Education plays an essential role in the development of careers of people everywhere. However, this doesn’t mean that one will learn all they need to know from the education system for their career paths. Experience is the key, and this is especially true in the career of nursing. Nursing is all about caring for the needs of others, and there are a wide variety of people that need help. At this point, new nurses are exposed to people of all ages, colors, religions, and etc. Inevitably, new nurses will meet people they will not like. But this doesn’t change the fact that the patient will still need help, and new nurses will have to grapple with this idea for quite some time. It is difficult to be polite and stay calm in the face of people consumed by rage at the difficulty of their unfortunate situation, but it is never the less the job of nurses to do so.
Another thing that nursing school doesn’t teach you is the essential qualities related to reporting. It is addressed in nursing school, but many new nurses are surprised at how important they become in real world situations. They are also difficult to write and as such consume a lot of time. Speaking of time, time management, multitasking and prioritizing are all skills that aren’t exactly covered in nursing school. Nurses frequently have to attend to multiple patients in a single shift, and as such cannot spend too much or too little time on a single patient. However, some patients require more time than others, so judgement calls need to be made. It is most certainly a hefty job.
As a result, the stress levels in nurses reach an almost epidemic level. Many nurses turn to unhealthy habits to cope with the gruesome things they witness on the job. Witnessing death firsthand seems to be one of the most difficult things to encounter. By all means, new nurses are aware that this may happen right in front of them, but knowing and seeing are two different things. There is no way to be prepared for it, and it could take years of experience before one learns how to deal with the emotions witnessing death brings about.
Sometimes, dealing with the stress is as simple as overeating. Other times, it gets so bad that drug abuse seems warranted to many nurses. For new nurses, finding healthy ways to deal with stress in a moderate fashion is extremely difficult, but it must be done for the sake of their mental health.
Doctors are an essential part of the hospital workplace, but dealing with them is not really covered in nursing school either. Lots of doctors are overworked to the point of exhaustion, and cannot help taking out that built in frustration on a new nurse who is constantly messing up because they haven’t got in the swing of things yet. Learning how to remain calm or use humor to defuse intense situations with them is just another part of getting acquainted with the job.
Lastly, nursing school will not teach one just how much of a life-fulfilling job nursing is. When the entire staff, one’s new friends and family members all collaborate and work together like a well-oiled machine to save a life, it really does make dealing with all of the problems mentioned before bearable, because helping people and saving lives are the entire point of nursing to begin with.
Gary Wordsworth is a freelance writer who focuses on education, professional training, employment trends, the national economy, global economic trends, and other engaging issues; should you go for a nursing career, in addition to excellent training be sure to obtain first-rate nursing scrubs as they’re essential for success.
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