Hello to all,

I have been a nurse for 30 years...way before IVAC pumps (we had to calculate and time those drip rates), and paperless charting ( oh those were the days, when you could spend your time at the bedside rather than staring at the computer screen, and when medications seem to consist of Digoxin, Lasix, and Colace. Much of my nursing career has been in critical care and I currently work in the emergency room.
I graduated from a diploma program (I think, still the best realistic educational format for nurses..on the job skill training until you mastered the task..how will nursing theory really help you manage a patient assignment?)and am enrolled in a Masters in Nursing Education program..yep I am going to teach nursing students to touch the patient, rather than the automatic cuff button.
I am proud to be a nurse (an honest profession with job security and opportunities extraordinaire),

Icare4u:

After caring for patients yourself teaching the nurses of the future has to be the most important job you can do.

Welcome aboard Icare4u great to see you at nursing voices, and look forward to hearing more from you.

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Julie
http://www.lifeinthenhs.wordpress.com

I still do. It is part of our training, that we are able to calculate drip rates. A couple of times I couldn't be bothered getting an Imed pump and just set the fluid up dripping away.

If it wasn't broken it wouldn't have been fixed. Our program has two days of theory then three days of nursing shifts (full 8.5h shifts where we work for free). It has worked well, and the nurses who have worked with us can really see the difference between the universities.

hmmmm how do they get the cuff on the patient in the first place. ***NEW*** Spray on BP Cuff - for all those nurses who don't want to touch the pts. Also available PatientBeeClean- a Bee shaped sponge on the end of a high pressure shower, wash your patients without touching them!***

I get the feeling that you have had a few experiences with difficult students. We still get taught basic care, and we still have to do our measurements manually at the start. Just try not to generalize students into people who don't have basic nursing skills, are not willing to have patient involvement and take the easy way out. 'Mmmmm Nursing Student'

Welcome aboard.

Hey! A colleague who remembers "back in the day"! I graduated in 1978. Calcium-channel blockers were barely invented and nifedipine was experimental!

I desperately wanted to do a diploma program (a la Cherry Ames), but wound up getting an ADN. Could have used four times the clinical time that I had!

I'm going to become an instructor, also - working on my BSN now through the University of Wisconsin and then onto my Masters here in CA or OR. Goal is PhD by the time I am 60.

Lord knows, instructors are desperately needed. It's the best think we can do for the nursing shortage, and our generation has a great advantage as we remember "pre" technology and are fluent in the current technology!

And I've never eaten a nursing student for lunch - I remember what is was like and I encourage them like hell!!!!

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The ER is the only place where you are rewarded for efficiency by getting more patients!

Kim
http://www.emergiblog.com

Hi there, it's always nice to meet another old-timer. I've also been a nurse 30 plus years, and I understand aching feet. You have gained so much wisdom and knowledge over the years, and it's really important to pass it on to the new nurses coming up the ranks. Nurses who enjoy working at the bedside are natural born teachers.

MJ