Nurses Eating Nursing Students

Nurses Relations

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It was our first day stepping foot on the floor.

We were lost.

We were scared.

We've all been there. If you haven't yet, you will. Some of us were sweating. Some of us were shaking. Some of us were quiet. The one thing that we did have in common is that we were all scared. Here we are, stepping on a floor, full of patients that we needed to take care of but we knew NOTHING. "Go find your nurse" is what our instructor told us. Slowly, we strolled to the different pods and introduced ourselves.

As I approached the nurse that I was to shadow the entire day, I became increasingly relaxed. She was an older nurse that looked mothering and I believed that I was going to learn a lot that day. "Ms. Martha? Hi. I'm Charlotte. I'll be your student nurse today" I widened my eyes and mustered the best smile possible, considering it is 6:30am. I was greeted with a blank stare, followed with an up and down glance that could make a dead man's veins run cold. She finally said, "Hmmmm. I already have a student nurse that is in her last semester. I need to focus on her and help her graduate. Where's your clinical instructor? Can you just be with her? If you have questions, you can ask. I just need to focus on my other student."

Let's fast forward this day. My patient went to dialysis, meaning I will not have anything to do for 4-6 hours of my 10 hour day. Because my patient was gone, I volunteered my services for her other patients. I volunteered to empty foley bags, change bedsheets or whatever other tasks or errands that needed to be done. I asked questions. After the attempts of basically begging her to let me help her were denied, I even asked if I could just watch her and shadow her without even being acknowledged. (Mind you this was my first day. I know I sounded like a sad puppy but I had no idea of what else to do). Unsurprisingly, she shot those requests down as well. This is only a small insight to how my first day went.

This is living proof that the advice that some nurses give about why nurses eat their young and all of things to do to avoid it is all FALSE!! "Make yourself available". Did that. "Ask questions and act interested". Did that. "Make sure to not come off as a know it all". Did that. "Sometimes, nurses are very busy and teaching a student will disrupt them blah blah blah!"

If you are a nurse and do not want a nursing student, JUST SAY IT! It is very unfortunate that there are some nurses out there that do not want to teach. The cornerstone of nursing is teaching. You must teach the family and patient constantly during their visit. Also, "each one, teach one" should be taken to heart. Think about when you first became a nurse. You were frightened and scared.

Fellow nursing comrades, if this has happened to you or if this ever happens to in the future, take it with stride. It is difficult to work with and hard to not take it personally. Just remember that day and vow to never EVER treat someone that is willing to learn and help with disgrace.

I completely understand what the OP is saying and I agree- that nurse should not have been teaching student nurses. I have taught and oriented and mentored from my first hospital job. Yes- the brand new nurse had nursing students because the experienced nurses rebuffed them and wouldn't accept them. It was ********. And all of these critical comments sound just like what I experienced from my coworkers- excuses. That nurse had 3 patients. 3. THREE. She was not too busy. She was too lazy, disinterested, whatever. Nurses DO eat their young. Accept that and move on. Yes, this article was about HER NEEDS- she was the STUDENT. Writing about HER PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES. That kind of is expected if she is writing about what she personally experienced. How was she able to know what the preceding nurse thought? All she experienced was her actions. As such I don't see how all of these experienced psychic nurses know her account is unreliable. As a preceptor I have never been forced to take a student. I was asked. I knew I would have students. This was not a surprise. She just did not want to be bothered.

I completely understand what the OP is saying and I agree- that nurse should not have been teaching student nurses. I have taught and oriented and mentored from my first hospital job. Yes- the brand new nurse had nursing students because the experienced nurses rebuffed them and wouldn't accept them. It was ********. And all of these critical comments sound just like what I experienced from my coworkers- excuses. That nurse had 3 patients. 3. THREE. She was not too busy. She was too lazy, disinterested, whatever. Nurses DO eat their young. Accept that and move on. Yes, this article was about HER NEEDS- she was the STUDENT. Writing about HER PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES. That kind of As a preceptor I have never been forced to take a student. I was asked. I knew I would have students. This was not a surprise. She just did not want to be bothered.

You just joined and this is your first post? OP in disguise?

You just joined and this is your first post? OP in disguise?

