Losing respect for nursing students

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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?

I would just like to say that my instructors wouldn't put up with that crap. One told us a story of a block 2 student who refused to do a bed bath for his patient because he did that last semester. Guess what he did ALL DAY LONG??? Bedbaths. For everyone. All day.

Our uniforms have to be clean and pressed. No cell phones on your person. No earrings or necklaces. No nail polish. All white shoes and socks, and I mean ALL white. Hair up and out of your face. Tattoos covered.

It may be just that school or that instructor. Ours takes our appearance very seriously.

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In my experience, some students , newer nurses and aides seem to have a chip on their shoulder because of the age difference. Someone who is a lot younger is delegating to them or teaching them. I don't like teaching or orienting. Usually a lot more hassle than it is worth. I don't think it is really an age or generation issue. Even the straight out of hs students are NOT much younger than I am and some are less than 10years younger than some of the doctors (residents). Respect os a two way street ..... but some students need to remember who the professionals are and who the pt really needs. I have taken over doing procedures when it is not being done correctly or in antimely manner. Nothing wrong with that. pts shouldnt be harmed for the sake of an experience or learning. I also can not believe how lazy some nurses and aides are and expect to have students do their jobs and have the nerve to complain when the student didn't do this or that...... pathetic.....

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THIS!

I just finished my block one clinical rotation yesterday. There were quite a few CNAs that thought we were there to do their jobs for them. Our instructor simply told us that learning to be assertive was part of our educational process and that we needed to tell them we were there to learn how to be nurses. If we had time to help, great, but I wasn't about to miss helping with a Foley insertion to do vitals for all their patients or help in the dining room.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.
I've been nursing for over 25 years, so I think I am quite skilled to have a student. That doesn't mean that I have 15 minutes to waste explaining why an elevated INR is an expected result of being on Coumadin. Not know this indicates to me that the student has not done enough research into the meds their pt is on, or the pts past medical history.

Even nurses with twenty five years can be very bad. And based on what you said, it sounds like you may not be compatible with a student.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

I don't believe all "fresh out of high school" or young people should be grouped together as lazy and wanting everything handed to them. I am 21 years old. I am about to start my fourth semester (out of five). I work very hard for everything. My school is strict regarding dress code. Our uniforms must be ironed, No jewelry except for studs in the ears, all white shoes with no scuffs or dirt, no fingernail polish and nails must be trimmed, and hair must be off the collar. I have no problem abiding to these rules. There are nurses at the hospital where I do clinicals at who have fake nails (eww, can you say MRSA?!), wear their hair down completely (Hope you don't have to do any wound care), etc. I am an old soul, though, even though I am young in age.

I work really hard in clinicals by taking shift report with the nurse I will be working with. I take it on all patients even if I am only responsible for one. I want to be aware of what my nurse is doing throughout the day, not with just my patient, but all the patients he or she has. I do sit for a bit to look up any medications I don't know, but if I see someone coming, I immediately offer my seat to them. I also like to review patient history and look up anything I may not understand. I do my assessment and then pass meds. I will not pass meds with a patient that I haven't assessed or looked up their history, and I will not give meds that I don't understand completely. Oh, and I don't use the computers, I use my phone to look up the information, just so I am not in others' way. After I've taken care of morning meds and assisting the patient I'm responsible for, I find my nurse and help her with whatever she may need help with.

So, don't assume that just because I am fresh out of high school (started pre-requistes immediately following high school graduation) and am 21 (and look like I'm 14) that I am lazy and incompetent. Keep in mind that this is the NORMAL age for people to be in college. Yes, there are people my age who are immature, but not all.

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Specializes in Pain, critical care, administration, med.

Pepper the cat,

25 yrs of experience and patience to help a student figure it out. It's about asking the right questions to stimulate their mind. It's the reason they are students. You were once a student and I am sure you didn't get things every time hopefully those that helped you were patient and kind. Nursing school is different then real world learning.

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No sitting? Is this some sort of a joke? You're supposed to stand for 8 hours without a break? They can sit all they want. Unlike for you, I'm sure their knees will be thanking them fifty years down the road.

haha! Not only stand up for 8-12 hours, you're not supposed to take time to pee while you're on the clock, and you're supposed to skip your meal and skip all breaks, too. The job is not about you; it's about *caring.*

Yeah, pfft on that. All of the self-sacrifice and ridiculous running oneself into the ground to do a job is why I decided that med lab was where I want to be. Not nursing, because the culture of nursing is bat guano self-destructive crayzee.

