Ten Things You Should Know Before Becoming a Nurse

Return to:Becoming a Nurse

As a nursing student your head is in the book learning anatomy and physiology and preparing for a nursing exam. But there are things they don't teach you in nursing school and some of these things they actively hide from you.

1) Nursing is a job. It is not glamorous. It is not like TV. Your opinion does not matter. At times you will feel like a glorified pill pusher without the glory.

2) The nursing shortage. What nursing shortage? The economic slow down effects nursing just like every other job. So the recruiter that was begging you to work for them will now demand more and pay less because there are ten new grads waiting to fill your position.

3) Your back will hurt and so will your feet. The job is very physical and there is no easy way to move a 500 pound patient. And in the infinite wisdom of the nurse manager all your patients could be in the four corners of the hallway.

4) Families. Even if you didn't deal much with patient's families in nursing school, they will be your bane of existence as a nurse.

5) Did you know you were going to secretarial school? The majority of your time will not be spent with patients, but with computer and paper charting often charting the same fingerstick in multiple places.

6) You will work with a lot of idiots. Just because someone finished nursing school and passed the NCLEX does not mean they have any common sense. You need to know who the resources are on your floor. What nurse you can turn to when you need help and which one to run away from.

7) You will work with people who think they know everything. They will spend their time telling you about all the things they know instead of taking care of their patients.

8) You will learn to hate JACHO. They change their name regularly and are currently calling themselves the Joint Commission. They find important problems such as whether the height of your isolation cart is too tall. If you have not heard of the the Joint Commission, you will.

9) Care Plans. What Care Plans? There are nothing like what you learned in nursing school.

10) Bladder Control. You will be amazed at how much urine you can hold and how long you can go without relieving yourself.

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