I totally get it now. As a student, I thought it would be great having students around, but after last week, I don't think I even wan to take students EVER!
Granted, I've been on the floor around 9 months, and shouldn't even take students, the students are assigned to individual pts and not the nurse.
I had a LPN in a LPN-RN program. Within 5 mins, she shares that she has been a nurse for 20 years and doesn't see the point of being here. She helped me do a dressing change on a pt with an stage 4 ulcer on the coccyx. While lifting her, I tell her not to pull on the bottom, but from the shoulders and knees, she scoffs and continues. I ask her to step away. Pt was on tube feeding and I had paused it before starting the dressing change, but I had also spiked a bag of antibiotics and wanted to be sure it was running before I continued and asked her to turn the pole towards me so I can be sure. She presses buttons on the feeding pump and IV pump and the tells me the feeding is off. Im in the middle of the dressing change and say, I need to see it (the iv pump and now feeding pump) and asks again for her to turn the pole and she insists that it is off. I stop in the middle of my dressing change and go to look at the pump. Take her aside and tell her not to come back in my pts room.
This isn't the first time have worked with students like this. I once had a guy nurse that just knew EVERYTHING there was to know about nursing. It was painful talking to him.
I just can't believe how obnoxious some of these students are. I totally get why so many nurses can't stand taking students. We do have awesome students every now and then, but it seems most of them take up space and talk all day.
Pausing tube feedings is one of the stupidest things that nurses do religiously... nothing like saving a patient from potentially aspirating on 4.8cc's of additional TF.
wow, just WOW!
You bet your butt I'm going to pause my tube feeds when I am laying a pt down. I'm in the business to help people, not kill them.
I'm failing to still see why this was problematic, maybe he knew all the questions that were being asked of him. Or went above and beyond such as, ill check his labs because this can effect this etc...I guess i'm confused, should he have just pretended he didnt know anything?
Not the type of know it all I mean. You just couldn't teach this particular student anything. He had never worked in healthcare and just believed everything he read on the internet. Like he was trying to explain to me the best way for me to get into the ICU. He already had a plan to work as a flight nurse within a short time of getting out of school.
Don't let that leave you negative. I like nursing but honestly there a lot attitudes and personalities in nursing. Nursing attracts all kinds and nursing is changing to mostly RN dominated where LPNs use to be. LPNs are being marginalized a lot so I get her feelings that she already knows it all but this is her poor attitude and should not reflect on you or all students. I highly respected LPNs as fellow professionals and understand professional frustration but she choose to bridge to RN so her poor attitude is on her. Sorry for that mini power struggle but stay positive and request she be put with another in future. Keep taking students though as they are next generation. The few great RNs that took me under wings made me who I am and I am grateful!
You bet your butt I'm going to pause my tube feeds when I am laying a pt down. I'm in the business to help people, not kill them.
There is no reason to pause tube feeds when laying a patient flat, it's an old myth that never really had any good supporting rationale and has been thoroughly debunked for some time now, is this something you were taught in a nursing program recently?
Gastric volumes of around 200ml are typical, if you don't pause the tube feeding they could have about 200mls in their stomach, if you do pause the tube feeding they will still have the same amount. Pausing the tube feeding doesn't somehow remove all the volume from their stomach and has no real effect on the amount, so there is no known benefit to this practice. Studies have shown however that patients miss typically 1-2 hours worth of tube feeding, mostly due to delays in turning the feeding back on, and they are also at much higher risk for severe hypoglycemic episodes. So basically, there is no potential benefit, only potential harm to this practice.
As a nursing student, I was very disheartened in reading this. I think this is a two-sided fence. I graduate in May, and during my clinical time I have got to share experiences and learn from great/fabulous nurses, but also ones that were very questionable. I have always tried my best to be respectful and helpful to the nurses on the floor. I think that people often forget students are still learning and that they are bound to make a mistake. Rather than lose your cool and embarrass a student, why not make it a learning opportunity and mold them into what you are expecting?
For those that forget what it was like to be a student, I reference the phrase, "Nurses eat their young." I remember multiple times hearing fellow colleagues talking about the awful things their nurses said to them or made them feel simply because they misunderstood or weren't sure. Yes, this job is stressful and you are trying to provide the most competent care possible, but you have to remember as a preceptor/model for a student, that you are representing the industry, not just yourself. Those students will remember you, maybe not your name, but they will remember their experience with you and whether it was a positive or negative one. Don't be the nurse that students remember as "the nurse they don't want to be like."
I can see both sides and the reasons for frustration, yet I think it is unfair to immediately say that you don't want students anymore when you were one not so long ago. I also don't think that it is fair to say the last comment that you did, as it is can come across as very offensive to students that can read these posts. I hope you have better luck and experiences in the future with students.
