Every time I log on here see such a thread. Well let me see. My hospital has recently decided to hire only new grads or people who were new grads and worked in nursing homes etc. I have been amazed at the attitudes. Some signed contracts and got sent to an area that's apparently low rent. Med/Surg is not sexy enough apparently. Just this months some of the fun the "nasty nurses" have to fix. The heparin drip that gets shut off because the patient wanted a shower. The nurse who called the doc several times overnight for a patient with a low bp, bolused fluids and gave 40 mg of lisinopril at 6am "because its was ordered". The patient with an NG tube clamped, who spent 12 hours pucking and it didn't occur to them the hook him up to suction. The trach pt gurgling, in distress, because the nurse didn't know she was supposed to suction him and then criticized the day nurse for her technique in suctioning. Holding IV antibiotics because the pt was NPO, but continuing the PEG tube feed, so surgery was delayed and I had to explain to the surgeon. OK we all had to learn but really? We have the new grads coming up stating they don't have time and you have to start their IV, pass their meds, you have to do it. Meanwhile holding their lunch they had time to go get on the other side of the hospital at 11am and leaving at 7.30pm while your there till 9.30. It's a if they are still students and the other nurses are their assistants. You go to help and never get so much as a thank you. Just complaints if you so much as try and point out what they need to do to take care of the patients. The word Entitled comes to kind. Not all of them we have some new grads that are willing to learn, grateful for the information. And then this this whole new breed. Is it me? I remember my new nurse days, the crusty nurses who were hard on me but to whom I owe so much. I became a much better nurse because of it. Yes it was hard at the time, but I would never have behaved the way I am seeing now. Generational thing no doubt. But as the as one who is cleaning up the mess, enough. This job is hard enough.
Nursing educators are not all that highly paid, unfortunately. Perhaps that is part of the problem.
OP, just an observation--
Behind a whole bucket load of nurses who are thrown on units and have little idea on what they are supposed to be doing, how to do what they know they should be doing, and attempting to get other nurses to do what they could be doing....
Is a highly paid nurse educator. What is it that he/she is doing?
"enable them to practice safely at the level of a beginning nurse". The NCLEX is a test to determine whether you can "practice at the level of a beginning nurse".
It is good form to quote the person you are replying to.
One can pass the NCLEX and not be able to practice safely as a beginning nurse.
The examples given by the OP of new nurses who were not practicing safely and did not even know this, and were failing to think critically and use the nursing process, are examples of new nurses not practicing safely at the level of beginning nurses.
I had a new grad attempting to flush a G-Tube. As a rookie she didn't know that the answer was not to simply apply more pressure when the tube wouldn't flush. Of course the tube "backfired" and chunky bits of fermenty feeding splattered her face and arms. She immediately whipped out her cell phone that she was quite addicted to and called 911 from the bedside.
I had a new grad attempting to flush a G-Tube. As a rookie she didn't know that the answer was not to simply apply more pressure when the tube wouldn't flush. Of course the tube "backfired" and chunky bits of fermenty feeding splattered her face and arms. She immediately whipped out her cell phone that she was quite addicted to and called 911 from the bedside.
I can't imagine that actually happened but just the thought has me literally cracking up!
It's really not a generational thing. It's a problem your facility is having with attracting, hiring, and retaining GOOD new nurses. I work with several brand new 22 year old grads that have fantastic work ethics. We get our occasional rotten apple, and they all have learning to do, but for the most part they're polite, respectful, eager to learn, hard working, and cheerful. The issues you're dealing with sound extraordinarily frustrating.
Yes it happened. I was the supervisor on duty and she simply panicked and called 911 for backup. She went to a private expensive school where she was a customer and didn't think that she would have to do hard things on her own as a nurse. How you were trained or in this case not trained greatly affects the type of reaction that you will have in a stressful situation. When you do your med surg rotations at a Hospice House these are the types of results that you get. I am very familiar with her school and I am not surprised.
To me, the problem isn't just that these new grads made all of these mistakes that the OP mentioned. It's that, in just about every single example, the new grad felt like something wasn't right, but didn't ask for anyone's advice on what to do.
I admit, when I've asked some questions that have made my experienced coworkers crack up or do a double take. But I also have yet to make a mistake that had harmed a patient...
Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN
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