Hospital Nurses

[mario_ragucci]

Yesterday at clinicals I asked our instructor, at the end of the day's group meeting, what a nursing student should do if the nurses atthe rehab center I was at won't talk to you, when you attempt to obtain PT related information like meds... or anything. I know they can see my school patch I wear on my arm.

Anyway...someone heard me say this, and on my way out themeeting an unknown employee there, who said he/she was a employee there, and she knew who I was talking about, and she thinks I should watch my mouth ifi am gonna talk about someone. Jeez, she knew me and what sector i was in and I never seen her before.

I tell ya, I could not want anything less than for anyone to get negative with me, and I can communicate well and accept everything you say. During our exchange, he/she said "I'm tired of you -hospital nurses- coming here and talking down to us." Hospital nurses, wait, but I am a nursing student

Yesterday i wore my Long White Lab coat, and since i am a euro-caucasion american 38 yo male, I'm thinking maybe some people may bugout at this sight, or at least be INDIMIDATED by it.

Do "HOSPITAL NURSES" and "sniff NURSES" interact well? Do you automatically expect an additude to accompany a type of apparel? A long white lab coat? A nice looking woman in a business suit? Young? Old? Size? Gender? Plus, the way times are today, people make attempts to conceal their ID's, if they wear them at all, which makes having any conversation blocked.

What unknown animosity do RN harbor based on location.

[Flo1216]

Shoot, now we can't even post where we want? Sure, Mario and I could post on the student nurses forum but then we wouldn't get the feedback from the nurses with whom we are in conflict. Just because I have never worked a shift as a regular nurse does not mean I am not entitled to an opinion.And to generalize student nurses as being egotistical is unfair. I think most of us are scared to death. I don't feel that one has to be a licensed nurse to know that it is wrong to treat people who want to learn and eventually join their profession like shit. And not for nothing, I have worked with nurses with heavy pt loads who were under stress who treated me with nothing but respect. So it IS possible to be stressed out and not bite someone's head off when for example, the student reminds them that they are not allowed to give meds through a port or PICC line.(even though they are informed of this by the INSTRUCTOR beforehand. One time I didn't remind them and the med wasn't given and I got yelled at because, " You should have told me," even though they were already told)I have a class who is very respectful. We don't throw are notebooks all over or sit at the nurses station talking about our weekend. We are there to learn. It isn't as though each student has their own personal instructor, so if we have to "bother" you from time to time, so be it.

[fab4fan]

I enjoy working with students, and if I have an interested, motivated student with me, I will go out of my way to work with him/her.

I think what some of us were trying to convey is that you as a student learn better if you try to find the answers to your questions before you ask someone: 1) because you will know how to use your resource manuals, 2) reading through the info will help to impress it upon your memory, 3) you will be getting the info correctly...you may not always get a correct answer when you just ask someone, 4) if it's a procedure, you'll know you're doing it per policy.

It is the responsibility of the student to do the legwork for finding out information. And while it may seem like a small interruption to you to stop a nurse and ask a question, please consider that you are not the only person interrupting her while she's trying to get her work done.

Some nurses are rude to students, and some students are disrespectful to staff nurses. Neither is appropriate. However, there is some truth to the "self-fulfilling prophecy"; if you go into a clinical rotation expecting trouble from staff, somehow, that's what you end up with.

[fab4fan]

One other thing...timing is VERY important. If you have a question to ask, try not to ask it when your staff nurse you're assigned to is in the middle of a crisis, looks very frazzled, is trying to give a report to a doc., etc.

I know that sounds like common sense/Duh!, but students tend to be focused on what's going on with THEM, what THEY need...not what's going on in the department. So try to be sensitive to the craziness that can be a busy med-surg unit.

And something so small but thoughtful as bringing the staff nurse a cup of coffee/a coke is so appreciated. I'm not saying you have to be a suck up, but a small gesture like that can foster the beginnings of a rapport.

Like the old time song says (and we both could benenfit from these words), "Try a little tenderness."

[Nurse Ratched, RN]

Originally posted by Flo1216

Mattsmom-

No one ever said that the student nurse is the ultimate responsibility of the staff nurse.

I will clarify here that the *patient* is the staff nurse's ultimate responsibility. And whatever happens to the patient will ultimately come back on the person with a license.

I think what you are seeing in some of this thread is a reaction to the experiences most nurses have had with at least some students. I was an older student nurse, and I can say I definitely saw a certain amount of "entitlement" present in some of my classmates. It was not uncommon for them to ask a question of the busy nurse that could have been looked up with a little more effort. You would hear griping (from the students) that they couldn't get (whatever it was) done because the doctor had the chart or the nurse had the med sheet, or PT was with the patient, etc. Well, that's because clinicals are not set in a lab; they are set in real life. Be a little more present mentally and physically on the unit and less fixated on getting your paper done and eventually everything will turn up.

I agree that it's a two way street. A little more initiative on the students' part would be good. A little more guidance on the nurses' part as to what would be helpful or is expected would be great.

I think the point of saying that this might be a topic for student nursing is that you will get more support there. Here, you will get the support, but you'll also get some comments asking for some introspection and essentially was there anything that YOU could have done differently? You will get the other side of the coin.

I will never excuse the outright rudeness with which I have seen my fellow nurses treat students, and I will and have called them on it. The snide, "Yuck - we have students today" comments are completely out of line. However, I also don't appreciate when I've seen students complaining about the nurses when it's abundantly clear they don't (because they couldn't POSSIBLY) have any idea the full reality of the job. If you are a student who treats the nurses as tho we are more than your walking textbook, who shows a genuine interest in learning, and who is willing to wade into the messy stuff as well as being there for the "fun" stuff, then I will go WAY out of my way to make sure you get the best learning experience possible. Anyone who is just holding down a chair and tying up a chart for hours while stat orders are on it....well, I'm less giving.

