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?

[BabieRN]

Maybe instead of concentrating on what you feel are others(experienced Nurses) shortcomings you should concentrate on making yourself the best you can be. Sometimes the hand of experience looks different and is uncomfortable to the inexperienced. Its amazing how quick you are to judge others

[guest1048932]

I'm a new nurse too, but my experience has been positive. We do an informal thing where we send each other little articles to read (we have a reading club. We're lame, I know), and for the important things, we'll have specialists come in and do educational sessions. It's helped keep us current, and my workplace pays for it, which is a bonus! We are also encouraged to pursue things like seminars and courses, and we are required to do learning plans which we share with our peers. It has helped us all keep up to date, and we don't have arguments over practice. I find approaching things with, "I know we all learned something different in school, but the most current research says...." seems to level the playing field and it implies that we all have something to learn.