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 is an educator's view on 'A' students:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
^ Very interesting viewpoint.
I got a few As, more Bs and a couple C's throughout my nursing education. I never was a 4.0 student, however I did fairly well during class and did well in clinical; most likely due to my nursing style; I was able to apply theory while in clinical.
Are there bad A student nurses? sure. Are there stellar A student nurses? Absolutely.
Are there bad C student nurses? sure. Are there stellar C student nurses? Absolutely.
I think that the article that Commuter posted is so on point in terms of how we are more than grades and intellect; character traits can go a long way-even failure can make one a better person-I failed nursing school, dusted myself off, and went on to do very well in a PN program, pass the boards the first time and get into a BSN program, pass and take the boards and pass the first time. Through my journey, I have receive feedback from peers (including physicians), my patients, educators and administration that I have very good attributes as a nurse.
I think that I could always improve, but to be in this business as a nurse for almost 10 years, I think that I have mastered the character and a proper level of intellect to be a good-stellar nurse, even if I wasn't a straight A student; and that took practice; it didn't stop after nursing school.
OP, you will have to master those attributes in your own way; sometimes one has to learn the art of filtering out information and "antidotal information" to get the message; if anything, the message that you can take from this is to learn the art of mastering theory and application of nursing theory; as long as you can do that, you will be on your way.
I think some students are book smart and some students are floor smart. What do I mean by that? There are students that could probably recite the entire fundamentals and med-surg books cover to cover but get on the floor and be like a dear in headlights. Then there are some students that do well on the floor but may have not got the BEST grades but still make great nurses. Then there is the rare breed that are book and floor smart and are able to piece the two together very well.
From what I read OP you sound like one of the students that are able to incorporate both and other students may be jealous of that trait. Shake off the haters and keep pressing on.
Turn a deaf ear to such sillyness. Keep studying, don't flaunt your knowledge, keep working hard.
There will always be someone jealous, someone eager to rain on your parade in life. There are so many insecure, angry, miserable people all around, some sociopaths, too, who love to hurt others, need to hurt others.
Brush it all off and keep on learning and improving. God bless you, OP.
There are many different types of students. Nursing doesn't only use the brain, so it's possible for students to be good at one thing and bad at another. For example, some students who have book-smarts are not good at hands-on skills. Some students who are more hands-on don't have much book-smarts. And you have students who have a mixture of both.
Honestly, I feel as though nursing students should focus more on their education rather than their clinical skills. You will learn your clinical skills during your first nursing job. The NCLEX will not evaluate how well your IV skills are; it will, however, evaluate your knowledge of IV care, safety, etc. No student will ever come out of nursing school ready to run the floor, yet so many students expect their clinical experience to help them do just that. I can't tell you how many of my classmates failed because they were more focused on perfecting their skills rather than understanding the course material.
Used to be that clinicals were meant for exactly developing skills and learning to manage the floor.
I just have a hard time believing that a professor would say that. Are you sure that you didn't just infer that from things she has said?
I am wondering if its possible that they said something more along the lines that you don't have to be an A student to be a good nurse or that A students aren't automatically good nurses?
I also wonder if what she means is that A students, while clearly very capable and smart, are usually better off in different fields of nursing, such as teaching, research etc. (Don't even know if that is true, just throwing it out there)
Just food for thought. I know the "the few A student" nurses I've worked with have been very knowledgeable and through, but were also very much "by the book", always staying wayyyy late to chart, not very personable, very quick to delegate out of convenience and in general didn't do a lot of thinking outside the box.
I don't know if that is a pattern, or not. I certainly don't think it should be a blanket statement, at all.
There's a reason nursing school has two parts. The didactic portion prepares your knowledge of best practice, while the clinical portion prepares you for the application of skills and assessments. Being well prepared in both areas is certainly not a shortcoming. Keep your performance strong in both areas, and keep reminding yourself that "they hate us 'cause they ain't us". But don't say it too loud. It sounds like something else. :)
Some students are great test takers and lack skill and some are not great test takers and do very well in skill. But the grades don't define U! They don't. One thing I learned through out nursing school was being told by the most brilliant of professors. The grade doesn't not make u. It's U that makes u! Just focus and study in small groups. Don't let daily activities control ur study time. You have to push that aside! It will always be there later.
A lot of the things I learned in nursing school (and I graduated with a 3.8 GPA) are things I still use today. I work with critically ill children. I am so glad I paid attention to my studies, because that "book" knowledge serves my patients well. I remember the first time I had a patient with DKA. I had studied this in school and knew the whys and hows of correcting this child's acid/base balance, sugars, and electrolytes. I wasn't just blindly following a protocol.
The "art" of nursing, however,-- bedside manner, communication techniques, sharpened assessment skills, and strong intuition-- come with practice, not studying.
I agree with anon... You must continuously practice ur skills, I volunteered at my school to help others with skills so they could strengthen their weaknesses and to be confident to the new things nursing has to offer ( I am also a vet tech and it gave me many skills that also apply to human nursing) practice does make perfect and will make you be professional and proficient. You got this!
If ones primary focus is getting A's, but not comprehending what is and isn't important to know…then yes you will make a bad nurse.
I have come across several really dumb straight A students. And think they are highly intelligent, yet don't understand there is a difference between knowing data and comprehending data.
I graduated Magna cum laude for my BSN and could have made Summa, but had more important things to tend to while working full time, family, etc. My wife doesn't have the same higher grades as I do…..but she is a much better nurse than I am.
Simply put, grades are never a sole indicator of who you are.
LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN
8,429 Posts
^ Very interesting viewpoint.
I got a few As, more Bs and a couple C's throughout my nursing education. I never was a 4.0 student, however I did fairly well during class and did well in clinical; most likely due to my nursing style; I was able to apply theory while in clinical.
Are there bad A student nurses? sure. Are there stellar A student nurses? Absolutely.
Are there bad C student nurses? sure. Are there stellar C student nurses? Absolutely.
I think that the article that Commuter posted is so on point in terms of how we are more than grades and intellect; character traits can go a long way-even failure can make one a better person-I failed nursing school, dusted myself off, and went on to do very well in a PN program, pass the boards the first time and get into a BSN program, pass and take the boards and pass the first time. Through my journey, I have receive feedback from peers (including physicians), my patients, educators and administration that I have very good attributes as a nurse.
I think that I could always improve, but to be in this business as a nurse for almost 10 years, I think that I have mastered the character and a proper level of intellect to be a good-stellar nurse, even if I wasn't a straight A student; and that took practice; it didn't stop after nursing school.
OP, you will have to master those attributes in your own way; sometimes one has to learn the art of filtering out information and "antidotal information" to get the message; if anything, the message that you can take from this is to learn the art of mastering theory and application of nursing theory; as long as you can do that, you will be on your way.