WOW, the other day we had a new group of students in our facility, and I am still in SHOCK over what their instructor let them get away with! First of all, they were constantly sitting in the nurses' station, taking up most of the chairs. When I was a student, we NEVER sat in the nurse's station!!!
If that wasn't bad enough, THIS just shocked me, too! A student who moaned and groaned last week "I'm BORED" would NOT do a major dressing change on one of our patients, saying "I DONT HAVE TIME"....OMG----she was writing a CARE PLAN while sitting at the nurse's station----MUST BE NICE!!! We were NOT allowed to write care plans while at clinicals---they were on our OWN TIME!!!:angryfire I thought she'd be THRILLED to get this major wound experience, ESPECIALLY because she had complained of BOREDOM last week!
I swear, if we had said "I"M BORED" at my school, our instructor probably would've sent us home, OR said "FIND something to do!!!" Even if it was to go sit with a lonely patient, and we have PLENTY of those!!!
What happened to being DRILLED on meds/ recent labs/ pathophys/ having to explain EVERYTHING that's going on with their patient? Nope, their instructor was hiding in a break room somewhere......MUST BE NICE!!!!:angryfire
Yes, I've spoken to the "higher ups".....maybe something will change, but who knows!
Or maybe, just maybe, these students need a spanking! bring back corporal punishment!
Too funny! :yeah:
I just have to put my word in here. If you're in nursing school to learn and part of that learning is experiential (ie wound care, patient care, assessments etc), wouldn't it be in your best interest to get as much out of the experience as possible so that when you're out of school you can be less stressed regarding hospital work?
I figure that a majority of students reading my post are superior to their classmates, since they are going beyond the call of duty, gaining understanding from experienced nurses on allnurses. So my comment is probably null and void, considering the audience.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I was a bit taken back with the hostility expressed by nervousnurse's blog towards "student nurses" sitting at their nurse's station. Please tell me where they are suppose to sit and write out their care plans, read their pt's charts, look up their pt's medications, etc.? Obviously, you work at a teaching hospital so instead of getting your pantyhose all twisted up by your perceived flaw with the current teaching methods of future nurses get involved by taking a few of these students under your wing.
Careplans are not to be done at the nurse's station by students, they are to be done on their own time. Designing an accurate care plan is no picnic for a newbie and especially a student, not something that can be done in 5 minutes. What the OP is trying to say is that there is a time and a place for everything and the quality of educating nurses has obviously gone down.
it's sad really. we recently had a group of students that would stand around the outside of the rooms, talk about how drunk they had been the night before, who they slept with etc. disgusting actually. when something was mentioned to the instructor she had the nerve to get an attitude just as bad as the students. (so very professional)
to the op if you know where the students are from call the school. they need to be aware of these things. if the school has any intregrity whatsoever they would appreciate the call.
In our defense (students that is) sometimes there really is nothing to do. Peds and Psych have the worst downtime at time and there really isn't anything we can do once all the meds are passed around, we have done what we are supposed to, and we have asked them for the 100th time if the family / person needs anything and they say no. At one point on the Peds floor there were 4 patients for 10 students, you can't expect all of us to deal with 4 patients, it's just overwhelming for the family/ child. Our teacher encouraged us to review symptoms that the patients had in our books and such, and study for out hesi when this was the case.
I just finished my first semester and have the summer off before completing the second semester, and I just have to say "I'M GLAD MY INSTRUCTORS DON'T ALLOW US TO DO THAT" From what I'm finding out the little we do learn in school and in the "hands" of clinical instructors I want all the practice I can get. I find myself acting like Yang in Grey's if I'm bored I go and look in on classmates and see what they are experiencing, maybe try and get in on some of their action.
And our care plans are due through interventions 1st day, and through rationales 2nd day, and I never touch my care plan at clinicals unless to fill in assessment data from the chart and even that is on a blank paper and I transfer the info at home.
Don't be mad at these students feel bad for them, the instructor is not giving them the education they deserve! Just my :twocents:.
In our defense (students that is) sometimes there really is nothing to do. Peds and Psych have the worst downtime at time and there really isn't anything we can do once all the meds are passed around, we have done what we are supposed to, and we have asked them for the 100th time if the family / person needs anything and they say no. At one point on the Peds floor there were 4 patients for 10 students, you can't expect all of us to deal with 4 patients, it's just overwhelming for the family/ child. Our teacher encouraged us to review symptoms that the patients had in our books and such, and study for out hesi when this was the case.
