Students who get As are bad bedside nurses

[konstantine]

This is the refrain I keep hearing from my clinical instructor and others in and around my program. What's your experience? I'm a Level 1 student. I know very well I have all of it to learn, but I don't think I'm a complete lost cause. I make good grades in class, but at every turn I hear someone telling me that good grades mean absolutely nothing to being a good nurse.

Just to validate myself. I always finish my head to toe assessment by the time it's due while establishing a good rapport with my one patient (so far). I have found things during my assessment the actual nurse missed (due to the fact that I have one patient and half an hour to assess them, while the nurse has at least 5 and significantly less time to hover over the same lung spot). I've gotten feedback from the CNAs and nurses on the floor I have clinical on that I'm the one who jumps in to do anything, while many of my classmates huddle and just answer call lights. My clinical instructor has me go in the room with other students to help them with their assessments. I'm the only person in my clinical group she's let do a glucose check and lovenox injection unobserved.

I'm not blind to my faults. Most obviously, I don't have experience. I still very much need someone to validate what I observe, because I'm really not sure I'm what I think I'm observing is correct, or if I'm missing something altogether. And I am most definitely missing assessment findings a real nurse catches. In addition, I struggle with time management. That's why I make the effort to get all my patient work and paper work done as early as I can to shadow a nurse as long as I can. I want to see how they organize their shift and how they deal with all the random stuff I'm not going to see with my one patient. I don't know what all goes in to being an actual nurse on a med-surg floor. Mostly, I don't know WHAT I don't know, but I really try to be aware of that and observe the nurses and ask what clues they got that made them do what they did.

Really, though, I just don't see how getting good grades is going to make me a ****** nurse. Is this something people say to make people who are earning grades they wish were better feel better, or is there truth to it? I'm trying to keep my confidence up, but I hear this sentiment several times a week, and I'm really wondering what I don't even know I'm missing.

In your experience, are the nurses with the highest grades in their class bad nurses when it comes to caring for real patients? If they are, what are their weaknesses, and what can those class-smart but patient-stupid do to improve?

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Sounds like someone wants an excuse for being a C student.

Think about it...what about a student knowing the material means they won't be able to apply it?

That makes zero sense. Keep studying and getting those A's, and doing well in clinicals!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Here is an educator's view on 'A' students:

"...People who have an easy time of things, who get 800s on their SAT's, I worry that those people get feedback that everything they're doing is great. And I think as a result, we are actually setting them up for long-term failure. When that person suddenly has to face up to a difficult moment, then I think they're screwed, to be honest. I don't think they've grown the capacities to be able to handle that.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[Libby1987]

Several times a week your classmates and instructor just randomly go about announcing that good grades don't make a nurse? There has to be some context for this to come up.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

There is so much wrong with extreme statements, as a previous poster pointed out. It is an individual thing. Average students can become great nurses, as can exceptional students. And the opposite is true also.

Commuter's posted article talks a lot about character. Determination, the desire to succeed, how one handles failure. For younger people, whose only measure of success for the first 21 years of life is academic accomplishment, failure is a hard pill to swallow. The main interviewee in that article is a headmaster at a prestigious school where academic accomplishment is everything, so I can see where he gets his POV.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Grades don't mean the "whole nurse", however I was a 4.0 GPA student and a pretty good nurse, too, I think. Don't listen to the noise. I know of classmates who were not A students who are outstanding nurses, others whom I would not trust with a houseplant. Someone mentioned character, and I agree. Character is who we are when no one is watching. I try to remember that. I have definite improvements I could make, myself.

[Everline]

I graduated with a 4.0 GPA. While the school at large recognized this achievement, no one cared in the nursing department. There was zero motivation to achieve academically. C = degree! I did it for myself and for future academic pursuits. I have previous degrees and I had never before experienced an environment where high grades were disparaged or disrespected. As it turned out, my grades have given me an advantage when getting into residencies and applying to other colleges.

