I'm a senior nursing student, with only 3 more semesters til graduation! In my clinical rotations this summer, I noticed something that really annoyed me... RUDE nurses and doctors! It seems as though many of them really despise nursing students. I understand the common "reasons": such as they aren't paid enough to teach us, students can be know-it-alls, students make mistakes, students take too long, etc. etc.. but have they forgotten when THEY were students? The attitudes from the RN's and LPN's on one of the floors I was on for six weeks were not positive. It was only subtle things.. such as when I'd walk onto the floor and say "Good morning" to the staff (sitting around the nurses station) and maybe 1 out of 8 would mumble "morning". Or it would be the little comments about "man, I wish I were a student and could do such and such...." while they were rolling their eyes. There were other things as well. I just needed to vent. Has anyone else had similar experiences while in clinical?
I just hope that when I am a seasoned RN, when dealing with students I will remember how I felt.
I just started back to clinical on Monday and the first thing the charge nurse said to our teacher- "Tell them to stay out of my space." OK!! Welcome to the floor!! :) A lot of the nurses I've encountered are really sweet and helpful and grateful to have us (especially when we spent 2 hours giving someone 4 enemas!). But there are others who look at us a nuisence, which is pretty sad because we will BE nurses someday soon, and sheesh! We have to learn somehow!! They were once where we are now so you would think they'd have some compassion. I just tell myself, it may not be pleasant and I don't have to be here forever, just have to get through this, and I have a job to do too- to learn as much as I can and be as helpful as I can. I was thinking the same thing as someone posted, who is a new nurse, that they are responsible for the patient even though we are taking care of them.. because they have to do all their work, and also go back and make sure we did what was supposed to be done. I love it when the nurse assigned to my patient is friendly, because then we can communicate about what's going on with the patient and ask questions/get feedback.
We perky people sometimes have to realize that not everybody is perky or appreciates perkiness.
It's different when you are a part of the working team, everybody knows everybody else.
But when we are students (and i am still one until tomorrow when I graduate!! ), we really have to respect the culture of the units we are visiting. I found it helpful to smile when I met someone's eyes, and to keep quiet and stick by my classmates and my clinical instructor until I got the social lay of the land. At that point, when people know us a little better, perkiness might be more appreciated.
although i haven't actually experienced it, i can understand how having a student would make your day more stressful and unorganized. when i was in nursing school, other than receiving and giving report, we were not allowed to talk to the staff nurses at all. if we had a question or needed help we had to track down our instructor-which everyone knows is very difficult with so many nursing students. so although the staff didn't really talk to us, they weren't exactly mean either. now that i am a nurse though, i find that i love to teach and orient people...but working the night shift we don't get student nurses...we do occasionally get student emts though and that's fun! they are really into jumping in and learning and trying everything...wish we had some student nurses to play around in the er too! but like everyone else said, it's something that you have to get through, and you will know how to not treat students when your time comes.:)
curiosity is killing me. is it improper to pull a nurse to the side and reiterate to her/him your reason for being there and your seriousness about education? i know how i am (no nonsense nip the shyt in the bud type of attitude) and i am usually upfront never bitting my tongue unless i feel like its for the best. it would be hard for me to go all summer without saying anything. i feel like the first time they put me in a situation where i feel uncomfortable (not speaking, rolling eyes, ignoring my question ect.) i going to wait until the appropriate time and pull them to the side a say, " hay, i did like when you.......... i am a student and i'm here to learn. as long as i respect you i feel like i should receive nothing less in return." i would not be rude or nasty but tell them how i feel. that is the type of person i am i don't care who you are. i am a fisty women and if you test me my attitude can be vecious. i am a happy easygo person and rarely do people find it hard to get along with me but........ people that know me and those that don't very soon find out i am not the one to try. another question, do the nurses have any input on your grade and if they do i guess i would bit my tongue for the sake of my grade?
curiosity is killing me. is it improper to pull a nurse to the side and reiterate to her/him your reason for being there and your seriousness about education?
oh, yeah, it's "improper." they are not there to teach us, that is what our instructors are for. we are guests on their unit. their primary purpose is to take care of their patients. we are in no position, as student nurses, to pull anyone aside and tell them any thing. they are doing us a favor letting us on the unit to practice on their patients.
i know how i am (no nonsense nip the shyt in the bud type of attitude) and i am usually upfront never bitting my tongue unless i feel like its for the best. it would be hard for me to go all summer without saying anything.
you do not seem to understand your place. if you are "unable to go all summer without saying anything," someone, probably a staff nurse, will help you find it.
