[butterjazz]

Maybe...and this is just a thought...since you have to have continuing credit hours anyway to keep license current, maybe the facilities you work for should hold training sessions for the different units. Kill 2 birds with one stone, that could possibly count towards credit, right???

I am a student and my aunt suggested that I read some of these posts to get a feel for what I am actually getting into as a prospective nurse.

I know in Michigan, your license is good for 2 years expiring every 31st March. To be current you need at least 25 cont credits in the time frame. It just makes sense to me that you could have a crash course, if you will, to teach at least the basics of the different areas. The managers or team put together by the manager could write out the curriculum( this counts as credit also) and the nurse who actually instruct should be given credit as well. Maybe a naieve suggestion, but as they say out of the mouths of babes....

[Anonymous]

Many states don't require ANY CEU's for renewal..



WR,,, three commas for Becca

And it's not that ICU nurses don't know what to do on a Med/Surg floor.. It's the need to take care of 4-8 patients. It's hard to teach priorities and time management.That is a learned skill .. IMHO..

[cassioo]

I think my hospital might do something like that as an inservice but I don't know that they would be granted CEU credits for the class by the state who has to approve CEU's.

I think nurses might protest loudly. They do give a general orientation to other units when hired but depending on the shfit you work and who you work with you might not get pulled to another unit for a year or you might get pulled the next week. If it's a long time between pulls things change.

[nursinghumor]

My wife works in a Union Shop and they've addressed this in their contracts. An ICU nurse can only be pulled to either PCU or Telemetry. Ideally after an orientation to the unit, though only a few nurses have actually had the orientation before they were pulled.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.nursinghumor.com

[butterjazz]

When I spoke of the Continuing ed credits, I was speaking in terms of states that have those requirements. I don't know what state you are in but in Michigan that is required.They even explain how to go about having programs like what I mentioned approved by the board. There are limits to how many hours you can recieve, but it seems to be so vast that it would still be worth it. Maybe it should be required in other states as well. My information comes from The Administrative Rules of the Michigan Board of Nursing, part 6 Continuing Education, R.338.10601 and R338.10602. PP. 20-22(Last Rev. 12/19/2003, reprinted 5/5/2004)

As far as priorities and time management, a learned skill... yeah. It takes time however to develop it, I think that's where the additional courses come in handy for higher degree(BSN or higher) seeking nurses. From what my instructors( all hold a minimum of a BSN, some have Master's)and classmates(LPN,ADN, and some that are fresh like me who just decided to get a BSN) the difference between them: LPN's=clinical, ADN=clinical + theory, BSN=clinical+theory + Management.

Management teaches most people how to prioritize by using rationale and logic, and having you use an analysis theory to put it in place while on the job. A good example of this is dimensional analysis, or in nursing, the factor label method. My dad is an engineer and he explained to me about dimensional analysis in such a way that when I begin the pharmacologic portion of my curriculum it was a breeze for me while my other classmates struggled. The examples he used were in no way of a medical nature but I was able to correlate them with what I learned in class.

That is not to say you can't learn it on the job but there are courses that you can take to help you out. At my school they offer Nurse Management and Leadership and Critical Thinking. The one thing they all stress and our instructors keep telling us nursing is sequential. If we don't master our current course, it will just get more difficult as we proceed.

[Anonymous]

Boy oh Boy are you gonna get slammed.. In the last hospital I worked in none of the BSN educated nurses including myself were in charge...I have seen many BSN nurses who couldn't punch their way out of a wet paper bag and an ADN educated RN who could manage 43 patients with her eyes closed.

You may think that priority setting can be taught or organizational skills can be taught I disagree.. I would love to be an artist but I have no artistic talent. I don't think you can teach someone to be a great chef. I think many skills are innate.. In other words you have the skill or not..Yes it can be enhanced but it can't be taught.

And as Cass said things change rapidly in almost any field of nursing and it's the old use it or lose it senario.. Surgeons change with the wind and most of them are very fussy and don't follow the textbooks.. We used to have a surgeon that hated those thick pads.. He didn't like his incision wet.. And he'd throw them at you if you gave them to him.. But how would a float nurse know that...He was a sweet heart really and devoted to his patients just figured a nurse would know what to do for him..

