5 Things Nursing School Should’ve Told Us Before We Graduated
I’m not even 6 months post-grad and I’m already salty. After graduation my friends have told me a huge “what now?” feeling sets in, regardless of if there is a job secured or not. So, hopefully this article takes my mistakes and turns it into value for others.
1. Nursing school doesn’t prepare you for the post-NCLEX career.
I never thought about nursing school in this way.
During my current orientation into my dream unit a few days ago, our orientation mentor said, “Nursing school only prepares you for the NCLEX, but our orientation prepares you for the rest of your career.”
Regardless of unit promotion, it had never occurred to me until now that nursing school was always set up as a structured learning tool for NCLEX-passing skills.
2. Networking into positions exists in healthcare too.
Yeah, this one shocked me coming out of school.
Having been a traditional BSN student, it’s kind of a disadvantage that may be something that results into many new nurses going into units they never had any initial interest in, like heme/onc going into tele.
Talking with many experienced nurses or prior healthcare workers like CNAs or LPNs that go into nursing has made me realize that networking is key to getting the unit or dream hospital you may want.
Jessica Norton, BSN, states that she networked like hell in order to land a nurse residency at the emergency department of St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, Oregon.
Other methods that have worked are becoming a Patient Care Tech (PCT) during nursing school at the unit that you want to work in post-grad. This is a tried and true method that has secured the dream jobs of many who were in my class.
3. Nursing associations are not unions
Nursing associations are organizations are consisted of members that dedicate their time to making sure the nursing profession is continuously evolving. Nurse unions protects and advocates for nurses, using collective action to make demands on members’ behalf (although not by unanimous decision).
These are not the same thing, and that’s okay.
In the experience of people I’ve sat down with, nursing associations present more benefit in terms of being able to serve as a nursing networking tool post-grad.
However, this isn’t something that nursing school goes into detail with, so there isn’t really any incentive verbalized in any nursing class that would make you want to join — except for Sigma (the only International Honors Society for Nurses), of course.
It’s important to check in before checking out. Meaning, see what passions within nursing you might have before checking out all of the associations and getting lost in the hole.
There are loads of associations, but if you only are really passionate about mental health, that narrows your association interest down to American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) and a few others.
It’s nice to talk about things you care about with others who care, and who knows? You could even make a potential difference just by presenting your perspective. Keep in mind, however, there is always member dues.
4. It’s common to look for spouse material at work
I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but it’s pretty much an unspoken rule at this point. I’ve lost count of how many people I know who are healthcare couples. Know that if you find someone that you might be interested in, it’s okay for things to happen, just not at work because that would be awkward for everyone.
5. You can make friends at work
No one tells you this in nursing school! Unlike other strokes of careers like corporate, business, journalism, etc., it’s completely okay to make friends at work. Nursing is a team sport and it’s important to be friendly to everyone so that there isn’t any alienation during the 12-hour day that makes you feel like you’re dealing with patients alone on an island.
Especially if you begin to interim charge at times and get asked to be charge nurse for a shift due to outside circumstances after 9 months of being on the job, you will have people in your corner that you can depend on helping you navigate the new leadership role!
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