I knew I'd get this. And yet you all say the OP is wrong about nurses eating their young.

Not the OP. I'm in Texas. I've been a floor nurse, a hospice nurse, a case manager and a DON. I've written a blog about my hospice nurses for 10 years. And all I have to say about most of the replies here is that the lot of you have forgotten professional integrity. If you accept an assignment, you accept it as a professional. You do the job professionally. Politely. If she could not handle 2 students she should have said so.

So get over it and realize that some nurses should not teach. Period. She accepted both students and failed at the assignment, period.

EXCUSE ME??!!! "If you have a BSN"? What does being a BSN have to do with being a professional or with understanding your job, teaching 'requirements' or not? I am really offended by this statement. I am an ADN of almost 14 years who has worked in hospitals, long term and LTAC, agency, and home health/private duty. I have taught and precepted in every area throughout my career. In fact, as floor supervisor then Assistant Director of Nursing at a LTC facility for almost 3 years, I precepted (and taught, if you can believe it) almost every new nurse that crossed the threshold. Many, if not most, were new grads. I loved it and was happy to do it. Imagine that, a mere ADN with years of experience teaching LPNs, ADNs, and BSNs.

I think that YOU need to educate yourself. The wide world of nursing includes many levels of education, and your obvious disdain is disgusting and offensive (and impolite). If this is the attitude you exhibit toward your colleagues, I can understand why they have the attitude toward you they do. It brings a bad name to all nurses.

(Sorry folks, I was REALLY offended by this post)

I understand your feeling offended. I have a BSN, but on my first hospital job I was allowed to choose my preceptor. I chose the one who had the most experience and was willing to explain things to me. My boss's first words: "you do realize she is an LVN?" Yes I did- but she was the best choice in my eyes, and I never regretted it. The quality or professionalism of a nurse is not determined by the initials after the name on the badge- I've had LVNs and ADRNs that I would trust with my life, and BSNs that I wouldn't let care for a healthy pet. A good nurse is a good nurse, period.

I knew I'd get this. And yet you all say the OP is wrong about nurses eating their young.

Not the OP. I'm in Texas. I've been a floor nurse, a hospice nurse, a case manager and a DON. I've written a blog about my hospice nurses for 10 years. And all I have to say about most of the replies here is that the lot of you have forgotten professional integrity. If you accept an assignment, you accept it as a professional. You do the job professionally. Politely. If she could not handle 2 students she should have said so.

So get over it and realize that some nurses should not teach. Period. She accepted both students and failed at the assignment, period.

She did.

She did.

So why are you attacking the OP when her preceptor failed at her assignment?

Specializes in Hospice.
She did.

Sniped by NurseLauraM!

Specializes in Hospice.
So why are you attacking the OP when her preceptor failed at her assignment?

Because, like you, the OP seemed to feel that the nurse was not allowed to set limits on the demands made on her time and energy. She had a choice: do a lousy job with two students or do a decent job with one.

So why are you attacking the OP when her preceptor failed at her assignment?

The nurse wasn't her preceptor. If anyone failed his or her assignment it was the clinical instructor, who is the only one who actually agreed to educate the student. The nurse had no duty to the student. She did not "accept two students" as you say. You may believe she had some sort of moral duty, but she had no contractual obligation.

You asked why the nurse didn't tell the student no. She did, which was well within her right, but the student kept asking. I understand this is a long thread but you might want to read through the entire thing because this should be obvious to you if you've read it.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I completely understand what the OP is saying and I agree- that nurse should not have been teaching student nurses. I have taught and oriented and mentored from my first hospital job. Yes- the brand new nurse had nursing students because the experienced nurses rebuffed them and wouldn't accept them. It was ********. And all of these critical comments sound just like what I experienced from my coworkers- excuses. That nurse had 3 patients. 3. THREE. She was not too busy. She was too lazy, disinterested, whatever. Nurses DO eat their young. Accept that and move on. Yes, this article was about HER NEEDS- she was the STUDENT. Writing about HER PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES. That kind of is expected if she is writing about what she personally experienced. How was she able to know what the preceding nurse thought? All she experienced was her actions. As such I don't see how all of these experienced psychic nurses know her account is unreliable. As a preceptor I have never been forced to take a student. I was asked. I knew I would have students. This was not a surprise. She just did not want to be bothered.

