What have you learned in nursing school that was utter nonsense?

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A nursing friend and I recently discussed what we still learned in nursing school that later proofed to be utter nonsense outright or just became really outdated. I found it quite interesting and was wondering what everyone else remembers?

One of the things I thought of was the myth of your tongue having different taste zones.

Folding corners of bed sheets!!!! It was on our first day of clinicals ( we even had to show our skills in lab) This was about 10 years ago and Was so outdated but my school felt we needed to learn "the basics". Since I started my career I have never even seen an instructor show their students any basic care which I think is a shame!! Although folding corners was a bit crazy I still think being shown the importance of making a bed as a nurse to be humbling!

I'm in nursing school and they taught us this in first semester. They called it "hospital corners" and we had to show we knew how to do it.

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Specializes in TELE, CVU, ICU.

Neurogenic bladder is related to neurological injury, not foley insertion. Was this from a textbook or an idiot nursing instructor?

I've heard something similar about draining the bladder too. Maybe we had the same professor? :) This is directly from my notes: "if you have to catheterize someone to drain urine, clamp after 600ml's and let the bladder adjust to have less and then unclamp and continue draining, this will help to prevent a neurogenic bladder."
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Neurogenic bladder is related to neurological injury, not foley insertion. Was this from a textbook or an idiot nursing instructor?

Not a textbook, instructor! lol

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Specializes in ICU.
I'm in nursing school and they taught us this in first semester. They called it "hospital corners" and we had to show we knew how to do it.

How do you make beds then? Do you use fitted sheets?

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How do you make beds then? Do you use fitted sheets?

Yes fitted sheets

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Yes fitted sheets

That are so worn out they have holes in them. And unidentifiable stains.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I graduated from nursing school in 2008. I don't remember re-orienting patients with dementia coming up in any of my classes. It may have been covered in the nursing home clinical rotation, but my half of the class never did one. The nursing home my program had gone to for years had gotten very, very bad, and the school didn't want to send any more students there, but we needed the clinical hours. So instead of switching mid-semester, the TCU cohort stayed at the TCU, and the nursing home cohort stayed there. My nursing home classmates all swore they would never work in a nursing home.

Going back to nursing school nonsense: Functional Health Patterns.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
I do. I don't even realize I'm doing it.

I do too, although not always with NANDA-I approved verbiage.

I never nursing-diagnose "altered energy field," though. I want to keep my street cred, and I don't know how the heck you assess that anyway. :laugh:

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
And don't forget how the instructors harped on the possibility of losing your license- and yet, the most common way to lose your license is drugs/alcohol.

In my state, at least the BON reports I read, most of the revoked licenses were from sexual/physical abuse or financial exploitation. The drug related ones were writing Rx's with stolen DEA numbers, stealing bottles of pills from an ALF apartment bathroom, or for not showing up for hearings.

Not one was lost because of an overwhelming med-surg or LTC job.

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In my state, at least the BON reports I read, most of the revoked licenses were from sexual/physical abuse or financial exploitation. The drug related ones were writing Rx's with stolen DEA numbers, stealing bottles of pills from an ALF apartment bathroom, or for not showing up for hearings.

Not one was lost because of an overwhelming med-surg or LTC job.

This is actually comforting to read. I was legitimately a little freaked out about that. My very first instructor (in the second week of class I believe) told us all about "that one nurse who was intelligent and compassionate, but lost her license for..."

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Specializes in Psych,LTC,.

Most of the ones I read are people that were convicted of a crime outside of work is what cost them their license, like assault.

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Specializes in Psych,LTC,.

If I'm ever 102 yr old and living in a nursing home, and think I'm vacationing at the Bermuda Hilton, please don't reorient me.:roflmao:

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