As a nursing student, I was very disheartened in reading this. I think this is a two-sided fence. I graduate in May, and during my clinical time I have got to share experiences and learn from great/fabulous nurses, but also ones that were very questionable. I have always tried my best to be respectful and helpful to the nurses on the floor. I think that people often forget students are still learning and that they are bound to make a mistake. Rather than lose your cool and embarrass a student, why not make it a learning opportunity and mold them into what you are expecting?
For those that forget what it was like to be a student, I reference the phrase, "Nurses eat their young." I remember multiple times hearing fellow colleagues talking about the awful things their nurses said to them or made them feel simply because they misunderstood or weren't sure. Yes, this job is stressful and you are trying to provide the most competent care possible, but you have to remember as a preceptor/model for a student, that you are representing the industry, not just yourself. Those students will remember you, maybe not your name, but they will remember their experience with you and whether it was a positive or negative one. Don't be the nurse that students remember as "the nurse they don't want to be like."
I can see both sides and the reasons for frustration, yet I think it is unfair to immediately say that you don't want students anymore when you were one not so long ago. I also don't think that it is fair to say the last comment that you did, as it is can come across as very offensive to students that can read these posts. I hope you have better luck and experiences in the future with students.
Word to the wise: Take the use of the phrase Nurses Eat Their Young (NETY) out of your vocabulary now. Just do it. You can thank me later.
And has been mentioned multiple times on this thread alone, you as a student have not yet experienced life as an actual nurse. Whereas those nurses who are taking the time to reply have been on both sides of this fence. You cannot possibly have a complete understanding of the issues here.
As a nursing student, I was very disheartened in reading this. I think this is a two-sided fence. I graduate in May, and during my clinical time I have got to share experiences and learn from great/fabulous nurses, but also ones that were very questionable. I have always tried my best to be respectful and helpful to the nurses on the floor. I think that people often forget students are still learning and that they are bound to make a mistake. Rather than lose your cool and embarrass a student, why not make it a learning opportunity and mold them into what you are expecting?
For those that forget what it was like to be a student, I reference the phrase, "Nurses eat their young." I remember multiple times hearing fellow colleagues talking about the awful things their nurses said to them or made them feel simply because they misunderstood or weren't sure. Yes, this job is stressful and you are trying to provide the most competent care possible, but you have to remember as a preceptor/model for a student, that you are representing the industry, not just yourself. Those students will remember you, maybe not your name, but they will remember their experience with you and whether it was a positive or negative one. Don't be the nurse that students remember as "the nurse they don't want to be like."
I can see both sides and the reasons for frustration, yet I think it is unfair to immediately say that you don't want students anymore when you were one not so long ago. I also don't think that it is fair to say the last comment that you did, as it is can come across as very offensive to students that can read these posts. I hope you have better luck and experiences in the future with students.
I quit reading at "As a nursing student." (Ok, not really, but I kind of wanted to).
I've said it frequently: finish your program, get your license, work several years (NOT months...years) at the bedside, then come back. You might have accumulated enough experience to engage in a discussion with actual seasoned nurses.
Until then, ask questions (but forget about "Don't you remember what it was like to be a student/new nurse?" Of course we do. That's why we frequently find you annoying), park attitude and entitlement at the door, be curious, wonder if any of it will ever make sense, actually listen to what those who have gone before have to say, disagree if you feel the need but don't be rude, erase "NETY" from your thoughts, and oh, yeah...park attitude and entitlement at the door. Please.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
As a nursing student, I was very disheartened in reading this. I think this is a two-sided fence. I graduate in May, and during my clinical time I have got to share experiences and learn from great/fabulous nurses, but also ones that were very questionable. I have always tried my best to be respectful and helpful to the nurses on the floor. I think that people often forget students are still learning and that they are bound to make a mistake. Rather than lose your cool and embarrass a student, why not make it a learning opportunity and mold them into what you are expecting?
For those that forget what it was like to be a student, I reference the phrase, "Nurses eat their young." I remember multiple times hearing fellow colleagues talking about the awful things their nurses said to them or made them feel simply because they misunderstood or weren't sure. Yes, this job is stressful and you are trying to provide the most competent care possible, but you have to remember as a preceptor/model for a student, that you are representing the industry, not just yourself. Those students will remember you, maybe not your name, but they will remember their experience with you and whether it was a positive or negative one. Don't be the nurse that students remember as "the nurse they don't want to be like."
I can see both sides and the reasons for frustration, yet I think it is unfair to immediately say that you don't want students anymore when you were one not so long ago. I also don't think that it is fair to say the last comment that you did, as it is can come across as very offensive to students that can read these posts. I hope you have better luck and experiences in the future with students.
