Differences between Graduate and Experienced Nurses

Newbies' skills are often questioned

For a few weeks now, I have been writing about serious, by-the-book topics about nursing. So, how about we break the monotony by changing the course of topics right at this point. I've been a registered nurse for three years now and experience really changes you -- I know it changed me. Even from the very beginning, nurses have been thought of as, excuse me for the word, "sluts" that offer more than medical aid. They are often viewed as escorts or prostitute in uniform, but we know the truth.

Regardless of how people think of nurses then and now, one thing remains true about them -- their ability to change lives is relentless. To give both graduate and experienced nurses an idea of what I'm talking about, here's a comparison among these types of nurse.

A GRADUATE NURSE…	while AN EXPERIENCED NURSE…
Throws up when a patient does	Calls housekeeping to clean the vomit
Wears so many pins on their name badge you can’t read it	Doesn’t wear a name badge at all
Charts too much	Doesn’t chart enough
Loves to run to codes	Makes graduate nurses run to codes
Wants to everyone to know they’re a nurse	Doesn’t want anyone to know they’re a nurse
Keeps detailed records in a notebook or pad	Writes everything at the back of their hands or some scrap papers
Tries to re-orient patient all day	Notes that a patient is disoriented and will restrain them
Can hear a beeping at 50 yards	Can’t hear any beeps or buzz at all
Loves to hear abnormal heart or breath sounds	Doesn’t want to know about them unless the patient is symptomatic
Spends two hours giving patient a bath	Lets the graduate nurse give the patient a bath
Thinks people respect nurses	Knows everybody blames everything on the nurse
Looks for blood in a bandage just so they can change it	Thinks a little blood won’t hurt anybody
Looks for job opportunities near their family	Doesn’t want to be with their family
Expects medicines ad supplies to be delivered on time	Expects them to never be delivered at all
Will spend days to bladder train a patient	Will insert a Foley Catheter
Always answers the phone	Checks the caller ID first
Thinks psych patients are interesting	Thinks psych patients are crazy
Carries reference books and materials in their bag	Carries magazines, lunch and some cough syrup in their bag
Doesn’t find this funny	Does, of course! (lol!)

Looking back, I couldn't help but laugh at myself, both for my mistakes and for being such a nerd. Nevertheless my nursing experience has made realize who I should really be. I mean, I love nursing, but I don't see myself working as a nurse ever again. Yeah, that's the irony of life and this blog! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did and I'll keep you posted on everything about nursing! 

Vous voir plus tard (See you later),

mignon fleur