possible rant: the real reason for the nursing shortage

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This kinda goes hand in hand with flowery's last thread. The real reason there is a nursing shortage is nursing school. it's hell and no one wants to go through it. I don't know about other schools, but for the one i'm going to- the teachers and administrators make you feel like s#$^ every chance they get. there is so much pressure to be perfect all the time.

For example- today i failed a performance exam on parenteral injections. yes, i realize what i did wrong. I realize that i could've killed a patient had it happened in real life. I feel like s*** for making such a stupid mistake. I'm sorry!!!! I always choke under pressure when someone is watching me. but my instructor- she comes up to me - SMILING - and says: "i think i'm going to fail you."

OMG

I hate bashing people behind their backs- but she's ugly and has a freaking beard (i'm not kidding) and she smiles at the thought of failing students. the two other instructors were ok and passing people (don't get me wrong- they weren't lax, they just don't make you so nervous) but she's the only person failing people. Don't you think someone somewhere would notice that and say "hey, what's going on here?"

Another thing is my school- administrative wise- is so disorganized!!! They keep changing people for student advisors (i've had 4 different advisors in the past 1 1/2 years) and don't even try to sign up for classes because they don't know what they're doing. I've heard students from other schools come to the school of nursing and they all say that it's crap when it comes to administration. you don't find out where you'll be for clinicals until the night before.

If lots of nursing schools are like this then no wonder nurses aren't well respected and no one wants to be one!!! I understand we have to be put up to these difficult standards because we are dealing with people's lives, but making people hate their lives and themselves isn't going to solve the problem!!!

this week is going to be the week from hell for this month (there is one or two every month). Spring Break is not going to be enough to recover, especially if my parents make me travel to see family......

P.S.- sorry for long post and ranting- i'm just uber-stressed!!! does anyone have any suggestions on blowing off teachers without getting into trouble? lol!;)

You know what I am tired of?

I work as a tech on a Medical Psychiatry floor. I work odd shifts so I have seen basically all the RN's on that floor. I'd say out of the 18 I've met *2* have been encouraging to me about becoming an RN. Most of what I have heard is " get out while you can" and " you HAVE to be crazy" and " god bless you".

It really gets under my skin. The floor is pretty low acuity med coupled with pysch disorders but it is not a locked unit and most days, from what I have witnessed, have been pretty slow. I like the unit but I HATE having to wear the name tag that states " NURSING STUDENT TECH" because they all zero in on that. Grrrr.

It makes me wonder if they actually have scared anyone off. Thankfully there is the *sweetest* night nurse who has actually helped me study AND showed me some pretty nifty tricks!

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Specializes in cardiac/education.

It is so depressing to hear that there is nothing to look forward to after nursing school. Sometimes I read the posts here and think what a horribly wrong career choice I have made. A career that is absolute Hell. Yeah, really looking forward to that.:rolleyes:

If nursing school is a "walk in the park" compared to real life nursing and if there truly is nothing that gets easier, jeez, I guess I am really screwed.

I don't need 'easy'. What I do need is to feel more competent so that when I am under stress I don't have a complete meltdown. The scrutiny of nursing school really sucks. Having people watch you has to get better once you get comfortable with your skills. No?

It is so disheartening to me to see nurses tell students that are under stress (even if you know there is more to come) to "get used to it" and that "it just gets worse when you are in the 'real' world". I mean, how is a student to feel? No problem saying that, because it probably is true, but why not add the ways in which you feel better as a real nurse. The ways in which you feel more competent. You know, the "nursing is more stressful BUT....". If there is no "but" why are you all in nursing? I mean, gotta give us some hope here. If there is none, well, I'll be going back to school I guess.:barf01:

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Specializes in cardiac/education.
You know what I am tired of?

I work as a tech on a Medical Psychiatry floor. I work odd shifts so I have seen basically all the RN's on that floor. I'd say out of the 18 I've met *2* have been encouraging to me about becoming an RN. Most of what I have heard is " get out while you can" and " you HAVE to be crazy" and " god bless you".

It really gets under my skin.

:yeahthat:

I mean, what are we supposed to do as students? We are ALREADY in nursing school and because some nurse on the psych unit says "run like hell", we should do it? Why be so discouraging, why not just let us find out for ourselves. I don't know about anyone else, but NOTHING is going to suprise me in the real world of nursing. I am EXPECTING Hell. :lol2:

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.
I mean, what are we supposed to do as students? We are ALREADY in nursing school and because some nurse on the psych unit says "run like hell", we should do it? Why be so discouraging, why not just let us find out for ourselves. I don't know about anyone else, but NOTHING is going to suprise me in the real world of nursing. I am EXPECTING Hell.

