What on earth did nursing students do before the internet and msg boards??

[klone, MSN, RN]

I am continually amazed at how many posts we get here from students, asking to be spoon-fed information for them to write a paper, or do a presentation, or finish a care plan.

Here's an idea - take this opportunity to hone your critical thinking skills. Pretend a message board full of nuses does not exist. How might you find this information?

Hmmm...your textbook.

Your instructor.

Student colleagues

Pubmed searches. Hopefully you're aware of Pubmed and how to do searches. If not, here's the link, it's a very valuable site: Entrez-PubMed

How about nurses with whom you work or do clinicals?

Is a message board full of strangers you don't know really your best source? Probably not. We may be a bunch of hairy men living in our moms' basements. You don't know us and what our knowledge base is.

So, in summary....spoon-feeding you information is NOT going to help you develop your critical thinking skills and discernment. Please do your own homework.

kthxbai

[llg, PhD, RN]

While I think the OP is too harsh on today's students ... I do think he/she makes a few valid points about changes in the culture that are not good for society or our profession.

The post made me think ... and wonder if maybe our NEED to work WITH our classmates and clinical colleagues forced us all to work together better back then than we do now. While there was back-biting, gossiping, etc. in the past, it seems to have gotten worse in recent years and I wonder whether the use of the internet has something to do with it. Without the resources on the internet, we were forced to rely on each other, work together, etc. and form productive relationships. The world was "smaller" then and we had to make the best of what (and who) was easily within reach.

My answer to the original question of: "What did nursing students (and nurses) do before the internet?" ... is ... We learned to help each other and work together to make things work. We learned to establish positive working relationships with the people close at hand. We learned to use all of the resources of the library ... share journals ... etc.

That's something to think about.

[CrazierThanYou]

If you are not interesting in helping others out or offering advice, then don't. Simple.

[ADeks]

I've never asked for help with any of my school work on here. It would seem pointless because you don't know the project I have been assigned nor do you know the info of my patient.

My class and I do get together and help each other. We look into our books and ask our instructors. Neither I nor them ask for help on public boards like this.

I don't really think some students on here are always looking to be spoon-fed answers. I also think it's for either validation on what their thinking was or possibly because they know they won't see it like you do. I know sometimes I still can't always see the "big picture."

[klone, MSN, RN]

If you are not interesting in helping others out or offering advice, then don't. Simple.

Actually, I AM interested in helping them. My advice is "You will learn far more by digging for the answer yourself."

[DroogieRN]

I think I've asked for care plan advice once, maybe twice, on here during nursing school. I am a non-traditional student who got a bachelor's degree way back in the dark ages before there was the internet and all the associated claptrap, and I managed fine. Since I've been in nursing school, when I did ask advice, I went to the student area and asked there. I think it's wrong to assume that everyone who asks for help is asking to be spoon-fed, or to have the answers handed to them. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know I was grateful to have AllNurses to turn to when it seems like I'm the only one on earth awake and I've read everything I can find in my textbook and am still not sure of the answer and I have to have my care plan finished and be at clinical at 5 a.m. the next morning. I am still thankful for Daytonite's wisdom and the time she took to provide resources for us students here.

[yoshiki56]

We all have the choices to ask, to help and to ignore.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Its important to be able to critically think thru a problem too. Its also important to be able to tell a legitimate website with peer-reviewed literature from ones that are not.

Evidence-based practice - important to know how to find it.

[BluegrassRN]

The internet and message boards are a mixed bag. What a great resource! Both have exponentially improved my practice. I learn so much here, and I know I've grown as a nurse because of my use of boards and wikipedia!!!

As an RN to BSN student, the internet has been a huge resource. I wish I had it when I was earning my LPN, way back when.

Sure, some people abuse it. You see it often here. You also see a number of students using these means appropriately, as a tool for research, guidance, and understanding.

I think it's pretty easy to tell on these forums which posts are people who are looking for easy answer and just don't want to do their homework, and which posts are from students who are stuck on a concept, who need help clarifying and understanding a situation or issue, or who are looking to be pointed in the right direction for an assignment. Responses typically seem to be appropriate--I can see quite clearly that most respondents also can tell the lazy slackers from the active learners.

It's the posts that respond about how "mean" we all are that perplex me. We're mean if we don't write out a detailed response? Hello, have you no ability to discern or teach? Telling someone to do their own homework, providing a few key words to look up and concepts to flesh out *is* helpful. Writing a 5 paragraph response...that's spoon-feeding, and it isn't helpful, it's enabling, and it's pathetic and disappointing that any half way intelligent person would think otherwise.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

"Writing a 5 paragraph response...that's spoon-feeding, and it isn't helpful, it's enabling, and it's pathetic and disappointing that any half way intelligent person would think otherwise. "Hear, hear!

[newbiepnp, MSN, RN, NP, CNS]

I see this forum, as well as other Internet sites as additional resources. Part of critical thinking is to use the best information available to you. What better resource are other people who have either gone through the same thing or are sharing the same experiences. Sure we use the people we work next to, but having this along with other resources is just a way to expand our coworker database, if you will.

Sure students shouldn't be asking for direct answers, but looking for confirmation, further explanation, or clarification is never a bad thing.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I think it's pretty easy to tell on these forums which posts are people who are looking for easy answer and just don't want to do their homework, and which posts are from students who are stuck on a concept, who need help clarifying and understanding a situation or issue, or who are looking to be pointed in the right direction for an assignment.

Yes, exactly. I'm not saying that everyone asking for help is a lazy slacker. I'm just saying I'm seeing a lot of posts from people asking for answers that they should be seeking on their own.

An example - a few months ago a CNA student asked for someone to explain the proper way to wash your hands. Seriously?