I’m soooooooo sick of care plans and concept maps. Whine, whine. I get that we need to learn how to think through the nursing process, but I remain heartily sick of the things. My nursing diagnosis manual has even become a hateful sight to me. It mocks me. I fancy that it is actually projecting “ha ha ha! You won’t be able to find anything that officially fits what you need HERE!”
I’m also sick of Martha Rogers. I don’t know what kind of hallucinogenic drug she was on when she wrote her “theory” nor what kind the founding dean of my school was on when she decided to structure our curriculum around said “theory,” but it’s really REALLY out there. The woman postulates that soon we will be providing nursing care to “spacekind,” for pete’s sake. I’m sick of trying to take the drivel that is rogerian theory and having to write papers over how my patient care reflects it.
I’m also sick of thinking I have my workload nearly under control only to get an e-mail that says, “Don’t forget to [X],” where X is in the set of things that I have never heard of before and that will take ages to complete (and will probably include a plethora of care plans!).
Finally, I’m sick of being constantly afraid that all this hard work will be for naught because I’ll get kicked out of school for something teeny and random. I find myself wondering why, as in why am I doing all this? I do really want to be a nurse, but couldn’t I have come up with some retraining that wasn’t for a profession where they don’t make it so difficult to enter it? My state, for example, just did away with graduate nurses. Not a catastrophe, but these things build up! Every time I turn around there is a new hurdle or a new discouragement, a new threat and corresponding fear, a new thing that makes me want to say “screw it.” I thought there was a nursing shortage and they needed nurses on the floor, but I guess I was mistaken. **Clenches teeth**
However, then I go to clinicals and care for a patient who says something like, “I’ve really enjoyed having you here today” or “I’ve really felt better, having you around today” (do you HEAR the heart strings tugging??), and I grudgingly decide “FINE, I won’t drop out of school….”
End rant.
“I’m also sick of thinking I have my workload nearly under control only to get an e-mail that says, “Don’t forget to [X],” where X is in the set of things that I have never heard of before and that will take ages to complete (and will probably include a plethora of care plans!).”
Oh yes…the ever-so-lovely email that comes one day before an assignment is due that complete revises the expectations for your assignment which since you’re a really good student, you’ve almost finished and will now inevitably have to re-do. But don’t forget at the end of that lovely email, they also remind you to “do something for yourself too.”
I don’t understand - your state has done away with graduate nurses? So, does that mean you cannot work until you have passed your boards?
Also, I’m with you 200%. There was nothing I hated more than nursing theory. It’s total B***S***, and serves to validate PhD nurses doing nothing but “thinking” about nursing, instead of being another set of hands doing bedside care! Don’t even get me started!
If you love what you’re doing clinically, try to keep your eyes on the prize - it will be worth it to you in the end. They do make you jump through hoops to get there, though. (another thing that is so drastically wrong with nursing).
“I’ve really felt better, having you around today” (do you HEAR the heart strings tugging??), and I grudgingly decide “FINE, I won’t drop out of school….”
Do you ever contemplate actually saying this to a patient? In your best “I’ll clean my room but I’m not going to like it” voice? Not that I’m saying you should, but the image does make me giggle a bit.
Yes, as of today you cannot work until you pass your boards. Gah! (Well, you can still be an aide or a patient care tech…sigh.)
Something one of my instructors just told us the other night at lecture: “You’re all smart people. When you’re very frustrated and overwhelmed, just think of all the nurses you’ve met in your clinicals. Haven’t you ever met one you can’t believe is actually a nurse? You can beat that.”
I try to keep that in mind, and thought I’d pass it along. You’re bright, articulate, and caring (based on the little I know from your blog, and the report and glossy photos from the private eye I have in front of me).
Focus, and think about the end goal, not the stuff you’re slogging through.
I just wanted to say I really enjoy your blog, and find it very helpful in giving me a sense of what I’m getting myself into with nursing school. I just returned to school for my nursing degree (at 40 years of age), and have found several nursing blogs out there that I enjoy reading. I like the way you capture situations with a great sense of humor, and your geeky/techy tips are also very helpful, so keep them coming! Having been out of school for so long, the study tips are always helpful too! So, thanks!
Thank goodness nursing is nothing like nursing school. We use our unit nursing care plan book as a doorstop.
Hang in there.
It’s no secret that the pending Baby Boom generation’s retirement is going to put enormous strain on the healthcare industry, but the importance of having an educated nursing workforce is more critical than simply filling jobs. Studies at the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto have found correlations between baccalaureate-educated nurses and lower patient mortality rates. Published results from University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Linda Aiken and her colleagues in the September 24, 2003 Journal of the American Medical Association found that patients have a "substantial survival advantage" when treated at hospitals with higher proportions of nurses with bachelor’s degrees or higher. Nursing School Advocate.