Nursing_rules

Hi everyone. A bit of a background on myself - I first did Biology at university then transferred to do the 4 year RN degree. My experience with 1st year: most assignments were fairly easy, A average overall, the only stress was caused by my own lack of time management. Material straightforward. My experience with 2nd year (now): love the science courses, love the abstract thinking, diagnosis, etc same good marks. I dislike clinical. I dislike the clinical component for a variety of reasons, but mostly that I do not feel valued. I don't mean that I expected already overworked nurses to clap and hop up and down for having to 'mentor' a student. I just mean that I was hoping that all that fluff they fed us last year, such as nurses being respected, having autonomy, good assessment skills, their opinions being valued, etc were true. During a semester at a huge teaching hospital, all I saw was nurses complaining and avoiding their work as much as possible. Passing the buck. At one point I was having lunch in the staff room and an RN inquired about my grades prior to this program and such. "If you had such good grades, why did you go to this program? If I had those grades no way would I go to university for 4 years so I could come out wiping poo". I just stared at her. Man oh man. I don't feel nurses are valued...

Really? That is actually good news for me. As a student I am so disappointed with my clinical experience on an internal medicine unit. As I am taking on some of the tasks of the nurses, I only feel that the challenges (and they are challenges) are - how to turn the patient in bed (if they are obese, had hip surgery, etc) to do peri care - to make sure all the meds are done on time - to chart accurately - to sustain your own frustration when patients/families/other nurses are rude to you I feel that while these are difficult, they are not 'critical thinking' per se. I sincerely hope on different units I actually learn more. Otherwise I feel like all my assessment and patho knowledge is being wasted. I try to ask questions and confirm my assessments; nobody cares.

Also for those of you saying that the NCLEX or w/e (I'm from Canada) or nursing courses require more than 50% to graduate...well, the university I went to for Biology would not let you obtain a Bachelor of Science Degree unless you had a B- GPA. That is much more difficult to obtain in a bio program than in a nursing one. As somebody previously mentioned, nursing is just busy work. Critical thinking is involved only when you're way up there, nurse practitioner style.

The 4 year nursing degree is a joke in comparison to the Bio degree.

Hello, First of all, I would like to point out that anybody who has the objective to put anybody down is likely on the wrong track. Therefore, if there is an RN putting down an LPN, it is unnecessary. Likewise for an MD putting down an LPN, or a surgeon putting down a family doctor. All roles are necessary to keep up the wellbeing of the general public. However, that being said I would also say it is ignorant to "overlook" the fact that different roles include different responsibilities. A seasoned LPN would have better "intuition" about some things than a new RN, yes. An RN on the other hand has more education in terms of assessment. I think things like perineal care, personal hygience assistance, meal assistance, oral care, all the things carried out by LPNs are indeed necessary and important. I think the reason why they are looked down upon, is because it is very "dirty" work. Let's face it, nobody likes to clean up anyone's behind (even though it will prevent pressure ulcers, etc). If there was a way to eliminate having to do this, nobody would vote against. Some people enjoy critical thinking more, others enjoy hands on work. Or, their finances won't allow them to upgrade. OR they don't have sufficient education to go on. This is not a reason to put anybody down. At the same time I think it's pretty ignorant to say that LPNs have as much education as RNs, and that RNs are as well educated as MDs. As somebody that went through university and did a biology program, I can honestly say there is a noticeable difference in levels of achievement between those that are bound for medical school, and those that choose nursing. There is also a considerable difference in the pace between LPN courses and RN courses.

First of all - those of you that are saying the author is trying to redirect attention from her own shortcomings - irrelevant. She could have logged in under another name too. Who cares? Also, haven't you seen favouritism at work? Personal agendas? (from management side) I believe that making the mistake w/ the tubing is a pretty serious issue. It depends on the hospital's policy, of course. However, the attendance issue...well , that's also up to the hospital's policy. Has she been reprimanded? Was there any warning beforehand? Maria, just b/c others do it too, doesn't make it a good excuse.