I was never a confident student academically or clinically. I worked my bottom off. I studied constantly and worked on my skills. It did not come easy to me. I accept and look for constructive criticism and work on bettering myself. I'm not sure why people would say based on my grades I would not be a good nurse. It has never, in fact, been said to my face but I have heard the general sentiment many times over. I simply ignored it when I was in school. Now that I have graduated, when I hear it or read it, I consider the source. I know that all my studying and resulting academic achievement gave me a great foundation for critical thinking in a clinical environment. I also know I have a lot to learn and I will continue to apply my best effort towards my progress as a nurse. I am sure you will do the same. People say a lot of things for various reasons. Just continue to press on and achieve high levels in all you do, to the best of your abilities.

[Vinniesguy]

Are you sure you didn't misunderstand? They might mean that great grades doesn't necessarily mean a great nurse - and they would be right.

getting great grades doesn't mean you'll make a bad nurse either!

Theory is one thing - being able to apply it is another.

The ones likely to give you a hard time are the old hospital trained dinosaurs anyway who feel threatened by nurses with knowledge!

[RNperdiem, RN]

Nursing is a performing art. Getting an A on my dance theory test is good, but it doesn't mean I am a better dancer. Now, the people who are motivated to put what they have learned into nursing practice and are willing to learn become great nurses. Many of these people are A students.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

The ones likely to give you a hard time are the old hospital trained dinosaurs anyway who feel threatened by nurses with knowledge!

Did you seriously just say this out loud?

Just now picturing all those "old hospital trained dinosaurs" WITHOUT knowledge....hmmmm.....nope, can't see that at all.

[caseyuptonurse]

In my opinion I'm a pretty darn good nurse, and I didn't do THAT well academically. I still graduated with honors but no matter what I did I could hardly ever get an A in my nursing classes. Clinical on the in thee hand was a different story, no problems getting As on that because the exams were more about what would you do in x situation. I believe that someone who gets straight As can be a great nurse just as someone who doesn't get straight As can be as well. What I find more important is applying the knowledge you learn in lecture to what you are actually doing in clinical. Which it seems like you are. I also think demeanor has something to do with nursing especially at the bedside. I had some classmates that were so awkward at the bedside that it scared me even though they had the knowledge. You also don't want to be too confident at the bedside either.

[RescueNinjaKy]

If you're gullible enough to believe such a blanketing smoke out of the butt kind of statement then you need to make some reevaluating. I am not saying you're not smart, nothing like that but you seem to have a confidence issue. Uncertainty can certainly hold you back from being a great nurse. Use those critical thinking skills and think about it, why does having good grades make a bad bedside nurse? It doesn't, it's obviously a very generalized and untrue statement. Your success shouldn't be measured by others standards. If your patients are doing well, have good outcomes, are satisfied and you haven't endangered them or broken procedure then you're good. So just keep doing you and don't let those absurd statements bother you.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Are you sure you didn't misunderstand? They might mean that great grades doesn't necessarily mean a great nurse - and they would be right.

getting great grades doesn't mean you'll make a bad nurse either!

Theory is one thing - being able to apply it is another.

The ones likely to give you a hard time are the old hospital trained dinosaurs anyway who feel threatened by nurses with knowledge!

I am totally with this (except for the dinosaur part LOL)

Yep, book-learnin' and clinical application are two different skills. Many times they go together and make for a great nurse. The knowledge part can take you far when it comes to test taking and academic endeavors. But a good clinical nurse is a sight to behold. Sometimes they need to look stuff up or ask a colleague but when the fur flies they are your best friend.

Perhaps your instructor was trying to convey don't let good grades alone lure you into complacency. If that instructor is allowing you to do some things without direct supervision there's a strong compliment you should take to heart and keep up the good work

I don't see too many of the knowledge-only students in practice because they go on to make everyone's life miserable with instituting policies and staffing ratios that suck.

Rawr!