While I would not DREAM of questioning your reading comprehension, I do doubt that you've read the entire thread. I'm also questioning the clarity of your writing -- this post comes across more as an angry student than as an experienced nurse.

Which nurse should not be teaching students? The clinical instructor who did not make sure that her assignments weren't stepping on previously-made assignments? Or the experienced RN already mentoring a senior student?

Which lazy nurse had only three patients and therefore was not too busy to mentor another student? The one that was already mentoring the senior student with an assignment that one assumes was made with the senior student in mind? That nurse wasn't "disinterested." She was protecting the interests of the senior student she had already agreed to precept. The "Cisabel Come Lately" needed to go back to her instructor and get a different assignment.

Nurses don't eat their young. That's a fallacy perpetuated from some highly educated nurse speakers and writers, and has no doubt made them lots of money while convincing a generation of borderline nurses and students that their failures aren't their own, but instead they failed because a bunch of mean old "biter" nurses are setting them up to fail, bullying them or persecuting them in some other way. Most of what we see on this forum attributed to bullying or NETY is nothing of the sort -- including the original post. I'd venture an educated guess that the posters most convinced that NETY exists are either grasping at straws to avoid admitting that they aren't "getting it" or are themselves exhibiting some of the behaviors oft attributed to bullies.

While you may find a bully here and there, nursing has no more bullies than the general population. Nurses don't eat their young. Accept that and move on.

While I accept your premise that the original poster had no idea what the experienced nurse in her situation was thinking, the poster stated baldly, several times, that she didn't care about that nurse. She didn't care about the senior nursing student who would have been shortchanged or the patients. Writing from your own perspective is common; baldly stating that you do not care about the perspective of others is not. One would expect that someone who aspires to be a nurse would, in fact, care about others. One who does not is a poor candidate to be a nurse. As far as the "psychic experienced nurses who knew what the nurse thought" -- we don't know for sure what she thought. We only know what Cisabel said the nurse stated. When she stated that she was unable to precept Cisabel that day because she was already precepting a senior nursing student, it seems reasonable to conclude that she was thinking that she was unable to precept Cisabel that day because she was already precepting a senior nursing student. Very few people -- yourself and Cisabel among them -- had any difficulty understanding that. When Cisabel came BACK to the unit on her subsequent clinical rotation, it seems clear that the senior nurse would be thinking "This student is trouble -- I'm steering clear of her!" Although perhaps I'm projecting.

If you in fact are a senior nurse who has precepted in the past, I'm glad for you that you WERE asked if you would like to take students. I assure you that is not always the case. And clearly, some clinical instructors who are making assignments don't always ascertain that the nurse they are assigning to their students is actually free to work with their students.

Are we allowed, by TOS to say "sock puppet"?

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I knew I'd get this. And yet you all say the OP is wrong about nurses eating their young.

Not the OP. I'm in Texas. I've been a floor nurse, a hospice nurse, a case manager and a DON. I've written a blog about my hospice nurses for 10 years. And all I have to say about most of the replies here is that the lot of you have forgotten professional integrity. If you accept an assignment, you accept it as a professional. You do the job professionally. Politely. If she could not handle 2 students she should have said so.

So get over it and realize that some nurses should not teach. Period. She accepted both students and failed at the assignment, period.

The nurse in the OP SAID no. Cisabel refused to accept "no" as an answer, harbored a grudge for two years, and then went online to bash that nurse.

No one here has forgotten professional integrity. Nor has the nurse in the original post. But I wonder about yours -- you seem particularly fired up about this outrageous scenerio. One could argue that professional integrity would exclude harboring a grudge for two years and then going online to publicly excoriate a nurse. (WHy now? Perhaps because she just found out that the senior nurse is on AN and Cisobel wanted to passive-aggressively give her "a piece of her mind"?

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
So why are you attacking the OP when her preceptor failed at her assignment?

The "preceptor" refused to accept the assignment of precepting. She didn't fail in her assignment. She defended the time her senior student would need -- the assignment that she DID accept.

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