Awful Externship Experience

[NewTexasRN]

I signed up an externship and hated it! I hated the fact that they kept using me for bed pans, blood sugars and everything else. After 7 weeks I had had enough of it. The final straw came when this nurse who wasn't even my preceptor printed a long list of 20 blood sugars for me do for all the nurses on the floor.

She kept telling me, "You gotta pay your dues around here!" I told her that I have to do my charting. She says, "Charting is not that important. It's not going anywhere. Plus you have to pay your dues." Then I thought about it and I took the blood sugar sheet back to her and said I don't think it's my role to do this. I'm also sick and tired of being taken advantage of and being used. I told her that I came here to learn about the meds and you guys haven't taught me that. Then I told her, since chart is not that important you should do your charting later and do your own blood sugar!

I felt a rush of excitement as I finally stood up for myself. I'm in tears when I think about the awful experience that I've had. They used me as a nursing assistant for whole externship.

[shellsgogreen]

you mention that this nurse isn't your preceptor - did you talk to your preceptor about this?

i'm sorry you had such a disappointing experience. my opinion, it was inappropriate for her to tell you that "you gotta pay your dues" -

[NewTexasRN]

Yes, I told my preceptor first that I don't think it's appropriate for me to do all the blood sugars for all the nurses on the floor and she said, "ok." Then I told the nurse who wasn't my preceptor.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

That sounds like a poor place to work.

What is an externship, btw?

[NewTexasRN]

An externship is usually offered to a senior in the summer before the last year of nursing school. Basically you shadow a nurse 8-10 weeks and your primary role is to really observe your preceptor. You can change dressings, insert Foley's, flushed the peg tubes and do anything that doesn't involve giving medications. A good preceptor should be patient and actually want you to follow them. They're supposed to explain most of what they do.

For example, your preceptor should be explaining why she would chose to hold a certain medication. It's a nice way to see how every happens while you're on your summer break. You should be more confident with your assessment skills and have an idea of where you want to work after graduation.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Oh, I see, yes we've had these where I was working. I've worked with them, some of them are very capable. We didn't have that program where I went to school, I wish we did.

It sounds like the preceptor in this case is trying to get some extra help for the floor. That's actually a time honored tradition, I've heard that the old nursing schools from the olden days treated their students like apprentices from the 1800s. Not an appropriate practise for today, in my opinion, with the complexity of nursing today that students need to master.