Losing respect for nursing students

Nurses General Nursing

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I've always been one that enjoyed having students. Im not one to eat the young. We were all there once. But I feel like I'm losing respect for some of the new students coming out. I guess I'm old school but we did not sit when we were students and we did not stand at the desk and gossip. You did not see a nurse or a doctor standing and a student sitting. Uniforms that look disastrous and hair hanging down. They are at times loud and unruly. Is the respect for our profession gone? Or is it just me?

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
That seems pointless to compare opposing cultures. That's l saying, "You ought to handle up on those aggressive patients because if you were a police officer you'd tase them."

Exactly.

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That seems pointless to compare opposing cultures. That's l saying, "You ought to handle up on those aggressive patients because if you were a police officer you'd tase them."

I'm not sure why you think that those cultures are "opposing". Perhaps it's lack of exposure, but I see this misconception a lot.

They're simply different, but military medicine and civilian medicine work toward the same goals. And the police officer example? Really? Just because we're military doesn't mean our first instinct is to shoot, especially in medicine. But please, feel free to further my initial point.

Because they're different, they make a nice contrast.

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After reading this entire thread, I'm more convinced than ever that the diploma mills are majorly on the hook for this situation.

When I was in nursing school 15 years ago, an instructor with an advanced degree earned less than a floor nurse. I don't know if that has changed, but I doubt it. In fact, I suspect that nursing instructor salaries may currently be even lower, relatively speaking. I also suspect that many quality would-be instructors have bailed on the teaching aspect of nursing due to the outrageous costs of education, coupled with poor salary potential. Who do you think the for-profit schools are hiring to teach their students? An experienced doctorate-prepared instructor with 20 years of nursing experience? Or a newly-minted MSN who comes cheap but literally has no nursing experience except for clinicals?

It hasn't changed, the ratio is worse, and I, who adored teaching students, got great reviews even when they told me I was the toughest instructor they ever had, and hated to stop, wouldn't be able to do it now. Around here the last time I got called by a school to beg me to be an instructor I said "Sure, I'd like to do that again, what's the salary?" They quoted me a number that was less than half what I was earning, and said that that's all the budget the school gave them. I swear the department head was almost in tears when we hung up. My husband was retired, I just couldn't afford to do it.

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I'm not sure why you think that those cultures are "opposing". Perhaps it's lack of exposure, but I see this misconception a lot.

They're simply different, but military medicine and civilian medicine work toward the same goals. And the police officer example? Really? Just because we're military doesn't mean our first instinct is to shoot, especially in medicine. But please, feel free to further my initial point.

Because they're different, they make a nice contrast.

I understand my contrast and have been in a contrasting environment. I wasn't always a RN, lol. I've worn the uniform.

However, when saying "doh those kids who sit around at the desk couldn't handle AIT..." Yeah, that's because they're kids sitting at a desk in a hospital and not members of a volunteer army who completed basic and went to AIT. The contrast is a contrast but does nothing for the direction of the discussion.

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Do tell me how standing for 12 hours because we are students teaches us anything other than tired disrespect for the nurses who are sitting around chatting. One of my nurses only went into the room twice in a 12 hour shift even though they were sending nurses home due to discharges...there was clearly not enough to do. Lets see, can't take a chart, have to stand to read it while writing our care plan then we get to wipe a butt. Maybe some reflection on your part should be due. I am a 2nd career nursing student, midway through my 3rd quarter of clinicals and just last week I got to remove an IV. some education for 5 grand a quarter... I do take it very seriously, but I can tell you that some of this behavior is generational and some is clearly reflected by those in the nurses station.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

There will always be people in every work environment who don't carry the load.

You're there to learn, so whether or not another nurses behaviour seems unprofessional is irrelevant. There are many positive role models which a student can seek out for guidance. And some of the nurses you notice chatting at the nursing station may not have had their break.

At the end of it all, it's YOUR practise and your license. That's the key. How will you decide to practise?

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No. It is not you. I felt that our school did not screen properly. There were people in the program who really should not have been. The instructors did not discipline anyone. People did not show up with the correct uniform or on time. Some said they picked what they wanted to do on clinicals. The tattoos were out of hand. They said it was okay as long as they didn't show. People went and got more over the break that were on their necks and hands. It is a sign of the times.

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You're right. I agree with you, but like you said, it is after a 12-hour shift. You are not showing up that way.

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I became an LPN in 2004, and am now going to go back for my RN. When I was in school, I was a CNA in the hospital we did clinicals in, many days I'd have clinicals, & then work, sometimes on the same floor. There were always some students who sat, didn't do their work, etc. I always tried to do my work, help the nurses, kept busy. It made the time go by, made the teachers happy, & I felt good, knowing I was doing something to help someone, even if it was changing a bed. I'm sure some students thought I was 'sucking up' when I was on the floor I worked on (I worked 2nd shift) because I knew the 1st shift nurses, but I kept busy on all the floors when I was there. I still run into some of the nurses I did clinicals with & they remember me....it's a good feeling, esp on the days when you feel like you've done nothing well, & want to bang your head on the wall.

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How can you compare apples to oranges? They're talking about people in nursing school not the military. If they wanted the environment you describe they'd have joined the military. If I 20 year old girl wanted to don SAPI plates and snuggle up with a rifle I'm sure she'd choose differently. The most distressing thing they'll do is wipe some butts.

Lol. I had some instructors who thought they were drill sergeants. Have worked with nurses like this too. I think some of these "kids today" people take a little too much pleasure in authority trips and feel slighted when it is seen as the sham that it is. Or disrespect isn't tolerated despite their age.

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

I think today's generation is a lot less disciplined compared older generations. When I was in school, we had students who didn't really want to do anything, would sit around, be lazy, etc.

But with that said, we have had some students (recently) who have been fabulous, like this one RN student we had, but she is already an LPN. I think 1st career vs. 2nd career students make a difference, too.

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There are the fabulous students too.

When my manager told me I would have a student for 10 weeks, I admit my heart sank a bit. But like an arranged marriage, you have to make it work. My student turned out to be bright, hardworking and easy to get along with. He was a former junior high school teacher with a goal to become a CRNA. That was many years ago, and I hear my former student is a successful CRNA.

My other student the next year became one of the youngest nurse of the year recipients in her departments a few years after graduation.

Students are fairly uncommon in my unit, and the nursing school has high standards.

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