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

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2016

Don't put dirty linens on the floor because then the floor will get dirty. Yes, hopefully you have a linen hamper close by, but if not they're going on the floor.

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2016

"The US has a nursing shortage"

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2016

Reality orientation for very demented patients does not work. If the 89-year-old lady thinks it is 1988, and her long-deceased husband is still alive, and Ronald Reagan is the president, it is better to allow her to think these things.
Telling her it is 2016, and her husband's been dead since 1995, and Ronald Reagan's been dead since 2004 is unlikely to be therapeutic or go very well.

I remember as a 17 yr old CNA student thinking, "What, we're supposed to tell her her husband is gone -- give her possibly the saddest news she's ever received, multiple times a day? And if she thinks she's at home, we're supposed to remind her that no, she's in LTC? If she thinks she's at home, why take that from her?"

It made no sense then and it still doesn't.

I remember this completely delightful but completely confused farmer, who was up at 0430 every day w/o fail b/c it was time to milk cows. I'd tell him "You did it for years! Your boys have it all under control, so you can go back to sleep."

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Apr 1, 2016

Reality orientation for very demented patients does not work. If the 89-year-old lady thinks it is 1988, and her long-deceased husband is still alive, and Ronald Reagan is the president, it is better to allow her to think these things.
Telling her it is 2016, and her husband's been dead since 1995, and Ronald Reagan's been dead since 2004 is unlikely to be therapeutic or go very well.

PREACH. I just say that I loved that dress Nancy wore to the dinner last night. The pink one with the pearl necklace.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2016

Was she teaching nursing theory? did she believe in energy fields? Some of the nursing theorists ideas are utter nonsense and shouldn't be taught anymore.

:banghead::banghead:

This is how nursing theory class made me feel. Our text was endorsed by Deepak Chopra, if that tells you anything. I remember reading some bovine feces about how when the pt's aura connects with the nurse's aura, the Caring Field is established.

One class, the prof brought her divining rods to class. She'd used them to determine where in her backyard the Qi was most favorable to put a labyrinth. She also passed around her aura photos. :confused:

Don't get me started on the Altered Energy Field NDx. How the heck do you write a r/t or an AEB for Altered Energy Field?? How do you even assess an energy field.......bring your diving rods to work???? :sarcastic:

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2016

Disclaimer: I can't say with 100% certainty, but I believe I was taught this. I do remember paying close attention because my instructors stressed how ICP issues could kill quickly.

Subarachnoid precautions: dim room, pull the shades, absolute quiet, and flat bedrest. Uh...... if someone has ICP issues, one of the things that will harm that pt is to lower the HOB. In fact, raising the HOB is an immediate nursing intervention for high ICP. Besides, if someone is in dire life and death danger from high ICPs, they're going to be intubated, sedated, cooled, and possibly paralyzed.

They also taught us about burr holes as a last resort for high ICPs. I have never ever in 13 yrs, seen a burr hole. I've seen scores (if not hundreds) of craniectomies, but not burr holes.

kskarzin91 · Apr 1, 2016

Nonesense and outdated - making nursing diagnoses!

Our education and care plan section of charting requires the nurses to still do this! Granted a lot of it is point and click and no one uses that huge book but they have to apply

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2016

Oh, did anyone else do process recordings? Each semester we had to write a verbatim 10+ minute therapeutic conversation we had with a pt in clinical, with an "They said," "I said," "TC technique" and "self reflective" column. We all basically turned in works of fiction. :bag: I don't think I ever had a solid 10+ minute *therapeutic* conversation with anyone...even if writing it down verbatim after the fact felt like an appropriate thing to do (we never got the pt's permission. "Hey, I'm going to take notes because I'm using this conversation for an assignment. That cool?" Seems like it would shut down the conversation pretty quickly.)

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Apr 1, 2016

Broncophony and making the patient say "99"

Totally forgot about this!

LynM75 · Apr 1, 2016

One nursing instructor told the class that a Foley catheter was better than bladder scan, related to the patient having to down to ultrasound for this procedure. I informed her that they are readily available in the hospital and she told the class I was very wrong. This was 2012 or so. Mind you she hadn't been in a hospital setting as a nurse in a long time.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2016

One nursing instructor told the class that a Foley catheter was better than bladder scan, related to the patient having to down to ultrasound for this procedure. I informed her that they are readily available in the hospital and she told the class I was very wrong. This was 2012 or so. Mind you she hadn't been in a hospital setting as a nurse in a long time.

Then she lives under a rock. I haven't worked in a hospital in over 10 years and I know what a bladder scan is. SO much better than a straight cath for residual. Less chance of getting clocked by a confused patient, at any rate.

Palliative Care, DNP · Apr 1, 2016

Nursing theory all through the BSN and right on through the DNP program I will graduate from May 21st. I have yet in clinicals experienced a time going in to see a patient while thinking "What would Patricia Benner or any of the others do/say yet" I don't see that happening when I practice either.