why nursing is a mess. three simple facts

[chillnurse]

If you are expecting an elaborate article, you won't get it here.

1. cost too much to transfer license from another state. About 220 bucks just for me to transfer my RN license since I am moving to another state. Lame. it's not like ive performed any crimes in the past few months.

2. Phd in nursing- LOL? Who would get a phd in nursing? it is not like it is as an elaborate field as chemistry, biology, or psychology. WHAT A JOKE. This is pretty much just a bullbeat way to try to OVERLEGITIMIZE the nursing profession. What are you performing double blind controlled studies on.... HOW TO GIVE A BEDBATH OR BREAK THE SEAL ON THE ASPIRIN TABLET???? Keep it simple folks.

3. Overcomplication- nurses are probably the worst at over complicating things. I remember back in undergraduate, we were taught those elaborate care plans. Do you know what care plans are? GARBAGE. You never use them and nobody cares about them. Unless you are one of those old hags with a Phd IN NURSING..... You know what else is dumb. NURSING DIAGNOSES. you know what those are? cheap copies of medical diagnoses, aka nurses trying to legitimize themselves with medicine. I remember having to come up with these stupid things. IMPAIRED NUTRITION SECONDARY TO DIFFICULTY SWALLOWING. ARE YOU KIDDING ME, NO CRAP, IF YOU CANT SWALLOW YOU CANT EAT. NO CRAP ROFL. I also remember the nursing skills manual. 10 pages on HOW TO FOLD A FREAKING WASHCLOTH AND MAKE A BED. Go home overcomplicators, go home.

I also remember having to learn indepth about diagnoses such as cardiac tamponade. WHENS THE LAST TIME YOU PAGED THE DOCTOR AT 3 AM "Hey I think this patient is in cardiac tamponade, you know when they stick the tampon in lemonaide???" ARE YOU KIDDING ME... NEVER.

I could go on and on about point 3.

Overcomplication is a simple way to try to self-legitimize. Something the PHD level nurses are professionals at. Good professionals simplify as much as they can, not do this garbage.

[HoosierJumper]

As a student, I actually like care plans. They make you think of the client in a holistic view rather than he's on a ventilator what can I do for that. The care plans make you think of spiritual disturbances or at risk for things like if you have a patient who is unstable, altered mental status, urinary incontinence, along with IV lines, anyone can think of fixing the mental status alteration and the urinary incontinence, but the care plans make you think further into it. Like the patient is at risk for falling. To a seasoned nurse this may seem like a "no-Duh" type of thing, but to a baby nursling who has yet to step foot into a hospital, its a new discovery. I see the point the OP makes, because some nursing professor make it too complicated. However, I see the true value in them and how they will help nurslings like myself grasp a better holistic view on the patients! :)

[explorereb96, ADN, BSN]

"Often these folks lack practical experience in actual nursing. Instead they live in a world filled with research papers, statistical analysis, and academic fluff. This leads to them imposing their nonsense on bedside nurses through regulatory requirements, thus clogging the workplace and and actually impeding patient care."

OMG ooh yes! The "book knowledge" nurses. The patient will likely die before they run through all of the protocols and algorhythyms. Example, i was pulled from ICU to "stay" with a brand new BSN on the post op floor that had only 2 patients. Both patients fresh out of surgery. Since i spent some years floating in the units (I'm an LPN) I was the first one pulled. This BSN was real nice, had ooodles of book smarts, and zero (first job as a healthcare ANYTHING) experience. When I say it was her first....I mean it was her first time on the floor being licensed. I was ok with that. Our patient's was a 40ish woman, post op cholecystectomy. The other, a girl of 21 that broke her femur in a skying accident. About 2 hours into our shift (3-11) and after assessing etc. The 21 year old's call light went on. The BSN answered and I followed her in prepared to just grab some ice water or such... When I walked in, I immediately grabbed the 02 because this girl was gasping, pale and was turning blue. I told my partner to push the code button. She started to argue with me that we need to assess and maybe call the doctor. I threw the 02 on the girl..... pushed the code button myself and pushed the BSN into the hallway.....told her to grab the code cart. She was still arguing about calling the doctor. i told her.... we don't have time. I told her to think very hard about what she knew about fat emboli, broken femurs and PE's. I didn't mean to be so rough...but really. Stop and think how much your procedural guidelines go out the window in situations like this.

