Heard a 22-year-old say 'just Google it' to a junior and it hit me different

I was sitting in a break room at the hospital (night shift, quiet as usual) and overheard a newer nurse tell a student that career advice is pointless because you can just Google everything now. It made me think about how I started nursing 12 years ago with a paper map of the hospital and a mentor who showed me how to handle a difficult family. Google is great for facts, but it can't teach you the stuff that comes with experience, like knowing when to hold a patient's hand versus when to step back. What's something you picked up from a coworker that no search engine would ever tell you?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkerkim1mo ago

Man, that's a rough thing to hear. Google can tell you the symptoms of a heart attack, but it can't teach you how to calm down a scared patient's mom who's shaking in the waiting room. I learned more from watching a senior nurse just nod and listen to a family yelling at her than I ever did from any textbook or website. That kind of stuff is a gut feeling you only get by doing it, messing up, and having someone show you the ropes. It's like, you can read a million articles on patient communication, but the real lesson is in the silence and the eye contact. So yeah, hearing a 22 year old say that would hit me different too. It's a whole different kind of learning that you can't just look up.

shah.olivia1mo ago

But is it really fair to blame someone for trusting a tool that answers faster than any mentor?