Just off to do a night shift so thought I would get this of my chest first. Can I add that collectively I have so much admiration for Student Nurses, I cannot believe how many work fulltime to fund nursing school and I generally find them hardworking committed and utterly professional
however......
Dear Student Nurse
I know that you think that it is my mission to make your placement as hard and unpleasant as I can but the truth is very different:
The reason I pull you up about arriving late is that when qualified a floppy fob watch is simply not tolerated and if your late it shows disregard for your colleagues who end up covering for you.
I know that you cannot understand my asking you to leave your mobile phone in the staff room. It is not as you believe because I am so old and sad that I cannot possibly remember what having a social life is, it is because I am scared that at some point I may have to perform a phoneectomy as you seemed to be permanently on it.
Please don't tut if I ask you to do something in the thirty minutes before the shift ends. I understand that you feel that this is winding down time but it's not and it's not acceptable to leave jobs to the next shift because you have run out of steam.
I ask you not to chew gum when giving patient care not because I am mean but because in order to gain their trust patients need to see us as professionals and you chewing and popping gum somehow might detract from this.
The reason I asked you to consider the appropriateness of 3cm nail extensions is not because I am an outdated fashion disaster (although there is some truth in that!) it's because I am terrified that you are going to have some poor patients eye out.
When I ask you questions about Anatomy and Physiology or a medical condition I am not doing so to score points or make you look stupid I am doing so to check that you not only know what you are doing but more importantly why and saying "dunno we haven't covered that" falls a bit short.
I know that the elderly, demented chronically sick patients are not nearly as exciting as the big traumas but these patients are our bread and butter. They deserve the best possible care we can give them so please do not resent them taking you away from the more exciting stuff. Trust me you can learn everything you ever need to learn from this group of patients.
Please don't expect me to be anything other than cross, really cross when your patient has an accident because you "forgot" the commode they asked you for. No excuses, not acceptable.
Although I don't use facebook trust me if you post ab
out your sxxt placement and battle-axe Sister I will get to hear about it.
When I ask you to consider whether nursing is the right career for you it's not because I am having a bad day, it's because I genuinely have concerns that you have either the capacity or more importantly the want to nurse. My suspicions were originally aroused whehn I asked you why you want to nurse and you told me that you liked the uniform!!
I know you think I am so old (i'm 41!!) that my sight and hearing must be going but trust me I hear every obscentity that you mutter as you stomp off.
Don't think I am daft if you come back smelling of cigarrete smoke I am much more inclined to think that your last job took so long because you shuffled off for a crafty cigarrete rather than you have found a new thoroughness!!
Finally the reason we are meeting with your nurse tutor is not because I get some great power trip from it, it's because I have a responsibility to current and future patients. I would also be doing a disservice to hundreds of other student nurses who are committed and hardworking, who deserve the opportunity they are being given and truly value the opportunity.
Some of these comments apply not only to student nurses, but working nurses as well.
I've seen more 2-3" manicures on the floor than I care to talk about, including one nurse who was a midwife (hate think about what she's scratching up in there when helping to get the baby out). I've seen a charge nurse with a big old rock on top of her big old ring. I've seen ignorance of sterile technique when a testicle was felt for lumps and the feeler simply decided to use the alcohol dispenser instead of washing the hands down for 15 secs; also, the hands were not washed before the testicles were felt (in fact, they were not even gloved the entire time).
So, student nurses and working nurses alike, you really need to get on your a-game.
Hey there, My institution just started a no cell phone policy while working in patient care areas and has already no nails policy due to the harboring of harmful germies, and no perfumes too! We also are reprimanded for getting a facebook, twitter or surfing fix while working....it would make it easier on your staff if your place of work did the same- that way you can concentrate on helping your mentees with more patient care issues...keep up the good work and your sense of humor too. Students are sooo important- they are our future!
Thanks for the post. I am a mature student nurse. It also annoys me when colleague students wear make up in their clinical placement.
If you become my mentor would you please don't ask me about Kreb's cycle. Lol.
cheers
I don't think there's anything wrong with makeup, as long as it's not excessive or clownlike. I do have one woman in my clinical group that looks like a broken down chorus girl with all the makeup she has on. I think as long as it's subtle and not scary it's fine. When I wake up at 5am, I tend to look like I might be going to the morgue. So when I have time I put on a little bit of makeup.
Amen to all of this. I am a preceptor and also deal with these issues every time a new student starts. It is hard to impress upon them that their behavior during clinical time will mimic how they will probably behave in their first job which, unfortunately, may be very short-term unless they follow the rules. We are all trying to "groom" new nurses into their new roles but now, it has become so much more difficult.
would that be the hand held watch on a chain that all the oldfarts in the movies wear in their vest pockets?
oh this did make me smile especially as i am a fully paid up member of the old farts club :)
but in answer watches on chains that well to do old gentleman carry in their pockets are called pocket watches.
lanyard fob watches are plastic brightly coloured watches that every nurse and paramedic wears in the uk. :)
and what a great idea they are! since we wear nothing below the elbows, i pin mine on my badge lanyard (neck thingy) and never even have to touch it to read the time. never had one until i started practising in the uk a couple of years ago (another fully paid up member of the old farts club).
snoopy29
137 Posts
Would that be the hand held watch on a chain that all the oldfarts in the movies wear in their vest pockets?
Oh this did make me smile especially as I am a fully paid up member of the old farts club :)
But in answer watches on chains that well to do old gentleman carry in their pockets are called pocket watches.
Lanyard fob watches are plastic brightly coloured watches that every nurse and paramedic wears in the UK. :)