i feel like the first time they put me in a situation where i feel uncomfortable (not speaking, rolling eyes, ignoring my question ect.) i going to wait until the appropriate time and pull them to the side a say, " hay, i did like when you.......... i am a student and i'm here to learn. as long as i respect you i feel like i should receive nothing less in return."
this is not respect that you are describing, and they don't owe us anything. we owe them to stay out of their way. if they invite us to ask them something, if they invite us to do something, if they invite us to observe something, our role is to be grateful for the opportunity.
i would not be rude or nasty but tell them how i feel.
there is no way to do what you suggest without being rude. just because we "feel" one way or the other does not give us the right to "take someone aside" and force them to hear about it. if we have issues with anything related to our clinicals, that is to be shared with our clinical instructor, privately and respectfully.
that is the type of person i am i don't care who you are. i am a fisty women and if you test me my attitude can be vecious.
this is not feisty-ness. this is aggressive behavior. there is no room for viciousness in nursing. none.
i am a happy easygo person and rarely do people find it hard to get along with me but........ people that know me and those that don't very soon find out i am not the one to try.
you do not describe the behavior and attitude of "an easy going person." you are describing demanding arrogant behavior, and frankly, you sound rather threatening.
another question, do the nurses have any input on your grade and if they do i guess i would bit my tongue for the sake of my grade?
this rather suggests that part of your problem is priorities. grades are very important to you. it seems as though you will be respectful and tolerant of the nurses whose floor you will be visiting only if they have an effect on your grade. it works kind of like this: if you interfere with the functioning of the unit (and upsetting or interrupting a staff nurse will have that effect), it will no doubt be very evident to your clinical instructor and you should receive a poor grade for clinicals.
alejuandria, in all kindness and with no offense meant to you, your description of your personality and your approach to working with others is really not consistent with nursing or with any service profession where your clients will be vulnerable. i almost never discourage someone from nursing. but in fairness to yourself and others, i encourage you to rethink your career choice. i do not think that nursing is something you would be well suited to.
I just started back to clinical on Monday and the first thing the charge nurse said to our teacher- "Tell them to stay out of my space." OK!! Welcome to the floor!! .
Well this is an example of setting a boundary and is NOT rude IMO. She's letting the instructor know how the students can get along with her. What bothers ME is that the instructor told the students she said this, in effect setting them up to dislike her, creating a problem immediately.
As a charge nurse of many years, I can't tell you how difficult it is to manage a busy desk/unit with students all over me, camping out at the desk, etc. Take your chart and find another place to read it...don't hang out by me at the desk, ask a million questions, interrupt my work, get in my way in a limited space. The charge nurses' priority is NOT students...but some students don't 'get' that and have to be told.
This is not 'mean' but is reality of a nursing unit that students have to learn, IMO.
I can't entirely agree with the last post, because we are on the floor to learn AND to help patients, so who knows their patient best? The nurse who is taking care of them hopefully. I am always resepectful and if the nurse is in the middle of something I obviously wait until she has a moment, and say excuse me, but can I ask you something. I mean, we're there to learn and interact, not to be neither seen nor heard!! And although I am only second semester, I haven't found too many nurses who won't answer a question about their patient! I think part of any job you take on in your life, you have to expect that you will be exposed to people who are learning, and that's any profession. Yes, we are guests on their floor, but we have a job to do as do they. Nurses should not be hostile or resentful of students being on their floor, and students should always always be respectful and considerate of those nurses, and if you have a problem with attitude from a nurse, of course you have no business pulling her aside, you should go to your instructor, if it is causing you to not be able to do your work. If not, then move on!! Just do what you're there to do.
No, she said it right in front of us. So of course we got the picture right away to stay OUT of her space!!! It was rude, believe me, the way she said it was unnecessary- we're not animals! There are better ways to let people know that you prefer to NOT have people hanging around you or "your" areas.
Our teacher let us know that we're not to read charts/hang around right in front of work spaces, to stay out of the way, etc...
Well this is an example of setting a boundary and is NOT rude IMO. She's letting the instructor know how the students can get along with her. What bothers ME is that the instructor told the students she said this, in effect setting them up to dislike her, creating a problem immediately.
As a charge nurse of many years, I can't tell you how difficult it is to manage a busy desk/unit with students all over me, camping out at the desk, etc. Take your chart and find another place to read it...don't hang out by me at the desk, ask a million questions, interrupt my work, get in my way in a limited space. The charge nurses' priority is NOT students...but some students don't 'get' that and have to be told.
This is not 'mean' but is reality of a nursing unit that students have to learn, IMO.
Naturally, I can't speak for all nurses, but students have to understand that when they are in certain environments they may not understand all of the subtle yet very complex things that are going on. Under that peaceful hum of vents and pumps in the ICU is a sense of "the absolute worst is going to happen at any moment".
