Archive for the ‘nursing students’ Category

Older Entries »
h1

Are Job Prospects Improving for New Nurses?

May 17, 2012

Image via Wikimedia

Back in 2010, we ran a post by our then clinical editor, Christine Moffa. It was called “Prospects for New Nurses: Thoughts On Graduating During a Downturn” and it generated quite a few comments. Below is a sampling of excerpts. Some people were pretty distressed, wondering whether they should take jobs that separated them from their families, facing criticism from people who expected they should find a job easily. After all, they were nurses! And we all know they are always in demand.

We’ve been hearing anecdotally that the prospects for new nurses are getting better overall. Is this your experience?—JM, senior editor

“It costs a lot of money to train nurses, especially new grads. Many employers want experienced nurses. The best piece of advice given to me was to stay with same healthcare system/unit floor I worked with as a student nurse. Even that prospect, however, seems to be circling the drain for the same reason I hear over and over again: EXPERIENCE REQUIRED!!! Relocation may not be an option for some people….I’m sure I will eventually get a job, but it’s the uncertainty of my future that frustrates me. It’s quite aggravating to have worked so hard in school only to be disappointed in the end.”

“I just graduated in March and am really worried about getting a job. Thankfully I will be able to stay at my current job as a RN- I worked there as a LPN for almost a year.”

“I won’t give up; but I’m definitely discouraged. It has been a year since I graduated. I have followed all of the advice in the book – I’m volunteering, I’m looking for a job in a SNF, I network everywhere possible, I go to hospitals and shake hands with nurse managers, I follow up, I’m persistent with hiring managers to no avail. I’m desperate for some good advice regarding my circumstances and I’m not really sure where to turn.”

“No one has everything they need to be the perfect candidate, and many are far from it, because we are fallible human beings. We must keep the knowledge that we CAN do this! Someone will look at us and say, for whatever reason, that they want us. It will happen!”

“The difference between this downturn and previous year’s downturns are that there are 50% more new grads entering the market than previous years.”

“Certainly the recession is a major factor, but the lack of nursing leaders willing to demand that hospital administrators provide optimal staffing levels,is the primary problem. Only when nurses are able to provide the level of care that they have been educated to give, will retention improve. This would only be feasible with lower nurse: patient ratios. It seems that when most nurses achieve top positions in large hospitals, the staff nurse and the true quality of patient care is forgotten.”


Bookmark and Share

Posted in nursing shortage, nursing students | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Future Nurses Have Their Say

April 17, 2012

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

I spent part of last week in Pittsburgh, attending the National Student Nurses Association (NSNA) annual meeting. This one was special—the 60th anniversary of the organization.

NSNA Imprint Feb/Mar issue cover

Despite the celebratory air (not only because of the anniversary, but because the organization had exceeded its membership goal of 60,000 members), the 2,700 attendees seemed very serious about the work of the organization and about learning skills to help them in their careers—there were few slackers in this crowd.

The approximately 500 students who represented their states in the house of delegates dealt with some 40 resolutions, on such diverse topics as increasing awareness of the effects of third-hand smoke on children to supporting the “BSN-in-10” movement (a push for legislation requiring all new nurses to get bachelor’s degrees within 10 years).

For me, the best part is meeting future nurses and speaking with them about career plans. I met many students in the exhibit hall, where I was demonstrating AJN’s new iPad app. Unlike last year, when jobs seemed to be scarce, many of the seniors I spoke with this time around had already secured jobs—and those who hadn’t seemed confident they would.

Finish this sentence . . . I asked several of those about to start their nursing careers to finish the following sentence: “I’m excited about starting my nursing career because . . .” You can listen to their comments in this short podcast.

 Bookmark and Share

Posted in audio interviews, nursing students, professional identity, Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Friday Round-Up: When ‘Natural’ Isn’t ‘Safer,’ A Student Nurse Summit, a Walking Crisis, Chronicity

April 13, 2012

Ad for Chinese herbal medicine, Seattle 1908/ via Wikimedia Commons

Please pardon the relative quiet of this blog this week. All our in-house and far-flung occasional correspondents are otherwise engaged, it seems. Blame the nice weather, if it’s nice where you are. Our editor-in-chief, Shawn Kennedy, is in Pittsburgh at the National Student Nurses Association (NSNA) convention. She’s presenting this afternoon (I think) on the new AJN iPad app, among other things (no, we don’t yet have one for the Kindle, but that may be on the way).

