What do you wish you were told on the first day?

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

What do you wish you were told on the first day? My students have already been through orientation, but I would love to find some great ways to break the ice and to encourage them. I want them to know that if they work hard, they can succeed. What have you been told that was helpful/encouraging? What do you wish you had been told?

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1) Get ready for the high school drama: the "cliques", the "friends" that NEED to register for the same section in clinicals. The gossipy-backstabbing ones that can ruin it for everyone are GUARANTEED to be in your class.

2) The "I'm an EMT" or "I work in a doctor's office" individuals that challenge the teacher on subjects that they think they have all the knowledge of. If they did, the said EMT/office employee would be teaching.

3) The fresh out of high school students that think they're still in high school. "Oh wow, Amanda's having a party tonight. I'm going!" WHO CARES?

4) Sub-par clinical instructors/hospital staff. Get used to it now. Once you're out in the workforce as a nurse, you're going to have to be dealing with these creeps on a DAILY BASIS. Nope--You can't transfer out of your unit because the charge nurse makes Nurse Ratched look like a saint. Welcome to life. Get used to it.

5) You can study your ass off and still perform poorly on an exam. Nursing exams are NOTHING like other exams. ALL the answers look right. You have to select the "least wrong" or "most correct" answer. That's something that takes time to master. If you're one of the individuals from group 1 listed above and have always had a 3.9999999 GPA, you're going to have to work SUPER HARD to maintain it.

6) Nursing is not all about handing out medications and asking if the patient needs ice chips. You're going to have to do care on them that the "lowly" CNA's do. You have to clean up poop, pee, clean dentures, change filthy sheets, give bed baths, insert catheters, and deal with grouchy patients and grouchy staff. Patients will curse at you, call you incompetent, and press that call bell every waking moment. If you easily cry or your feelings are easily hurt, nursing is not for you.

7) If you fail an exam, a clinical procedure, a medication math exam, you have no one to blame but YOURSELF. Don't blame the teachers, the exam choices, or the content on the exams. Take personal responsibility and improve the next time. Whining to the program director makes you look like a crybaby. And nursing instructors are notorious for being a tight knitted group. When word gets out that you're a "problem" student, you're sunk.

8) You will be spending a lot of time studying and doing those dreaded care plans. You can have lecture from 8-3, and then be expected to arrive at your clinical site by 4, in complete uniform, to get your patient's chart. From there, you only have a couple of hours to write down the necessary info on the patient's medical history, past medical history, reason for hospital stay, medications they are on, etc. Then off to home to make out the care plans, write down the REASON the patient is taking the drug and what it's used for (and you'd better know it the following day in clinical, because chances are your instructor will ask you and you can't use the info. you wrote down). By then it'll be late when you're done, and then off to clinical the next day at 7 a.m. Oh, and there are times when your patient could have been discharged/transferred out by the time you arrive at clinical and you did all that work FOR NOTHING!! Too bad, that's the way it goes.

9) If you take nursing theory and work, your social life will be placed on hold until you're done with nursing school or if you're on semester breaks. Those that proclaim to work 40 hours a week, raise 3 kids on their own , and run a side business ARE LYING!!

10) Please wear appropriate clothing to class. I've seen everything from pajamas and slippers, reallllly short shorts, and thongs sticking out of places I don't care to mention. The Hannah Montana lunchboxes are not necessary in class. They're not cute. They look stupid. And if you're "plump", please refrain from wearing super tight pants/Spandex/halter tops. It's nasty. I don't need to see more flab than necessary.

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HA!HA! HA!...Oh my..well, that was an interesting insight from Tyler77. But I appreciate your insight as well. I've worked as a CNA and hoped that in Nursing I wouldn't do the cleaning up of the poop and so on. The nurses that I've worked with while I was a CNA refused to do that. There was only one LVN who would offer her help to us CNAs at that time.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
HA!HA! HA!...Oh my..well, that was an interesting insight from Tyler77. But I appreciate your insight as well. I've worked as a CNA and hoped that in Nursing I wouldn't do the cleaning up of the poop and so on. The nurses that I've worked with while I was a CNA refused to do that. There was only one LVN who would offer her help to us CNAs at that time.

