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The reason I asked you to consider the appropriateness of 3cm nail extensions is not because I am an outdated fashion disaster (although there is some truth in that!)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.
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!
i really think this is the key - setting out the rules is easier now because health & safety, and infection control can be easily cited. where i work, no jewelry is allowed except plain bands and simple stud earings. hair has to be off the shoulders. no nail extensions or artificial nails allowed for safety and infection reasons. i am really shocked that student nurses can get away with chewing gum and twittering in patient care areas! someone has to be assertive with them in explaining limitations and then call them on it when they are exceeded. they should get x-number of chances to improve before they are out. how is that so difficult? i've precepted students before and can honestly say i've never had one behave like this. i'd go so far as to say they are being enabled if they continue to behave so unprofessionally and are allowed to continue. maybe it's becoming more common to see, but it doesn't have to permitted. i'm glad to see the op is having a meeting with the student in question and her tutor. this girl needs serious guidance, and then her decision to measure up or not must be respected as a choice she's made to continue as a student or be out on her orifice. document, document, document!
I know it probably felt good to get all of that off your chest so to speak, but let me tell you something - I am 56 y.o., almost 57, and have been studying to be a nurse now for almost three years, while working for a hospital. I am now a nurses aide. One of my first days on the job, a male nurse came up to me and told me that maybe I would be able to find a job somewhere else. When I reported his patients concerns to him (this was my very first day on the job as an aide, I remind you) he yelled at me in front of everyone with angry, openly sarcastic answers. I did absolutely nothing to warrant this - nothing. This was the beginning of my "mentoring" in nursing. My preceptors were in many regards less than ideal. I of course had no say-so in who they were to be. I got a couple of kids who were not very sensitive or wise IMO and so I've had to put up with those issues. Just to let you know that there are other angles to this mentoring stuff
I hope to get a mentor who is as good as you in my clinicals. I start next fall and hearing some of the things you write about being everyday occurrences just makes me so mad. I grew up knowing how to be professional and to learn from those above you (while not taking it personally) from the age of 16 (I am now almost 28) and would have probably been writing the same things you have if I were in your shoes.
It really shows who is serious about their profession and who is in it for the right reasons. There are so many out there that would give anything to be in the position that they're in--believe me, it took me a long time to get into a school.
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 am a Pre-Nursing student but I have worked in a different profession for many years and consider myself very professional and I wear make-up. I have blotchy skin and I prefer to hide it. Why can't Nursing Students where make up in clinicals? I like to follow the rules and present a professional image but that seems a bit extreme.
During my clinicals, I was asked to wear minimal makeup which meant we could wear makeup but not excessively. Just enough to look more professional and not "tired looking" to the patients and to avoid any fragranced body care items if possible. More for the patient's benefit. Also, if you wear a lot of makeup, that means you may be touching up on the makeup throughout the shift which takes the focus away from your tasks.
I am a Pre-Nursing student but I have worked in a different profession for many years and consider myself very professional and I wear make-up. I have blotchy skin and I prefer to hide it. Why can't Nursing Students where make up in clinicals? I like to follow the rules and present a professional image but that seems a bit extreme.
My school permits you to wear makeup, just nothing excessive or scary looking. I don't see anything wrong with wearing makeup. I, too, have blotchy skin (rosacea) so I wear it. Just don't wear bright lipsticks or very dramatic eye makeup. I only wear mascara and concealers and all.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
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. :)
Appreciate the clarification! I love old black and white movies from the '30s and '40s. I find the fashions really fascinating. Oddly, it's the men's clothing I find intriguing! Hats, ties, lapels, scarves etc etc.. Thanks! :)
What a horror show! I am in my 3rd semester and although it's a small community college, my instructors are strict about our appearance, right down to the white socks on our feet!
I agree wholeheartedly that what you witnessed needs to be addressed, because if that person is taking liberties now with the rules.....it will only get worse and the patients will suffer!
One other comment: Fellow students watch what you put on your skin before you get to the floor. Some skin lotions smell even more when you heat up. I woke up to that fact when one patient told me I smelled like "cotton candy"!! It was my skin lotion that I applied that morning. These scents can make a sick person sicker!
What kind of student nurses are you getting? We have a 2 page typed code of what is NOT allowed in clinicals which includes nails longer than your actual finger, gum, cell phones, among many other things. Also, we all jump to do tasks even if it goes longer than our shift. You got screwed on your student this time, and yes I'm sure she will paint you to be the horrible one, but I hope we aren't all like that.
MeditationPeace
46 Posts
i really think this is the key - setting out the rules is easier now because health & safety, and infection control can be easily cited. where i work, no jewelry is allowed except plain bands and simple stud earings. hair has to be off the shoulders. no nail extensions or artificial nails allowed for safety and infection reasons. i am really shocked that student nurses can get away with chewing gum and twittering in patient care areas! someone has to be assertive with them in explaining limitations and then call them on it when they are exceeded. they should get x-number of chances to improve before they are out. how is that so difficult? i've precepted students before and can honestly say i've never had one behave like this. i'd go so far as to say they are being enabled if they continue to behave so unprofessionally and are allowed to continue. maybe it's becoming more common to see, but it doesn't have to permitted. i'm glad to see the op is having a meeting with the student in question and her tutor. this girl needs serious guidance, and then her decision to measure up or not must be respected as a choice she's made to continue as a student or be out on her orifice. document, document, document!