Presenting to freshmen students-healthcare majors

BookwormRN · Oct 9, 2008

I feel that THE most important skills anyone can have in healthcare (or any other field) are COMMUNICATION skills!

A person should have the skills to communicate with people one-on-one and in groups; written communication skills are also very important.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Oct 9, 2008

Amen, BookwormRN! I believe students tend to focus on tasks, use of equipment and certifications. All that is worthless if you do not know basic nursing. When I precept students I find the older ones do better because they have learned there is more than one way to do something and no one is right all the time. They are able to handle little frustrations and are more flexible. So if your audience can focus on controlling their fears related to inadequacy (which WILL go away once they learn their job) then they should focus on communication.

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Oct 10, 2008

HI!
I am giving a presentation to students at the University where I work who are freshmen and majoring in healthcare (Nursing, OT, PT).
What would you (anyone!) say would be the most necessary skills and experiences to have upon graduation? (work experience, certifications, etc.)
IS there anything you wish you would have thought about before entering the field?
What is the most important characteristic of a GREAT Nurse or healthcare provider?
Thanks to everyone who responds. I am looking to use this information to add the "real-world" component to the general information!
Thanks,
Presenting---soon!

I wish I would have thought about the whole customer service aspect. I don't mind taking care of patients...but the families can be a whole other story some days...

The greatest nurses CARE about their patients. They do more than the minimum always...they don't leave work for the next shift. And they NEVER ignore what the patients need.

patwil73 · Oct 10, 2008

One thing I notice when talking to the nurses during rounds (and I was often guilty of when I first started) is that they are very good at knowing what is going on with the patient right then, but not so good on how it relates to what happened before.

One thing I try and stress when I discuss our Medical Responses to the staff is that patient's are not just their current vital signs and medications, but they have to be examined in the context of their whole stay.

New RN's will have an invaluable tool to help with this as more and more places move to computer charting. Good charting programs allow for staff to look at trends (ours has a bar graph so you can easily see if there is an unexplained spike or drop).

This will be one of the hardest things for new RN's to do. Essentially they are spending a lot of time learning about each tree in a forest and then forgetting they are in a forest because they are spending all their time watching 1 tree.

Hope this makes sense (it's getting late and I am a bit punchy now)

Pat

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Oct 10, 2008

Caring - there is a way to teach that. Define BEHAVIORS that demonstrate caring. I use introduction to patient, call them by name, explain your role, explain any procedures and how long they will take, use appropriate touch and thank them for being a cooperative patient. These are all do-able and go a long way for customer service. We have made the Caring Model (Jean Watson) our facility's nursing philosophy and teach caring BEHAVIORS. It is not enough to just care. Show it.

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Oct 10, 2008

if a person won the lottery and still wanted to continue in his or her profession (even if just per diem or whatnot), that means the person really enjoys and has a heart for the profession. i think healthcare careers especially make this statement true.

*jess*