Shawn should have an update on her adventures with the next generation in nursing sometime early next week. So for now, almost entirely avoiding nursing news and health care reform, here are a few items of potential interest:

The Respectful Insolence blog, in reminding us that “natural” doesn’t always mean safer, points to an AFP article that highlights research drawing a connection between a widely used herbal remedy and the unusually high incidence of urinary tract cancer in Taiwan. Says the AFP article,

A toxic ingredient in a popular herbal remedy is linked to more than half of all cases of urinary tract cancer in Taiwan where use of traditional medicine is widespread, said a US study Monday.

Aristolochic acid (AA) is a potent human carcinogen that is found naturally in Aristolochia plants, an ingredient common in botanical Asian remedies for aiding weight loss, easing joint pain and improving stomach ailments.

While the FDA issued an alert about products containing this ingredient last fall, it’s important to recall that the multibillion dollar supplements industry in the U.S., whatever its benefits, is not subject to the same regulations applied to the pharmaceutical industry.

And, in honor of the weekend and the blossoming trees, here’s something of proven health benefit: walking. It’s free, there seem to be new studies out all the time telling us why it’s good for our minds and bodies, but many have noted that Americans don’t do it anymore, and that in some places in the U.S. it can be downright dangerous to do so. Slate has a new series, “The Crisis in American Walking,” that explores the many facets of this issue, from how we got to this place to what we can do about it. It’s well worth a look, though maybe you’d be better off just turning off your electronic device and hitting the streets, paths, hills, mallscape, wherever.

OK, one nursing item, from the news department in the April issue of AJN: we look at two studies that highlight ways that nurse-led teams are helping bring about improvements in risk management, adherence, and perceptions of care for patients with chronic disease.

Enjoy the weekend!—JM, senior editor, blog editor

Posted in healing/holistic, nursing students | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

h1

On Euphemisms and Learning to Be Present

November 28, 2011

By Alicia Marie Hinton, who is a BSN student at the College of New Rochelle School of Nursing in New Rochelle, NY. This is her first post for this blog.

by grepsy, via flickr

My senior year preceptorship was an assignment on a palliative and acute care unit at a busy medical center. When I received the assignment, I prayed that no patient of mine would die during my time on the unit. Every nursing student is afraid of their first patient death. Simulation and course work prepare students in various ways for this experience, but nothing can really prepare you for the emotions you’ll feel. Some students experience a patient death during an undergraduate nursing program, but for others it may not happen until their first year or two working as an RN. I hoped to never endure it, but knew it was inevitable.

During report, working alongside my preceptor, I listened anxiously to the status of the various patients. Since my first day on the unit, I’d practiced my therapeutic techniques and researched different cultural needs pertaining to the death of a patient. I felt culturally competent and well informed about what a nurse should do when a patient dies, but I couldn’t shake my fear. What would I say to the family? Would they value my presence?

Finally, during morning rounds on my third day on the unit, I was told that a certain Mr. P wasn’t doing too well and might “expire” that day. Our focus would be to provide comfort for him and his family.

How did they know he was to “expire”? Was that the politically correct term for dying? I was familiar with “passed away,” “deceased,” or “gone to a better place.” But the word “expire” didn’t feel right. I’d cared for Mr. P since his admission and interacted daily with his family, and news of his impending death hit me hard, increasing my anxiety about how I’d respond when it happened. While I was anxious about my own feelings about the patient’s death, I was preoccupied with my ability to comfort that family. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in nursing students, palliative care, professional identity | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments »

h1

That Acute Attention to Detail, Bordering on Wariness…

November 21, 2011

via Wikimedia Commons

By Kinsey Morgan, RN. Kinsey is a new nurse who lives in Texas and currently works in the ICU in which she formerly spent three years as a CNA. Her last (and first) post at this blog can be found here.

It seems that nursing schools across the world subscribe to certain mantras regarding the correct way to do things. Different schools teach the same things with utmost urgency. Hand washing is one of the never-ending lessons that comes to mind. How many times do nursing students wash their hands while demonstrating the correct way to perform a procedure? I vividly remember actually having to be evaluated on the skill of hand washing itself.

Another of the regularly emphasized points of nursing school is double-checking. One of my first clinical courses required students to triple-check patient identification before giving medications. We were to look at the medication administration record, the patient’s wristband, and then actually have the patient state their name.