Being a bit of an "older" student, my perspective on this is that there's very few jobs where you won't encounter bitterness, anger, unhappiness, and not-very-nice or encouraging employees....I came from the IT world...a VERY large company....talk about unhappy, bitter employees....you survive 2 layoffs and managers who are constantly on your backs because management is on THEIR backs because we have stockholders who are watching every move we make in addition to Wall Street and whoever else feels they have a vested interest in our bottom line...add to that people who are making some moves that those of us in trenches can't even begin to fathom as making sense (and often end up NOT making sense) and you can start to see that most occupations have its good and bad -- period. It just depends on who you talk to....there were actually some folks who were HAPPY in that environment I just described....just not a lot of them.

My eventual discontent, and the reason I chose health care was that I'd have some OPTIONS in my career....I hated sitting in a cube and being stuck working M - F, 8 - 5, with mandatory overtime -- UNpaid because we were salaried, and the only other choice was to leave my company and go to another that would basically be the same thing....and you know what? If something's going to be made to seem as if it's life or death, then by God, LET it be life or death....a computer crashing for 10 minutes is NOT the end of the world!!

As an RN, I can have some choices over my shift....if I tire of one area, I can go to another specialty...tired of shift work, holidays? I'll go work for a plastic surgeon or in a pediatrician's office. And hopefully, at the end of some days, I really will feel like my day was spent making some kind of a difference. I get that feeling some days at the end of my clinicals; it's really kind of cool.

Will it all be sunshine and rainbows? I doubt it....but I've seen a floor where the nurses seemed like the most miserable lot...and am now on a floor where the nurses as a whole seem to really enjoy what they're doing...and that's the group I intend to hang with when I get out of school...

Best wishes whatever direction you eventually choose....because, bottom line, you DO choose....

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I think nursing school has always been hard.

The summer before I started, I read Echo Heron's account of her experience in nursing school in the 70's. Scared the heck out of me. My experience was not that bad nor was taking boards as bad as two days of written exams that Echo and others of that era took.

http://www.echoheron.com/work1.htm

I did have a teacher fail me on insulin - she was cute though.

steph

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I am almost done with nursing school (In JUNE!!) and my experiences have been stressful, but not HELL by any means. I really enjoy classes and all my instructors (including clinical instructors) except one have been wonderful and helpful. Our pass rate for our school is an 84% and we have only lost two students due to failing classes, both of whom tried again and are successful now. Nursing school is where I have met my closest friends. I don't *like* everyone in our class, but I do tolerate everyone. I have never once regretted coming back to school to be an RN and would definitely recommend it to someone who is committed to the work. Good Luck!

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Specializes in Cardiac.

It is so disheartening to me to see nurses tell students that are under stress (even if you know there is more to come) to "get used to it" and that "it just gets worse when you are in the 'real' world". I mean, how is a student to feel? No problem saying that, because it probably is true, but why not add the ways in which you feel better as a real nurse. The ways in which you feel more competent. You know, the "nursing is more stressful BUT....". If there is no "but" why are you all in nursing? I mean, gotta give us some hope here. If there is none, well, I'll be going back to school I guess.:barf01:

Sorry if it was my post that made you feel this way. But just as students get sad and depressed about school, so do nurses about work. Remember that we all get into certain moods, and sometimes we shouldn't post when we are in those moods!

I worked at a tech for 10 years, and as an EMT before that. I had a 4.0 in NS. But I was drowinig in panic my first few months as a nurse; Overwhelmed at the level of responsibility that was now mine. Then things got better. But then you come off orientation, and things get worse. I'm sure you've heard that it takes 2 years to feel comfortable as a nurse. I can tell you that it's no lie.

Of course there are lots of times when you feel good about nursing. WHen you drive home and feel really, really good about your day. But just be prepared for the intense stress of managing someone's life. Because their life is in your hands. How can that not be stressful? The amount of decisions that you must make and situations that you must handle is mind-boggeling!

The stress of nursing for me was at least 100 times worse than anything that I did in nursing school. Take a peak at the first year nursing forum and see for yourself.

But you don't see much of that past the first few years.

So just know that the first few years require survival too; that's all.

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Specializes in cardiac/education.

Thanks for elaborating Cardiac! Nursing.....It is like parenthood, you know.......you just can't understand till ya get there and you are NEVER 100% prepared. Right? :lol2:

I am sure I will be no stranger to the panic. I'd prefer to stay out of the New Grad forum while I still can, thank you very much!:lol2:

Sorry if it was my post that made you feel this way. But just as students get sad and depressed about school, so do nurses about work. Remember that we all get into certain moods, and sometimes we shouldn't post when we are in those moods!

I worked at a tech for 10 years, and as an EMT before that. I had a 4.0 in NS. But I was drowinig in panic my first few months as a nurse; Overwhelmed at the level of responsibility that was now mine. Then things got better. But then you come off orientation, and things get worse. I'm sure you've heard that it takes 2 years to feel comfortable as a nurse. I can tell you that it's no lie.