Any nurse who "refuses' to clean a patient is not in the right line of work. That's just sad.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I think a nice thing to tell students would be to reassure them that throughout school, they will NOT KNOW EVERYTHING. Critical thinking, lab values, and viewing the patient as a "whole" comes with time and practice. It's easy to get overwhelmed with information and takes time to be able to draw out the important stuff.

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Specializes in Home Care.

Work your butt off in school, study from an NCLEX book for exams and start networking early to find a job at graduation.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
Work your butt off in school, study from an NCLEX book for exams and start networking early to find a job at graduation.

Agreed!

Especially the networking - that's key. Get an internship, a CNA license, whatever - just get your foot in the door at a hospital!

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I started at a community college before transferring to a university.

At the community college, I felt like the instructors tried to scare us. Things were said like, "You'd might as well drop out now." and "Not all of you will make it."

At the university, we were told from day one, "You can do it. You're all family now and your goal is to make sure that EVERYONE passes. You need each other. You're smart and have a lot to offer, or else you wouldn't have made it this far."

And you know what? At the community college, everyone was very clique-y and we did not feel united at all and it wasn't a comforting environment. At the university, I feel like we are all united and there are no cliques. It's a nice atmosphere. I think that is owed to the teachers who from the start told us they believed in us. I don't think scare tactics do anyone a bit of good.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Tell them to 1. Get an Nclex book that has a comprehensive review. 2. Get Fluid and electrolytes made incredibly easy. 3. Don't try to read everything.. 4. DO THE REVIEW QUESTIONS! 5. most important, try to relax as much as possible.

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1) Get ready for the high school drama: the "cliques", the "friends" that NEED to register for the same section in clinicals. The gossipy-backstabbing ones that can ruin it for everyone are GUARANTEED to be in your class.

2) The "I'm an EMT" or "I work in a doctor's office" individuals that challenge the teacher on subjects that they think they have all the knowledge of. If they did, the said EMT/office employee would be teaching.

3) The fresh out of high school students that think they're still in high school. "Oh wow, Amanda's having a party tonight. I'm going!" WHO CARES?

4) Sub-par clinical instructors/hospital staff. Get used to it now. Once you're out in the workforce as a nurse, you're going to have to be dealing with these creeps on a DAILY BASIS. Nope--You can't transfer out of your unit because the charge nurse makes Nurse Ratched look like a saint. Welcome to life. Get used to it.

5) You can study your ass off and still perform poorly on an exam. Nursing exams are NOTHING like other exams. ALL the answers look right. You have to select the "least wrong" or "most correct" answer. That's something that takes time to master. If you're one of the individuals from group 1 listed above and have always had a 3.9999999 GPA, you're going to have to work SUPER HARD to maintain it.

6) Nursing is not all about handing out medications and asking if the patient needs ice chips. You're going to have to do care on them that the "lowly" CNA's do. You have to clean up poop, pee, clean dentures, change filthy sheets, give bed baths, insert catheters, and deal with grouchy patients and grouchy staff. Patients will curse at you, call you incompetent, and press that call bell every waking moment. If you easily cry or your feelings are easily hurt, nursing is not for you.

7) If you fail an exam, a clinical procedure, a medication math exam, you have no one to blame but YOURSELF. Don't blame the teachers, the exam choices, or the content on the exams. Take personal responsibility and improve the next time. Whining to the program director makes you look like a crybaby. And nursing instructors are notorious for being a tight knitted group. When word gets out that you're a "problem" student, you're sunk.

