Unrealistic nursing students

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Our facility was asked to host a group of soon to be graduated nursing students.

The students are taking a class in nursing leadership so they were assigned to spend the day with the nursing department's leadership. The students were provided a breakfast reception and were allowed to shadow the departments nursing managers. The chief of nursing gave a talk to the students to welcome them to the profession.

The students did not come prepared to meet potential hiring managers. Unprofessional clothes/demeanor, playing with cell phones/texting, asking about vacant positions etc.

I was asked to tour them around the facility so that they understand the complexities of the hospital. I had the opportunity to talk with them as we walked through the facility.

I was shocked how many of them were second degree nursing students had completed graduate school prior to entering nursing school. I was troubled as they did not understand that nursing positions for new grads are very difficult to obtain. They were all under the impression that if they had a BSN, the jobs they wishes for would be there for them.

I was taken aback at how these soon to be graduates did not understand what nursing was about and what the role of the nurse is.

One of the students has a degree in English and a graduate degree in Communications. She stated that she was a Journalist and a freelance writer but she could not get work so she entered nursing so that she could become a medical writer.

Another student stated that he had an undergraduate degree in Public Policy and a Law degree but could not obtain work so he went into nursing to develop knowledge about healthcare. He saw himself a the hospital's attorney.

Three other students had undergrad degrees in Business but did not find work in their field so they took nursing hoping to be a hospital manager. The other students in the group were less vocal about their backgrounds and future plans. I know it is more common today to see second career nurses but my concern is that these students really do not understand what nursing is all about.

I really could not see any of these students working as a staff nurse. Nursing is hard work and you are standing on your feet for 12-13 hours trying to complete your assigned tasks.

I know that times are tough for everywhere but I wish that the nursing schools would be more honest to the students about what nurses do. If this students came into nursing with a desire to work as a nurse, I would be excited. What I sense is that these students tried something else, did not succeed and now see nursing as a quick way to a check. Making the situation more difficult is the fact that in our area (NYC) clinical jobs are few and that management jobs are very hard to attain.

Who put the idea into our nursing student/attorney head that he will walk out of school and obtain a legal job in the hospital because he has a nursing degree? Who told the writer that a nursing degree would now make her a medical writer after she failed to succeed in her previous attempts at being a writer/journalist?

I feel bad because the school they go to charges over 80K for a 15 month accelerated BSN. That is a lot of money and these students have to put out. You would have thought they would have researched nursing before they signed up....I am shocked at how misguided these students are.

To sum up, I smiled as they spoke and gently told them that nursing positions today are competitive especially in NYC as their is presently a surplus of nurses. Do you think I did the right thing or should I have addressed their unrealistic expectations?

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
^Well said...I second THIS post.

And which post is that?

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
Now DE MSN grads are no longer considered for employment as new grads.
You have mentioned this several times in several threads. What hospital system is this? I am writing an article currently about role socialization of non-traditional nursing students and I would love to speak with the DON about the experiences outlined above. You can send it privately if you'd rather not say publicly.

As for the OP, there are two sides to every coin. There are overconfident nursing students with unrealistic goals and their are extant nurses that are threatened by novice nurses with education and a different background then theirs. There are those that insist the only "real" nursing is at the bedside and those that think bedside nursing is not the future of the nursing profession, or the only future at least.

Specializes in ER.

As for the OP, there are two sides to every coin. There are overconfident nursing students with unrealistic goals and their are extant nurses that are threatened by novice nurses with education and a different background then theirs. There are those that insist the only "real" nursing is at the bedside and those that think bedside nursing is not the future of the nursing profession, or the only future at least.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Sometimes these up and coming whippersnappers are threatening. They are smart, tech-savvy, and remind us old mares that our generation is going to soon pass the baton, whether we like it or not.

Yet, when we were entering the field, we complained about older, more experienced nurses doing us wrong! Ha ha, the circle of life. We'll soon be put out to pasture!

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
And which post is that?

Just Keep Driving's post...posting on my smartphone. :shy:

I second Boston's point of the attitudes of nursing being two sides to a coin as well-there are going to be different attitudinal issues in nursing...the human condition does not always change when the "nurse" steps on their unit, visits their patients, steps in the classroom, etc.

I also think the (reputable) programs in my area are doing an excellent job in informing students that they are going to have to rethink their path to their ultimate goal. I am sure 30% of the 2,000 grads/year want to be head honchos; the rest just simply want a job.

I am not challenging the need for ABSN degrees. I am saying that some students of this programs have unrealistic expectations. The lawyer never once mentioned his desire to work as a nurse. He went out of his way to tell me and the group that he is a lawyer and had been admitted to the bar. He discussed his desire to be a hospital attorney. This occurred while we were touring the facility discussing the different clinical services provided. It is not my place to tell him that the position as the hospital attorney is a very competitive position that requires years of legal experience. Nursing experience will not provide him with the ability to litigate cases. To obtain the position as the hospital attorney requires extensive legal contacts which you will not obtain as a nurse. The sad part is that this man is engaged in an expensive folly. Someone should have guided this young man in a different direction. As for the others, I did not hear a desire to be a nurse but rather a desire to use their nursing knowledge to do something else. I do not believe they are being realistic.

