scares them. As a nursing student you take on a lot of information. Much of it isn't really all that complicated, but the sheer volume of it can seem overwhelming. Few if any can keep all of it in an easily accessed part of the mind. It's a bit like RAM vs. hard drive. Some info stays where you can call it up instantly, but most goes into longer-term storage. Nursing school also does a decent job of teaching you how to think like a nurse.

For me, at least, the knowledge I acquired in school was incomplete until I got some experience actually applying it on the floor. The academic study is a necessary foundation, but putting it to use makes it stick. Sooner than any GN might imagine, though, others will be asking you questions, and a surprising number of times, you'll actually know the answer. It's weird. Even more bizarre, there are rare occassions when the nurses who taught you will ask you about something, and you'll be able to answer, or at least help them figure it out. When your heroes become your peers, you may rightly suspect they aren't as godlike as they once appeared, but I think it's fair enough to also conclude that you've become a bit more heroic, yourself.

LuvmyAlexis · May 21, 2007

I'm still a student, but I've been told by many nurses and healthcare workers that it takes a lot of on the job experience before you can consider yourself an expert on anything. Most hospitals have orientation and/or residency programs that last for months when you get hired on as a new grad. What I've been told is that you'll have a basic knowledge, a foundation of nursing when you graduate, and then you will build on that... Plus, nurses are required to continue education throughout their careers because the field is ever-changing. This means that nobody is a complete expert on everything medicine or nursing!

And RN's do nursing diagnosis, which is entirely different than medical diagnosis.

chuck1234 · May 21, 2007

Yes, you might have to know a lot of things while you are in school; however, after you passed the NCLEX-RN, you will forget most of the thing.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · May 21, 2007

hi, marvin30!

actually the only people who "think" they are gods of diagnosis and medicine are the doctors and no one takes many of them seriously on that anymore, the god part, i mean. the reality of the situation is that you are going to be bombarded with a lot of new information that you've never been exposed to learning before and that is what makes it so intimidating. pretty much up to now, i daresay that most of your learning has been based on previous knowledge. a lot of nursing is going to be brand new to you and with no past experience to help you make heads or tails of it your brain has a little difficulty keeping up with it all. nurses do diagnose, but they diagnose nursing problems and within the legal parameters of their licenses. what nurses don't diagnosis is medical conditions or diseases. that's purely within the licensing authority of physicians. however, in nursing school you will learn about nursing diagnosis. when you finish nursing school you will have been given the basic foundations of nursing practice. you will need to work as a nurse to hone the skills and theory you learned in school. it generally takes a few years of working after graduation to mature into a seasoned and experienced nurse. as one of my former instructors metaphorically put it: you come out of nursing school with a bag of tools and a knowledge of how to use them; it's up to you to become a master at using them.

since i see you are new to the forums and going to be a student i recommend that you check out the nursing student forums on allnurses. this link will bring up a list of them (https://allnurses.com/forums/f196/). each title is also a link. you will find topics of specific interest to students discussed there as well as many weblinks in the "sticky" threads to help you with some of your studies. while you're waiting to start classes here are weblinks on studying nursing and studying in general:

http://go.dbcc.edu/hhps/nursing/study_skills.html - study skills for the nursing student from daytona beach community college nursing department with some good advice.

http://go.dbcc.edu/hhps/nursing/test_taking_skills.html - test taking skills also from daytona beach community college nursing department. a couple of sample questions and how to choose the correct answer for these application type questions.

http://www.efn.org/~nurses/ - this is a website maintained by the nursing students at lane community college in eugene, oregon. for study and learning tips specific to nursing students click on "tips for learning" at the left side of this home page.

http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/accditg/ssindex.htm - strategies for success, an online primer and tutorial on how to study for students from the alamo community college.

congratulations on starting nurses training. you have many life changing experiences ahead of you. nursing is not just a job. you have to love it and love working with people and helping them to continue to stay in it.

welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 21, 2007

Good luck. The reality is you're going to be expert in your field where you go. I can tell you all about trauma patients but I know diddly about birthin' babies.

loquacity · May 21, 2007

i found that all that knowledge was very hard to staple down in my brain first year, but after my first summer...which i didn't do work related to nursing for...but come 2nd year septemeber me and classmates found that we all of a sudden knew a whole lot of stuff we learned in 1st year. Its like it was info overload and our brains just needed 3 extra months to process and file all that info...and now that i have a foundation its easier to learn new stuff...cus your geared to remembering this medical stuff....however some stuff still gets filed in the garbage file right away still....eg. nursing models and other random stuff which isn't very real world practical in my opinion.

Marvin30 · May 21, 2007

Thank you to everyone who has responded so far... You all have contributed to calming my nerves ...it is sincerely appreciated...

piper_for_hire · May 21, 2007

I too was intimidated when I first started nursing school since you can't really do things gradually. But then I noticed that not all of my teachers were rocket scientists - some were really super smart, some were bright but average and some made me really wonder. I figured, if they can do it, so can I!

-S