I am very worried

[Ms.Migraine]

Hello!

This is my first post here, sorry it is a rant...but I needed badly to let this out.

I have been a LPN for 25 years, and work in a small nursing home.

A nursing student who hopes to become a registered nurse works as one of our assistants on the evening shift.

One evening, she was reading fast food menus in the dining room while sitting next to an elderly woman with dementia who needs to be fed by the staff.

I asked her to feed the woman...came back ten minutes later (I was passing medications) and found her still reading the menus and talking about what she wanted to eat while the plate of food in front of the elderly woman grew colder.

I asked her once again to feed the woman and put the menus down. If looks could kill I'd be a dead woman, but she finally fed her.

After the meal, she came to me and another nurse actually complaining she was bored with her assignment and had almost nothing to do.

We suggested she help another assistant who was swallowed in a heavier assignment, or to give a shower that was scheduled for the next shift.

She refused, feeling that it was unfair for her to be expected to do another person's work.

She then went to lunch.

When she returned, I asked her again to help the other assistant and was met with a blank stare.

After having the RN supervisor move her to another floor where she could be directly observed by her, she came downstairs and loudly complained several times that I did not allow her to work on my floor!

She tried several times to draw me into an argument, purposefully hanging around in the hallway distracting my aides who WERE working.

I chose to ignore her behavior, glad she wasn't assigned to my residents.

I experience this same scenario more often these days on the job, where I often train young people who are new assistants or new nurses.

They have passed the exams .... but few of them have the basic necessary ingredient to be a health care worker.

COMPASSION

She has not yet figured this out, and still feels I was being unfair.

The girl without compassion who fails to realize her error has a wonderful career of neglect and abuse ahead which are all very legally juicy terms in our field of work. If she would ONLY listen NOW to the mean old nurse......

I'm afraid many people in a lousy economy will enter nursing school for the pay and not have any grasp on the basics.

There are some things they don't teach at the university....and most of us old timers entered nursing when it paid barely above minimum wage. We WANTED to be nurses.

Please!

I would like to hear what other nursing students or assistants here might have to say.

[ToxicShock]

I'm afraid many people in a lousy economy will enter nursing school for the pay and not have any grasp on the basics.

There are some things they don't teach at the university....and most of us old timers entered nursing when it paid barely above minimum wage. We WANTED to be nurses.

I couldn't agree with you more.

I want to be a nurse very much, and I would be devastated if the schmucks that got accepted into school over me were ones who don't even want to be there in the first place, but rather just for the money. This thought makes me very angry and frustrated because there is nothing I can do about it.

[nurselsteele]

Guidence- instead of giving "options" give her "directions", you are done with your work, you are now assigned to this "whatever" , this doesnt give her an option to say "no" or refuse to do it!

Attitude-you have to stop those in their tracks, if she is "hanging out" to provoke you, simply say: Are you assigned to this unit? if you please return to your duty station. And show authority without letting her provoke you.

it seems like she is trying hard to get under your skin. DON"T let her, thats what she wants.

Assignments: when giving assignments, do you write them down? if not than start, create an assignment sheet for your staff, add (and other duties assigned to you by your supervisor), thats what I do & it leaves the door for "you go do this now please" wide open!!

Just some things i have learned over the years!!!

Good Luck!!

Lori

[rngolfer53]

Looks to me less an issue of compassion than just plain laziness.

I make visits to homes, LTCs, and assisted living facilities at night. I'm amazed at the number of staff members at some, make that many, of the LTC facilities who are asleep, watching TV, or doing absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, you can smell the urine the moment you pull into the parking lot.

[DDRN4me]

unfortunately, i too have seen this lack of work ethic in our young generation.

I was an aide at 16; and desperately wanted to be a nurse even then. The nurse i worked with was an elderly, very old school RN who taught me everything she could while i was with her. She was my "Flo Nightengale"

Perhaps taking a different approach and trying to mentor her with a few learning experiences (even though she makes you cringe) might give her that encouragement to work a little harder so she can gain something from the experience besides a paycheck.

[snowdog85]

I wonder what type of nursing school this girl is going to... I'm thankful that the instructors at Adirondack Community College focus such a great deal on care. I'm sure many of you know what I mean by this. Not simply giving physical care, but hollistic, true, compassionate care. The instructors I have had, ask for journals and essays to know what type of person you actually are. I have been working in the human service field for almost 15 years now. Taking the step from residential to acute care has been a great experience. I can't quite comprehend how new nursing professionals would not enjoy assisting others to feel comfort. I must be lucky...

[linzz]

I wonder if she thinks that certain tasks aren't her job because she is an RN student. Now we all know that is not true but perhaps someone needs to explain to her that nursing includes all care, not just charting and meds and that as mentioned above, neglect can be a real career killer.

Would it help to give her a list of things to do during the shift and explain why these things are opportunities to learn.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

I hear you loud and clear MsMigraine!

I have wanted to be a nurse since as long as I can remember. Life had other things in store for me but then things worked out and I was able to start LPN school. I was thrilled. And once classes started that thrilled feeling changed to dread. I was in a class, where the majority of the students, didn't really like nursing, much less people! They were rude, cold, and obnoxious to the residents/patients during clinicals, always saying how much they hate "this work". The main reason most of them were in nursing was the huge (snicker) paycheck most thought they would get after the got their licenses. I was disgusted to think that they were ONLY there because they thought it was a fast and easy way to make some decent money.

A lot of them didn't know their backside from their elbow in terms of general nursing knowledge, yet they kept passing the tests with A's! It finally dawned on me how, they were cheating!

Long story short, fast forward, we all graduate, we all passed the NCLEX and we all got jobs. However, the ones who just wanted that "quick, easy pay" have all been "let go" from their positions and are now working at their 2nd job...(most of them took the NCLEX in August!). I guess their employeers are seeing what their fellow classmates saw long ago..they don't want to be nurses, they don't like to be nurses, and they have no problems telling/showing you this.

But there are those of us who truely want to be nurses, who understand what it takes, and who show compassion and good nursing each and every day :)

[Acosmo27]

gosh, sometimes its hard for me to believe that these kind of people actually exist!

[RheatherN, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

i agree with most of everything said about the younger generation. i have helped some ns that feel when they are out of school- they are going to make money and live it up. that they give meds and blah and not even think things thru.

BUT on the flipside- i sure hope you see that there are also ppl that are in nrsing, i have one specific aid i work with that is incompetent and she has been there for a long enuf time to know. so i really hope that its not just about talking down about ppl because they are younger, because i am younger and am a darn great nurse that has wanted this for a long time too. i work my tail off, not only for myself but others. and its about the person, not always the age. i think that girl you are talking about is just off! lol..

Sorry so long, i wasnt trying to be rude, but i am a little offended because it seems that it is focused because she is younger. i am younger.

-H-RN

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I'm thankful that the instructors at Adirondack Community College focus such a great deal on care.

Hey, I'm up the Northway from you, in Ti. Went to NCCC for the LPN, Excelsior for the RN! :)

I can't make generalizations about young people. Most are marvelous, some are lazy, just like my generation. Sounds like the OP is stuck with a snot.

[RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN]

It's terrible to have to work with people like this. As if nursing work isn't hard enough that we have to deal with this on top of everything else.

Just come out and tell her that if she doens't want to do the job, STAY HOME, and that you'll find another student or employee that wants to do it.