Nursing school.... is just a bunch of BUSY WORK?

Ambitiouz · Oct 28, 2009

Yeah I agree with your post. I'm in 3rd semester and I've noticed this from the beginning, and so have many other students. Even my clinical instructor agrees that most of the paperwork we are required to do is just busy work. THe paperwork has it's purpose but it's mostly excessive and just takes away from time that could be spent learning actual patient care. I find myself wishing I could just focus on learning the patient dx, skills, the charts, and interacting with the staff and such instead of having to complete loads of paperwork.

rmkelly · Oct 28, 2009

Fraid so

Bea1128 · Oct 28, 2009

Yes, a bunch of busy work. The first semester I spent hours and hours on the paperwork, making sure it was just perfect. Now I do a good job and address whatever needs to be addressed. I do fine and get good grades, but the thing I've learned through the endless paperwork is how to set priorities. Busy work isn't priority to me. Learning how to be a good nurse is. So maybe that's what we are supposed to be learning through the loads of paperwork.

DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN · Oct 28, 2009

OMG yes. We had a bunch of rubbish to do in the first month. A learning plan and blah blah blah. Not a single person in our class had less than a 3.7 going in. Why waste our time? All of that stuff had to be typed and in APA format.

CeilingCat, ASN, RN · Oct 28, 2009

We have the same problem. Most of us agree the online "readings" are just poop, so we all open the web site, get the timer started, and go off and do real work. We're turning in so much stuff (times 70 students), the instructors aren't even able to read it well.

Give me an exercise that will help me master the material for the boards, and I won't complain at all. But make me do a personality test to see what "color" my personality is... blah!

peytonsmom · Oct 28, 2009

Our last clinical project this semester is to go to the local art museum, find a painting we like and then do a care plan for one of the people in the painting. 'Nuff said.

rmkelly · Oct 28, 2009

I am going to an art miuseun this weekend. I'm going to tty this assignment! I'm excited! Truly, this stuff is mandated by allb the agencies that hospitals are at the mercy of. So, practice makes perfect - it is still busy work, but we gotta do it.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Oct 28, 2009

At first I thought it was just me... but the more I talk to my classmates we're beginning to wonder... is nursing school really just a bunch of BUSY WORK???
Aside from clinicals it seems 50% of what we do really has no relevance, present or future. Lots of nonsense paperwork.
At more than halfway through my first semester it seems so much time is spent doing goofy assignments while we could actually be learning/practicing/reinforcing critical skills for care settings.
Keep in mind I'm not complaining about the amount of work. It's just the type of work.
Anyone else feeling the same way?

Hmmm I can't agree, so far it seems to me the stuff we have been learning is relevant and we haven't had any goofy assignments I would say, most of our paper work is for clinicals and they are what has to be done in the real world as well so I would say relevant. I guess so far I have lucked out with my school.

AZO49008 · Oct 28, 2009

This is what are called hoops. They want us to jump through them. Just do it and move on. We're not going to change it, and we don't have to like it. But it's not as if we have a choice, so just be an adult and deal with it for the short time you're in nursing school.

quetepye · Oct 28, 2009

Yes, definitely. I think mostly everything is okay, but there are definite assignments you have to wonder about.

Right now I have a clinical instructor who is insane - she wants nearly 100 drug cards made before we can pass meds, but all of us are required to have Davis' Drug Guide on our cell/PDA anyways so we have the info right there already. Honestly, I can find a drug faster in my cell program than I could flipping through 100 note cards. Seriously....

That's the stuff that wastes time and makes me mad.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Oct 29, 2009

Our last clinical project this semester is to go to the local art museum, find a painting we like and then do a care plan for one of the people in the painting. 'Nuff said.

Sorry to disagree with you on this but I think it is a rather good assignment. It teaches you to look at everything in the painting and to draw your conclusions from it, much like what we have to do with our own patients every time we walk into that room. Also if I had a day where I had to go to the art museum and relax for a day looking at some good art, I would be more than ok with it and take it as a day to stop, relax, breathe and refocus in the middle and prep for the end of the semester.