Nursing School vs. Reality

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Mar 15, 2009

I am a junior in nursing school and I just ran into a nurse last night at a party who told me that theory was one thing but actually doing it is another. I am just wondering if nursing school prepares you for the reality of nursing? How well do you think nursing school prepared you? Or did you learn everything on the floor? Any feedback would be welcomed. She also told me that nursing school only prepares you to take the boards not real life nursing. HOw would you respond? Thanks for the feedback.

She's right.

marie-francoise · Mar 15, 2009

25% of 1st year RNs leave the field? Maybe they weren't prepared for what's really out there

Who is, though?

Jo Dirt · Mar 16, 2009

So I hope I can ask this qustion without hijacking this thread....but if I hate nursing school, will I hate being a nurse? Because yes I hate clinicals.

I hated clinicals, too. I hated them with the intensity of 1000 burning suns. But I don[t hate nursing.

lovehospital · Mar 16, 2009

Who is, though?

I dont think Nursing school is to blame here,that is why it is best to shadow a nurse or become a nursing assistant first in order to see what the field is really like.Nurses leave the bedside for variety of reasons,it is really hard to assume why.

lovehospital · Mar 16, 2009

I hated clinicals, too. I hated them with the intensity of 1000 burning suns. But I don[t hate nursing.

I dont think anybody who is sane likes nursing school.

Irene joy · Mar 16, 2009

I wish nursing school gave you an opportunity to shadow a nurse like once a quarter to show you what real world nursing is about. You don't get that experiance until the end during your preceptorship. Taking care of one patient and always depending on the nurse or clinical instructor to do everything with you takes away the chance to think indipendantly and build confidence, but there's no way around that for safety issues.

Tait, MSN, RN · Mar 16, 2009

I am a very tactile, kinesthetic person. I loved clinical because I felt it really helped me apply what I learned in class. I would learn about CHF, and then walk into clinical and go "oh so that is what it looks like on a person!".

Personally I felt very well prepared when I left nursing school. I understood that I was given a foundation to build from and I feel I have done well with that. We had heavy clinical rotations from day one, and a lot of hands on experience.

It worked for me.

Best of luck!

Tait

cruisin_woodward · Mar 16, 2009

I am a very tactile, kinesthetic person. I loved clinical because I felt it really helped me apply what I learned in class. I would learn about CHF, and then walk into clinical and go "oh so that is what it looks like on a person!".
Personally I felt very well prepared when I left nursing school. I understood that I was given a foundation to build from and I feel I have done well with that. We had heavy clinical rotations from day one, and a lot of hands on experience.
It worked for me.
Best of luck!
Tait

Out of curiosity, were you ADN or BSN? I have found (this is not trying to open the flood gates for a big debate) that ADNs seem more prepared CLINICALLY during nursing school. This is just my perception. I was BSN, and I had worked as a CNA, plus had a lot of years in the OR as a surgical technologist. I also was an older student. I had more experience than most in my class, but when I graduated, I felt like a bumbling idiot. All red faced, thinking I was going to kill every patient I touched (not on purpose lol). Anywho, some of my coworkers, who were new grads in the ADN system, were running circles around me, and they had much less experience...maybe it was just me, maybe I just didn't catch on as quickly, but knock on wood, I made it through that horrible first year! :)

Tait, MSN, RN · Mar 17, 2009

Out of curiosity, were you ADN or BSN? I have found (this is not trying to open the flood gates for a big debate) that ADNs seem more prepared CLINICALLY during nursing school. This is just my perception. I was BSN, and I had worked as a CNA, plus had a lot of years in the OR as a surgical technologist. I also was an older student. I had more experience than most in my class, but when I graduated, I felt like a bumbling idiot. All red faced, thinking I was going to kill every patient I touched (not on purpose lol). Anywho, some of my coworkers, who were new grads in the ADN system, were running circles around me, and they had much less experience...maybe it was just me, maybe I just didn't catch on as quickly, but knock on wood, I made it through that horrible first year! :)

Proud to be an ADN

NurseKatie08, MSN · Mar 17, 2009

i have learned more in my first 6 months as a geri-rehab rn than i did in four years of my bsn program.

LilyBlue · Mar 17, 2009

Nursing school, imo, is a joke. And I went to one of the supposed best on the east coast. They teach you all this stuff at the molecular and cellular level, but you don't have clue one on how to start an IV, or handle an extremely demanding patient when you graduate.

Something you need to understand right up front - many patients do NOT see you as a professional. They see you as a bedpan bringer and someone who "helps out doctors". Which you do both those things, but society does not understand the role of a nurse or the education involved with becoming a nurse.

I have been happier since I made peace with that. In my first few years, I had so much turmoil and conflict because by and large, my patients didn't want to learn anything. They just wanted coffee and Dilaudid. I was shocked - I realized that people of course had personal needs, and I wanted to meet them, but I never really understood that my worth as a nurse would depend on things like how soft the pillows were and whether or not i brought some hot tea quick enough.

I remember my instructors saying, "You are BSN educated nurses. We don't care if you can make a bed. We care if you can evaluate how well a treatment plan is going".

Imagine my surprise when nobody really cares, except for me, how the treatment plan is going. Many people WANT to be in the hospital! They don't want to get better and go home. Nobody told me that. Nobody told me that a doctor might SHOUT at me if I dared voice my concerns over the effectiveness of a certain treatment.

It really is mostly about the bed and the bath and the coffee. But you better not mess up the important things either, or they'll sue the pants off you.

I had no clue.

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2009

ADN here, and I felt as well prepared as can probably be expected. Our time was pretty well split between the pathophys, careplanning stuff and the clinical skills. I'm preparing for entry to a BSN program now, and am looking forward to the opportunity to learn higher level thinking stuff. I feel that at work, I'm too busy being task oriented to really see the big picture about 90% of the time.