What didn't they teach you?

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Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

I was talking with friends the other night and we came up with a pretty extensive list of skills/facts we wish they had taught us as part of out nursing education. For new and old alike: What do you wish they had taught you in nursing school that would have helped most when you started in practice? Or, that do the new grads comming out lack that you wish they had been taught? I don't want a put down session about new grads- I'm hoping to hear new ideas for improving the way we educate the next generation of nurses.

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Specializes in ICU.

my school didn't teach iv insertion - i would like to have learned this prior to working in a hospital:uhoh21:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
my school didn't teach iv insertion - i would like to have learned this prior to working in a hospital:uhoh21:

gee, iv therapy is a requirement for rns here. odd.

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Well, they didn't even speak a lick of the concept of "time management" or what taking 4-6 to 8 to 10 patients was going to be like. Yes, we learned skills,but we didn't learn to do them fast, didn't learn how to customize everythng to a particular patient's needs.

There are so many things they didn't teach it would take all day to make a list!

They taught things in isolation -- not in the real world setting. We learned to give meds to one patient at a time, etc., etc.

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As a recent grad, I will say that I believe - and I'm going to get flamed for this - that the old ADN way of being ON THE FLOOR and by the end of your training taking and managing a full load of patients was better.

We get a lot of theory and test-taking skills and not nearly enough hands-on. Not NEARLY enough.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.
As a recent grad, I will say that I believe - and I'm going to get flamed for this - that the old ADN way of being ON THE FLOOR and by the end of your training taking and managing a full load of patients was better.

We get a lot of theory and test-taking skills and not nearly enough hands-on. Not NEARLY enough.

I feel that my program (bsn) prepared us for the floor well, but i think its because the instructors we had at the time were actually practicing floor nurses. made a big difference. but in my opinion nothing prepares you better than experience. diploma grads got the best trainig because they actually resided at the hospitals similar to the way medical interns do now.

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Specializes in Peds.

I really believe it depends on the school. I have been a nurse for 3 years and I have at least 5 different nursing schools that come into my hospital throughout the year. I am amazed the lack of clinical skills that are taught. I can understand you may not get pts that require you to practice every skill, but my school made you pass clinical skills tests every semester and gave you a list your final semester of all the clinical skills you need in the real world and would find you pts to do all of them on before you graduated. To see a student who is about to graduate in a week never fill a feeding bag or doesn't even know you auscultate for NGT placement is sad, yet not the students fault. I feel it is the fault of the school.

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I felt well prepared clinically. But I could have used leadership skills and how to deal with being in charge, supervising LPNs and CNAs, etc.

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Time Management.

Prioritization.

The fact that you WILL make mistakes. You are human and that's just how it works. Don't stress out too bad.

Dealing with work anxiety.

You are NOT just the nurse. You must help your NACs, Secretaries, and anyone else working under you. Drop the superiority complex now, no one cares. These people will not help you unless you show you're worth helping.

I've seen this one in a lot of new grads, but I was warned before I started. Just because you have a BSN does not mean you know more than the ADN, LPN, or even NAC who has been doing this for 20+ years. Don't even think about acting like you know more, because this person who has really seen it all will just shut their mouth and let you drown, as long as patient safety isn't compromised. You may have the book smarts, but they have the real world experience. Ask them questions. Ask for help. When it comes to actual patient care, they are the experts here.

(Where I started, we had an LPN on night shift who had been doing this for 30+ years. She was SUCH an awesome resource for me when I needed help!)

I'm sure there's more. I graduated less than 2 years ago and there's a lot of things I wish I had known in school. In those 18 months I had a few students and have seen at least 4 new grads be hired on my floor... only one had the superiority complex. That quickly got shot down and rebuilt.

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Just to clarify - I got "checked off" on everything. But doing it right once doesn't translate to proficiency and confidence.

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Specializes in long term care Alzheimers Patients.
Just to clarify - I got "checked off" on everything. But doing it right once doesn't translate to proficiency and confidence.

Hi Sue

I agree with you thats how I felt at my school ,I got checked off on everything but like you said that doesn't translate to proficiency and confidence

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Hi Sue

I agree with you thats how I felt at my school ,I got checked off on everything but like you said that doesn't translate to proficiency and confidence

When you're checked off for placing a catheter on a mannequin it is nothing like placing a catheter on an obese, obtunded woman. Check offs don't really mean much to me--let me DO things in clinical!

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