just saw on umdnj website a nursing residency that lasts for 4 months, 24hrs a week and it costs $4500. Taken from umdnj website
"Have you graduated within the last 6 months and would like to increase your marketability and give yourself a competitive edge? If so, this Nurse Residency Program is for you! This 16 week program is guaranteed to give you the confidence and skill set you need to join the nursing workforce. "
they have got to be kidding. so now we pay to get experience? wow
oh and umdnj got 2.4 milion dollars donation to support nurse educator programs, um do we REALLY have to educate so many nurses when there are so many unemployed ones??
they call the nursing shortage in the state"critical"
I would like to do it but have no money...(a result of not having a job) I think this is horrible, hospitals and nurses everywhere should demand proper education from the school systems or else y did we pay such expensive tuitions for? I really think it's unfair to ask new grads to pay for experience without a job guarantee.
I think nursing education should go back to diploma hospital based nursing programs, where a student nurse can get a realistic idea of what nursing is all about, the good, the bad the ugly, the reality- the patients, the bedside, the proceedures, the preps, the meds, the calling for orders, looking up the labs etc. Leave the BSN degree education for some one who is already a practicing NURSE- some one who reality/culture shock has already hit and left- some one who can say- ok, now where do I want to go from here. I think the hospitals should go back to the old practice of NO NEW GRADS in a speciality area until they have atleast 1 year of a solid med/surg foundation- none of this- learning how to put a foley in in an ICU enviornment. By the time a nurse is in ICU they SHOULD already have mastered the foley insertion. I think this burns out both new grad and preceptor. The ICU is not the place to be learning basic medication interaction and lab interpretation, the ER is not the place to learn signs and symptoms, that should already be known. How can you learn the more advanced stuff if you don't have command of the basics. The only reason why new grads were suddlenly allowed to go into speciality ares instead of the traditional med/surg first was the shortage of nurses in those areas. This system doesn't function anymore. The needs of high acuity patients vs. inexperienced nurses is not working anymore. It's frustrating all involved. The whole system is screwed up.???
Without a job, I am trying to figure out how to keep gas in the car for transportation to go around looking for a job. I can't imagine where new grads without the means to pay are going to have money available for something like this. Some people can't even keep their financial heads above water to even finish school. Another revenue stream for the facilities that come up with this bad idea.
Something's got to give. Hospitals cannot afford to continue to pour money into special new grad orientations, internships, residencies, etc. and not see an adequate return on their investment. If society expects the hospitals to provide that education -- rather than increase the requirements for it to be provided by the schools -- then those hospitals need to find some way to pay for those educational programs.
At least those hospitals providing the residencies are being honest up-front about what they are providing. They are providing additional education to help people who went to schools that did not adequately prepare them for real jobs. People who want to purchase that additional education are free to do so. People who don't want to purchase that additional education are not forced to.
You know, I've lost count of the number of times I was told, "No, we don't teach [skill x] in this program, but don't worry, the hospital will make sure you know how to do it before you hit the floor." There were days in clinical that I did not touch a single patient. And our nursing instructors tried to convince us that it's not our nursing skills but our "critical thinking" that make us real nurses. Yeah, a real nurse who has never started an IV, never drawn blood, never placed a foley, never suctioned.... need I go on?
You know, I've lost count of the number of times I was told, "No, we don't teach [skill x] in this program, but don't worry, the hospital will make sure you know how to do it before you hit the floor." There were days in clinical that I did not touch a single patient. And our nursing instructors tried to convince us that it's not our nursing skills but our "critical thinking" that make us real nurses. Yeah, a real nurse who has never started an IV, never drawn blood, never placed a foley, never suctioned.... need I go on?
This was my program also. Most of it was a waste of time and money.
For real. My nursing program was a "community based" nursing program which gave us even LESS skills that a regular BSN or ADN program. We did so many health fairs and BP screenings and only had 1 day in L&D. I did some skills my last semester in internship, but nothing that prepared me for the floor. Fortunately I found a floor that would take me on and taught me lots, which I am so grateful for.
But I can make an awesome posterboard about osteoporosis......
Doesn't the ANA or NLN govern/determine, what is taught in nursing school? I thought that the curriculum was determned by the agencies that approve/certify schools.