[nursel56]

3. Overcomplication- nurses are probably the worst at over complicating things. I remember back in undergraduate, we were taught those elaborate care plans. Do you know what care plans are? GARBAGE. You never use them and nobody cares about them. Unless you are one of those old hags with a Phd IN NURSING...

Care plans as they were originally intended and used prior to the era of NANDA are actually very useful. They were intended to be used at the nurse's station within reach, they were written in pencil and anyone could contribute. If a nurse's aide found a way to efficiently address a nursing care goal they were welcome to include it. When the nursing diagnoses co-opted the care plan in many cases it served to move the care plan away from direct proximity to all nurses caring for the patient and thus negated it's most practical qualities. You don't need nursing diagnoses to have a care plan.

I would agree that many of the changes in the academic approach by nursing professors has a sort of "me too" quality to it since around the early eighties but I totally disagree with your apparent disregarding of an academic body of nursing research on the whole and your negative attitude toward the concept of nursing (other than APRN I'm assuming) being a profession at all as opposed to a service worker.Nursing has a philosophical underpinning and it always has. The advent of nursing diagnoses in my view served to quantify that and I've learned to value them for that reason whether they have any impact on bedside care or not. All professions need their "thinkers" if only to serve as a foil to get to the heart of what it really is. The unfortunate thing is that the corrupt political activities of certain nursing organizations tend to overlap with nursing academia and taint the latter. Nevertheless, theorists are an integral part of nursing and we as a group would be poorer without them.

[chillnurse, BSN, RN, NP]

Actually I like my job. Doesn't require nursing diagnoses. Medical diagnoses are more fun. Oh look his creatinine high he's got an AKI. Time to find out why.

Not....

Hmm diarrhea. Increased chance of skin breakdown. How can I over complicate this. IMPAIRED SKIN INTEGRITY RELATED TO INCREASED STOOL and nutritional deficit related to the diarrhea also.

I'm so use some protective cream and change his brief more. Oh wait the prior is a medical int unless you just use baby powder.

I'll take the AK I plz.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

The day that these three um, "facts" are taken away from nursing, I WILL QUIT...

These "three facts", along with my nursing judgement has been able to understand what needs my pts need medically and holistally; from critical care to home care. I work on both in the nursing model; and it has served me well, and the providers and pts that I work with.

I embrace these, um, "facts"...although my nursing judgement for the past nine years of nursing continues to evolve from those "facts"; it keeps me in business.

[lub dub]

This BSN was real nice, had ooodles of book smarts, and zero (first job as a healthcare ANYTHING) experience.

Explorereb96, please think back to your first job as "a healthcare ANYTHING", and kindly cut this "brand new BSN" some slack. Yes, you, as an LPN, know more than this "brand new BSN". I get it. No one is born with nursing knowledge. Students learn an awful lot in school, but it is only when they graduate, pass their boards, and hit the floors that it all comes together. Someone as experienced as you must know that.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

This sounds like a few of my know-nothing, burnt out, terminally unhappy coworkers who hate their jobs and refuse to learn anything (or apply stuff they should already know).

People have mistaken easy access to information for actually knowing the information or how to apply it.

I think the OP had a moment of frustration and needed to vent. Venting is perfectly acceptable sometimes....we have ALL had those moments..

[livefully]

Your post history (OP) seems anti-nursing, or anti- nursing practice. I know that LECOM offers a PA to DO pathway, it may be a viable option for you.

[lub dub]

Unfortunately, academia has a vested interest in bloating higher degrees with a lot of nonsense. It's happening in other fields as well. Then, those most successful and dedicated to pursuing these bloated degrees are the ones who get jobs setting regulatory policies.

Often these folks lack practical experience in actual nursing. Instead they live in a world filled with research papers, statistical analysis, and academic fluff. This leads to them imposing their nonsense on bedside nurses through regulatory requirements, thus clogging the workplace and and actually impeding patient care.

What exactly is a "bloated degree"? I have a DNP degree, which came after 20 years of critical care bedside experience. You know, the evidence-based practice that drives the practice of nursing is based upon research done by nurses with "bloated degrees".

[TU RN, DNP, CRNA]

chillnurse, you speak my language. Yes to this whole thread.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

My forays into venting and ranting, have never gone well.

But I like a good vent.

Power on little grasshopper:)

[chillnurse, BSN, RN, NP]

A non partially offensive post would not have 40 responses. Success. :) works huh