Caring for students

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Apr 3, 2012

Take a deep breath and remember your less than perfect experiences. This will sound like an excuse, but the working nurses are stressed to the max and students are extra work for them, without pay in most instances. Meanwhile, ignore their bad attitudes and when you are working try to be the person you want them to be now. Good luck!!

PeepnBiscuitsRN · Apr 3, 2012

I agree with the above poster- recall your time as a student. However, you may also find that when you become a working RN that you see things from the perspective of the nurses that may seem crabby. It happened to me that way; I used to be so offended at the nurses who were at our clinical sites who seemed short, and seemed to think we were all a giant collective pain in the butt. Now granted, there were some nurses who really were just...mean...for lack of better words. Some who really just let it be known that they hated students **HATED** students. I'm guessing that with their attitudes (rather huffy and somewhat high and mighty) that they were probably like that outside of work too. Not everyone is a hand-holding sweet talker.

From the other angle- from being a working nurse, from talking to co-workers who have had students, from being an adjunct instructor for students in an LPN program...sometimes there are students, sometimes they come up in waves, who have, themselves a high and mighty attitude. They ask more "why" questions than my 3 year old, and it's not that they ask "why" it's that they ask why, right in front of a patient and their family, and they follow up that "why" with "well...I think you're doing it wrong... my book says.... or we learned in patho...." Some students seem to think that by setting foot on the unit that they are equal to a working RN. They go ahead and lecture their preceptor about using gloves-NO! NO! NOT REGULAR GLOVES THEY HAVE TO BE STERILE GLOVES! IT'S A STERILE PROCEDURE! I refuse to let you proceed with out the correct personal protective equipment!"

Or there's the student who has an equally bad attitude. Refuses to learn alternative ways to do things, and does a half-a** job of what they're doing in the first place, then cops a major attitude when the staff nurse or instructor corrects them.

I realize, having been only working a year that not all students are like this. But there's the adage about the squeaky wheels. Many years ago when I was in school to be an LPN there were plenty of squeaky wheels. Thankfully in my RN program there weren't too many, but the ones that were ruined it for those who were not. And it gets old- if you've been a nurse for 30+ years you've seen the progression of each generation of new nurses and students. Heck, as a human who is in her 30's I've seen a new generation of youth- and for crying out loud I thought we were obnoxious in the 80's and 90's as teenagers but what I'm seeing from this next generation of teens and early 20 somethings- they're over the top, again not to generalize.

So maybe some nurses are just jerks in real life, maybe some are having a bad day, maybe some don't like where they work and don't need the extra stress of a bright eyed and bushy tailed student telling them that they're doing a procedure wrong and then gossiping about the crabby witch nurse.

Myself? I actually love teaching. I precepted LPN students when I was an LPN working in pediatrics. I look forward to when I'm confident and skilled enough to have a student myself. Teaching things re-enforces everything in my brain. It's a great feeling to know that you were the "nice" instructor or preceptor.