We must have had the same rotations! When I was in Peds and postpartum, our care plans were due at the end of the day. Do them in advance? No way. Our instructor's position was "how do you know what patients need before you have actually seen them?".
Anyway, I am surprised that such a small thing as students working in the nurse's station should be able to ruin anyone's day. It doesn't seem that difficult to ask them to move to the break room.
I was a bit taken back with the hostility expressed by nervousnurse's blog towards "student nurses" sitting at their nurse's station. Please tell me where they are suppose to sit and write out their care plans, read their pt's charts, look up their pt's medications, etc.? Obviously, you work at a teaching hospital so instead of getting your pantyhose all twisted up by your perceived flaw with the current teaching methods of future nurses get involved by taking a few of these students under your wing.
They should be doing those things standing up. No offense to most nursing students, but they're there for 6 hours unless they're in their leadership clinical. They also get a 30 minute lunch right in the middle of their 6 hours. The RNs on the otherhand are there for 12.
I do 99% of my charting standing up, I do my medications standing up. They might as well get used to it. If I get the opportunity to sit down for a few minutes it's probably while I'm at the desk waiting for a physician to call back or while I'm talking on the phone trying to take care of something. I don't appreciate all the chairs being taken up or crowding up by a bunch of people that I don't know that only have one patient to take care of (and not even really be responsible for) while I'm running care for quadruple that amount. It is not hostility, it is consideration. When I see a tired looking coworker or an overworked looking member of the health care team I happily find a reason to get up and move.
Also, care plans should be done at home. Care plans are homework for nursing students, not clinical work. Looking up drugs should be done at home. All the things mentioned in the OP are things that should be done at home. Not at the nurse's station/desk/breakroom.
In our defense (students that is) sometimes there really is nothing to do.
That is true and I agree with you, but at times like that it is not appropriate to work on your careplan in one of the 3 available chairs behind the nurse station or talk on the phone.
My rotations were 13 hours for the past 2 semesters (6:30 am - 7:30 pm) and our lunch breaks were spent listening to lectures from our clinical instructor. Also, I had three or four patients during the last semester.
My rotations were 13 hours for the past 2 semesters (6:30 am - 7:30 pm) and our lunch breaks were spent listening to lectures from our clinical instructor. Also, I had three or four patients during the last semester.
Speak for yourself/school, all the nursing schools that utilize our facility have 6 hour clinicals until they hit their last semester.
"When I was in Peds and postpartum, our care plans were due at the end of the day. Do them in advance? No way. Our instructor's position was "how do you know what patients need before you have actually seen them?".
amen to that! nurses never get eight hours after work to decide how to treat their patients they saw that day....why should students? we need more practical experience as nurses during school.....how to deal with what it's really like...you know, when you can't spend three hours giving a bed bath to one comatose patient? LOL :-)
Also, care plans should be done at home. Care plans are homework for nursing students, not clinical work. Looking up drugs should be done at home. All the things mentioned in the OP are things that should be done at home. Not at the nurse's station/desk/breakroom.
In my last semester of clinical we were not assigned patients until that morning. The thought being that in the real world you don't know before hand what patients you are going to get so you'll never have time to do a careplan or look up meds before your shift starts. They were trying to prep us for being on our own. So, yeah, I was standing at the nurses station looking up meds and trying to write a careplan before the day was over because it was never homework.
We had to get up if a chair was needed by a nurse or a doctor.
Also, is the semester almost over? Some instructors back off a week or two before the semester ends. I'm not saying it's right or wrong but it's happened to me both in LVN and RN school. I've also had students assigned to me on their last day(s) and I totally give them a break. I remember being them, I was tired, stressed, so over it and just wanted it to end. I give them little things to do and help out more.
:twocents:
CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN
1,174 Posts
Too funny!
:yeah:
I just have to put my word in here. If you're in nursing school to learn and part of that learning is experiential (ie wound care, patient care, assessments etc), wouldn't it be in your best interest to get as much out of the experience as possible so that when you're out of school you can be less stressed regarding hospital work?
I figure that a majority of students reading my post are superior to their classmates, since they are going beyond the call of duty, gaining understanding from experienced nurses on allnurses. So my comment is probably null and void, considering the audience.
I'm of the opinion that cheaters never prosper.