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The reason I asked you to consider the appropriateness of 3cm nail extensions is not because I am an outdated fashion disaster (although there is some truth in that!)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.
I appricated the nursing instructors and my later bosses who asked me questions and made me think. We gotta be able to think on our feet and reason out what and how we're doing things. This is how we care for pts and catch some of tha mistakes that others may make.
Specializes in Near Future: ED, Future Future: ACNP!.
I am a soon to be nursing student. I cannot believe how some students are behaving! I live in California, and it is ultra competitive here, so getting in to nursing school is riduculously difficult and takes time. To know that there are students out there who are not taking it seriously, while there are people like me who are dying to learn is downright irritating!
I am a soon to be nursing student. I cannot believe how some students are behaving! I live in California, and it is ultra competitive here, so getting in to nursing school is riduculously difficult and takes time. To know that there are students out there who are not taking it seriously, while there are people like me who are dying to learn is downright irritating!
The ones who don't tke it seriously in my class are doing poorly gradewise.........it's like, why are they even there lol............
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I don't know that any nursing school mandates NO makeup! There is nothing wrong with some color and brightening here and there. The only reason for a no makeup edict would be a school who's student's idea of subtle is Amy Winehouse. :)
Well, UK nurses, these nursing fob watches you speak of has motivated me to look online for one. They sound cool. If I fail, I may be back to ask you for shopping help.
Specializes in Near Future: ED, Future Future: ACNP!.
The ones who don't tke it seriously in my class are doing poorly gradewise.........it's like, why are they even there lol............
Good question! Why are they even there?? It's not a profession that you can "just get by" in school. You need to learn the stuff and be serious about it. Sheesh! I have some issues with this stuff, can ya tell? LOL!
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
Thankyou for all your replies many of which made me smile :) A few of you have asked what happened when we met with my student's tutor. The meeting never happened because my student decided that nursing really wasn't for her and plans to enter the world of modelling. I really hope that she is happier in her new role. I was saddened to hear from her tutor that academically she has not been making the grades and concerns were expressed right back in her first placement but her mentor's decided to get her through on a minimum pass.
In answer to the post above I of course accept totally that there are good mentor's and bad mentor's. Nurses are human. Personally, second only to patient care I love mentoring student's and newly qualified staff. I thoroughly enjoy their enthusiasm, capacity to learn and feel a deep sense of pride when they enter a placement nervous and unsure and finish it confident, competent and a credit to our department. In my time I have mentored nurses that have far outstripped me in their potential and ambition but again feel nothing but pride when I see them rapidly climbing the career ladder.
I have never felt the need to "yell" at any of my colleagues. If I did it would indicate that I had lost control and just undermine my position. If I need to address something I will do so quietly and without an audience. If a nurse has messed up (and we all do it) then the last thing they need is this to be heightened by public humiliation. What I tend to do is point out what has gone wrong then work with the nurse to correct it - end of story, no big drama.
I am known for being firm but fair. I run a tight ship and have high expectations of all my nurses, students, care assistants and qualified. But my team like that and know that I pitch my expectations high because I believe that our patients deserve the best possible care we can give them. I would never expect any of my team to do a job I wasn't prepared to do myself and am often found mucking in at the sluice!!!
Lastly if you were my student some of the things you have said would cause me concern although I am sure that it is down to how we use language differently in the UK. You say "let me tell you something" and more concerningly "I had a couple of kids who were not very sensitive or wise" KIDS???? A nurses potential and ability is based on experience, training and personal values and has nothing to do with their age. I have 22 year old nurses in my department who have more potential than I ever had. They are bright, hardworking and I have complete trust in them. I believe that they make fantastic mentors and would not hesitate in having them mentor nurses twice their age. I apologise for doing so but have to say I find your use of language disrespectful and would not allow any of my nurses to be referred to as "kids"
Lastly I wanted to add that thankfully the nurse in my original post is the exception rather than the rule and I continue to look forward to many more student's and newly qualified staff coming through my door :)
Sadly, I've seen more nurses behave this way than nursing students. When I was in school, everyone was so careful to follow all the rules. Now that I'm a nurse, it blows my mind how some of my co-workers behave when on-the-clock.
Lol, it is really nice to hear from the mentors side of things...that student the OP was referring to (or studentS I suppose) should really reassess his/her desire to learn and to become a good nurse. I'm a student, and am always so eager and ready to do whatever I can to help. And really? Smoking on the job?? That is SO ridiculous, bc you can never rid yourself of the smell and how contradictory/rude is THAT to lean over your patient reeking of smoke? Gross.
I will add that it is TERRIBLE to be a student nurse shadowing a mentor who DOES NOT WANT TO HAVE A STUDENT! As if we already don't feel like a fish out of water, it is so much worse when the mentor does not hide her pure hatred for having to "deal with" a student. I've had a mentor tell me to my face, "I dont have time to look at your face today" which does not exactly encourage me to put my best foot forward.
I have also thought though..that the times when students get placed with a mentor who would rather not have a student with them that day (or ever), is a good lesson in dealing with difficult personalities. And we all need practice in that I figure :)
I'm sure when I become a nurse and get some years on the job, and then become a mentor for a student, that I will understand the other side of things, too. For now, I just hope and pray that the mentor I am assigned to recognizes that I didn't choose them and that I am there to learn, not to annoy them.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Wow, hopefully that makes if easier for us 2nd career folks who know what it is to take responsibility for self and others to stand out as new grads.
But Snoopy29, tell us what "floppy fob watch" means? I got lost in the translation :)
Nursing is my first career and I know how to act. I had no idea what the floppy fob watch meant either. I am surprised by so many things I read here that goes on in other schools.
T H A N K Y O U so much! We now return to our regularly scheduled thread topic.. .:)
.thumb.jpg.5aa4d55557c0228e31b94de19666bbbb.jpg){kind=small}
kristikkc
28 Posts
I appricated the nursing instructors and my later bosses who asked me questions and made me think. We gotta be able to think on our feet and reason out what and how we're doing things. This is how we care for pts and catch some of tha mistakes that others may make.