things they didn't teach in school but should've

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Sorry so long, just curious to see how others feel...now I've been out of school awhile, I've thought of many things that weren't covered in nursing school that should've been. I always joke we should be required to take drama courses to handle families--which is my number one thing that should've been taught in school...how to handle family members: ranging from too "helpful" to abusive. Number two: how to politely tell the chronic complainers to wait because someone in the next room is dying and then how not to be chewed by admin/families because call lights weren't answered immediatedly while you were with the patient or family...or how to make that call at 3 AM to tell someone their loved one is dead or to hurry in. Number three for me would be that the patient load as a "real" nurse is frequently ridiculous and how to handle it, often without orientation. And my current issue: not being allowed to give answers to alert patients who want an honest opinion regarding the status of their leg which they will soon lose due to an incompetent MD who kept saying "it looks better?..I did the proper "Ask the doctor and if you want we can see if you can get a second opinion" bit when I really wanted to say "everyone knows the doc's a quack and you need a new one because that leg's getting worse by the minute." They never taught me I'd have to watch a patient suffer because of the rules. Did anyone go to a school where these things were covered in depth? Any other "I wish I'd been taught..." ideas?

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We do not always get a lunch break and at times a bathroom break....

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Specializes in emergency dept/med-surg.

You dont know what a family from the bowels of h*ll could be. This just happen to me in the last week!! A patient was here for weakness the truth was that he was here to die. The family 25-30 of them camped out for about a week. This is just the beginning. They made long distance phone calls from a telephone in a nurses lounge asked to stop they got mad, went looking for food in the cafeteria when it was closed had to lock it down. Took food from the pantry for all the children, they were running in the halls, playing in the bathroom. I alerted my supervisor, and hospital adm. they sugar coated the problem and told me to smooth things out. All of this and have to do all the "other" nursing jobs. I am seriously thinkning of changing my career. There is no SUPPORT from any managers or ADMINISTRATION, you feel like you're on the battle field without any protection. At least on the front you know your objective :uhoh21:

Sorry so long, just curious to see how others feel...now I've been out of school awhile, I've thought of many things that weren't covered in nursing school that should've been. I always joke we should be required to take drama courses to handle families--which is my number one thing that should've been taught in school...how to handle family members: ranging from too "helpful" to abusive. Number two: how to politely tell the chronic complainers to wait because someone in the next room is dying and then how not to be chewed by admin/families because call lights weren't answered immediatedly while you were with the patient or family...or how to make that call at 3 AM to tell someone their loved one is dead or to hurry in. Number three for me would be that the patient load as a "real" nurse is frequently ridiculous and how to handle it, often without orientation. And my current issue: not being allowed to give answers to alert patients who want an honest opinion regarding the status of their leg which they will soon lose due to an incompetent MD who kept saying "it looks better?..I did the proper "Ask the doctor and if you want we can see if you can get a second opinion" bit when I really wanted to say "everyone knows the doc's a quack and you need a new one because that leg's getting worse by the minute." They never taught me I'd have to watch a patient suffer because of the rules. Did anyone go to a school where these things were covered in depth? Any other "I wish I'd been taught..." ideas?
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The truth be known...we probably need to go to school for 6 yrs full time in order to properly learn all that needs to be learned.

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Specializes in Medical.

I think role playing's great, but it's value is limited. There are some things you can't learn out of context but only through doing and watching. I think all of those people handling skills (whether the people are patients, relatives, colleagues, doctors or admin) fall smack bang in the 'have to experience it to get it' category.

What would be possible is for school to give you a heads up that this is what happens in real life - people aren't grateful, they have no concept of what you have to do or what your workload is like, or how (not) sick they are in comparison to other patients.

I'm tutoring medical students this year and they were shocked to discover that many patients aren't greatful at all! :chuckle

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Specializes in NICU.

My nursing school actually did a few classes on how to handle difficult / manipulative pts., etc. It was helpful, but real life is so different. I can be very therapuetic on paper, writing what I'd do in a situation- perfect Nancy Nurse responses. In real life, the it's more like, "yeah, I'd love to hear it, but I have to go resuscitate someone, and hope I don't pee my pants 'cause it's been so long I've seen a bathroom. Deal with it." Smiling, nodding, looking concerned and saying, "ummm...," go a long way though (while you're trying to remember who's meds are due."

I can't even start on the doctors- I worked too many years in a University hospital, and have "white coat syndrome" now.

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