As a new nurse learning several new computer systems for charting, etc., I’ve noticed that the old attention to detail, ground into my soul during my school days, now seems easy to overlook, since computers do so much of the work. Of course, computer charting and electronic MARs* have simplified tasks and made time management much less daunting. But sometimes I worry about the hidden cost of such improvements.

I intend, vow, resolve to make an effort to remain aware of how easily errors can happen when we don’t double- and triple-check things. I want to always retain that astute attention to detail, bordering on wariness, so that I can practice as safely as possible, even with the advent of electronic methods.

*MARS = medication administration records

Bookmark and Share

Posted in health information technology (HIT), nursing students, patient safety | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

h1

Realizations of a New Nurse #1: I Am Now the Educator

November 7, 2011
image via Wikipedia

By Kinsey Morgan, RN. Kinsey is a new nurse who lives in Texas and currently works in the ICU in which she formerly spent three years as a CNA.

In nursing school, there is a growing push to educate future nurses on the amazing breadth of roles within the nursing profession. As a student, you are in some way exposed to the role of nurse as leader, advocate, healer, educator, team player, and researcher. Even this list is not exhaustive. These roles are certainly vital and important and worth teaching about in school.

As a brand new nurse, I haven’t personally encountered all of these roles yet, but there is one in particular that I encounter—and embody—every day: that of educator.

One of the most humbling realizations I’ve had since recently becoming a nurse is that I am now the educator. I’m glad to know that there are other nurses around me, as well as many resources from which to glean knowledge, but I am daily faced with the fact that people now look to me for answers. There are times when I feel outside myself, for while I give correct answers, hearing myself giving them is a little surreal. I’m sure these feelings subside with time, but I hope that I always remain somewhat in awe of the amount of trust my title elicits.

Bookmark and Share

Posted in nursing perspective, nursing students, professional identity | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments »

h1

In Defense of On-the-Job Learning in the ICU

November 2, 2011

Image via Wikimedia Commons

By Marcy Phipps, RN, who is a regular contributor to this blog. She emphasizes that the identity of the impatient practitioner described in this post has been altered in significant ways to prevent any chance of recognition.

“This is why new nurses have no place in critical care!” said the trauma physician. “I’m sure she’s a fine nurse, but she should be getting experience with these situations on the floor!”

The issue of whether new nurses should work in critical care comes up from time to time. It seems to polarize people, and it always touches a nerve with me. I was hired directly into the ICU upon passing the boards, as were many of the nurses I work with. My hospital offers a program to new graduates that includes training and education specific to critical care and an extended clinical experience with a preceptor. Admittedly, there is a steep learning curve, but I wouldn’t consider it unsafe—and comments that suggest the contrary irritate me, because they undermine new nurses and foster negativity.

This patient probably would have pulled his PEG tube out no matter how experienced his nurse was, and I’m not sure the step-down floor would have been a “better” place for a new nurse to manage that situation. The patient acuity is lower on the floor, but there are also fewer nurses around to help out, and a patient would probably have more opportunities to pull a PEG tube out, assuming that was his intention, given the more private nature of the rooms. These things do happen occasionally, regardless of the precautions taken, and I don’t know any nurse who wouldn’t have been at least a little flustered, no matter where they were. I certainly would have been.

The new nurse came back the next night and had the same patient assignment. She was composed and professional, and it occurs to me that the trauma physician was right about one thing—she is a fine nurse. And she’ll get better all the time, here in the critical care unit, where she’s losing her “fluster” and thickening her skin, despite the glare of a doctor who doesn’t think she should be here in the first place.

*PEG = percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy

Bookmark and Share

Posted in nursing students, professional identity | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments »

h1

One Take on the Top 10 Issues Facing Nursing

October 31, 2011

By Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

So I’ve been in Dallas at the Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) biennial meeting. The venue is the Gaylord Texan, a large, climate-controlled resort under a glass dome—as you leave your building and walk “outside,” you’re really not. Don’t believe the flowing stream or flowers or gardens (all real) along the walkways, or the Longhorn steer (fake) behind a fence that stands outside my building—you’re still inside. And to make it even more surreal, there are Christmas holiday decorations everywhere, including a gingerbread house the size of a small hotel room. It will be strange to step back in time to Halloween when I get back home.

