Students

[irishnurse67]

I'd like to know why students hide in the break room or hide at the nurse's station while call lights are going off and the RNs are running around like chickens w/their heads cut off. They'll even sit right next to a ringing phone while you're in the middle of doing something important. I never did this as a student. And why do they get to the hospital the same time as I do and want report from me instead of listening to it w/the rest of us?

[Gauge]

I know as students we aren't allowed to answer the phone at all. This is just my first semester so that could change, but we were never instructed to answer call lights either. We were given our patients and said have at it basically. There are a ton of beeps and dings and everything else all over the place but none of us had any idea what to do about them. Hopefully it will be a little better next semester in the hospital.

[marilynmom, LPN, NP]

I'd like to know why students hide in the break room or hide at the nurse's station while call lights are going off and the RNs are running around like chickens w/their heads cut off. They'll even sit right next to a ringing phone while you're in the middle of doing something important. I never did this as a student. And why do they get to the hospital the same time as I do and want report from me instead of listening to it w/the rest of us?

There are always some lazy students in every major so that is just that. Most of the nursing students I know are NOT lazy, but most don't always know what to do. I actually don't know any student in my program who is lazy, some may be scared and intimidated though.

Sorry but I'm not going to answer phones while in clinical. I don't work there and it's not the reason I am there let alone I have no idea how things work in every unit....because sometimes I am on a different unit every day! I'm there to learn nursing skills and time management and the drugs I am giving, the disease process of the patient or two that I am assigned to, read the chart and know exactly what is going on with that patient, etc.

If another RN asks me for help I will try to help but I have to focus on why I am there and sometimes I have to say no....like the one time I was assigned to this certain patient and the RN that I was with had two different patients. Well I tried to be nice and helpful and ended up helping the RN turn and feed and toilet the other patient all day (because she did need help), and never even got to my assigned patient! When we had post conference I got reamed for knowing nothing at all or going through the chart or doing assessments, etc on the patient that I was supposed to have. My CI had to let me know it's ok to say no to the RN.

Students are not there to help everyone out. Your management needs to hire more people to work there if you need that.

If a student wants to sit behind the nursing station or goof off all day then let him/her because the only person they are hurting is themselves in the end!

[jackson145]

It took me, like, 2 wks to figure out the phone system when I started at my hospital and that was with someone showing how all the different buttons worked. Can't imagine just answering a call and knowing how to transfer it and what extension to send it to or how to put on hold without disconnecting.

[Cosper123]

I can only hope at least one of the people who responded harshly on the first page will come back and acknowledge the very good points raised by the students.

I tried to answer the phone in the second semester when the nurses station was empty one day and was yelled at...by the manager on the other end, the unit secretary, and my clinical instructor.

I have also been told often that I am not to answer the call light of a patient that I am not assigned to or one of my peers is not assigned to. Regardless of how helpful I may like to be or how educational it would be to work on my approach with a patient I haven't researched or received report on before approaching.

So to automatically assume it is laziness is only further insult.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

We are specifically instructed not to have patient contact with any patient other than those assigned to us. It is a liability issue. Neither the nursing program nor the hospital wants us just jumping in and answering call lights and phones.

I know how to answer call lights; I worked as a CNA and now I work as an LPN on the very unit where my clinicals are this term. I also know how to answer the phones and enter orders into the computer, as I also worked as a ward clerk on my unit. However, when I am there as a student, I am there to learn, and I am under restrictions as to what I can and cannot do. There are things I do as an LPN all the time that I cannot do as a student, such as remove meds or saline flushes from the pyxis, call doctors, etc. I am not lazy. It's just a different focus.

And I don't hide. I do anything but.

[al7139, ASN, RN]

To the original poster:

I have to wonder if you and the other nurses on your unit were aware ahead of time that you would have students on your unit, and were given information on what they were allowed to do based on where they were in their education. Also I wonder if your unit management established "do's and dont's" for the students and informed the staff of those parameters.

When I think back on my days as a student, we were given very clear, concise guidelines as to what we were allowed to do, and what was not allowed. As students the first semester, we were terrified, and scared of any patient contact, so I can see how our hesitation/nervousness would be percieved by some as "lazy", however, what we really needed was a little encouragement and guidance. As we progressed, and got near to graduation, our confidence built, and we were able to do some things on our own.

I always made sure as a student to let the nurse I was with know what I could and could not do.

One thing we were never allowed to do at any time was answer the phones, since we did not know the system.

We were shown how to use the call system, but sometimes still needed help with it.

As a final year student, and much more confident in my skills, I was able to be more of a help than a burden to the nurses I worked with.

Think back to your first semester of nursing school, I am willing to bet you were the same way.

I dislike your generalization that all students are like you described. Yes, there are a few "bad apples" in every bunch, but for the most part, the students are eager to do what is needed for the patients, and help in any way they can.

Amy

[OnTheRoad]

Uhh. . .because they are lazy and selfish and don't care about teamwork and helping the others around them?

