We have all heard the expression "nurses eat their young" but I'm hoping not everyone has experienced it. But if you have I'm calling out to you!
I am in my first year of nursing school doing my 4th clinical rotation. I'm only 2 days in and I really dislike the way the nurses have approached having students in the unit. It makes the days really difficult to get through.
I am totally open to trying anything to get the most out of this experience!
The way it used to be done before there were a billion nursing schools clamoring for clinical placements. We were placed in small clinical groups with 4-5 students. We were assigned to patients, not nurses, and we provided care for that patient. If there was something we hadn't been checked off on we got our instructor who was actually ON the floor with us and she showed us what to do. We reported to the assigned RN but we never followed her around. If she was doing something interesting and had the time she'd get us and we would observe or assist. There never was any responsibility placed on the floor staff to provide our clinical education...they enhanced it.
That's how it's still done, at least my school did this.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
That's how it's still done, at least my school did this.
Is this truly an exception?
These days, yes. Clinical groups have gotten so large that they may be scattered across multiple units and floors. An instructor can't be in multiple units at the same time, so the work of teaching students has been foisted onto the floor nurses, who are doing this with no notice, no choice to opt out, and no compensation. The only time my clinical instructor wasn't responsible for my clinical education was during my senior capstone, when I was paired with a nurse who volunteered to take on the additional role, and my clinical instructor still had the responsibility of checking in on all students in the group periodically during the semester.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
NUrses that are unwilling to teach nurses are passive aggressive because they don't ant everyone to know how little they know themselves.
Esme, I normally love your posts, but I absolutely have to take issue with this one. There may be a few nurses out there who meet this criteria, but is it so far from the norm that I actually find this quote insulting.
There are so many other reasons that can be affecting this situation:
OP's interpretation of the interactions, his/her contribution to the situation, unrealistic expectations, etc.
The fact that nurses almost always have zero warning that a student will be working with them
The fact that nurses are expected to not only do their own work but also the work of a clinical instructor, for which they receive no training and no additional compensation
The fact that nurses are expected to do more and more with less and less, leaving practically no time for extras when it comes to patients, let alone trying to teach a student (who takes much longer to do things than the experienced nurse could)
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Where did the OP go? She just comes & creates a NETY thread & just disappears?
To be fair, the OP didn't use the dreaded NETY phrase. But she did disappear, probably because not everyone sympathized with her assessment of the nurses she encountered in her clinicals.
To be fair, the OP didn't use the dreaded NETY phrase. But she did disappear, probably because not everyone sympathized with her assessment of the nurses she encountered in her clinicals.
I think she did Ruby. In the first line of her post.
The way it used to be done before there were a billion nursing schools clamoring for clinical placements. We were placed in small clinical groups with 4-5 students. We were assigned to patients, not nurses, and we provided care for that patient. If there was something we hadn't been checked off on we got our instructor who was actually ON the floor with us and she showed us what to do. We reported to the assigned RN but we never followed her around. If she was doing something interesting and had the time she'd get us and we would observe or assist. There never was any responsibility placed on the floor staff to provide our clinical education...they enhanced it.
This is how it is in my program. We are assigned to patients, not nurses. We do what we can and the instructor helps us out. We go to the RN for report, to offer help, and to say thank you, Good night.
Nursing is one of the careers that dysfunctional people gravitate to unfortunately. Dysfunctional people tend to treat others badly..... or.... over-compensate from their uncomfortable experiences.
Nursing is one of the careers that dysfunctional people gravitate to unfortunately. Dysfunctional people tend to treat others badly..... or.... over-compensate from their uncomfortable experiences.
pixierose, BSN, RN
882 Posts
That's how it's still done, at least my school did this.
Is this truly an exception?