What a coincidence. . .every single student nurse who shadows me. . .

dialysisnurseLC · Jul 29, 2012

@tothepointe we spent about 4 days in the ER as well (I'm an LPN)...it was fun! But not neccesarily what I wanted to do.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Jul 29, 2012

Hey, for those students who've done their research and have a high paying job (like CRNA) as their eventual goal, more power to you. Yes, you have $$ in your eyes, so what? Nursing is a JOB for crying out loud, we ALL are "doing it for the money". It's the nurses who tell everyone they are only doing it because they have such a giving spirit or it's their sacred calling who make me roll my eyes.

Now, with that said, what I think annoys the OP and so many of us is when students DON'T do their research and come off as naive or childish. Unless you're already a tech on the unit, you probably won't get in the ICU or ER as a new grad. Why would they want you? Students with no prior nursing experience DO need someone to give them a reality check. It's the students who were techs or LPNs first who deserve the spots on the units. Everyone else WILL have to pay their dues 99.99% of the time first. That's what bugs that "old bat" preceptor, that sense of entitlement. Being a naive daydreamer as a student isn't a virtue. Do your research beforehand so you know what moving up the food chain is all about.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Jul 29, 2012

I remember LVN school...everyone (including me) wanted to be a CRNA. So many people encourage it because of the $. I think after experience and finding out what CRNA entailed...no one pursued it.

I think the reality is the students are just very excited of embarking on a career where there is job security and decent wages (I still say nurses are underpaid but...it does beat mcdonalds managers with your humanities degree). They have not done their research, they have not been involved in the career yet. When that happens, most will surely change their aspirations.

I think the original post was funny. :)

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Jul 29, 2012

I don't think we need a padlock.
One thing that irked me during training was in my final rotation each student got 4 days in the ER which was a treat since LVNs generally don't get to be in the ER in any shape or form. How many days did I get? 1 because the boys convince the instructor that since there eventual goal was the ER when they got their RN that they should have someone elses days too. So unfair especially since none of them are even actively moving in the RN direct right now 4+ years later.

I feel your pain. My (BSN) ICU clinical was moved to a much smaller community hospital at the very last minute. Their ICU was so small that only one of us could be in it at a time -- so each person ended up doing only two days in the actual ICU, the rest was step-down/PCU.

We had this one girl in our group who was totally bound, determined that she was doing to Be An ICU Nurse from day one of nursing school. So she starts badgering us to give up our ICU days to her. (She also stole some IV/foley starts from other students.) Anyway, I ended up giving her mine because at the time I thought I wanted to go into palliative/hospice care.

Now I'm in a quasi-ICU setting. But so is she, I think. lol.

BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN · Jul 29, 2012

Here is where some of us disagree. I don't think starry eyed students and wannabes need to be provided reality checks from any of us. The world is going to hand it to them in good time without our help. Speaking only for myself, I have enough to do; handing out reality checks to all those deserving of them is not my responsibility. And again, why do we care if they get the check? Reality has a funny way of finding all of us, even when we don't leave a forwarding address. Leave them to their dreams, as goofy and unrealistic as they may seem. They will get there or they won't. Who cares?

ButterflyEffect06 · Jul 29, 2012

I'm doing the Accelerated BSN track and have dreamed of becoming a CRNA for a while now. Not because of the money either, although the salary is a bonus, but because it seriously looks like something I'd enjoy doing until I'm crippled and can't do it anymore lol.

Plus, when I first started college, I wanted to study pharmacy, but I switched to nursing because I enjoy hands on. I need to see myself making the difference in my patients. So, when doing my research, nurse anesthesia correlated pretty well to pharmacy, but a lot more hands on lol.

Overall though, I actually wouldn't mind working towards a doctorate in nurse anesthesia if I had to...probably because I'm a nerd anyway!

But all I have to say is don't go into it for the wrong reasons. If you truly love your profession/future profession whether or not you have to get a doctorate after a certain date, shouldn't make a difference anyway.

tntrn, ASN, RN · Jul 29, 2012

. L&D/mother and baby nurses usually have to be dragged out of that unit feet first which often is the only way you'll get them to go! *LOL*

So true. I went from evenings to days 30 years ago, but only because one of day shift nurses died. And if we have to float it is ugly. Cannot figure out why our admin thinks we know anything about anyplace else in the hospital when we have been where we are for 20, 30, 35 years.

mick1369 · Jul 29, 2012

as someone who just graduated RN school, I have to ask the question, do you blame them? After two years of med-surg rotations i dont think i can recall one med-surg nurse talking about how they loved their job and this was the place or area we should aspire to nurse at. While it was just the opposite during e.r. and i.c.u. rotations. I have been a firefighter/emt for twenty years so ofcourse i need the adrenaline of an e.r., but in my class there were plenty of students who wanted to work med-surg because they knew thats where you recieve a vast array of experience. That being said, to a naive nursing student that has to listen to a nurse that hates where he/she is, it is a definite turn of to that area of nursing. I feel the nurses who are chosen to have students shadow them forget how much theses students hang on their every word whether it is positive or negative. I am sure most of you that have been in this profession for a while had bigger ideas of grandeur when you were graduating until reality hit and life got in the way, these students are no different.

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Jul 29, 2012

Our assistant DON in NS was a die hard med/surg nurse and she wasn't shy about stating it and got everyone fired about about M/S. She had a good point though; they'll always need med/surg nurses since most of the patients are med/surg patients. She was more gungho about her job than any ICU nurse I've met.

Fiona59 · Jul 29, 2012

. I am sure most of you that have been in this profession for a while had bigger ideas of grandeur when you were graduating until reality hit and life got in the way, these students are no different.

As a student nurse, I thought I was going to work in Geriatrics. Several things changed my mind. The amount of sheer physical abuse I got as a student, then when working (as a new grad the only work I could find a decade ago was in LTC) the lousy behaviour from families and the fact that I was assaulted three times in four months made me realize that surgery was my love. I was fascinated by wound healing.

We still get students who want to work anywhere but the floor. It's beneath a lot of them having to touch patients. Gawd forbid they go near an ostomy or toilet someone. Then they have that magical time in ICU and suddenly become responsible for total care (our ICU doesn't have NAs) Suddenly outpatients and opthamology and cardiology become their dream jobs.

These students are different because they have bought into the "I have a degree and am above hands on care" mantra that is so prevalent among educators.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jul 30, 2012

"holy cow! yes!lol!!what on earth inspired all the marine-biologist wannabes? "

jacques cousteau.

(and i had two critical-care job offers four months before i graduated, took one, and did it for 20 years.)

BrandonLPN, LPN · Jul 30, 2012

These students are different because they have bought into the "I have a degree and am above hands on care" mantra that is so prevalent among educators.

I still maintain that having to work as a CNA should be a prerequisite for entry into any LPN/RN program. I don't care how much school you have, a new grad nurse with no previous experience is ill prepared to direct care. Heck with the entry to nursing be a BSN, the profession would be better off if everyone was forced to enter at the bottom and work up. And since we all know the "shortage" is a joke, this would be a good way to thin out the herd.