I was an older student, over age 50. I didn't and I still don't consider myself subordinate to the actual nurses, or to the doctors, for that matter. If the docs don't like the way the nurses do the nurse job, then I'd just tell the doc that we'll all be glad to step aside and let the docs do it all. True, I don't know everything there is to know about nursing. And also true, I was wasting my time on clinicals much of the time, because the instructor was nowhere to be found, and the actual nurses had too much to do and no time to instruct or direct students. But I in no way feel inferior to the nurses. I've already had 20 years of career, and I know I am very capable.

eta: My other comment on students "sitting around" on clinicals is maybe they are sitting because they are exhausted, mentally and physically. The school I attended was the worst-designed program, ever. The clinicals were not sync'd with lectures, so you sometimes had your clinical ahead of covering that mat'sl in class, and sometimes a month or to after you covered it in class. That made it like going to two different RN schools at the same time. My 2nd year housemate would do a 12-hr clinical shift, 7-7, then come home and study and do paperwork literally until 2-4AM, then grab a few hours sleep, and have to be back on the floor at 6:30AM the next day to do it all over again. At the end of my 1st year, we were sitting through 3 days of yapping lectures all day, studying all night, and clinical all day Thur and Fri.

WORST school experience I have ever had. It did nothing but grind students into the ground plus make C students out of capable people who'd be A or B in any college or university program that had a sensible schedule.

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.. I have, however, seen students from other programs doing this and it makes me so mad! So, no, I don't think it has to do with the profession or the age (the students I have encountered being disrespectful and acting like they know it all have surprisingly been some older students, and some who already have a degree who feel they already know it all...like I said, some, not all, so I am not judging)! It has to do with, somewhat the program they come from, and what kind of person they are. If they act like that as a student, I'm not going to want them as a co-worker!

Just a piece of advice from the other side of the fence: Nursing is far, far, far behind many other professions in regards to fair and respectful treatment of employees, the level of personnel protection provided, and the concept of empowerment. It is a culture all its own. As a career-changer entering the nursing field cold, with no prior knowledge of the culture of the nursing profession, I was shocked at how disrespectfully nurses are treated by all, and at the meanness and all of the dust-ups over very petty things like personality differences. Women should realize that work is not about relationships. Work is about work. You can like someone or not like someone, and it really makes no difference, because you are there to do a job and you can still work together. Even if you hate each other. Men accomplish this feat all the time.

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I've only been out of nursing school for a year and a half. And, I am an older, mature student (48 years old!). My take on being a serious student in the clinical setting is this: the whole situation is pretty frustrating for both sides. This thread is about the nurses side of the issue so I will make my case for the student's side of the issue. Nursing school is stressful. They assign too much work with too little time to do it. And, now a days, they don't bother to teach either- its on power points and online at least partly. So, basically, you have to teach yourself. Plus, the hands on instruction time is very limited so you graduate with little experience.

For me when I went into the hospitals, I would pick a quiet time in the evening before clinical. That way I knew my patient would still be there the next morning. But, this was tiring because it meant I had to do a bunch of paperwork and miss out on sleep before clinicals. It was always challenging getting the computer and space needed to pre-plan. And, that was frustrating. I understand that the patient comes first but in nursing school, time is short and you are just trying to survive. Maybe it was an hour long commute to and from the facility and you then have to plan, do the write up, and get back again the next morning. So, i understand why students are at the computers and workstations. I think the whole set up stinks.

In my experience, though, we weren't hanging around gossiping at the desk. Maybe my school was stricter. But, there wasn't the time. you were fighting for a chance at the computers and needed to document and research. One nice thing about today is that many facilities could print out a patient kardex so you could pull research from it to get started.

I have yet to be shadowed by a student as the nurse, I imagine it is frustrating. Wish there was a solution to the problem of logistics when these two objects- nurse and student-try to occupy the same space!

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Specializes in ED.

When I was in nursing school, the nurses that generally didn't have a good attitude to help train us were the ones that were running their butts off and I think generally burnt from it. I have a slightly different take on it now looking back.

I even remember one who literally yelled at me in the middle of the burn unit when I told her I was assigned to her patient, asking politely for a report. Yeah I was embarrased, but to her credit she was running and really didn't have time for me. I just tryed to pick up on what I could from the doorway since I couldn't step foot inside the room without report, and I stayed out of the way.

And sure, some just don't have the right attitude to teach but thats why they arn't teaching.

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(Hey, what happened to my quote?)

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I guess that all-in-all we have been lucky. We tend to get really good students. It probably helps that they all know that if the instructor gets a call they get a clinical failure. Two clinical failures and you are out to the program. Heck, up to about 7 years ago the students all still wore whites.

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