What They Don’t Teach You in Nursing School

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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

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