If that is not the case, I truly find an attorney and start to sue the schools for breach of contract.
No, the answer is not to bring back diploma programs. I was a graduate of a diploma program from what seems like a hundred years ago. They may have turned out better nurses clinically, but they were an educational dead end. None of our credits transferred to colleges for college credit. You had to start from scratch to go back to school and further your education.
Nursing needs to emulate what PT, OT, Pharmacy, etc have done, in terms of increasing the entry into practice, and add a 6 month to one year PAID internship. New grads should have learned basic skills in school, but should not be made to feel that they have to hit the ground running the day after graduation.
I really do feel you should contact the agency who determines the school curriculum, and complain. There should be a standard curriculum with clinical and a skills checklist. That is what medical residents do. They have to accomplish a certain skill level and or procedures in each year of their residency. I remember hearing them tell the senior residents that they needed to place another Aline in ICU or central line, etc, you get the picture.
Demand the the schools teach what needs to be taught. Or maybe, before you start school, or when you apply, ask what skills you will be learning each semester. That of course would be for new nursing students to do.
Again, you might look into contacting an attorney who specializes in Education Law and talk to one of them. If you can get enoughy of you, ask about filing a class action suit against the school. If enought of you do this in different parts of the country ,the schools will have to sit up and take notice. You can call the State Bar Association, or go online to Findlaw, and check there. I feel you pain.
Somehow I hear lawsuit...and think...this is going to cost me more money I don't have...but calling to complain to whoever chooses the curriculum might not be a bad idea.
Doesn't the ANA or NLN govern/determine, what is taught in nursing school? I thought that the curriculum was determned by the agencies that approve/certify schools.
If that is not the case, I truly find an attorney and start to sue the schools for breach of contract.
No, the answer is not to bring back diploma programs. I was a graduate of a diploma program from what seems like a hundred years ago. They may have turned out better nurses clinically, but they were an educational dead end. None of our credits transferred to colleges for college credit. You had to start from scratch to go back to school and further your education.
Nursing needs to emulate what PT, OT, Pharmacy, etc have done, in terms of increasing the entry into practice, and add a 6 month to one year PAID internship. New grads should have learned basic skills in school, but should not be made to feel that they have to hit the ground running the day after graduation.
I really do feel you should contact the agency who determines the school curriculum, and complain. There should be a standard curriculum with clinical and a skills checklist. That is what medical residents do. They have to accomplish a certain skill level and or procedures in each year of their residency. I remember hearing them tell the senior residents that they needed to place another Aline in ICU or central line, etc, you get the picture.
Demand the the schools teach what needs to be taught. Or maybe, before you start school, or when you apply, ask what skills you will be learning each semester. That of course would be for new nursing students to do.
Again, you might look into contacting an attorney who specializes in Education Law and talk to one of them. If you can get enoughy of you, ask about filing a class action suit against the school. If enought of you do this in different parts of the country ,the schools will have to sit up and take notice. You can call the State Bar Association, or go online to Findlaw, and check there. I feel you pain.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington
The accrediting agencies and state BONs establish basic minimums for nursing program content, but leave the schools lots of latitude for how they actually provide that content. The real "bottom line" is NCLEX pass rates -- as long as your students are passing, no one looks too closely. (That's how you end up with programs that have community BP screenings count as "clinical" days ...)
Diploma programs were not all the same. I graduated from a diploma program in which all of the courses except the specifically nursing courses were taught through a local college and were transferable credits. I had no difficulty getting into and completing a BSN-completion program later when I wanted to go to grad school. Also, we were fabulously well-prepared clinically, much better than anyone coming out of an ADN or BSN (and I guess I should start adding "or MSN") program today, and my school also taught us more about professionalism, leadership, legal/ethical issues, etc., than any of the ADN or BSN programs I've been involved with since then (I've taught in both over the years). And, somehow, although the term "critical thinking" hadn't even been invented yet, we also graduated doing that better than current graduates do, too (IMHO, because we had such an strong clinical knowledge base from which to operate and think).
I think we could do a heck of a lot worse than to go back to the diploma school model -- it turned out much better prepared nurses than programs today do, and much more closely resembled the medical school/residency model you say you want for nursing.
