Over 550 illnesses....Are these to be learned?

bergren · Feb 17, 2003

No, you will not have to know all 550 diseases. You will have to demonstrate critical, prudent, reasonable thing, a foundation of knowledge, and the ability to seek information needed to practice.

Do well in the subjects you are taking now, anddo well in each course as it comes. You eat an elephant one bite at a time.

Cs Jinx · Feb 17, 2003

Good gaaaa...... Im so delighted now, knowing all doesnt have to be learned!

WalMart_ADN · Feb 19, 2003

nope, just know where to look it up shoudl you need to know it.

passing thru · Feb 19, 2003

Ditto. You simply need to know which resource to use...where to go to find the information you need, whether it is a disease, a medication , a lab, ;etc.

I like that elephant rule.......how appropriate for student nurses.

TMS2121 · Jul 27, 2003

Hi,

I'm a nursing student going into my senior year, but right now I'm off for the remainder of the summer, but working on Med/Surge Unit at a major hospital. I've noticed that when the RN's or LPN's are caring for a patient who has a disease that is rare or that they haven't learned yet they look it up online on the hospitals medical reference pages or go to http://www.CDC.com. It would be too difficult to learn every single disease there is known to man. I recommend learning about the most common ones and then reference the ones you happen to come across and are unsure about. Hope that helps!!!!!

Momof2Bys2Grls · Aug 5, 2003

That is great to know because I'm undecided about OBNursing or Peds!!! That was way to many illnesses.

curiouscocoa · Apr 26, 2009

I am amazed you typed all those diagnosises down. You are a great nurse.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 26, 2009

I suspect this list was actually a cut-and-paste from Pedlynx. http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/1402/Info.html

PICNICRN, BSN, RN · Apr 27, 2009

I've been doing this a long time and never heard of HALF of these! You must have cut and pasted! DYSERYTHROPOIETIC ANEMIA?? Come on!

NO you do not have to "know all of the pediatric illness"- just the ones your kid has! Every day is a learing experience!

scribblerpnp · May 29, 2009

Come on, only 550? Surely there are more diseases than that once you bring in all the freaky genetic mutations.

And NO. I don't know what some of those things are, and I'm a Peds nurse practitioner (and a pediatric nursing instructor)

Moss1222 · Jul 22, 2009

The best way for me to learn is when I have something to 'hang' my knowledge on.

And what I did that really helped me was to look everything up that I came into contact

with. I worked summers and vacations at a children's hospital when I was in nursing school

and used to read charts during free time. I would study my patients' conditions and if something

rare came along, I always tried to learn about it. After I became an RN, I still had a ton of learning

to do, but this was the best way for me, as I was able to remember real people and that helped me

to remember diseases and conditions. If you don't have much exposure to real children, as I did, read online articles, even on this website and look up and learn about things you don't know.

As a previous poster said, 'one bite at a time'. Over time, you will learn so very much. And its fun!