But then, shall I never get any older than I am now? That'll be a comfort, one way -- never to be an old woman -- but then -- always to have lessons to learn!

Well, after two semesters of co-requisites, standardized testing, and essay writing, I finally got into the nursing program.  The fact that I got in is not the point of this blog, however.  The point of today's blog is how silly some parts of the learning process are.

For instance, I just read one chapter and am in the middle of another on patient assessment and critical thinking.  Now, you might think these are excellent skills for a future nurse to have, and I assure you they are.  However, the book lists off all these wonderful things you should keep in mind and ties the paragraph up with this: "Practical experience and the opportunity to make clinical decisions strengthen your critical thinking" (Perry & Potter, 2009).
Now, if this had been the only mention of the importance of practical experience, that would be fine.  But it seems to me that every couple of paragraphs they say something along the lines of "This is what you're going to do, but you won't be very good until you have experience under your belt."  I understand that completely: the longer you're a nurse, the better you'll be at assessment.  Is that honestly the best you can do though?  Give us lists of common symptoms, red flags, or something!!  Honestly, telling you how to do something which you don't yet have the knowledge to do?  I understand the reasoning behind it, but it is most frustrating.

With that said, I'm off to continue reading the Fundamentals of Nursing.  To be honest, I almost enjoy reading this.  Bizarre really, but true.  Ciao!