Nasty medical students

[Tony35NYC]

We have a number of them on our floor since the past few weeks, and we can't wait for them to leave. Their clinical instructor is an abomination. She is very rude and disrespectful to the floor staff, and she encourages her students to do the same. You can't say anything at all to these people because they think they know everything and that they are God. Whenever they ask us anything, no matter what we say, their response is usually some rude or sarcastic remark. Also, they often take all the charts and clipboards into their conferences, and if the nurses need to make any references or do any charting its usually a hassle to get them even for a few minutes. Today I heard one of them telling one of the floor nurses that she is "only a nurse" just because she made a comment about the deteriorating status of one of her patients that he was assigned to. These people aren't even out of school yet and already thay have this bad attitude!

Later in the afternoon I was assisting a PCA with a totally dependent pt when a group of the med students came into the room. The pt was an adolescent with CP (quadriplegia case with severe joint contractures) who needed assistance with everything and the PCA was now trying to feed her. I was so shocked when the MD rudely shoved the PCA aside and said she and her students need to immediately access the patient to do an assessment. Never mind that there was no emergency and they were disrupting the patient's meal just so they could poke and stare at her and use high-sounding medical language to talk about her condition. There was something kinda surreal about the whole experience. Isn't medicine supposed to be all about dignified care of the patient? When did it become all about the egos of self-important physicians?

This MD and her students obviously feel they are better than the nursing staff but I wonder how much patient care they really think they could ever get done without us. I also wonder what kind of life these people go home to at the end of the day after being such total b*tches to everyone around them.

Sorry for the vent, but I just had to get that out! :)

[markjrn]

the MD rudely shoved the PCA aside

If anyone "shoved" me, he would be dealing with my attorney and assault charges.

[MacNurse]

Maybe it's time to start calling 'code pink". Anytime there is a altercation, call a code pink, and any nurse around can come and stand near the med student/doc, and start documenting the inapropriate behaviour....might help...

I know how hard it can be to deal with people like this, I often find myself not saying anything because you're so flabbergasted that anyone actually behaves in this way..... :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

[doggiedaddy]

Anytime there is a altercation, call a code pink...

look you already have problems with attracting men to this field, and now you want them to run and scream "Code Pink! Code Pink!" any time some MD says something mean ?

lol

:chuckle

[stevierae]

We rarely, if ever, have problems with residents (and NEVER medical students) in the operating room. They know that the R.N. is in charge of the room, and they know that they are expendable---the surgeons know us and trust us, whereas, with them, in 3 months they will be gone and forgotten--just about the time we recall their names and their glove sizes on sight, they are replaced by a new crop of residents and med students.

They also know that we can make their lives miserable (or delightful) and they know that, if they come to us as interns, they will be back as 2nd years and 4th and possibly 5th year residents--so it would behoove them to stay on our good sides.

When I am confronted with a new crop of residents or med students, the very first thing I tell them is that "I don't do beepers (or cell phones)" so they need to leave these items at the front desk. If they want to argue about it, they can take it up with their attending----who will back me. They need to learn to delegate their floor duties to fellow residents and med students before they scrub in to my room, because in my room, my responsibility is to the patient on the table----not the patients on the floors.

You have to remember something about residents and med students. In the Navy, we used to say "The only thing lower than a resident or a med student is whale s**t." They know this, and often feel as if they are at the bottom of the food chain, and need to assert whatever authority (which is negligible) once in a while. They're harmless. Just ignore them. Tell them to read "House of God" and get a grasp on where they are in the scheme of things.

Whenever I get attitude from an intern or a resident (the fellows are the worst) I just give them a scathing look and say, "You know, at the med school you may be a really important guy-----but here, you are just one of countless nameless residents before you, and there will be many after you."

It's rare that I get attitude, however. I am pretty easy to get along with, and the residents and med students I encounter seem to pick up on that, and act accordingly.

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

look you already have problems with attracting men to this field, and now you want them to run and scream "Code Pink! Code Pink!" any time some MD says something mean ?

lol

:chuckle

Not to worry doggie, code pink is already taken - it's the infant abduction code. The infantile behavior code will have to be something else.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Not to worry doggie, code pink is already taken - it's the infant abduction code. The infantile behavior code will have to be something else.