A daunting list. There are a few thousand people here for the meeting, way too many sessions to choose from (20 different topics for each concurrent session period), plus rows of posters and exhibit booths. And of course, great networking. One lively session I attended was standing room only—and that’s after any floor space had been occupied by people sitting cross-legged. It was a discussion of the top 10 issues facing nursing, led by STTI’s publications director Renee Wilmeth (she’s not a nurse, which probably makes her less biased). The issues were compiled from responses provided by 30 nursing leaders, and were presented in question form:

  1. Is evidence-based practice (EBP) helpful or harmful? (Amazing how many interpretations there were of EBP, some of them—as I know from our EBP series—quite incorrect.)
  2. What is the long-term impact of technology on nursing?
  3. Can we all agree that a bachelor’s degree should be the minimum level for entry into practice? (General agreement here, despite concerns regarding the adequacy of financial support for achieving this goal.)
  4. DNP vs PhD: separate but equal? (Not much discussion—I think no one wanted to really get into this.)
  5. How do nurses get a seat at the policy table?
  6. How do nurses cope with the growing ethical demands of practice? (This generated the most discussion, especially around whether society should provide unlimited costly care to those whose personal choices contribute to their health problems.)
  7. How do we fix the workplace culture of nursing?
  8. What role do nurse leaders play in the profession?
  9. What are we doing about the widening workforce age gap?
  10. How do we make the profession as diverse as the population for whom it cares?

Your turn: would you agree that these are the ‘top 10’ issues? What’s missing? What’s here that shouldn’t be?

Bookmark and Share

Posted in ethical issues, nursing students, Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

h1

Federal Budget Battles Begin – Health Professions Education at Stake

October 3, 2011

By Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

U.S. Capitol building/Ed Siasoco, via Flickr

I’m subscribed to many listservs, mailing lists, and eNews alerts that help me keep track of news that may be important to nurses. One e-mail list I’m on is the Health Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC), from the Association of American Medical Colleges. It closely monitors funding for health professions education.

Last week, the e-mail reported on the proposed 2012 federal budget—that is, the initial draft proposed by the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments appropriations subcommittee. Among a great deal else, this includes funding for  Medicare, the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, and medical and nursing education (Title VII and Title VIII funding).

There’s already contention over the proposal, with the Democrats claiming they had nothing to do with it. According to ranking Democratic member Rep. Norm Dick, quoted in the minority party press release: “Make no mistake: this is not a committee product. This draft bill represents the ideological position of one committee member—the subcommittee chairman.”

Among other aspects, the proposal includes cuts to all monies to Planned Parenthood (as long as it continues to provide abortion services), National Public Radio, and any programs under the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

According to the HPNEC e-mail: “The bill offers a total of $87.5 million for Title VII programs, a $185 million (67.9 percent) cut, by eliminating funding for the Title VII Health Careers Opportunity Program, scholarships for disadvantaged students, primary care medicine, Area Health Education Centers, and allied health programs, and drastically reducing some other Title VII programs. For Title VIII [nurse workforce development programs], the draft bill provides $106.828 million, a $135.6 million (55.9 percent) cut, achieved through elimination of funding for the Title VIII loan repayment and scholarship program and comprehensive geriatric education, as well as reductions to other Title VIII programs.”

The press release from the Republican committee members lauds the proposal, quoting chair Hal Rogers: “To protect critical programs and services that many Americans rely on—especially in this time of fiscal crisis—the bill takes decisive action to cut duplicative, inefficient, and wasteful spending to help get these agency budgets onto sustainable financial footing.”

While this is only the first draft and no doubt there will be much haggling and political posturing, it serves as a reminder of the current rancor in Congress, where all issues seem to be battlegrounds.

You can compare funding from the prior year with the President’s request and the proposed bill, and also read the full text of the bill.

Bookmark and Share

Posted in advocacy/political action, health care reform, nursing perspective, nursing students, Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

The NLN: Where Nursing Teachers Go to Learn

September 27, 2011

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

As a nursing student, I was always awestruck when an instructor could rattle off a few points that keyed me into what I should be thinking about when I approached a patient, or use questions to lead me through a thought process that ended with the discovery that I’d known the answer all along. It never dawned on me that those were teaching skills, tools of the trade that she’d learned as an educator.

Last week, I spent a few days in Orlando, Florida, attending the 2011 Education Summit of the National League for Nursing, or as most nurses know it, “the NLN.” I’d venture that if you asked most nurses (who aren’t faculty, that is) what they know about the NLN, they’d answer that it’s the body that accredits nursing schools (key information when deciding what nursing program one should attend). While that’s partially correct, that’s only one part of the NLN’s mission. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in nursing students, Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Older Entries »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 296 other followers