Felines and infection
Thank you for "Cat Scratch Disease" (February 2013).* I've had cats for as long as I can remember and was aware of this disease but had never researched the cause. As a result of your article, I'm changing my interaction with cats. I'll also educate my young niece about prevention because she was diagnosed with cat scratch disease last year.
Diplomas, ADNs, BSNs, oh my!
Like the reader who recently argued that nursing education fails to prepare new nurses for the real world, I'm a diploma grad from the mid-1970s ("Hit the Floor Running," Letters, July 2013).* I agree that the type of hospital-based education we received eased our transition into practice; however, as a nurse educator, I must respond. True, the new grads today need long orientations, but the program where I teach incorporates 16 hours of clinical practice into each of our four nursing courses. Our students graduate with a diploma in nursing and an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN). Many schools today are forced to have students obtain their clinical experience at multiple sites, not just one hospital like we had.
Today's student is very different from students in the 1970s. Many are married with children, others are single parents, and so on. All of these factors impact study time. In addition, students must be taught about risk management, cultural diversity, and safety, as well as basic nursing care and prioritization. They must be able to practice critical reasoning and learn about different documentation requirements at each facility. These are just a few factors that influence their ability to "hit the floor running."
To prepare today's students as the next generation of nurses and maintain the integrity of the profession, I'd like to ask each nurse to take some time to teach students some of the things they need to know. Most are like sponges and very eager to learn.
Anyone who's graduated from a diploma program knows how to hit the floor running! My program had me doing clinicals within 3 weeks of the first semester. By the time I graduated, students in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program were just starting clinicals!
The ADN approach is so much more hands-on with real world clinical experiences. I hit the floor running with far more patient experience than my 4-year colleagues with the same license. The students with BSNs who graduated after me can't get acute care jobs because they were writing theory papers while new grads with ADNs were getting hired.
-JULIE BRUCE, BSN, RN, RDCD
Tupelo, Miss.
-LINDA NAPIERALSKI, MSN, RN, CNE
Voorhees, N.J.
-JANE RIVERS, RN
* Individual subscribers can access articles free online at http://www.nursing2013.com. [Context Link]