Seasoned Nurses VS Newbie Nurses

[Alexx_xox]

As I've stated in multiple other posts, I am a new grad in the ER. As a new grad, I do not possess the EXPERIENCE that a seasoned nurse has; however, I have noticed that many seasoned nurses are not up to date with new standards that were taught to us in school.

How can one bridge the gap between old knowledge vs newer knowledge?

Here is a perfect example. We were doing ACLS and all the new grads were very knowledgeable regarding the new ACLS protocol; however, a more seasoned nurse was there as well and was following a different protocol that was practiced years ago and not up to date.

With preceptorship coming soon, how do I as a new grad decide what to follow as far as their experience and advice, versus what was taught to me in school?

I am not talking about ACLS protocol here; OBVIOUSLY I am going to follow what the AHA recommends, but I am talking other things here for instance:

-skills

-assessments

-charting

etc.

I have noticed seasoned nurses also don't chart the same as newer nurses, especially because when they had originally started, there was no such thing as an online charting system.

I respect all seasoned nurses and love learning from them and their knowledge is absolutely invaluable, but I have noticed a lot of discrepancies between what we learn and what they do.

Any advice?

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Well, thank goodness you're there to show all the experienced nurses what they're doing wrong.

[JKL33]

I think such a charge merits at least one complete example...

(...said knowing full well that the better thing to do would be to ignore...)

[brownbook]

As long as there are no egregious breeches of protocol or nursing practice let it go.

You could ask 10 of the top bedside nurses how or why to do such and such and get 20 answers.

There are very few times where there is only one right way to do something.

[djmatte, ADN, MSN, RN, NP]

In your shoes, I would perform things as your preceptor encourages and roll on. If you have a different way of doing things, ask them what they think first rather than go on a rant about "in school we.....". Textbooks and schools say a lot of things, but nursing practice is often much different in reality.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

Is patient safety compromised? No? Rock on, girl.

The nurse who's recertifying for ACLS or whatever is going to have it pointed out by the instructor that s/he needs to follow the updated protocols. You absolutely don't need to say a thing UNLESS patient safety is being compromised.

[flowerpowerntx]

(Shakes head) Move along. Nothing to see here.

[TruvyNurse]

You won't be very well liked with that mindset. So what if seasoned nurses don't do things like you learned in school? School isn't real life sweetie. Instead of trying to point out how "out of date" they are, learn something from them! Good luck

[egglady, LPN]

You aren't in school anymore. Good luck to you.

[Megfew32]

Wow.... A lot haters up in here :) I think you make a very good point. I think everyone needs to be open to change as the nursing career is a constant education where medicine and science are always changing. Same will happen to us as we get to be "seasoned nurses". Everyone needs to relax.

[Jules81, BSN, RN]

Wow this post took a hateful turn quick. At no point did she say she pointed it out to a seasoned nurse she was wrong, nor did she say she thought she should tell her. She said it was observed that she wasn't following the new protocol. What I took from Alex is that she wants to do a good job. When you're a new grad you're scared to do things different from what you're taught but seasoned nurses have shortcuts that aren't what is taught in school. Are they wrong? Most of the time absolutely not. They're efficient and come after a period of time of learning what's okay. So as someone who is still in school I have the same question. How do you know which shortcuts/deviations from the classroom setting are okay and which shortcuts are bad practice?

[mrsboots87]

School teaches what it should be like in a perfect world. What you are meant to take from your education is how to be a safe beginner nurse. When you get to the real world, a lot of either shortcuts or quicker ways to do things are learned because demand on nurses time is high. The bridge between seasoned nurses actions and current practice is in that a seasoned nurse knows the basic safety requirements and what absolutely must be done in any given situation and can keep good practice while taking out unnucessary steps or extra interventions to reach the same goal. Soak up what you can from your preceptor and apply your current knowledge to do the same thing.