I rechecked this message. It is not accusatory to any individual. If you (by that I mean any reader) read it as a flame, then it's possible that you see yourself in it, because not having worked with any of the students posting to this board, I can't speak to your conduct in the clinical environment. I can only recount what I am quite sure are not unique experiences from both sides of the NCLEX.

Good luck to all the students as they navigate clinicals...

[baseline]

fab4fan"Some nurses are rude to students, and some students are disrespectful to staff nurses. Neither is appropriate."

I think I posted something like this several years ago on thread. It's pretty simple isn't it?

[baseline]

P.S. Nurse Ratched...Well stated as always. Thank you.

[baseline]

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age,

weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them.

That is why you pay him.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts,

gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind

is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only

person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE

while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family,

pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home

is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable,

improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next

county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every

opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but

by the moments that take our breath away.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

:p :p

[KRVRN, BSN, RN]

It's hard to be a student. I had one instructor that would flat out tell us to go ask the staff nurse assigned to the pt if we needed help because "he/she knows the pt better than I do." Oh, she MIGHT come help you if she wasn't too busy scrutinizing your (and everyone else's) charting in a back office somewhere, but you could never count on it. Then after the staff sigh and ask where our instructor was, then MIGHT or might not help us depending how busy they were.

It's especially hard to be caught in the middle of "go ask someone else" when your pt seems to be having an immediate drug reaction and no one will come help you.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Originally posted by Flo1216

Shoot, now we can't even post where we want? Sure, Mario and I could post on the student nurses forum but then we wouldn't get the feedback from the nurses with whom we are in conflict. Just because I have never worked a shift as a regular nurse does not mean I am not entitled to an opinion.And to generalize student nurses as being egotistical is unfair. I think most of us are scared to death. I don't feel that one has to be a licensed nurse to know that it is wrong to treat people who want to learn and eventually join their profession like shit. And not for nothing, I have worked with nurses with heavy pt loads who were under stress who treated me with nothing but respect. So it IS possible to be stressed out and not bite someone's head off when for example, the student reminds them that they are not allowed to give meds through a port or PICC line.(even though they are informed of this by the INSTRUCTOR beforehand. One time I didn't remind them and the med wasn't given and I got yelled at because, " You should have told me," even though they were already told)I have a class who is very respectful. We don't throw are notebooks all over or sit at the nurses station talking about our weekend. We are there to learn. It isn't as though each student has their own personal instructor, so if we have to "bother" you from time to time, so be it.

Yes-you and Mario are completely above reproach. Cry out that you are being treated "like sh*t" for no reason in clinical or you are being mobbed here because someone is saying something that you don't want to hear....I don't feel that I have to qualify every single statement that I make here or dilute my message to be p.c. Bottom line-you refuse to see that when you have a problem YOU MAY be a contributing factor....If you don't want to hear the other side of this topic then you should post it in the student nursing forum.....by posting it here you full well know that you are getting feedback from real working nurses.....If you want to commiserate you'll find that other students will tell you what you want to hear ....

[Dr. Kate, BSN, RN]

Reading through this thread and catching up from late last week got me thinking. I can remember many of the patients and some of their names from my student experience (almost 30 years ago) but I cannot remember even one nurse's name, only one comes vaguely to mind if I think very hard and that was because of the way she answered the phone. I have no recall of any significant interaction with any working nurse while on clinicals. I o not think this is a good thing; I don't think I thought it was a good thing at the time, but didn't know any better. By the time I was licensed I had decided that students were important and needed any experience they could get. I set out to help the students and new nurses who came my way, and did get a reputation for being a good one to work with.

If the culture of nursing is ever going to change, it has to start with how we treat your young, both when they are students and as new grads. It is possible to stop the transmission of bad behavior. It's a matter of choice. Sometimes you have to make that choice daily, sometimes hourly, and some days from minute to minute. One of my nursing insturctors (Psych) told of something she did with her children, she would tell them when she was having a bad day, and ask they apreciate that as much as they could. I don't know how well it works with children, I don't have any, but I do know it sure can help if you let people know up front what limits of patience and understanding you may have on a particular day. No one likes surprises. For myself, I have found telling someone I was a bit stressed or having a bad day, not only made the day easier for both of us, but also went a long way to improving the day.

At base I think the truth is that we are all responsible for our own education. If you're not getting what you think you should be getting, it's up to you to find a way to get it.

[Flo1216]

KTWLPN- Wow...I didn't realize that you were actually present during my clinical rotation and witnessed how I and my classmates are sometimes treated. I never told you to qualify anything. And I never said I was " above reproach"(although you seem to believe that YOU are) NOR did I say I did not want to hear the other side of this topic. Nor did I say anyone's message had to be diluted in order to be PC. Please do not put words into my mouth. As for me refusing to believe I have a problem...I don't believe that I do. When I do something wrong or out of line, I will admit it. When my instructor introduces me to a nurse and the nurse right in front of me rolls her eyes and whines, " I have a student today" when I haven't even SAID anything, I think that perhaps someone else has the problem.

[Teshiee]

let's face it for most of us nursing school was pure hell. and just surviving was your mission. unfortunately instead of terrorizing the students it should be in a learning environment. when i came across witchy nurses i would read the chart and look up the information, screw them noone can keep you from learning but you. like i said in my previous thread it doesn't last forever just picture your graduation and taking your boards and getting your license in the mail. then you will realize you had it in you all that time. it would be a perfect world if people were receptive to everyone but they are not i would think something would be wierd if every nurse was cheery all the time. respect is no excuse , though you deserve that. sometimes we nurses forget where we started and should be reminded that it was hard for us too. i wish you the best mario please keep us posted on your success.