I resolved this problem years ago. I finally decided that I would just ignore these kinds of idiots. If that's the way they want to live their life, let them. I do what I feel is the right thing. If I run around all shift answering lights and going out of my way to do things for others and never get a potty break, I'm OK with it because I give myself permission to do it. I went home at the end of every shift feeling pretty good about things.

If you let these people get to you, it will ruin your work day. Just let them live their little lives as they want just as we live ours as we want. Then, everyone is happy. You can't make anyone do anything they don't want to do unless you are the boss. And, even then, there is only so much pushing you can do.

Seriously daytonite? I have always respected you so much and all you have to say in this forum. Please tell me you are being sarcastic? If not I have just lost a whole lot of respect for you.

Student nurses do not answer call lights and the phones on the unit because they are lazy and selfish and don't care about teamwork and helping those around them? Idiots? Really?:trout:

I am a nursing student and I also run around all of MY shift helping anyone I possibly can wether it is my assigned nurse or another nurse who needs help, I will pass trays, pick up trays, take vitals on anyone I am asked to, fetch a cup of water, get someone on the potty etc... whatever is needed and I pee when I get home. I am not allowed to answer phones. Unless asked to by a staff member I am not allowed to answer call lights, unless it is my patient.

I guess I will live my little life the way I want and the way I am told to and I will be happy about it because I helped my patients and the nurses I work with appreciate what I do and have always been happy to have my small bit of help.:balloons:

[catzy5]

It took me, like, 2 wks to figure out the phone system when I started at my hospital and that was with someone showing how all the different buttons worked. Can't imagine just answering a call and knowing how to transfer it and what extension to send it to or how to put on hold without disconnecting.

I worked as a unit clerk in the ICU for several years, our nurses were not allowed to answer the phone, unless it was directly for them. They didn't know how to use the phone system, they were busy with patients and couldn't be stuck transfering calls etc...Maybe it was just the ICU but I never saw a nurse once answer the phone.

[catzy5]

[

And I don't hide. I do anything but.

I haven't started my clinicals yet, and I am sure there are probably a few students who aren't serious, however, I just can't imagine it. We all had to work so very hard to even get a spot in the program, I am more worried about all the TYPE A people I will be up against, I can picture us all fighting over doing the work and not trying to get out of doing work.

[KungFuFtr]

I'd like to know why students hide in the break room or hide at the nurse's station while call lights are going off and the RNs are running around like chickens w/their heads cut off.

I have a feeling they aren't hiding from the patients...:sofahider

[WDWpixieRN, RN]

I speak only for me and my clinical classmates..we are FORBIDDEN from having any patient contact with any patients other than those assigned to us and our fellow classmates unless our CI says its ok.

I do not answer phones, I don't know the workings of the phone system, paging system etc of the facilities I am at. Never been shown and its never been expected of us to do it.

I don't hide in the break room. I am on the floor at all times and can easily be found with my patient or in an area that has been designated by our CI to look through the chart and get the info needed for our paperwork that gets graded. I am always more than willing to pitch in to help the nurses or CNA's out as long as my CI is ok with me doing the things that are needed to do.

I do not answer call lights from the nurses station, again for the reason stated above, I don't know HOW to use their system.

We are there under the direction of our clinical instructor, not the floor nurse. We cannot do anything anybody says (including the DON) unless its approved by our CI. Its her/his license on the line if we screw up, and our butts on the line too.

It could very well be that these students you are speaking of are also under the same restrictions that I am, and that most student nurses are. Thats not to say that there aren't some VERY lazy student nurses..just as there are some VERY lazy LPN's and RN's.

:yeahthat:

I'm also a bit offended by the sweeping statements of lazy students...I find clinicals very frustrating from a student viewpoint as to these restrictions...the WORST day of clinicals involves having NOTHING to do to fill the 4, 6, 8 hours of time I am required to be in a facility. I would RATHER help out than stand around doing nothing and being glared at.

We have been given dirty looks, heavy sighs, and outright rudeness due to the restrictions put on US by CIs or the facility we are working at. Perhaps some conversation needs to take place between staff and their employers and then the schools that are onsite to try to get some resolution.

My worst clinical rotation this semester took place @ a children's hospital where we weren't allowed to do ANYTHING but take vitals and maybe, maybe, bathe and change the bed of the child (one) who was assigned to us. Yet, we couldn't complete clinical paperwork, assist the techs or RNs or do anything with any pt other than the one who had been assigned for us. Talk about wanting to stick a fork in your eye due to the boredom.

[chemincal]

Seriously daytonite? I have always respected you so much and all you have to say in this forum. Please tell me you are being sarcastic? If not I have just lost a whole lot of respect for you.

:

This is exactly what I was thinking. Daytonite you surprised me with this one. I just today, under the spring 08 starter thread, mentioned daytonite by name as one of the most helpful, resourceful posters. I was even wondering if you were a nursing instructor and thought you should be if you weren't already. A very surprising comment indeed by one who I thought supports students so much...I do appreciate most all your posts though!