I had a third-year student pat me on the shoulder the other day and tell me I'd done a real nice job making the bed. I'm so glad I spent those hours in front of the mirror learning to raise one eyebrow, reeeeeeeeal slow. I think he actually thought he was being nice, but he looked like he wanted to pee his pants, lol.

[Mermaid4]

I take the group of little medical students who have this sort of mentality and remind them that as a nurse, I will advocate for my patient, and if that means stopping rude behavior in its tracks and the behavior is by them, I will tell, not ask the instructor and remind them that while they are students, I am staff and they are reminded (gently and with humor at first), that in any discussion or "war" between them and me, I win....Period. Works every time.

[rn29306]

And you wonder where the attitude comes from? Follow this link and see what Canadian med students have to say about the nursing profession.

http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/news/2005jul/08_edmonton_j.html

Please write the letters supplied and be a voice in making a change - or at least be heard.

[MacNurse]

look you already have problems with attracting men to this field, and now you want them to run and scream "Code Pink! Code Pink!" any time some MD says something mean ?

lol

:chuckle

:chuckle

well, i've heard of it used before, with effective results! Code pink is nothing at our hospital! :chuckle

Considering most of the other colours are used, what about code beige? :chuckle

[julieK]

whats wrong with this argument? pharmacists dont have to "stand up" and demand respect. engineers dont have to "stand up" and demand respect. lawyers dont have to... um... well, never mind about lawyers, you see what i'm saying.

nurses, regardless of formal education, are highly skilled professionals and are invaluable to the medical profession.. the problem here is in public perception.

like it or not, nursing has long had the public (mis)perception of being a female, blue-collar, vocation that consists largely of changing sheets and emptying bedpans.

obviously, nurses have been struggling for some time to change this image, and get the respect that their profession deserves.

however, in the 21st century, it is different than it was in 1960 or 1970. A bachelor's degree is now the rule, not the exception, for any profession. and that's just the *minimum*

this public mis-perception, of nursing as a blue-collar vocation, will continue to persist until nurses consolidate their ranks, protect their title, and require a minimum formal education that is equivalent to other medical professions.

I could not have said any of this better myself. The debate is not whether a BSN a better nurse makes. Of course it doesn't. The point is that every single other professions requires at least a bachelor's degree for entry-level practice and nursing will never be given the respect it deserves until it does the same.

-Julie in NYC

[new_mom26]

My 74 year old father was in the hospital last november for some health problems. A med student came into the room to evaluate my dad and she looked at me and said "With your dad's health problems "I" am going to make him a no code.." Didn't even bother to ask me what I wanted since I am his POA.. I seriously thought I was in a bad dream!! The next day I had my father transferred to another hospital..

[z's playa]

whats wrong with this argument? pharmacists dont have to "stand up" and demand respect. engineers dont have to "stand up" and demand respect. lawyers dont have to... um... well, never mind about lawyers, you see what i'm saying.

nurses, regardless of formal education, are highly skilled professionals and are invaluable to the medical profession.. the problem here is in public perception.

like it or not, nursing has long had the public (mis)perception of being a female, blue-collar, vocation that consists largely of changing sheets and emptying bedpans.

obviously, nurses have been struggling for some time to change this image, and get the respect that their profession deserves.

however, in the 21st century, it is different than it was in 1960 or 1970. A bachelor's degree is now the rule, not the exception, for any profession. and that's just the *minimum*

this public mis-perception, of nursing as a blue-collar vocation, will continue to persist until nurses consolidate their ranks, protect their title, and require a minimum formal education that is equivalent to other medical professions.

You know what? I read the other post you wrote before this one and I was all pissed off .

Then I came back and read this one where what you said in other post was clarified. And I get it. I totally see what you mean.

It ain't right. But I agree. I've actually had a friend of the family ask me if I wsa one of the nurses getting the 'crappy diploma degree' (his words) or was I getting an 'actual degree'. :angryfire

I wanted to slap him. :argue:

Hard.

But I see what you mean concerning the public and their so called confusion/ignorance or misconceptions.

The protect my a** part of the posting: I do NOT think LPNs, APNs or anybody with a diploma is crappy. These were not my words. I respect all nurses.

Z