Losing respect for nursing students

Nurses General Nursing

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I've always been one that enjoyed having students. Im not one to eat the young. We were all there once. But I feel like I'm losing respect for some of the new students coming out. I guess I'm old school but we did not sit when we were students and we did not stand at the desk and gossip. You did not see a nurse or a doctor standing and a student sitting. Uniforms that look disastrous and hair hanging down. They are at times loud and unruly. Is the respect for our profession gone? Or is it just me?

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I don't find an issue with anyone sitting. Instead, after reading through all of this, and posting a few replies myself, I take more of an issue with those who lack the assertiveness to tell another person to get out of the way. If they roll their eyes, they roll their eyes. You're not insulted or harmed, and the eye roller is merely trying to save face. It's a social reaction among those that aren't trained to do what they're told when they're told, and I can't really blame them for it. I'm not condoning any part of any of this. All I'm saying for all readers is if there's someone in your seat tell them to move, get out of the way, un*** the chair, go sit over there, or any number of common phrases. As a student, worker, or any other role if I don't have something I feel like I should be doing I'm going to sit down.

I got my seat all right. My comment is more about the lack of awareness they seemed to have. It's not just about chairs.

FWIW, although it was a long time ago, I remember my clinical days quite well, and we sure didn't have time to site around chit-chatting or whatever.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Off topic, but when OCNRN63 and I talk - we take over....

Why can you NOT pull a football player's hair. If he's got hair down to his butt, well, to me you should be able to pull it. When I was in grade school the boys pulled the girls hair - and nobody penalized them for it. Now that men want to be women, and get extensions and everything (not even real folks) they want to have their cake and eat it too. IDK, maybe it's because extensions are not cheap?

Testify!

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I think a lot of things are to blame. I'm a new nurse but I think when you look at society as a whole, they've become more relaxed. I'm 34 and I hate what cellphones have done. I hate that you go to a wedding and people show up wearing jeans with holes and a sloppy tshirt. I wear jeans (sometimes with holes) and tshirts. I do have an iphone and check facebook from it. But I was raised that there's a time and place for everything. At work, my hair is pulled back neatly and my phone is put away in my purse with the ringer on silent. My scrubs are clean and not wrinkled.

In school, it was hit or miss with clinical instructors. My first clinical instructor never set clear expectations about paperwork with us. SHe would swing back and forth on various issues. To be honest, none of us had a clue where we stood or if we were even screwing up. Learning is a process. Yes, in that first semester you're not going to be great, but it's also the responsibility of the instructors to help you build on what you know. Actually grade my paperwork and help me expand, don't do the work for me, but be a little more specific on why you gave me the grade you did. Another one of mine always wore this sweatsuit type outfits and looked like she had just rolled out of bed.

I have also been on units where students weren't welcomed. Sometimes it was a whole unit; other times it was a specific nurse or two. Some units were helpful in telling us which computers were going to be open for us to use.

If my school asked me today what they could do to make the program better, I would tell them that one of the first things they need to teach is communicating with doctors and other nurses- not just the general communications/speech class they make everyone take. And I would like to see more opportunities for students to shadow a nurse before going to clinicals so that they can observe how a typical work day goes, how the nurse speaks to others, etc. Oh, and screen their adjunct instructors a little better.

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Ha. Try going to school in the army as a medic or as an LPN. Wait, these students wouldn't even make it past boot camp (8 weeks) let alone enter AIT (Advance Individual Training) to be a medic or an LPN. They'd be toast (smoked) sitting around like that or bull crapping at the nurses station. In the U.S. Army, you have 8 hours of class or clinics straight up. No bs. None of these 3-4 hours of class and then you go home like in the civilian world. There's no individuals ether. Everybody has each others back and every thing is dress-right-dress. Afterwards, the class heads back to the barracks to do details (chores) , train (you're still a soldier with an M-16A2 rifle), and study. You mess up in your class, you'll get recycled which sucks if your classmates end up graduating ahead of you. Too bad the U.S. Army got rid of their RN classes. I would have definitely stayed in the army for that.

