Bmahoney

Type in "why I hate nursing" on google and you'll get some feedback... there are many websites explaining why nurses leave.

This isn't me (yet) but I found this thread... When I was in college, I studied old videos of Skinner's rats. B.F. Skinner was the "father" of behavioral psychology. He dedicated his life to studying how far rats (and people) were willing to go in order to receive a reward or avoid a punishment. As a culmination of his research, he randomly assigned either a yummy rat food pellet or an electric shock to be delivered to rats who navigated a maze. These rats had been conditioned to expect that they would receive a food pellet when they reached the end of the maze. However, in this experiment, their speed or accuracy had no bearing on the outcome. Sometimes they received a pellet; sometimes they received an electric shock. In all other respects, the rats received all of their basic needs. They received adequate sleep, adequate food, adequate socialization, etc. The only uncertainty was what they received when they navigated the mazes each day. The effects of this experiment were remarkable. Some rats curled up at the start of the maze, refusing to complete the task for which they had trained for years. Other rats became overtly aggressive, attacking any other rats attempting to run the maze. Still other rats became blinded to their surroundings, oblivious to anything but the goal of completing the maze. When they finished, regardless of whether they received a reward or a punishment, they would return to the starting area and run the maze again and again. All of the rats experienced some sort of ill effect, such as sleep disturbances, appetite changes, increased aggression, self-mutilation, etc. Nursing reminds me a lot of being one of Skinner's rats. Sometimes I get a manageable patient load--and sometimes I'm in WAY over my head. Sometimes I speak with a physician who is courteous and professional--and sometimes I get verbal abuse, condescension, or worse, despite my best efforts to be prepared and professional. Sometimes I get patients who appreciate my efforts--and sometimes I get spit on or battered. For me, that's what makes nursing so difficult. I am the person who has ultimate responsibility for the patient, but no matter how hard I try, no matter how fast I work, no matter how balls-on accurate I am in my craft, I have no effect on the outcome. Worse still, I am as powerless as Skinner's rats. Because of our hospital culture, I am powerless to speak out against managers, physicians and patients who present unfair expectations. As a result of this powerlessness and random nature of rewards/punishments, I see the same effects in my co-workers as Skinner saw in his rats. Resignation, horizontal violence, insomnia, "nursemares", obesity, ulcers, anxiety, ETOH and drug abuse, "eating their young" and so on... I want no part of that. The IDEAL of nursing may be noble, but the REALITY is far less inspiring. God help the patients. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind going into nursing

everyone needs to take a review class to learn test stategies for the nclex. hello? when was anything worth learning taught to a test. material that should be tested is core nursing... not random drugs and diseases. you are expected to take it shortly after graduation so you don't forget what you've learned, etc. what is the board asking of us? that we memorize a ridiculous amount of material because no brain is willing to regurgitate all of this information forever. i can guarantee that the people that make up these 3,000 + questions would get a good percentage wrong... and they wrote them. there has to be a better and more logical way. for all of you studying your butts off the pass the nclex, i hope that you get good questions. that's what it boils down to... because since everyone has a random personal test. someone might get common diseases, while your stuck with the obscure!!! sounds rather unfair for the second person in my opinion. i see so many graduates thinking they are dumb because they didn't pass the first time. ask any nurse about all of the different things that you are expected to know for testing, and they wouldn't be able to do it. they are good at their jobs because they were trained, deal with similiar medications, etc. training on the job (as in older days) starts to make sense... this test truly is assinine! different study books offer completely opposing rationales. i have found errors in three of them so far. diseases that you've never heard of are tested. there are over 12,000 disease listed by who. think about that?! if you don't know the disease or one of the over 7,000 medication available how can you give an educated response? here is some advice though... because they are training you to test to the test. so even if some of the questions are downright awful, hopefully this helps. in prioritizing- who am i going to kill off first if i don't tend to him/her in situations responding to a client/family- if asking a person what they know is an option, do this. you can't teach before knowing what level they're at. when asked what you would do- assess before you intervene. when asked to evaluate- it needs to be measurable not vague. good luck all! nclex people... this test needs some serious overhaul. just my opinion. oh, and for those of you that have to take a test to graduate from your college... that too is bs! it is only the passing rates (that look good for them) that they are concerned about.