Things You Didn't Learn in Nursing School

How much absolute CRAP your teachers put up with! No wonder no one wants to teach! (why is it I want to do this again?)

PMFB-RN said:

*** Nursing students are not demanding enough of the nursing school they are paying for their education. It's absurd that nursing schools are no longer teaching basic nursing skills and instead transferring the responsibility to employers. Is it any wonder there is so much reluctance by hospitals to hire new grads? New grads have always been expensive to train, having to train them in the most basic and fundamental skills only adds to the expense.

We were told we couldn't learn to do IV's or blood draws due to liability reasons. I think that is crazy. For the first month I worked I was not allowed to do my own IV's I had to get someone from the IV team to do them for me. Then I went around with them for a day and I was set free to start IV's. At least we had the dummy arm. I was no good on that though. I think it was better to learn on real people.

nrsang97 said:

We were told we couldn't learn to do IV's or blood draws due to liability reasons. I think that is crazy. For the first month I worked I was not allowed to do my own IV's I had to get someone from the IV team to do them for me. Then I went around with them for a day and I was set free to start IV's. At least we had the dummy arm. I was no good on that though. I think it was better to learn on real people.

*** When I was in nursing school we HAD to place IVs and draw blood. I remeber we had to place 2 sucessful IVs on real breathing patients in order to pass. No IVs = failure and repeat the clinical or flunk out of nursing school. Same with NG (had to place 1 in a real patient) and many other skills. The students from the local community college who do clinicals in my hospital also have to do hands on skills or fail. Interestingly enough the students from the local state university do not have to do the same.

I would question the liabiliety issue considering other nursing schools are teaching basic nursing skills. If you can find another school in your state I think you could make a strong case.

Besides this should be something a prospective nursing student should be researching when choosing a nursing school. Ask if the basic nursing skills are taught before choosing that school.

L.LineRN said:

I was never taught how much customer service was involved in nursing, and that you need to give the Pts whatever they want so they don't go to a different hospital next time.

*** That's BS. We all need to resist this way of thinking. As far as I am concerned the pain-in-the-butt patients are welcome to go to a different hospital. I am a nurse caring for hospital patients, this is not a hotel.

\ said:

*** When I was in nursing school we HAD to place IVs and draw blood. I remeber we had to place 2 sucessful IVs on real breathing patients in order to pass. No IVs = failure and repeat the clinical or flunk out of nursing school. Same with NG (had to place 1 in a real patient) and many other skills. The students from the local community college who do clinicals in my hospital also have to do hands on skills or fail. Interestingly enough the students from the local state university do not have to do the same.

I would question the liabiliety issue considering other nursing schools are teaching basic nursing skills. If you can find another school in your state I think you could make a strong case.

Besides this should be something a prospective nursing student should be researching when choosing a nursing school. Ask if the basic nursing skills are taught before choosing that school.

No one I know in MI has been able to start an iv during nursing school.

I never had the opportunity to insert a ngt in nursing school. I was given that opportunity as a new grad.

Nursing students don't come into the job well prepared at all.

nrsang97 said:

No one I know in MI has been able to start an iv during nursing school.

I never had the opportunity to insert a ngt in nursing school. I was given that opportunity as a new grad.

Nursing students don't come into the job well prepared at all.

They used to be well prepared.

I attended college in MI...we practiced IVs on each other, passed NGs on each other. Those skills were required in order to pass, as were urinary catheter insertion for the age groups.

\ said:

They used to be well prepared.

I attended college in MI...we practiced IVs on each other, passed NGs on each other. Those skills were required in order to pass, as were urinary catheter insertion for the age groups.

We were not allowed to practice on each other except for bed baths, bed changes, etc. I was more than willing to let classmates practice iv, and injections on me. We did testing in lab, and if we got the clinical opportunity we took it.

Wow I can't believe what some of you missed in nursing school. I will graduate in may and I have something like 200 hours of clinical time this semester alone! We have to do all of our patients NG tubes, IVs, Foleys, ect. The only thing I cannot do as a student nurse is give blood products or push drugs in central lines. Our clinical rotations are 12 hour shifts in the hospital and we have up to 4 patients we are required to give total care to. My program is super intensive, maybe that is why so many people drop but I must say even though I have a ton of things still to learn, I have always felt prepared going into my clinical rotations. This semester we even spend 5 days (all 12 hour shifts) at a level one trauma center were we focus on intensive care, emergency medicine, and one 12 hour shift in the burn unit! I have also spent 3 days (12 hr shifts) at a mental institution that housed severely unstable and criminally insane patients and I was involved in every aspect of their care. This final semester only consists of 2 days of class time during the week and 3 days of clinical rotation! We even have clinical on the weekends sometimes. We are known in our state for our rigorous program and in 5 weeks we will be having a recruitment luncheon in which employers from around the state will attend! I have already been approached my the head of ER and ICU asking me to work for them when I graduate (ER all the way baby)!!!!

We had a rigorous program, too, but that was back in the 80's. We started IV's on each other, gave each other IM injections, etc. The orientation for my first nursing job was 5 days. That was on a 44 bed telemetry unit! After my 5 day orientation, I was charge nurse with two LPN's working with me. Thank God for those two nurses! By the time I graduated nursing school, I could confidently do skills such as IV's, NG's, etc.

I'm in nursing school in Michigan (ADN program at a community college), and we can start IVs in Med-Surg III after completing our lab day on IV starts early in the semester. We don't always get a chance to do it in clinical based on census and patient needs, but we are ALLOWED to do it if the opportunity arises.

The fact that in addition to being a nurse, we also had to be a pharmacist, a therapist, a teacher, a plumber, mechanic, nutritionist, a legal drug dealer, a physical therapist, a punching bag...

I loved the post that related how none of our 12-hour clinical with it's guaranteed 1/2 hour lunch, "go to the bathroom when you need it", "You're all tired? Let's cut off an hour early.." mentality prepared anyone for the real job of nursing. The thing I didn't learn in nursing school was how to keep my compassion for my 16 patients, while adequately caring for them all, passing their meds on time, all the while Administration is breathing down my neck, and the phone is ringing off the hook because no one has the time to stop and answer. The question is though, if any of us truly knew the end from the beginning, how many of us would have endured nursing school?

Thank God for the rewarding days, that make the toil and stress worth it. They do come.