Third semester skills

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 29, 2011

It varies school to school. The new stuff we did in third semester was IV insertion, IVP and central lines. That was the last things for us to get checked off for. We were able to do anything in the hospital after that per hospital policy.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · May 29, 2011

It really varies from school to school. The first year (Foundations of Nursing 1 & 2, Health Assessment) we learned all of your very basic nursing skills + vital signs, sterile & non-sterile dressing changes, IM & SQ injections (and intradermal but we weren't tested on the intradermal ones), transferring/ambulation/ROM and how to do a head-to-toe assessment.

The second year (junior year, where we take adult med-surg, gero med-surg, mental health & OB) we learned IV insertion/venipuncture and primary/secondary IV setup, foley catheters, stuff about central lines/colostomies, tracheostomy suctioning/care.

cnnconstance · May 29, 2011

Thank you! I am working now in long term care. My charge said she would be happy to get my some extra training this summer before school starts again in the fall.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 29, 2011

Thank you! I am working now in long term care. My charge said she would be happy to get my some extra training this summer before school starts again in the fall.

That is great, take every opportunity you can. We have 2 health systems here to total 4 hospitals locally, we do our clinicals at these 4 hospitals. Both are really good companies the students that are always at one of them are at a disadvantage, the hospital has teams for everything. It's nice and has it's perks, but because of that the students don't get many chances to ever do IV's and blood draws (unless out of a central line). Well the other health system, the nurses do their own IV's and Blood draws. So the students there get lots of practice.

I use my kids too. I did an IV on my teenager, teens will do anything for money, even ones deathly afraid of needles. LOL

greenfiremajick · May 30, 2011

I use my kids too. I did an IV on my teenager, teens will do anything for money, even ones deathly afraid of needles. LOL

OMG, how funny. My hubby said I could use him as my guinea pig.....But then he took all those ER Army courses where he and his buddies practiced on each other so hopefully it won't be so bad......

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 30, 2011

as a former nursing school instructor i am disheartened, though not in the least surprised, by this thread's basic premise and progress.

while i have rarely met a nursing student who didn't focus almost entirely on tasks like these (and i freely admit that the "checklist" you get at the beginning of the year is partly to blame) i can promise you that most of your instructors and future coworkers would cheerfully trade a technically proficient new grad with no initiative and limited curiosity to learn more than tasks for one who needs task practice but has a more mature vision of what nursing practice is.

i know it's hard, because as students (and sometimes, especially hard for experienced lpns and cnas now making the jump to a higher level of practice) you don't yet have a more mature sense of the profession.* but try to keep that in your minds at least a part of every day. that's one of the best "third semester skills" you can give yourself, your faculty, and your patients.

*i know i'll get an argument about that because you think you know better. that's not your fault, that's just where you are right now. instead, write it on a piece of paper and tuck it in your jewelry box or someplace where you can look at it in a few years after you start your first rn position. then we can talk.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 30, 2011

I am a little lost as to what you find disheartening about this thread. I just re-read it a few times. People are sharing skills they learned there second year. You seemed to have read into this thread an awful lot for what you took from it unless I am somehow missing a page or two..

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 30, 2011

i just noted that every single response is task-skill-checklist-oriented, and really, that checklist is the least important thing in the development of a novice nurse. sure, they all need to have those psychomotor skills, and we have all heard the endless thrash about how the old hospital training programs turned out new grads who could have a whole ward "done up" by the time breakfast trays were ready and how new college grads have "never even done an enema," and the mn who couldn't take a rectal temp if her life depended on it, and all that.

fact is, and this is probably as good a place to say it as anywhere, given the probable audience for a thread of this title, that one year into the first year of practice all those psychomotor skills are in place even if they hadn't been checked off in the learning lab or student clinicals.

i'm not advocating blowing off learning lab or hiding in the break room when somebody says, "anybody wanna put in a foley / start an iv / pull blood from a picc?" i'd just like students to know that if they put half the attention and effort into learning more about what really makes a nurse a nurse (hint: it is not psychomotor-based tasks- we teach those to lots of people) than they put into thinking it's being "able to do xyz task" then their patients would be better off and they would find their nursing years more richly satisfying. ymmv.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 31, 2011

I completely get that nursing is about a lot more then skills. Skills are the easy part that come with time. I completely agree that too many people get caught up in the skill part and forget the whole other aspects that come with nursing. Like a huge Psych social aspect. Put this poster was specifically asking about the different skills you learn in your third semester so she can practice and get a head start on learning them. The question was specifically about skills which is why the answers were focused on them. Had she asked what goes into being a RN from an LVN them I would expect a much larger ares of answers focused less on physical skills. But that wasn't the question.

I am fully aware on the other aspects and I greatly enjoyed school and I would. Bet anything in 10 years I will still love what I do. I got into nursing because I have a passion for making a positive difference in people's lives and nursing will give me that. Especially when people are at their most vulnerable time. I don't think it will be all roses. But I have not a single doubt I will have a satisfying career and I will make it mostly positive.

I have no idea what YMMV means.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Jun 1, 2011

YMMV = "Your Mileage May Vary"

cnnconstance · Jun 1, 2011

Thank you Mi Vida! I think the previous poster was not really understanding my original thread. I feel the more that I can learn from working as an LPN, will benefit me in my third semester. Skills at my school are if you fail 3 times you are out of the semester. There is an added pressure to succeeding. I look forward to the last year and all of your advice is appreciated. Thanks again!