-for the first 4 months after I graduate I will be so concerned with doing things right and making people like me that I won't be able to sleep, I will lose all my friends and any semblance of normal social life and all the experienced nurses will view me as an indecisive suck-up.
-eventually this self-doubt will get tiring and I will begin to pretend I get it, at which point the experienced nurses will start calling me cocky.
-I will have 2 serious crises of confidence: one at 4 months out and one at 8. Each of these will be above and beyond an overall feeling that I will never be a good nurse, that I made the wrong career choice and that everyone is judging me (which they will be).
-I will kill someone, either by a med error, oversight or overwork driven neglect. Apparantely everyone does.
-Everything I have learned up to this point is useless, as the real world is not a textbook.
I'm stoked.
You know what? Rant time. Why do profs do this? It's not just nursing, and it's not just journalism. I've heard the same thing from people in tons of other disciplines. Why do professors seem to think that telling their bright eyed and enthusiastic students that their chosen profession is horrible, the future is bleak, and they're stupid for picking it? Being realistic is one thing. But I don't think most students are dumb (although your blog is making me re-evaluate that thought when it comes to nurses...). Most students, I think, go into university programs knowing what they're getting into, and having already decided that they're passionate enough about it to pursue it despite ruthless competition, low pay, or in your case the prospect of accidental murder. If they change their mind, they'll drop out. They don't need professors rubbing it in their face.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of nursing, when you can't really have enough nurses, it's downright socially irresponsible for your profs to use these scare tactics. In the case of journalism, music, philosophy, international development, and a million other majors where there's too many students who want to do it and not enough jobs for them, programs should limit enrollment. It's also socially irresponsible and cruel to let thousands of students into a program, take their tuition money, then essentially laugh at their stupidity by telling them their degree is useless.
Argh. Argh. Bleah.