the recently graduated nurse ........
Did you ever wonder about the nurse's knowledge who is providing your care? Well, if not, you probably should.
Even though a nurse is a nurse (collectively either a RN or LVN/LPN) does not mean they have the same ability to provide your care.
Certainly it is okay to ask, and, you have that right, as a patient, to ask what experience the nurse has that is providing your care. You also have a right to ask for another nurse if you desire.
Nurses that have recently graduated from school are usually in some type of internship or preceptorship program. Hospitals want newly graduated nurses to be trained and be able to provide quality care.
Recently, I observed a new graduate providing care for a patient. She reviewed (in her medication reference book) all the medications prior to administering them to the patient. Before a nurse gives any medication to a patient, there should be a complete understanding of the reason the medication is given, the interactions with other medications the patient is taking, the side effects of the medication and the usual dosages given.
A good nurse is one who when the patient says, 'that does not look like my pill' or 'I never took that medication' or 'why am I taking that medication, it is a new pill'..................she/he returns to the physician's orders and rechecks what the doctor wrote. Informed patients know their medications and when their doctors visit them in the hospital, before they leave the patient room, the patient says, 'what have your ordered for me (medications and treatments.) This is part of being informed. It all starts with the doctor and asking 'what are you ordering for me?' 'what tests, medications, treatments?'. Be an informed consumer.
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