Student NUrse Needs Help From A Licensed Nurse :(

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2008

how did you become an licensed nurse? what were the steps you took to become a licensed nurse?

i went to a community college program. i had to take several pre-requisite courses (anatomy, basic chemistry and medical terminology) and then apply for entrance into the nursing program.

what were your motivations behind becoming a nurse?

i was a bookkeeper and very dissatisfied with working in an office and feeling like i was making no contribution to society.

how did you juggle school, family and possibly a job while in school?

i was single and had saved my money. i lived at home with my parents.

anything you wish you knew then that you know now?

i had considered nursing before i took accounting in college. i put it off because i was afraid that i would do badly in chemistry. i was wrong. when i finally did take chemistry i did so well in it to my surprise that i later considered possibly majoring in it. fear does funny things to a person.

have you ever witnessed something unethical while at work?

i worked with another nurse in a nursing home who i and several others discovered was not giving patients their medications but charting that he did and was making up glucometer readings for patients that he supposedly did fingersticks on.

how did you handle the situation?

we informed the don (director or nursing). we documented every incidence we found and patient who told us their blood sugar hadn't been checked by him. the memory of the glucometer was checked and it was verified that some of the blood sugars that he was recording in the medication records were not in the memory of the glucometer. the final straw, however, was when the pharmacy service came in just before and after the last shift he worked (because he was fired) and audited (counted) every pill in his medication cart and compared it to what he charted he gave and found huge discrepancies. they also found glucometer readings charted that had not been done. in other words, he had falsified the records.

what are the different roles you have worked in health care?

nursing assistant (as a student), staff nurse, iv therapist, acute hospital supervisor, nursing home supervisor, acute hospital assistant unit manager, acute hospital unit manager, telephonic nursing, medical coder

what advice would you offer to a person beginning the nursing profession?

i think there is more to learn today than 30 or 40 years ago, so don't feel that you can learn it all in a year or two. it takes time and experience on the job to develop a feeling of security about what you are doing. so, be patient and give yourself that time to develop and mature as a professional.

what advice would you offer a student?

this actually comes from a website for medical students, but it is so good that i have started posting it for nursing students. why should docs get all the best advice? from

http://meded.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/thoughts.htm

"never be afraid to ask questions. if those that you are currently working with are unreceptive, make use of other resources (e.g. house staff, students, nurses, health care technicians, staff physicians). you can learn something from anyone.

there is no substitute for being thorough in your efforts to care for patients. performing a good examination and obtaining an accurate history takes a certain amount of time, regardless of your level of experience or ability. in addition, get in the habit of checking the primary data yourself, obtaining hard copies of outside studies, mining the old records for information, re-questioning patients when the story is unclear, and in general being tenacious in your pursuit of clinically relevant material. while this dogged search for answers is not too sexy, it is the cornerstone of good care.

learn from your patients. in particular, those with chronic or unusual diseases will likely know more about their illnesses then you. find out how their diagnosis was made, therapies that have worked or failed, disease progression, reasons for frustration or gratitude with the health care system, etc. realize also that patients and their stories are frequently more interesting then the diseases that inhabit their bodies.

become involved (within reason) in all aspects of patient care. look at the x-ray, examine the sputum, talk with the radiologist, watch the echo being performed. this will allow you to learn more and gain insight into a particular illness/disease state that would not be well conveyed by simply reading the formal report. it will also give you an appreciation for tests and their limitations. caring for patients is not a spectator sport. as an active participant in the health care process (rather then simply a scribe who documents events as they occur) you will not only help deliver better medical care but will also find the process to be more rewarding and enjoyable."

what do you believe are the advantages to choosing a nursing career? also any disadvantages?

i always like the work hours. i worked a lot of night shifts and was free to do a lot of things during the daytime. the stores are less crowded during the weekdays and so is the driving on the roads. i had a lot of autonomy as a nurse that i never would have had in any other profession. while you will struggle in school to learn to think critically (to learn to make judgments) it is because that decision making is integral to the job. very few jobs have that decision making as part of them. it is that decision making that makes nursing so satisfying over working a mundane job.

how has nursing changed since you became a nurse? (educational requirements etc)

i don't think it has been the educational requirements so much. i would have gone on and gotten an education one way or another. that was in my mind all along. nursing, however, has forced me to deal with some personal fears: death, for one. illness, tragedy. i saw people experiencing these. you can't help but notice how they deal with them and wonder how you yourself would handle these situations. i also learned to prioritize what was most important in life. after a few years as a nurse, makeup and fast cars weren't as important anymore.

what are the most important issues in the nursing profession right now?

staffing, service

describe an incident that gave you the most gratification.

i had a patient come up to me a couple of years later while i was shopping to thank me for taking care of her in the hospital.

anything else you may want to add??

keep a positive attitude. be respectful of those who are teaching you regardless of whether or not you agree or disagree with their method of teaching.

WndrWmn · Sep 19, 2008

Words cant desribe my appretiation. THank you for taking the time out of your day to do this for me. I have found so much support from this group (especially since my entire house is falling apart around me while my nose is in a book all the time).

THank you sooooooo much!

Tara