If you and I are in ICU and I'm trying to determine if my increased ectopy looks ischemic or electrolyte based (and trying to take all of the actions that head off danger before we get there) and you want to know what makes urine brown or what the pt's GCS is or why we check ionized calcium or when we get lunch or how to interpret ABGs......
Many times skilled nurses make troubling times seem very benign. I kind of pride myself in checking my pulse before I check a pt's and I mostly seem pretty smooth under fire. Students that get barked at certainly deserve better. We all do - golden rule stuff and all. On the same hand, they must understand (and maybe the clinical prof should stress) that real seasoned nurses taking care of really sick people get really short when anything gets in the way. The clinical prof should get students ready for their CCU days.
Oh, yeah, it's "improper." They are not there to teach us, that is what our instructors are for. We are guests on their unit. Their primary purpose is to take care of their patients. We are in no position, as student nurses, to pull anyone aside and tell them any thing. They are doing us a favor letting us on the unit to practice on their patients.
You do not seem to understand your place. If you are "unable to go all summer without saying anything," someone, probably a staff nurse, will help you find it.
This is not respect that you are describing, and they don't owe us anything. We owe them to stay out of their way. If they invite us to ask them something, if they invite us to do something, if they invite us to observe something, our role is to be grateful for the opportunity.
There is no way to do what you suggest without being rude. Just because we "feel" one way or the other does not give us the right to "take someone aside" and force them to hear about it. If we have issues with anything related to our clinicals, that is to be shared with our clinical instructor, privately and respectfully. This is not feisty-ness. This is aggressive behavior. There is no room for viciousness in nursing. None.
You do not describe the behavior and attitude of "an easy going person." You are describing demanding arrogant behavior, and frankly, you sound rather threatening. This rather suggests that part of your problem is priorities. Grades are very important to you. It seems as though you will be respectful and tolerant of the nurses whose floor you will be visiting only if they have an effect on your grade. It works kind of like this: if you interfere with the functioning of the unit (and upsetting or interrupting a staff nurse will have that effect), it will no doubt be very evident to your clinical instructor and you should receive a poor grade for clinicals.
alejuandria, in all kindness and with no offense meant to you, your description of your personality and your approach to working with others is really not consistent with nursing or with any service profession where your clients will be vulnerable. I almost never discourage someone from nursing. But in fairness to yourself and others, I encourage you to rethink your career choice. I do not think that nursing is something you would be well suited to.
Sorry you feel that way but I have a passion to help and care for other and thats what I intend to do. I am a strong willed head strong person. I, as a student am suppose to let someone roll their eyes, ignore me when I ask questions,etc. WHY? It does make sense. If I where an RN I would never do that to any student looking to me for guidance and support. We do to each other what we don't like for others to do to use. We devalue each other before we even give each other a chance. As students if we accept being treated that way we expect for the behavior to continue and we perpetuate the cycle into our careers. And if we are guest on the unit why not treat us as such. You wouldn't invite someone over your house and treat them poorly. And beleive it or not I am very easy going but there are times were people use that to their advantage to try to get over on me and it won't happen. I am and have learned that there are times to humble yourself and there times you stand up for yourself and life has taught me when to react and when not to. I read alot of post about nursing and how people don't view it as being perfessional or respectful. How in the hell can we ask anyone to respect us if we can not respect our own. Nurse students are only looking to become what RNs are, so why treat us so poorly. WRONG IS WRONG IS WRONG and accepting such behavior does not make it right. I do not seem to understand your place. What is my place? In no way, shape, or form do I disrespect anyone and I would like to have the favor returned. I am an excellent student, excellent mother, excellent employee, and will be an excellent nurse. And when is return the respect that I give oweing me something. Staying out of their way is one thing but rolling eyes and not speaking when spoken to is another. There is no room for viciousness in nursing. None. From what I am reading it is already running rapid and unless I'm will to stand up for myself and let others know that they can not treat me any kind of way...... I'm a gooner. People only do what you allow them to do and to those they can. I just want to make it know early that I am not one of those people. Yes I would be most greatful for the oppurtunity but in such a situation what do you do? Do I sit idle and accepted these type of behavoir all semester long. And if this is what I am supposed to do what does that say about our profession. I read the complaints about hospitals being under staff and nurses streched thin all the time so I can't figure out for the life of me why would nurses act like this to nursing student. We may not be an assest to RNs now but when I graduate and decrease their patient load I will be.
It is funny, how from one post you can tell me what I am not suited for:chuckle .