The compact is 16-17 states ( I can't remember how many right now and I'm not looking it up) and none of them require CEU's and I'm sure there are many more that don't..Sometime when I'm not busy I'll check out them all and get a %.

What this country needs is a National Nursing License. We all take the same test now and those who took the old test have enough experience if they have been working regularly to qualify for a National Nurse License.

A question for you ...Would you want a GYN operating on your hip?? Why are nurses considered generalists when no other discipline is??? Do RT's do PT????


WR,,, three commas for Becca

[butterjazz]

Slammed, I think not. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. We will just have to agree to disagree. I have written my posts based on what I have and am currently learning in school and from what I am being told by my peers, classmates, and instructors.

I believe it can be taught if you are open-minded enough to want to learn and listen to those who have been there and done that.Also bear in mind there is a difference between right and left brain functions. Creativity...maybe that can't be taught but logic, I believe it can.

My great-great grandmother was a midwife. Her 2 favorite sayings were that there is nothing new under the sun( it just may appear in a different form) and I've been your age, you've never been mine. What I gleam from those statements is that God gave me 2 ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen twice and learn something before speaking.A person should not let other people's opinions of them prevent them from doing what they know they can. If other people can do it so can I.

When I first started school, I was having a hard time in one of my classes (not nursing) to the point I wanted to quit. I went to my dad( an engineer who also taught high school calculus/trig, computer science, and elect/digital electronics) and he said to me,"Baby, you don't have to be smart to graduate from college, you only need to be dedicated. If you want it you can have it".

What it all boils down to is this, if you want to do it...do it.

I intend to.

P.S.
I didn't write the curriculums for LPN, ADN, and BSN's. That is what it appears to be and according to people who have actually finished those programs, that's what it amounted to.

[Anonymous]

Sweety you are right you haven't been my age.. I graduated two of those programs.. I was an LPN for 17 years and am now a BSN educated RN.. I heard all the "stuff" you are hearing now.. And I believed it the first time only to be hit by reality shock upon graduation.. LPN school taught me more about priority setting than the BSN classes ever could. I taught several labs in my BSN program ..Like how to hang blood, how to suction and the instructor was an NP.. She hadn't worked in a clinical setting ever I think..Got her BSN went right into her NP program.. Many of the instructors haven't set foot in a clinical situation.

And you are right you don't have to be smart or even dedicated to graduate college..You just have to leave your common sense at the door...Just make sure to pick it back up when you start your first job..

I never read any of the textbooks in either program.. Graduated with straight A's from the LPN program at 29 years old with 2 kids 8 and 2. Cum laude from my BSN program with a minor in Poly Sci at 45 with teenagers..

Please don't sing to the choir.. Your previous post didn't seem like an opinion to me.. Stating that BSN's have more management skills than ADN's ..How many of either have you worked side by side????


WR,,, three commas for Becca

[cassioo]

I don't think the organization skills have too much to do with any schooling I had myself. I think it came from life in general.
The day I gradutated my ADN program I was put in charge or the ortho/neuro unit where I had been a student extern for a year. (there was a RN in the stepdown for reference if needed) I was "in charge" of a LPN who had been there 20 years and was a semester behind me in school..that was a little joke. I went straight to work night shift RN on peds and the 2nd nurse was usually a LPN (one who is still a very good friend) who would do a little prompting but the organization came very quickly as we never got help. We might have 1 kid with a cold or 18 in traction it didn't matter it was us.
I also got a BSN and my management course was basically a joke. I sat in as the manager did 1 interview, she explained budget to me (ok by then I've been a nurse for a few years and married with 3 kids 9, 7 and 6 yrs old so I and I'm 29 years old and had been on own since I was 18 I think I can budget money) The manager of the unit to "teach" me something put me in charge of her units Joint Comm. project...big deal I did that on my job anyway as well as QI and policy committees. Then she being short staffed had to watch the monitors (cardiac step down unit)

So making my long story short. Life and work in general gave me organizational skills I don't believe it was school. I've always worked 30+ miles from work and never been late yet one nurse I work with who lives 3 blocks from the hospital is late everyday wonder why she can't get it together?

[Anonymous]

My big question here is if every one takes this Management course do they all learn the same things and get the same grades... If so nursing should be managed a whole lot better than it is right now..lol


WR,,, three commas for Becca

Remember "theories" never took care of a patient..