What is something from nursing school that has been the most beneficial to you

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Just wondering what things or skills that you learned in nursing school have been the most beneficial to you as a working nurse. Is there something that you learned that you still do that way because that is how you learned it in nursing school or have you just built upon what you learned there. Anyhow, tell me what you think, I am interested in hearing what you all have to say.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Nsg QA.

1. Straight "A" students don't always make the best nurses (obviously I wasn't one of them!)

2. ALL nurses will make a med error at some point in their career. If they deny this fact, they are wrong (maybe even dangerous)

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Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

Always carry hemostats, scissors, penlight, pen, and everything else you were required to carry on your person in nursing school. At least once per shift, someone is asking to borrow something I'm carrying (usually my scissors). And always know where to find resources because you will never know everything you need to know.

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1. Straight "A" students don't always make the best nurses (obviously I wasn't one of them!)

2. ALL nurses will make a med error at some point in their career. If they deny this fact, they are wrong (maybe even dangerous)

I was a straight A student, and it took me awhile to get my clinical skills to match, but we all get there eventually. No one is ready 'out of the box.' I think we're more similar than we are different :)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Nsg QA.
I was a straight A student, and it took me awhile to get my clinical skills to match, but we all get there eventually. No one is ready 'out of the box.' I think we're more similar than we are different :)

I hope you were not offended - that was not my intent! You are right, no one is ready "out of the box!" LOL - I like that!

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Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

When I was a freshman in nursing school one of my instructors said, "The first muscle the heart feeds is itself."

That's not a skill or a medical fact, but it has always stuck with me and been my reminder that, if I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of anyone else.

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Specializes in LTC, Acute care.

Document, document, document!

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CYA

Period. It doesn't get any more specific than that.

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Specializes in peds cardiac, peds ER.

In my opinion, nursing school does not prepare you to be a nurse--it prepares you to LEARN to be a nurse after you graduate. A new nurse graduate should have the skills s/he needs to learn to be a nurse, and hopefully will start a job where the rest of the staff and their preceptor will be prepared to help complete that education.

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"If you didn't chart it, you didn't do it." That was drilled into us repeatedly before we even started clinicals. I follow that today and hold other nurses to it as well. It's not just CYA either, documentation is also communication between staff. If I need info about something that happened on a previous shift (even a previous day) that wasn't passed on in report, I look to the documention to find an answer (particularly when I'm being asked about an order that was written).

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"If you didn't chart it, you didn't do it." .

I was going to say the same thing. I realize how much I live by that when I recently had jury duty. One of the officers was making statements about an arrest that differed from his report. I put more truth in the report because of the way we are, I think. LOL I couldn't get that mantra out of my head. He didn't put it in his report so did it really happen?

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Specializes in MS, ED.

1. Not documented, not done.

2. Check the pt, not the monitor.

3. Tubing/syringe/kit not labeled? Throw it out and start new!

4. Always have fresh vital signs when something seems afoot.

5. Something looks wrong? Get a second pair of eyes - you're probably right!

Much more, I'm sure, but those five have served me pretty well in my first year.

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