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Ha. Try going to school in the army as a medic or as an LPN. Wait, these students wouldn't even make it past boot camp (8 weeks) let alone enter AIT (Advance Individual Training) to be a medic or an LPN. They'd be toast (smoked) sitting around like that or bull crapping at the nurses station. In the U.S. Army, you have 8 hours of class or clinics straight up. No bs. None of these 3-4 hours of class and then you go home like in the civilian world. There's no individuals ether. Everybody has each others back and every thing is dress-right-dress. Afterwards, the class heads back to the barracks to do details (chores) , train (you're still a soldier with an M-16A2 rifle), and study. You mess up in your class, you'll get recycled which sucks if your classmates end up graduating ahead of you. Too bad the U.S. Army got rid of their RN classes. I would have definitely stayed in the army for that.

How can you compare apples to oranges? They're talking about people in nursing school not the military. If they wanted the environment you describe they'd have joined the military. If I 20 year old girl wanted to don SAPI plates and snuggle up with a rifle I'm sure she'd choose differently. The most distressing thing they'll do is wipe some butts.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
How can you compare apples to oranges? They're talking about people in nursing school not the military. If they wanted the environment you describe they'd have joined the military. If I 20 year old girl wanted to don SAPI plates and snuggle up with a rifle I'm sure she'd choose differently. The most distressing thing they'll do is wipe some butts.

I'm also confused when there are posts like this.

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Specializes in Neuro, Trauma, and Psych.

Hi I just wanted to say thank you to person who posted the OP and to everyone else. I will start nursing school in a few months and I probably would have not be aware of some of these issues! Now I can be mindful of my appearance and I will know how to show respect on the unit. I've worked with students but only when I was PCT and Mental Health Tech but I didn't pay attention to whether or not they were professional (I was always too busy). Things are so much different than when I used to see my mom polishing her white nursing shoes, but hopefully my generation can maintain the dignity and respect that this field deserves.

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I'm also confused when there are posts like this.

It's an attempt to compare cultures. The military is (largely) a culture where situational awareness and respect based on a rank structure still exist. TheMediaLies makes a great point.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

It's an attempt to compare cultures. The military is (largely) a culture where situational awareness and respect based on a rank structure still exist. TheMediaLies makes a great point.

^Agree...coming from a military family, I can see the many similarities in nursing...think it actually helped me survive this long without burnout, lol!

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It's an attempt to compare cultures. The military is (largely) a culture where situational awareness and respect based on a rank structure still exist. TheMediaLies makes a great point.

That seems pointless to compare opposing cultures. That's l saying, "You ought to handle up on those aggressive patients because if you were a police officer you'd tase them."

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Specializes in Critical Care.

i only got my RN and started working on the floor in january, so i remember very vividly what being a student is like. i remember it being nerve wracking and i also remember feeling in the way.

heres my biggest issue: if schools don't offer a practicum where a student essentially becomes the coordinator of care for a patient, aka, actually being allowed to have a sign on in the computer, being able to chart, having a hospital phone/pager so s/he can learn to enter orders, be notified about critical lab values, call a doctor and try to understand what orders they just said, etc.

i always always always loved the nurses who in the am would print out my patient's eMar, pertinent hx and AM labs for me without me having to ask literally 5x and then it is almost 915 am and my professor is tapping her foot angrily because i don't know what the K+ level is.

that said, it should seem commonplace and common sense not to steal and hoard a patient's chart. i also don't know why they would want it considering 1/2 of it is scribbles.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

AND to boot, when staff points out to "uhh, down the hall..." as to where the supply closet is, does not inform a student what the code is to a locked room, and doesnt even give a hint as to which wall i could find versiva and collagen dressings, the staff will yes, most likely wait a while for the student to come back. i think most schools do a half bottomed job at facility orientation

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