Social Skills Should Be a Bigger Focus in Nursing School

allnurses Guide · May 21, 2021

1 hour ago, Hannahbanana said:

Since we were discussing nurses, most of whom are adults.... yes.

Sorry, I did not know that high rates of suicide among nurses was a thing.

Also @lovinglife 's coment while describing their own experience as a nurse also spoke of society in the general sense and people (again in general) having somewhat unrealistic expectations about how large groups of people interact with eachother. This is a bit of a sensitive subject for me as I tried to take my own life in 2002. The cause had nothing to do with being a nurse though. In fact the practice of nursing pretty much saved me.

Hppy

Emergent, RN · May 21, 2021

2 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

I'm still stuck on how you teach this to young adults. Are you aware of any credible curricula?

I was just putting the idea out there, I kind of suspect that Academia would not do a good job of it. They seem to be on the victimology train for the most part. There is a lot of shallow thinking in our institutions of higher learning that seems to be pandering to simplistic political ideologies.

Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN · May 21, 2021

5 minutes ago, Emergent said:

I kind of suspect that Academia would not do a good job of it. They seem to be on the victimology train for the most part. There is a lot of shallow thinking in our institutions of higher learning that seems to be pandering to simplistic political ideologies.

What's the source of your information?

(I'm reflexively dismissive of "a lot of" and "shallow thinking" language, especially when attached to "institutions of higher learning." Where else would higher learning come from? The net? Faux experts on Tik-Tok and Instagram?)

allnurses Guide · May 21, 2021

On 5/21/2021 at 1:10 PM, Emergent said:

I was just putting the idea out there, I kind of suspect that Academia would not do a good job of it. They seem to be on the victimology train for the most part. There is a lot of shallow thinking in our institutions of higher learning that seems to be pandering to simplistic political ideologies.

I am old enough to remember when American schools taught life skills. Things Like how to plant a garden and grow food, How to cook bread from scratch, How to build things, how to fix broken things, how to budget and balance household finances. The idea that one must go to college (Often acquiring huge sums of debt in the process) in order to be a success has given our culture a glut of college graduates who are ill-qualified for most jobs. Yes there are also many qualified grads as well but most in my experience seem to expect jobs that will immediately set them for life. The idea of starting at entry-level which is what most nursing schools prepare their grads for seems novel to many.

I could go on but I won't because I have to go move pumpkin and potato plants. Plus this maybe belongs as a breakroom topic.

Hppy

Emergent, RN · May 21, 2021

3 hours ago, Hannahbanana said:

What's the source of your information?

(I'm reflexively dismissive of "a lot of" and "shallow thinking" language, especially when attached to "institutions of higher learning." Where else would higher learning come from? The net? Faux experts on Tik-Tok and Instagram?)

I'm not an Instagram or Tik Tok or Twitter follower. I don't follow any opinion blogs except a little Z-Dogg and JB Sears, and even that is limited.

I'm just an intelligent person who has made observations over the years from a common sense POV, who has an acute sensitivity to BS when I catch a whiff of it. But I refuse to let it take up too much space in my head.

As some people at all nurses might know, I'm not one to debate back and forth like some people seem to like to do, so I won't be answering any more of your comments to me.

Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN · May 21, 2021

::shrug:: Just asking for your sources, is all. Have a nice day!

SmilingBluEyes · May 21, 2021

I think they need to screen candidates for nursing school better. Way back in the 90s I had to interview with the director in addition to applying. They had lots of questions for me. They screened out those who did not interview well.

I think that's a start.

Socialization begins at home with the family of origin, not in nursing school!

Daisy4RN · May 21, 2021

On 5/18/2021 at 3:15 PM, Kenneth S. Veillon said:

So many new grads are unprepared for the social aspect of the field. They almost unilaterally complain of personality conflicts with peers and management and frequently leave the whole field because they aren't able to deal with personalities.

In my opinion, this needs to be addressed in regards to the preperation of new grads.

I agree with you but wondering who you think should address it. IMO, many younger people who attend college, including nurses, are not being taught how to think but instead they are taught what to think and provided safe spaces etc for those things they just cant possibly even hear. This is not helpful to these young people or society in general. This is not just a problem in the healthcare field but seems to be everywhere. Agree that the everyone gets a blue ribbon mentality has made it worse and add to that the novel college experience and not sure that anyone should expect much less than what we now have. Maybe is is time to change and actually teach those subjects in school like math, reading, writing, science etc and teach how to think in college.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356

nursej22, MSN, RN · May 21, 2021

A million years ago when I was applying for nursing school I was given an aptitude test, plus had a physical exam that included a brief mental health evaluation by my family doctor. I doubt this happens now, based on my recent foray into teaching nursing.

Many of the students I worked with were coming from stressful environments, some abusive, some from very limited means. This, and this is only my opinion, felt like they were already starting at a disadvantage in regards to establishing professional interactions. As far as nursing classes teaching interpersonal communications, every semester class and clinical time got pared down and the emphasis was on passing NCLEX. I felt that the best I could do was to model what I felt was a professional demeanor with them, patients and other staff.

We had one student with so much anxiety that she could not demonstrate how to prime IV tubing and program a pump, in an aseptic manner. We had to go to great lengths to accommodate her, because the college president was terrified of a lawsuit. I didn't stay at that job.

SmilingBluEyes · May 22, 2021

3 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

I agree with you but wondering who you think should address it. IMO, many younger people who attend college, including nurses, are not being taught how to think but instead they are taught what to think and provided safe spaces etc for those things they just cant possibly even hear. This is not helpful to these young people or society in general. This is not just a problem in the healthcare field but seems to be everywhere. Agree that the everyone gets a blue ribbon mentality has made it worse and add to that the novel college experience and not sure that anyone should expect much less than what we now have. Maybe is is time to change and actually teach those subjects in school like math, reading, writing, science etc and teach how to think in college.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356

This was most certainly not the case in my school. We were taught HOW to think and think critically. Why other schools don't do this is way beyond me.

bitter_betsy, BSN · May 22, 2021

On 5/18/2021 at 7:37 PM, Emergent said:

I agree, there should be units on etiquette and conflict resolution. Also, sociological information regarding various cultures in nursing should be included in the curriculum.

When I was in nursing school, they were just getting into teaching about the whole eating your young stereotype. I don't think this was a very balanced trend, it contributed to a lot of the sense of victimization that a large percentage of new grads feel.

The subject is much more complex than that viewpoint, which probably grew out of some people's personal experiences, but there are two sides to every story.

I graduated a year ago. These things were contained in my courses and they even included cultural differences (like hot/cold in hispanic culture depending on ailment). The thing that actually makes me a "better" nurse is that I understand more about life than I did 20 years ago. By "better" I mean that I would have made a terrible nurse at 22. Now - I'm capable of actually listening and caring about a problem a patient is having. I also understand a little more about how to get to the solutions that they need - not necessarily from being a nurse, but from life experiences themselves. I've also had time to learn conflict resolution through personal experience and put that knowledge to good use as a nurse.

I also have a daughter the age of graduating new nurses. There is certainly a difference in how we view things generationally. I won't say if one is better than they other, but this difference can lead to extremes in patient care as well. I had an incident with a rude daughter the other day and the nurse that was with me stated how she would have handled the daughter differently. Her stance was "you aren't going to talk to me that way", while mine was ignore her while keeping my patient safe - safe from herself, and safe from her daughter. Neither of us were wrong. I really don't think its something you can teach in a short course though. I think it is learned over time with experience.

guest1171208 · May 23, 2021

I often hear many nurses say introverts do not belong in nursing.

I am an introvert myself, so I wonder if that was directed at me.