Would you want your classmate as your RN?

perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN · Feb 26, 2005

I am the "book smart/clinical stupid" person you are all talking about

And I am in my last semester :uhoh3:

I just can't seem to retain skills and don't have the nursing common sense that is so necessary.

But I am trying to get better. :crying2:

mariedoreen · Feb 26, 2005

I am the "book smart/clinical stupid" person you are all talking about

Oh please don't label yourself that way and don't let anyone apply it to you either. Everyone has their challenges and their difficulties and I swear this book smart-clinical stupid is nothing more than a myth that academically challenged people perpetuate to convince people that the academic aspect is just a hurdle to get over while the clinical aspect is what nursing is all about. I completely disagree.

You can be the best at clinical skills anyone's ever seen but if you don't understand acid/base or electrolytes I don't want you near me. Nursing is challenging because you have to be able to do well at both. If you're technically challenged, you work at it and remember that improvement comes with experience. If you're academically challenged you work on it and hope that understanding and retention comes with repeat exposure to the material.

As far as the OPs original question, we're only in our 2nd semester, I wouldn't want any of them for my nurse :chuckle ... ask me again around graduation tho and I'm sure my answer will be much different :)

perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN · Feb 26, 2005

Oh please don't label yourself that way and don't let anyone apply it to you either. Everyone has their challenges and their difficulties and I swear this book smart-clinical stupid is nothing more than a myth that academically challenged people perpetuate to convince people that the academic aspect is just a hurdle to get over while the clinical aspect is what nursing is all about. I completely disagree.
You can be the best at clinical skills anyone's ever seen but if you don't understand acid/base or electrolytes I don't want you near me. Nursing is challenging because you have to be able to do well at both. If you're technically challenged, you work at it and remember that improvement comes with experience. If you're academically challenged you work on it and hope that understanding and retention comes with repeat exposure to the material.

Awww... thank you for the reassurance. :) Just been having sort of a rough semester. I appreciate your encouragement a LOT.

BETSRN · Feb 27, 2005

Do we all have some classmates about whom you think "I would never want her to be my nurse!"? Is that mean? I try not to be judgemental, including someone's nursing style. But there are a rare few that I really think are a danger.
Two in particular who just happened to have failed the mid-term. Honestly, I'm glad. :chair:
The one has a hearing problem that she refuses to treat. She can't here BP's, lung and bowel sounds. Now, you can use a dynamat for a BP. But I want my nurse to be able to hear through her stethoscope. :smackingf Maybe I'm a mean person, but have you ever worried about some one being a patient for a student you know?

We have had two deaf nurses. They have special stethoscopes!

Seriously, though, I can think of one student who was in my class and she was always screwing up, etc. No one could believe she made it out of school. However, this is 20 years down the road, but she turned out to be an EXCELLENT critical care nurse. So........you never know!

BETSRN · Feb 27, 2005

Yeah, I've got one of those. He said in the peds class this week that you can't assess pain in a child under three. Flat out can't do it. He is always trying to prove the professor wrong about stuff and rude as all hell. His clinical practices are ok and tests must be fine otherwise he wouldn't be here but I wouldn't want someone that rude taking care of my family.

This is the type of over-confident guy who will flub up after he graduates. Too much confidence is NEVER a good thing!

BETSRN · Feb 27, 2005

There is only one person who scares me. She tried to pour liquid meds into a patient's trach instead of their G tube. This was after being in clinical for several months. The problem isn't that she makes mistakes, it's that she refuses to take responsibility for her mistakes and thus never learns from them. I really hope she doesn't graduate. I think she is one of those nursing horror stories waiting to happen.

I would say she is fairly scary. Is there any way that some of you (who see this student's incompetence), can go to someone above you and give them some information?

Fraggle · Feb 27, 2005

Actually, I'm a much better theory student than a clinical student, too. But I don't think I cross the line to danger. And I actively work improve on my weaker points. Which is the key, of course. I don't think this woman in my class tries. Or maybe she does try and it just isn't working.

I thought they must have special stethoscopes. Maybe she can't afford it. Although, that wouldn't explain her inability to do things that aren't related to her hearing. Maybe she's just a really slow learner. I don't think nursing school allows for us to be slow learners, though! :chuckle

Awww... thank you for the reassurance. :) Just been having sort of a rough semester. I appreciate your encouragement a LOT.

NurseFirst · Feb 27, 2005

hi fraggle,
your classmate and i should get together! we would be one dyanmic duo! :chuckle
in the first skills class when i could not hear a thing through my stethoscope, my instructor told me to go and see so-and-so to get information about not hearing well. it was the access program director and he took the time to welcome me, explain the whole concept of being deemed a disabled student, and off i went to have my hearing examined. he did provide me (free) with an amplifying stethoscope that has made all the difference. turns out i'm not impaired enough to benefit from a hearing aid yet (shoot!) so i just have to make the best of things until i do get there. now i tell everyone i don't hear well so please face me when you talk. and let me sit up front in the first row.
it's all about fear, you know. i guess some folks think about getting old. maybe she just needs to come around on her own, since it sounds like her instructors have done what they could. or maybe it will take a caring, patient classmate to help her see that not hearing well is not the same thing as being old and helpless.
best of luck.

why? so you could get some hearing aids for free or discounted?

i'm slightly hearing impaired, something the woman who runs our nursing lab --(who is older than me) who can hear a conversation across the room carried on in whispers, i swear--caught. no one else has noticed. like you, not ready for hearing aids (to which i say, thank god! i like to hear!!!). however, never considered walking over to the disabled students to see if i could get an hearing-amplified steth. i've looked at them on the websites -- sooo expensive (and i bought myself a littman cardio ii--so they are quite a bit more expensive than that!!!). i'll have to look into this. thanks!!!

nursefirst

lisamc1RN, LPN · Feb 27, 2005

There is only one student in my class that makes me question whether she's going to be a good nurse. I could be totally wrong about it, so I hesitate to make any kind of judgement. She just seems to ask some really weird questions and hesitates a lot about things in clinicals. It's hard to explain but it seems that she just really doesn't "get it." She may very well end up being the best darn nurse on the block, though. I hope so. :)