How do you guys feel about shadowing?

[FutureNurseKaturah]

So I emailed a hospital with all 3 level NICUs located about 45 mins from me in Greenville, SC called Greenville Hospital System in the Bryan Neonatal Intensive Care unit (if anyone has or is working there), about shadowing at there NICU, and possibly PICU and Oncology Peds as something to do over the summer and to see if nursing is truly for me :)

Well anyways I was wondering how you guys felt about students (Junior/High School) shadowing you? Would you see it as a teaching experience or a nuisance? I always feel like sometimes I'm getting in the way by shadowing

Thanks in advance!

- Katurah

[BigButtNurse]

Good luck to you with your shadowing experiences. Hopefully your experience will be more memorable than mine were. When I would attend clinicals, there were always some nurses who were just mean for no reason. Yes I understand that people have personal lives & they are entitled to be in "foul moods", but ALL OF THE TIME? By shadowing the nurse, we would not be in anyone's way, but it seemed like we students were always annoying the nurses. Don't get me wrong, I did have nurses who would ask our instructor if we could tag along with them. I was skeptical at 1st because I though the nurse just wanted a gopher or some free labor. That, however, was not the case. The nurses would show us all kind of things and encouraged us to ask questions, which made us feel less intimidated. Hopefully the good will overshadow the bad.

[FutureNurseKaturah]

futurenursekaturah -- are you a nursing student? a high school student? i'm not so concerned with nursing students in nursing school. i am more concerned with those under 18 years old, those with no ethical codes that ground their work, nor licenses.

i'd be curious -- did the forms specify what activities go along with hipaa and which don't? and i question the use of those under 18 years old signing such a form. \

any thoughts from those with these kinds of programs in place?

i am a high school student. i myself and my mother as well as my guidance counselor signed the form. here is a pdf of the form if you are interested. hipaa is mentioned on the 2nd page:

http://www.palmettohealth.org/documents/education/2011%20job%20shadowing%20observation%20packet.pdf

[FutureNurseKaturah]

Good luck to you with your shadowing experiences. Hopefully your experience will be more memorable than mine were. When I would attend clinicals, there were always some nurses who were just mean for no reason. Yes I understand that people have personal lives & they are entitled to be in "foul moods", but ALL OF THE TIME? By shadowing the nurse, we would not be in anyone's way, but it seemed like we students were always annoying the nurses. Don't get me wrong, I did have nurses who would ask our instructor if we could tag along with them. I was skeptical at 1st because I though the nurse just wanted a gopher or some free labor. That, however, was not the case. The nurses would show us all kind of things and encouraged us to ask questions, which made us feel less intimidated. Hopefully the good will overshadow the bad.

Thank you very much! :)