Of course there are lots of times when you feel good about nursing. WHen you drive home and feel really, really good about your day. But just be prepared for the intense stress of managing someone's life. Because their life is in your hands. How can that not be stressful? The amount of decisions that you must make and situations that you must handle is mind-boggeling!

The stress of nursing for me was at least 100 times worse than anything that I did in nursing school. Take a peak at the first year nursing forum and see for yourself.

But you don't see much of that past the first few years.

So just know that the first few years require survival too; that's all.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

please don't be discouraged by some of these "sad sacks" that you run across. it's really a pity that some nurses will say the negative things they do about nursing to nursing students. you have to wonder just what the point is to their saying those kinds of things. if you think about it, it really is kind of dysfunctional, don't you think? to me, it's no different than a spouse who is always complaining about their husband or wife and advising others not to get married. or, people who go around suggesting that you don't have kids because they are nothing but trouble. you have to look at these people and say, "why don't you take your own advice, hypocrite?" if nursing is so bad, why do these people continue to work in the profession? it can't be the money because nurses can cross over into many other professions with their training and experience to become managers and supervisors and make comparable, if not more, money. you have to understand a little bit about psychology. it is part of human nature, interaction and socialization to want people to be a part of what we are experiencing. so, miserable people are going to try to suck you into their web of misery just because they want the company. there is some satisfaction and validation of their feelings in it for them. you have to recognize the game they are playing, feel pity for them but be stronger and smarter. honestly, there are many nurses who go into nursing, love the work and stay in the work because it's what they love to do. employers and coworkers can sometimes be hard to deal with, but the nursing itself is extremely rewarding. don't lose sight of the reasons why you are becoming a nurse. i wish i could take each of you with me for one day at the job. you'd come away feeling very good about your choice of career. i've had problems with employers and coworkers over the years, but i've also worked for some great facilities and my life has been touched by countless patients who did for me as much as i did for them. you can't get that in many other professions.

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Specializes in Cardiac.
i wish i could take each of you with me for one day at the job. you'd come away feeling very good about your choice of career.

yes daytonite, i'm sure that you get treated the same way on the job as i do. i'm sure you are belittled the way some of us are. i bet every one of your choices aren't questioned in front of everyone, and that you arn't made to feel incompetent in front of all staff, patients and family members.

i don't need to have anyone validate my feelings, or perform any kind of psychology. and i don't need to make others feel badly. i was mearly sharing my feelings about the first year of nursing. i'm sorry you couldn't be more supportive of that.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
Yes Daytonite, I'm sure that you get treated the same way on the job as I do. I'm sure you are belittled the way some of us are. I bet every one of your choices aren't questioned in front of everyone, and that you arn't made to feel incompetent in front of all staff, patients and family members.

I don't need to have anyone validate my feelings, or perform any kind of psychology. And I don't need to make others feel badly. I was mearly sharing my feelings about the first year of nursing. I'm sorry you couldn't be more supportive of that.

Thanks for the very rude post.

What? I was responding to some of the things that thrashej put in her post

It is so disheartening to me to see nurses tell students that are under stress (even if you know there is more to come) to "get used to it" and that "it just gets worse when you are in the 'real' world". I mean, how is a student to feel? No problem saying that, because it probably is true, but why not add the ways in which you feel better as a real nurse. The ways in which you feel more competent. You know, the "nursing is more stressful BUT....". If there is no "but" why are you all in nursing? I mean, gotta give us some hope here. If there is none, well, I'll be going back to school I guess.:barf01:
Did you think I was referring to you? This was not a personal attack on you. How in the sam hill you came to that conclusion is beyond my comprehension! I was trying to console the poster. My bad for not including a quote from her post to clarify.
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Specializes in PCU/Hospice/Oncology.

To the OP. Im sorry if this comes off as a tad rude because I know there is some truth to what you say in terms of nerves and difficult material. However, I think youre pointing fingers and acting like a child who rationalizes her failure as someone elses fault.

Shes ugly and has a beard? She likes to fail people? Maybe if you were a tad more studious and worked a bit harder she wouldnt be able to fail you. Theres not a single instructer who gets thier rocks off by failing people. They are teachers because they want to teach, not because they want to take the 20k+ paycut a year. Im just horrified at the fact that you resorted to calling her ugly and noting her facial hair as justification for your anger. Grow up.

I worked my ass off 2.5 years to get into my nursing program and get my AS in nursing out of the way. And now that I have been in my program I am working my ass off and the top of my class. Instructors dont fail people, people fail themselves. Learn your drugs, calculations and administration methods and then maybe you wont need to complain about failing something. :trout:

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