What They Don’t Teach You in Nursing School
It’s one thing to learn how to nurse from a book. When it really comes down to it, nurses are at the front lines of every medical disaster. Here are a few of the things they don’t teach you in nursing school.
Nursing is physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting.
Be prepared to wear a number of hats
1.) Organizer:
Key skills: prioritizing, multitasking, reporting
Learn to chart efficiently
Collaborate
Maintain a concerted front when dealing with a patient.
Share observations on patients.
2.) Tough Love Giver:
Key Skills: Circumspection, Strength
Patient: “The medical staff will fix me”
Many times the patient has to take the steps to cure themselves.
It gets better:
Some days, you’ll just run numbers and replenish fluids.
3.) Comforter:
Key Skills: Foresight, empathy
While nurses normally maintain a professional distance from their patients, the most touching and memorable cases involve nurses or patients crossing the boundaries nurses set.
Tip: Patients on their deathbeds often want to be touched. A simple hug, hand or neck massage my do more than any painkiller can.
4.) Advice Giver:
Key Skills: Foresight, interpersonal skills, life knowledge
Think through what you’re saying to patients.
Unlike other jobs, there’s simply no way to be a good nurse.
It depends on the situation.
You can say:
The truth.
“We’ll have to wait and see what the doctor says.”
A joke.
Something to distract.
or
A creative answer to a tough question.
And you will have to answer:
Questions from young kids about death
Questions from old folks about sex
Questions about bodily fluid
And you’ll have to give:
Nice answers to people that are stupid
5.) Job Management
School didn’t teach you to deal with:
Death
Stress
Prioritizing and Multitasking
Good, Fast Reporting
Ill-tempered Doctors
Citations:
- http://www.healthecareers.com/article/10-things-they-dont-teach-you-in-nursing-school/164520
- http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/when-nurses-bond-with-their-patients/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
- http://scrubsmag.com/top-10-things-nursing-school-cant-teach-you/
- http://flowingdata.com/famous-movie-quotes-as-charts/
- http://www.whatiscolloidal.com/colloidal-solutions/
- http://www.healthecareers.com/article/10-things-they-dont-teach-you-in-nursing-school/164520