I am not sure if it is true or not, but I heard that RNs get a little extra pay when they work on a day where nursing students are present. If the charge RN assigned a student to an RN, then they get the extra pay.
I am talking about college nursing students not training a new employee.
It just came on top of my head because I have been assigned to lousy RNs during my clinical rotations and it feels like they should be more engaged with students
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
I am not ashamed to say I butter the RN's I am paired with up so they gradually will be willing to show me things lol, no shame in my game. I am an in my LPN to RN bridge program so for clinical I start out doing whatever they needed: turning patients, changing messy blow outs, draining catheters, responding to very needy Mr. Smith's silly requests every 5 minutes so they don't have to. I will do this for the floor, I don't even ask I will just answer call lights and if it's something the PCT would do, I will do it. Eventually, they start coming around and will call me over to show me the nursing skills I haven't had the chance to learn yet. Then I do those well and they start letting me do more. Eventually, they start asking me to do nursing tasks for them and then I am not doing PCT tasks all day. I did this for my LPN clinicals and I learn far more that my fellow students doing it this way. You gotta show your willing to do the grunt work and do not have the typical student attitude of "I am not paying my school to learn to change diapers" attitude. Do NOT do/say this, ever!
Edited to add: Our CI are pretty absent during clinicals, mostly being held hostage by students more interested in nursing flow sheets than patient care. So it's up to me to try to make the best experience out of it. Many students I am in school with have a terrible attitude that they shouldn't be told what to do by the nurses on the floor. Eh?!?! This is a potential employer, if your not willing to roll up your sleeves and get dirty then you can count on not getting a job there.
We don't get paid to take nursing students. We don't get asked. We don't get trained to take them. I had my first nursing student when I had only been on my own for 5 months. It absolutely did slow me down. It made me constantly second-guess myself. A new nurse does not need that presssure.
At least their CI was good. Stuck around, passed meds, rode herd. Some students were good - stayed low, helped with ADLs, knew their meds. Some made me snarl - too timid, didnt know basic med information, kept disappearing.
We bought our floor nurses fruit plates and coffee. But most importantly, we knew our stuff and our limits.
I have never gotten paid extra for taking students. I was never asked...I just show up to work one day and SURPRISE! I have a student following me. I don't mind, though.
I did, however, get paid an extra $1/hr to precept a new grad.
I take a student intern every year and I don't even get a thank-you from the academic institution or my hospital. I do not get any break in my assignment load. I take students because when I was a nursing student and new grad, someone (who was not paid extra) took the time to teach me. I do care about the next generation of nurses and want to ensure that they get as much experience as possible before graduation.
Specializes in Med/Surg, OR, Peds, Patient Education.
First we must address the issue of short staffing. If there is sufficient staffing, I would think that part of our responsibility would be to help students and new graduates be all that they can become. New graduates, whether they are ADN or BSN, do not have much clinical experience, unless they were CNAs or worked clinically in a hospital setting.
Sadly, in speaking with my former coworkers, since I retired, I have learned that the issue of short staffing in not being addressed by hospitals. It is patently obvious that as the number of administrators increases, the number of RNs decreases.
I have learned that the issue of short staffing in not being addressed by hospitals. It is patently obvious that as the number of administrators increases, the number of RNs decreases.
oh, it's being addressed alright. As in we better get used to it. That's what I was actually told by my manager when our ratio went up. Or in my case look for a way out.
Specializes in Med/Surg, OR, Peds, Patient Education.
I retired over twelve years ago. So, you can call me an "old fart," who is out of the loop. However, from what I am reading, it appears that nursing education, is not what it should be. Where are the clinical instructors? Are the clinical instructors competent regarding the rapid changes that are taking place in their fields? Do the clinical instructors really expect over burdened RNs to do what they should be doing? Some experienced RNs would really enjoy being mentors or preceptors, if, and this is a huge "if," the staffing situation was not at dangerously low levels.
When my husband was a patient, in January, I saw that the fabulous RNs were stretched to the limit, the short staffing that was prevalent in 2003, had become worse. There were no students on the unit where my husband was a patient. If there were any students the experienced RNs, who would have been wonderful mentors, would have had no time to be mentors, and certainly no time to be instructors.
I am a nursing student in Canada. The preceptor's payment was my question as well.
I will graduate 2016 and until now every facility that I was paired with a RN as preceptor, I was so lucky with them. They were all amazing teachers and great role models, and I thought maybe they accept the students themselves. (I've heard few strange experiences as well, but school addressed those cases. If the preceptors are not complying, they won't get students anymore).
Nursing students (as far as I noticed in my clinical placements) are trying to help and learn, but they need some guidance at least in the beginning to know how the things work in that specific facility.
I would like to thank all nurses who help us students in our learning process. With all your good work and great attitude we learn to become good nurses for patients and good colleagues for you.
I agree with you Agray40. I am reading some of the post on AN and I'm smh. You are right.quit acting like you were not a nursing student yourself. I could imagine how the precepting nurses felt when they were training you. No one wonder the nursing profession can't get ahead because of attitudes like that.
I agree with you Agray40. I am reading some of the post on AN and I'm smh. You are right.quit acting like you were not a nursing student yourself. I could imagine how the precepting nurses felt when they were training you. No one wonder the nursing profession can't get ahead because of attitudes like that.
Ok, I'm beginning to feel really bitey here.
Once again, students are NOT precepted. New employees are precepted.
Preceptors for new employees are most of the time paid extra for their efforts, and attend a class to learn how to be a preceptor.
Floor nurses are NOT obligated to teach students-that's the CI's job. Yes, we remember what it was like to be a student-we were told to leave the floor nurses alone, and stay out of their way because they were busy and didn't have time to answer silly-damn questions from us. We went to our CI with questions, she grilled us on theory, stayed glued to our side while we got meds ready, and didn't disappear until the end of the shift.
As a student, you are assigned a patient, you are not assigned a nurse.
Unfortunately the world of nursing is changing to where nursing students are in fact assigned to nurses to help aid in the teaching process. While I am sure it can cause a strain on some unsuspecting nurses, I think it is ridiculous to see nurse's taking out all of their frustration out on the students. It is absolutely not their fault that they are assigned to a 'nurse' and are eager to learn. You guys please quit with the attitudes because it is extremely disheartening. Not one person can be a nurse without being on the floor and shadowing a nurse and getting a taste of the real world of nursing. If you are so against having a student [for the day] then I'd suggest talking to your supervisor, etc. and explaining that instead of venting to the student. From a student's POV, a nurse who is visibly annoyed and upset does no service to them, and they [students] are simply trying to learn and pass their classes. I remember in school having some 'lousy' [yes I said it] nurses who not only didn't teach [which I get it not everyone is a teacher] but who VISIBLY tried AVOIDING me, which was very very disheartening as a student. That is absolutely unacceptable. If it is a problem, talk to a supervisor about it. I remember coming home on certain days crying because of the horrible experiences I had with some nurses. Many times I did my best to stay out of a nurse's way, really just shadowing and watching, and even asking minimal questions so I wouldn't piss him/her off. Still, some of the responses were the same. It's absolutely disgusting. We were all students once, we all had a preceptorship/immersion in our last quarters [i hope], so can we as nurses calm down.
/username, BSN, RN
526 Posts
Sorry, my phone auto corrected it. Pgy-5. 5th year resident.