You understand what it's like to be a student, but you couldn't possibly see both sides because you have never been an experienced nurse. Don't even. No one has forgotten what it is like to be a student; but you have absolutely no idea what it's like to be on the other side.
Furthermore, advancing the "NETY" theory of newbie/COB interactions weakens any argument you might have had. Go now and gain experience so that maybe in time, you will actually know what you're talking about.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
My, how things have changed.
Way back in the 90's when I went to school, the INSTRUCTORS were on the unit and responsible for our learning opportunities and experiences. We interacted with staff, but less more so than now. And we were told NEVER NEVER congregate in the breakroom, don't take their chairs at the station, and not to ASSUME anything.
There were some amazing nurses who selected some of us to "take under their wing" and show us some great learning opportunities and that was awesome. I appreciated those. There were others who tolerated us merely. And still others, you could tell, did not want us around. I stayed out of all their way and only interjected myself when invited to do so. When offered a chance to see/observe or perform a skill (no matter if I was already checked off or not), I jumped at the opportunity. I thanked those nurses who helped me on my way.
Oh yes, Times have changed. In recent years, when I worked at the hospital, students were being dumped in our unit for clinical rotations and we were left to "teach" them. Some, I was delighted to take on. Others, I had no use for. The ones who came not to learn but to play on their cell phones, take up space in OUR breakroom, and sit around gossiping or studying for their exams. They had ZERO interest in their clinical experiences. I would invite some of them along to observe when working. Some were yawning, standing around, rolling their eyes, and obviously bored. Others were completely willing and able and literally absorbed all we showed them. They were a delight.
But I wondered where in heck their instructors were. NO WHERE to be found. Sometimes, at the other hospital on the other side of town. So they did not get to "do" a lot as I was not taking that responsibility on. I was neither paid nor really in a position to do so.
I feel students were cheated. Paying a LOT of tuition money and not getting a fair return. It stinks.
I agree with those who say, students, we HAVE been where you are. We remember. Yes we get it. But so many of YOU do not. And you have NO idea what it's like being us. That won't come til you are a licensed nurse with several years' experience under your belt. Til then, please spare me the whole "eating our young" thing, as it's a worn-out phrase often used as a tool to try and make us feel sorry for you or feel bad. It doesn't work.
What does impress me, is showing me some respect and interest in what I am doing, and some initiative. I will bend over backward for you then. Otherwise, you get what you give.
I totally get it now. As a student, I thought it would be great having students around, but after last week, I don't think I even wan to take students EVER!
Granted, I've been on the floor around 9 months, and shouldn't even take students, the students are assigned to individual pts and not the nurse.
I had a LPN in a LPN-RN program. Within 5 mins, she shares that she has been a nurse for 20 years and doesn't see the point of being here. She helped me do a dressing change on a pt with an stage 4 ulcer on the coccyx. While lifting her, I tell her not to pull on the bottom, but from the shoulders and knees, she scoffs and continues. I ask her to step away. Pt was on tube feeding and I had paused it before starting the dressing change, but I had also spiked a bag of antibiotics and wanted to be sure it was running before I continued and asked her to turn the pole towards me so I can be sure. She presses buttons on the feeding pump and IV pump and the tells me the feeding is off. Im in the middle of the dressing change and say, I need to see it (the iv pump and now feeding pump) and asks again for her to turn the pole and she insists that it is off. I stop in the middle of my dressing change and go to look at the pump. Take her aside and tell her not to come back in my pts room.
This isn't the first time have worked with students like this. I once had a guy nurse that just knew EVERYTHING there was to know about nursing. It was painful talking to him.
I just can't believe how obnoxious some of these students are. I totally get why so many nurses can't stand taking students. We do have awesome students every now and then, but it seems most of them take up space and talk all day.
Rant over.
I gotta say I agree with you here. I do want to state that Im not a Nurse any longer but do work directly with them and do spend huge amounts of time training them. We are not in a clinical / hospital /snf setting.
I actually have found that trying to train a new person, not just a new nurse extremely rewarding until I run into one like you've mentioned. It becomes annoying at best and unsafe at times. I detest sayings they commonly use like "I know but you have to understand....", or
Yes but______", "I guess I dont understand what you're saying", "I've been a Nurse for XX # of years so I know__________" Problem is you havent been a Nurse here________ and KNOW nothing of the job at hand.
I usta love training new people....now Id just rather have my eyeballs plucked out with a melon scooper >nice visual there huh
remotefuse
177 Posts
wow, just WOW!
You bet your butt I'm going to pause my tube feeds when I am laying a pt down. I'm in the business to help people, not kill them.