It’s the age-old debate….experience over education, education over experience.  Which one is better?  When do they both become equally valuable or do they?  Countless times, I’ve heard nurses say they’d rather have an experienced licensed practical nurse (LPN) care for them than a bachelor degree-holding nurse (BSN) with a year of experience or less under the belt.  In some ways, I agree.  So, if that’s the case, when does education become just as valuable as experience?  Does it even matter?

It’s almost like we nurses look at one other through critical eyes, weighing each other in the balance before we decide to trust.  Let’s face it…when you work closely with other people in a stressful environment, you want to be surrounded by people you can trust. We feel we have to conduct our own personal interview of sorts when we encounter a new co-worker to find out on what basis we will trust them.  [Read more...]