Are New Nurses Bad News?

By Jordie Papa

Image courtesy PxHere

Winding up in the hospital is a lot like being at the airport.  You expect delays and hope you get to your destination in one piece.  Just like your airline captain, where you’d much rather see a little grey poking out from under the captain’s cap, when you find yourself hospitalized, it can sometimes seem a bad omen if your duty nurse looks like she just graduated from nursing school. To help you overcome the heebie-jeebies if you wind up with a nurse who is less than a grizzled veteran, let me tell you a few facts.

      1.      Old news isn’t always good news. – While more experienced nurses seem to be able to pull the rabbit out of their hat when it comes to making you feel more optimistic about that scheduled surgery, that doesn’t mean they’re all-knowing.  Nurses fresh out of school have been trained in the latest medical techniques and technologies.  While they may not know how to adjust your hospital bed until it feels as though you are floating on a cloud, younger nurses are less likely to have to google your condition or a tricky treatment protocol since they’re as up to date as they can get.

      2.      Nothing beats stamina. – Like it or not, younger people just have more energy.  It’s the way they’re designed.  As people age, their stamina slowly but surely declines, whereas youngsters can bounce off the walls all day long.  While you’re not likely to have a youngster caring for you when you’re hospitalized, you will quickly come to realize that younger nurses definitely have an advantage when it comes to getting through a long hospital shift without their patience wearing thin.  

      3.      New nurses are fast learners. – Just as they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, when it comes to the learning curve, the younger the nurse, the quicker they learn.  In fact, newer nurses have to learn as fast as a sponge soaks up water.   That’s because their future depends on it.  Supervisors and physicians keep their eyes on new nurses far more keenly than those nurses who have worked in hospitals for years.  That means that new nurses can’t afford to slip up even once.  They can’t rest on their laurels, because they don’t yet have any.  

Image courtesy Public Domain Pictures

      4.      Great expectations – Another thing that new nurses have are great expectations.  Most can’t wait to start their shift, or even take on a double shift.  The reason they went into nursing was because they love to help people in need.  Like it or not, as the years go by, while veteran nurses get to know their duties like the back of their hand, they will never again experience the wide-eyed enthusiasm they had when they first started in the profession.  (Those double shifts eventually lose their luster.)

      5.      It’s not like you see on TV – Working in a hospital is messy work.  The lowliest of these dirty tasks are given to newer nurses who have yet to earn their stripes.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that if it weren’t for new nurses, you’d be hard pressed to get that catheter changed or have your bedpan emptied in a hurry. 

      6.      Newer nurses are quick to say, “I don’t know.” – While this may irk some patients, what they should be asking themselves is whether a more seasoned nurse might not know but not say.  Just as in any other profession, experienced nurses don’t want to look inept.  As a result, if a doctor asks them to do something with which they are unfamiliar, they are more likely to delay the task long enough to consult their supervisor. A new nurse, on the other hand will almost always admit their lack of knowledge and ask the physician for help right then and there.

      7.      They’re just like you and me – While more seasoned nurses can affect the 100-yard stare of a drill sergeant, younger nurses wear their hearts on their sleeves.  They mourn for patients who die on their ward, they are eager to please and they are also not averse to putting a tea bag in their mask to deal with nasty hospital odors. 

      8.      They’re no Little Miss Know-it-alls – Working in a modern medical environment means nobody knows everything.  While a nurse may have graduated at the top of their class in nursing school, that doesn’t mean they know as much as the doctors and more experienced nurses around them.  Of course, even doctors don’t know everything.  That’s why they refer patients to specialists. 

Image courtesy Public Domain Files

      9.      They take a licking and keep on ticking – While new nurses aren’t wristwatches, you can set your watch by how well they deal with adversity.  You don’t last long as a nurse if you don’t develop a thick skin that wards off verbal blows from more senior nurses, not to mention know-it-all doctors.  While sometimes a nurse deserves a scolding, in many cases their abuse is simply a result of the hospital pecking order where those of lesser stature are fair game for those with more.  Instead of cringing whenever you see a new nurse take a verbal broadside, wait to see how fast they shrug off criticism before getting on with the next task.  Their resiliency will surprise you.

      10.  Beyond the doors of the hospital – While nursing is a job, new nurses regard it as a calling that doesn’t end when their shift is over.  In fact, most of them don’t believe that their job is done when your care is completed either.  That’s why it isn’t unusual for a new nurse to contact you at home after you’ve been discharged to see how you’re getting along.  They aren’t doing this because they were told to do so.  They do it out of the goodness of their young little hearts, simply because they care. 

Jordie Papa is owner of Uniform Destination with four locations in North Florida offers scrubs and medical accessories, including stethoscopes.