You sign up for nursing school to be a nurse. Nursing education is time consuming and expensive. Please do not jump into nursing school as a way to achieve something else. If you want something else, go in that direction. If you want to be a hospital administrator, go in that direction. Nursing is not a short cut to these jobs/careers.

We need dedicated nurses who want to be nurses. Contrary to what is propagated the vast majority of jobs in nursing are bedside nurse or frontline positions (case manager, discharge planner, Infection Control, PI/QA/RM, NP, NM, etc.). Even in major medical centers there are only a few true management jobs for nurses (DON, VP of Nursing, Director of CM & QM). Adding to the competitive nature of the hospital environment, physicians are seeking the director jobs of CM and QM departments. The hospital would rather pay more and get a doctor department head as the physician will have more clout influencing other physicians.

Also please be aware that the front line jobs do not pay significantly above a staff nurse. You are not tied to shift work as a staff nurse and you don't have to wear scrubs but that is about as good as it gets as a front line worker. If you want money, please seek another career.

To sum it up, their are jobs in nursing but the prestige jobs available to nurses are few. Go into nursing because you want to be a nurse. You will earn every penny you make. I am a career nurse who has worked in many different facilities in many different roles. At every step I paid my dues many times over. I know the system and I understand what is available. Please do not delude your self into thinking that if you can dream it you can have it because you can't. Hospitals are businesses that are competing for patients. Nursing is an expense that has to be managed for the institution to be viable.

I will end this response with the statement: Go into nursing because you want to be a nurse. If you want to do something else, go do it. Nursing will not offer you any shortcuts.

Nothing new. Loads of meds students go into med school just to get into research without having to touch patients or land a sweet surgery job. Everyone guns for surgery. The CRNA/Manager/NP issue is no different. Everyone in my cohort SAID they were going to do this and that after they graduated and EVERY one of them is still a staff nurse. My state has 1-2 CRNA schools that accept 10 a year. How many people apply? A ton. How many managers slots are there at a hospital? Not many. How many apply? A ton. Reality isn't fun but delusions are.

People who have been there, done that.

Great! Welcome! I love to see second career people come to nursing. I am one myself and feel they bring a wonderful diversity to nursing sorely lacking in most other health professions.

Now imagine that you were speaking to a group of young people who had just joined the military and were waiting to ship off to their initial training. Imagine if these people were excitedly telling you that as initial trainees they were going to get to stay in a nice hotel rather than barrack or dorms. That rather than eating in a mess hall they were going to have their meals delivered by room service. Imagine they tell you that since they already have college degrees they will never be required to deploy to a war zone. Imagine that they told you about their assumption that since they have a college education, and experience in a previous career they fully expected to all make general or admiral within 10 to 15 years.

Think of what you would be thinking in that situation and you can then understand what the OP and some of us were feeling.

As to the first point, just because someone's been there and done that, doesn't mean your experience will be the same as theirs. These are their journeys, no one else's.

As to the second point, I'd rather just let them find out that isn't reality in their own time. That's how I and a lot of other people managed to get to adulthood. It doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother you. Let them have their dreams, and then let them be appropriately crushed without your input.

Specializes in ER.

I worked hard to get at where I am and I am getting the rewards. However, mine were more vague like at this point I want to be an ER or an ICU nurse and I've gotten job offers in both. Not full-time but part-time.

Next I have a few mays. I may go for flight nursing in a few years. I may go for a nurse family practitioner degree. I may go for CNM. I may go back and become a firefighter full-time instead.

Hi everyone! This has very quickly become a heated topic;) Reminds me of an incident of a PD case where the client had a serious disability and a great career and pretty good outlook on life and his dream was to have a girlfriend one day. Well I had a fellow nurse on this same case say to me(when she realized the client had a crush on her),"He needs to be realistic, no NORMAL girl is ever going to want him" basically saying I encouraged him and I need to stop. Ah WOW!

I guess what I am trying to say is, who is anyone to tell someone "how it really is" and for whom is it that way anyway? There are always going to gloom and doom statistics and there are always going to be people who make it and people who don't. I say, let people be. Unless I know someone is in immediate bodily physical harm, or if they ask "what I think" I really try to keep my mouth shut. And I just try to be a positive person.

Do I make sense?LOL I tend to ramble and what is in my head sometimes doesn't translate to print very well;) I would like to say also I have been lurking on these boards for sometime and there are many good discussions on here and many wise posters to learn from.

And isn't there room for all of us? 1st or 2nd even 4th career nurses?, room for all HCP? As far as the texting and such, well that is just a case of poor manners.

Its understanable why people are so heated over this subject. II honestly believe the truth is that we no matter which side of the coin we are on all have valid points.

To the OPs defense she is an experienced nurse who like a lot of us who knows the ins and outs of the business and yes nursing is pretty much a business nowadays and knows the realities that awaits these novices which in reality they are second career or not. The op is not trying to squash anyone's dream. On the other hand I consider myself much like these students as that I was that ambitious big dreaming new grad a few years ago too and had doubters as well.

The unfortunate reality is MOST of these students will be sorely disappointed if their attitude truly is to breach the career ladder and land a top job in 1-2 years post graduation and we all know that's the truth.

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