It is funny, how you can take my confidence, non nonsense attitued, and my strong stance on repecting each other and misinterpret into "demanding arrogant behavior":rotfl: .
It is funny, that in all your negative words there is nothing positive:chuckle .
And you know what is most funny...... is that I'm not laughing.........We as nurses will never progress as a profession because we spend to much time stepping one each other. Physically and verbally making a nursing student feel as though their not wanted is wrong............. and why shouldn't anyone say anything about it.
I am only one person. Like I said before I hope to make a big difference in the smallest ways. I want to enjoy the things that I love about nursing and CHANGE the things that I don't. One of the biggest complains that RNs have is that they are under appriecated by other professions, so why make your own feel that way.:uhoh21:
I'm a senior LPN student. We were told that we are guests on the floor and to never talk back to the staff but report rude behavior to our supervisor. I worked with one nurse who was 'grandfathered' on the floor, an LPN on a floor where only RN's were hired and she was near retirement, every question I asked her I got a yep or no answer, no explaining,just sat at the nurse's station chewing ice. I try to be in the room when the dr. enters so I can listen to them talk and they do act like we're part of the wallpaper. However once I noticed that my pt. was allergic to aspirin according to his H&P but there was no sticker on the front of his chart and he had on no red armband and he was getting aspirin twice daily. I pointed this out to the dr. and he dc'd the med and thanked me.
I weeded out the friendly nurses and latched on. At first I took it personal and vented to my instructor then I figured now I know how not to act when I become a nurse also the patients really appreciate the extra attention you give them.
Hi everyone!
I'm a senior nursing student, with only 3 more semesters til graduation! In my clinical rotations this summer, I noticed something that really annoyed me... RUDE nurses and doctors! It seems as though many of them really despise nursing students. I understand the common "reasons": such as they aren't paid enough to teach us, students can be know-it-alls, students make mistakes, students take too long, etc. etc.. but have they forgotten when THEY were students? The attitudes from the RN's and LPN's on one of the floors I was on for six weeks were not positive. It was only subtle things.. such as when I'd walk onto the floor and say "Good morning" to the staff (sitting around the nurses station) and maybe 1 out of 8 would mumble "morning". Or it would be the little comments about "man, I wish I were a student and could do such and such...." while they were rolling their eyes. There were other things as well. I just needed to vent. Has anyone else had similar experiences while in clinical?
I just hope that when I am a seasoned RN, when dealing with students I will remember how I felt.
But we're talking about beginning student nurses, and by the time we get to ICU/critically ill patients, we know enough not to ask the kind of questions you wrote about. If we have questions like the ones you wrote about, we will either look them up ourselves, or ask our instructor. Unless maybe you have had students ask questions like that? Yikes!
Naturally, I can't speak for all nurses, but students have to understand that when they are in certain environments they may not understand all of the subtle yet very complex things that are going on. Under that peaceful hum of vents and pumps in the ICU is a sense of "the absolute worst is going to happen at any moment".
If you and I are in ICU and I'm trying to determine if my increased ectopy looks ischemic or electrolyte based (and trying to take all of the actions that head off danger before we get there) and you want to know what makes urine brown or what the pt's GCS is or why we check ionized calcium or when we get lunch or how to interpret ABGs......
Many times skilled nurses make troubling times seem very benign. I kind of pride myself in checking my pulse before I check a pt's and I mostly seem pretty smooth under fire. Students that get barked at certainly deserve better. We all do - golden rule stuff and all. On the same hand, they must understand (and maybe the clinical prof should stress) that real seasoned nurses taking care of really sick people get really short when anything gets in the way. The clinical prof should get students ready for their CCU days.
Physically and verbally making a nursing student feel as though their not wanted is wrong............. and why shouldn't anyone say anything about it.
Yikes!
totallytheresa
104 Posts
I just started back to clinical on Monday and the first thing the charge nurse said to our teacher- "Tell them to stay out of my space." OK!! Welcome to the floor!! :) A lot of the nurses I've encountered are really sweet and helpful and grateful to have us (especially when we spent 2 hours giving someone 4 enemas!). But there are others who look at us a nuisence, which is pretty sad because we will BE nurses someday soon, and sheesh! We have to learn somehow!! They were once where we are now so you would think they'd have some compassion. I just tell myself, it may not be pleasant and I don't have to be here forever, just have to get through this, and I have a job to do too- to learn as much as I can and be as helpful as I can. I was thinking the same thing as someone posted, who is a new nurse, that they are responsible for the patient even though we are taking care of them.. because they have to do all their work, and also go back and make sure we did what was supposed to be done. I love it when the nurse assigned to my patient is friendly, because then we can communicate about what's going on with the patient and ask questions/get feedback.