8) You will be spending a lot of time studying and doing those dreaded care plans. You can have lecture from 8-3, and then be expected to arrive at your clinical site by 4, in complete uniform, to get your patient's chart. From there, you only have a couple of hours to write down the necessary info on the patient's medical history, past medical history, reason for hospital stay, medications they are on, etc. Then off to home to make out the care plans, write down the REASON the patient is taking the drug and what it's used for (and you'd better know it the following day in clinical, because chances are your instructor will ask you and you can't use the info. you wrote down). By then it'll be late when you're done, and then off to clinical the next day at 7 a.m. Oh, and there are times when your patient could have been discharged/transferred out by the time you arrive at clinical and you did all that work FOR NOTHING!! Too bad, that's the way it goes.

9) If you take nursing theory and work, your social life will be placed on hold until you're done with nursing school or if you're on semester breaks. Those that proclaim to work 40 hours a week, raise 3 kids on their own , and run a side business ARE LYING!!

10) Please wear appropriate clothing to class. I've seen everything from pajamas and slippers, reallllly short shorts, and thongs sticking out of places I don't care to mention. The Hannah Montana lunchboxes are not necessary in class. They're not cute. They look stupid. And if you're "plump", please refrain from wearing super tight pants/Spandex/halter tops. It's nasty. I don't need to see more flab than necessary.

^ohhh man i love this! this is EXACTLY what my class is like. i will be graduating in may. i agree about the high school drama. it follows you wherever you go. my advice about that is deal with it and try to keep to yourself and if you're lucky, you will find one person or a small group you can get along and study with in class. i also love your #2...there's also the "oh well i've seen this before or i've done this a hundred times before because my has been sick for a long time and i give them care". really? if you've done it or seen it a hundred times before, thats great for you but if you think you're such a know it all then you must think you're too good to be here, so leave.

#9 is also VERY true and people need to understand that your life will from now on revolve around nursing school, nursing school WILL NOT revolve around your life. that means you need a plan b babysitter, and a plan c, and plan d, and so on. you cant expect the instructors to hold your hand and think its ok that you miss clinical because your babysitter cancelled. (this bothers me especially because i am one out of only a few that do not have children in my class. i get it that the kids and family come first, but YOU signed yourself up for nursing school, didnt you? so figure out YOUR problems yourself.)

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What do you wish you were told on the first day? My students have already been through orientation, but I would love to find some great ways to break the ice and to encourage them. I want them to know that if they work hard, they can succeed. What have you been told that was helpful/encouraging? What do you wish you had been told?

Tyler77, while your insights may seem useful, they aren't in any way answering the posters questions. As a matter of fact, the instructor telling her new students all of these things would not make them feel like they could succeed, nor would they be helpful or encouraging, as the poster requested.

I agree with the poster that recommended encouraging your students to depend on each other and help each other. My clinical instructor really thought it was important to work together and know that you could count on your fellow students. I would suggest telling them that they need to have a positive attitude as well. There are way too many comments about the amount of people that fail the programs. I've started telling my friends that, just because 20% of the class fails doesn't mean we have to be in that 20%. Work together and help each other.

And my main recommendation to everyone I talk to is: "Don't EVER get behind." If you have a chance to turn something in early, do it early. If there is a list of dates for class presentations, be the first one on it. You never know what can happen later in the quarter, plan for the worst, and then enjoy the breather if it doesn't happen!

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I started at a community college before transferring to a university.

At the community college, I felt like the instructors tried to scare us. Things were said like, "You'd might as well drop out now." and "Not all of you will make it."

At the university, we were told from day one, "You can do it. You're all family now and your goal is to make sure that EVERYONE passes. You need each other. You're smart and have a lot to offer, or else you wouldn't have made it this far."

And you know what? At the community college, everyone was very clique-y and we did not feel united at all and it wasn't a comforting environment. At the university, I feel like we are all united and there are no cliques. It's a nice atmosphere. I think that is owed to the teachers who from the start told us they believed in us. I don't think scare tactics do anyone a bit of good.

That's how most community colleges are unfortunately. They don't provide much support to students so their graduation rates are in the toilet.

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