We've got to do something -- nursing education has really gone off the rails, IMHO.
Funny how these same topics seem to come around on a regular basis, isn't it? I'll have to dig into my posting history to see when the last time I got ranting on this was.
Two years into my career as an RN and my opinion has not changed. I see I continue to be in good company, amongst you nurses who possess both more experience and more education than myself.
The "skills check list" is mentioned above. Yes, we did get one first semester. It seemed overwhelming and exciting, all of the skills we were expected to have tried (at least once) by the time we graduated. I'll have to try and dig it up some time, but I remember it had maybe 50-100 items (at least) listed. We were told to not lose it, and to keep it updated throughout our program.
And that was about the last time I heard of it.
I will be the first to admit that I could have been more aggressive in seeking out procedural opportunities. I honestly didn't realize how badly we were all getting short-changed in our program's focus on "critical thinking", and de-emphasis on those skills we would "learn in our first 6 months on the job."
I was very motivated, but I see now my motivation tended towards leaping at opportunities to observe cool things. Often, these things were very interesting and educational, but I know realize that one feature of these "cool" medical procedures (i.e. various surgeries, intubations, US guided line placement, etc) is that a nursing student generally can't do much other than "observe." Very little "hands-on" possible, just more like watching a medical reality TV show in real life.
Compare to things like IV starts, foley placements, sterile dressing changes, wound care, NGT placement and care...sure, we saw them to varying degrees, but not with any sort of regularity. Or how about assessment skills? Not how to spend 4-6+ hours on a care plan, but find patients with murmurs, rubs, etc to auscultate, masses to palpate...
I am amused with myself how much this still gets me riled up, this long out of school. But when I see so many posts here that show it was not just me or my program, and when I see the connection clearly made by Ilg between the current focus away from clinical skills and clinical judgment and the fact that new grad RNs seem to be more unmarketable than ever, it just makes me very frustrated for my profession.
Critical thinking? I fully appreciate the "big picture" view of patient care that care planning is meant to engender. That deserves a place in the education of nurses. But I also use a lot of critical thinking every time I (try to) start an IV (which vessel to try for, hemodynamic processes that could effect fluid delivery, potential for occlusion...), assess and dress a would, auscultate chest sounds...These are all the skills needed by the professional nurse (amongst many, many others).
In the rush of academic nursing to "elevate" the profession beyond it's perception as assistant labor to medicine, baccalaureate-level nursing education made a conscious decision to eschew the primacy of what were deemed as "tasks", in favor of pseudo-intellectual philosophy masquerading as "theory."
In order to not be left behind, the ADN-level educational system chose to strive to emulate the BSN. If there ever was any truth to the idea that ADN new grads hit the floor with superior clinical skills as compared to their BSN counterparts, then it is no longer the case. I once wrote that I would only support the BSN-only entry point when BSN education was changed to one which truly produced (on average) superior-trained clinicians upon graduation, not nurses who "could later assume managerial duties."
When I think back to the 6 weeks I spent in my last semester in my "Community Health" rotation, making presentations on the importance of toothbrushing to elementary school aged kids at a Boys and Girls Club. Compared to the 6 weeks I got that same semester precepting in the NICU...well, those other 6 weeks could have just put me that much farther ahead.
So now I've got my two years under my belt, and yes, those "tasks" are secondary to my main activities in using my head to keep my patients alive through the night. I also graduated just before the current crisis began, and had the good fortune to be actively recruited and given 12 weeks of orientation in the unit of my choice. However, it pains me to see that the confluence of the existing chaos in RN education with the economic woes has produced a situation where not only are new grad RN jobs so hard to find, but these *licensed* RNs are having to pay for the opportunity to learn what they already paid to learn.
Grad school is coming for me in the next year or so, and I have toyed with the idea of nursing education, but I would probably be too apoplectic to see straight, and I remember first-hand from my BSN how any theoretical criticism of the academic status quo was viewed. NP for me, I suppose, and this time I know my education is mine to make, as grad-level nursing education seems even worse off, with "all on-line" didactics and "find your own preceptorships"...but that's a whole 'nother rant altogether.
keakea
32 Posts
Is anybody actually considering doing the residency at umdnj?