Nursing school is definitely know laughing matter. Many people will often say they feel like there are things they learned that they were not prepared for. Here are six different myths that you may have learned from nursing school that is not always true.
1. That you have to start on a medical surgical floor in order to be a good nurse. Wrong. There are many many nurses who didn’t start on a medical surgical floor and are excellent nurses. In my other article To Med Surg or Not To Med Surg, I go into more depth about this subject.
2. That if you don’t push IV morphine over a course of 2 minutes, the patient will begin to show symptoms and die. Sounds over the top doesn’t? What this is to emphasize is nursing is not as scary as the books make it to seem.
3. Medication errors rarely ever happen and nobody ever does it. Wrong. Nurses aren’t perfect, they’re people first. Keep your eyes open and vigilant but don’t beat yourself over the head if you ever do make a mistake. There are nurses that have been around for over 20 years and still run into mishaps.
4. That everything that you do will be evidence based practice. I’m sorry but it won’t. In fact I would be surprised if you started in a facility where everyone and every department practices evidence based practice. In fact if you do please comment below, I want to hear this.
5. That every patient will tell you “please”, “thank you” “you’re such a good nurse”. Wrong. I know when you were in nursing school you had time to get to know your patient and that wonderful mushy stuff but the reality is not every patient will appreciate you. In fact, go in with the mentality that very little will to play it safe.
6. That you now know everything. I know you don’t really think you know everything about nursing just because you went through a rigorous program and passed the NCLEX. However what you have to realize is that nursing school was only a tiny portion of what you will know about nursing. The real learning will begin once you start working.
