Were you prepared for your first nursing job?

50caliber · Nov 14, 2009

I graduated from a ADN program and I could honestly say it did prepare me for my first nursing job. If you think about it, 2 years is not a lot of time and there is no way any nursing school can get you fully prepared for any nursing job be it skills or theory. Its all hands on learning once you start.

What my program did was that it instilled in me the tools to make me successful. I know what to do and what not to do as new grad nurse. Again, you could only learn so much "skills" in 2 years but the fundamentals and theory were taught to make me successful in my 1st year. I believe you have to be an active learner and always reading/studying up because you are licensed professional and people trust you with their medical care.

50caliber · Nov 14, 2009

Did my nursing school prepare me for the real world of nursing? NO!
No one talks about all the politics, the backstabbing, the gossiping, the staffing issues that goes on in nursing. NO! You are just feed the "nursing shortage" all throughout school and how you will be able to "land a job" without any problem, while you spend countless hours working on careplans with colored pencils and preparing powerpoints the instructors have no interest in.
NO!
When you get out of nursing school and can't start an IV, but can tell someone about every nursing theorist there is, then something is wrong with that picture.
And what purpose does it serve to get your pt info the night before? In the real world, you walk in cold, you have no idea who you gonna be assigned to or what's gonna come through the doors for that matter.
Did nursing school prepare me for the real world of nursing? HA!

I never figured out why certain schools did that. We see other nursing schools that come through the same hospital and I was jealous of the idea that they actually had time to research all their pt. info the night before. We never had that luxury and I realized it was for the better. It forced us to always be prepared and think on our feet. Pt. assignments change the last minute and you have to be prepared just the like the real world.

MauraRN · Nov 14, 2009

A lot less "fear and loathing" would be the place to start. So many nursing students are second career folks, including me, with previous college degrees. The bullying and nastiness that oozes out of some of the instructors can't be useful in educating new nurses. With all of the emphasis on "critical thinking", students should not be reamed for using their minds. Those tactics are outdated and were used on female high school grads entering diploma schools many decades ago. I found it appalling that women treated other women in this manner. I have been a college instructor in Legal Studies and would never have thought of treating my students in the way that so many nursing students are treated. I hope this nursing education paradigm undergoes immediate review, but until those of us in MSN in Nsg Ed graduate and begin teaching, I am afraid that this tx will continue.

MauraRN

sistasoul · Nov 14, 2009

I too wish I could have followed a nurse my first day as a student in the hospital. This gives you a good idea of how many distractions and interruptions rule a nurse's day. As a student you don't have to deal with MDs, PT, OT, ST, Pharmacy, phone calls, family members, writing telephone orders, admits, discharges, emergencies and the proverbial kitchen sink. I also think it would be a good idea to have a student shadow a nurse with 6 months to a years experience to have them realize that you are still green at that point and that learning will be life long. In school you get 1-2 patients and are only responsible for their care and meds. It is in no way realistic as to the enormous multitasking RN's do on a daily basis.

I also agree with one of the posters about nasty nursing instructors. How can anyone learn when when they are being intimidated. Also, some of the nurses I had in school were downright nasty and served as examples as how NOT to treat students. As I look back at my experience with some of the Rn's I am surprised I did not run screaming from this wonderful profession.

tlc2u · Nov 15, 2009

For all of you who felt you were not prepared for your first job do you have any advice for a new LPN looking for her first job?

What would you or could you have done differently (if anything) to be more prepared?

Is there any nursing job or field that lends itself better for learning or starting out in nursing?

DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN · Nov 15, 2009

I feel that IV starts are a deficiency I have experienced.

I think we should be stuck into an ambulatory surg unit for a couple of hours and be told to do all the iv starts -- or something like that.

K.P.A. · Nov 16, 2009

I'm in nursing school on the path to career #4. I've also had at least a dozen jobs. Is school preparing me for the job. Yes, in that I'll have the knowledge I need to do the job when I get there. No, in that I will not know how to fit in when I start. I'm not worried. All jobs are like this.

Cut your instructors some slack. Some of them are well out of their element. But, if the curriculum has some real BS in it, get together with your fellow students and propose changes. Do it formally. Research, support your argument, write it up. Make things better for the next round of students. Leave them a map too so if needed they can do the same...

BartC_RN · Nov 18, 2009

I graduated in May '09 and just finished my second week on a cardiac med/surg floor....why it took so long to get a job is another story for another thread. I feel like my school prepared me very well to pass NCLEX. Our written tests were horrendous, we lost about half our class over 5 semesters. I guess we had the typical skill checkoffs all other nursing schools have but I'm finding real life skills are a different can of worms which is what everybody always says anyway. So I expected that.

I also feel like my program prepared me pretty well to be in possibly a critical care setting where you've got 2 incredibly sick patients you can throw all your thought and effort into. Right now, I'm getting five patients and building towards taking care of 8. So far it's complete chaos. It's completely task oriented at this point with little thought into what's really going on. Where's the time to think about what's going on with patient's when there are so many tasks to accomplish? Luckily we've got a great rapid response team. My last week of school we did this thing called "Clinical Preparation Day" where our instructors put us in a mock situation with "patients" being played by our peers and they threw everything and the kitchen sink at us. It was completely insane and I thought med/surg can't possibly be this wild. But it is. Not everyday, but some days yes. My charge nurse that's orienting me for 6 weeks seems to know what's going on with my patients all the time, so I'm thinking, experience is the thing here. You eventually develop a routine with the tasks to the point you don't have to think about them and can think about patients instead. When does this happen? We shall see. It's chaos but I love it.

BartC RN

WishfulThinking9 · Nov 18, 2009

Yeah, but that happens in every job, backstabbing, gossip, POLITICS, I work at a school right now, trying to get into an acclereated nursing program. It's the same deal, I feel ill prepared for what I'm doing. I graduated with a Bachelor's in speech, but feel like I can't do anything...my instructors in school weren't very helpful and didn't teach the necessary skills that were important for the "real" world, just theroy. So I'm hoping nursing will be different!!!! Please tell me it will be different!!!!