Students who won't listen---what to do?

*truern* · Mar 28, 2009, 12:35 PM

Re: Students who won't listen---what to do?

Originally Posted by janhetherington

I have a student in MedSurg II who wll not prioritize. She has it planned in her mind what's important, mostly issues like ROM, feet elevation, etc. and will not pay attention to the clinical situation. For instance, if the drip bag is empty, she will not notice the beeping or respond to my request to put that before worrying about encouraging the patient to eat more fiber. Her nursing diagnoses center around risk for skin breakdown and pain instead of airway and arrhythmias. When I try to talk to her she acts hurt, then angry, and today complained about my annoying her in front of her patient! I cannot seem to reach her and I'm afraid that she will wind up flunking clinical. Any ideas?

I'm afraid that she WON'T and will continue to get passed thru until she's an employer's problem and a patient's worst nightmare.

She needs to be counseled and put on notice that she's in danger of failing if she doesn't get up to par. Acting hurt, and especially getting angry, shouldn't be tolerated in the clinical setting. And you suggesting that she change an IVF in front of her patient "annoys" her?!?

*HazeKomp* · Apr 03, 2009, 08:43 PM

Re: Students who won't listen---what to do?

Originally Posted by janhetherington

I have a student in MedSurg II who wll not prioritize. She has it planned in her mind what's important, mostly issues like ROM, feet elevation, etc. and will not pay attention to the clinical situation. For instance, if the drip bag is empty, she will not notice the beeping or respond to my request to put that before worrying about encouraging the patient to eat more fiber. Her nursing diagnoses center around risk for skin breakdown and pain instead of airway and arrhythmias. When I try to talk to her she acts hurt, then angry, and today complained about my annoying her in front of her patient! I cannot seem to reach her and I'm afraid that she will wind up flunking clinical. Any ideas?

OK, #1... this is her LAST clinical before graduating, and she is NOT "getting it" at all!! Please document every incidence of her poor prioritizing and her lack of professionalism when critiqued. Please limit her care plans by telling her diagnoses that she cannot use any more. (by mid-semester, I forbade any "pain", limited mobility, or nutrition diagnoses, as students tended to use them over and over.)

#2... please, please FLUNK her if she does not make a complete turn around in her clinical skills! I do NOT want her taking care of MY family members... or ME!!!

sorry to sound harsh, but there are indeed students who should NOT become nurses!

Haze

ElliShay · Apr 03, 2009, 09:20 PM

Re: Students who won't listen---what to do?

Originally Posted by janhetherington

I have a student in MedSurg II who wll not prioritize. She has it planned in her mind what's important, mostly issues like ROM, feet elevation, etc. and will not pay attention to the clinical situation. For instance, if the drip bag is empty, she will not notice the beeping or respond to my request to put that before worrying about encouraging the patient to eat more fiber. Her nursing diagnoses center around risk for skin breakdown and pain instead of airway and arrhythmias. When I try to talk to her she acts hurt, then angry, and today complained about my annoying her in front of her patient! I cannot seem to reach her and I'm afraid that she will wind up flunking clinical. Any ideas?

I struggle with this myself--one thing I tried recently (in MedSurg I) is to require my students to prioritize their top 3 diagnoses--and then tell me how the patient's medications fit into the plan of care based upon those three diagnoses... if the meds don't fit--then there is an "elephant in the room" that the student is tiptoeing around... I do this with each student in post-clinical (with the expectation that they will begin to do this at the beginning of the clinical day). It is working quite well--and is strengthening their pharm knowledge, too.

Just my

Moss1222 · Apr 04, 2009, 12:14 AM

Re: Students who won't listen---what to do?

So she is in MedSurg II with her nursing education and she 'will not NOTICE the beeping'??? and wants to put eating FIBER before this???
Wow. I teach nursing assistants and medical assistants. I see a lot of advice on these boards that these professions are a waste of time and the students should just skip them and go straight to RN programs.
Well, my opinion is that not everyone is wired to be an RN and my guess is this gal may be wired for some thing like that. Some people just don't have the critical thinking skills or multitasking skills to work at an RN level. Seems like it would be better for her to find that out now than after she has a serious incident with a coded patient who received ROM instead of defibrillation.
One other thing-is this normal behavior for this student? Sometimes students (and anyone) go through a personal crisis and just can't think clearly and make logical judgements due to stress for a period of time, but once through the acute crisis, come back to normal.

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Students who won't listen---what to do?

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