Never wanna take students again.

Nurses Relations

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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.

Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
Well in my personal experience, I do not believe Im helping the nurse, I'm there to learn. So far my clinical instructors have been great ( a great portion of the clinical instructors have worked or currently work the same floor) and set rules for the students . If the nurses do not want a student, they speak up. If the instructor is failing to do her/his job then she needs to be reported. Professionalism is key here on both parties. I'm not sure which area you are in but schools in my location are fighting for clinical placements so most of the students are on their best behavior. Too many generalizations being said on here, I'm sure the same commentators will not pleased if they were stereotyped due to actions of one bad nurse.

Off topic but I have noticed the fighting for clinical spots here as well, wonder whats fueling that, the student population now (not asking sarcastically)?? I actually picked my program based on the fact its attached to a few hospitals so there would be no issues there. But a lot of the for profit schools are struggling with securing proper clinical sites. I know one for profit bridge program had their ped clinical at a daycare! And its two times the amount of my community college tuition, crazy.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Off topic but I have noticed the fighting for clinical spots here as well, wonder whats fueling that, the student population now (not asking sarcastically)?? I actually picked my program based on the fact its attached to a few hospitals so there would be no issues there. But a lot of the for profit schools are struggling with securing proper clinical sites. I know one for profit bridge program had their ped clinical at a daycare! And its two times the amount of my community college tuition, crazy.

When the prediction of the nursing shortage came out, it seems like there was a rash of new nursing schools that popped up to capitalize on the prediction. However, that doesn't mean more hospitals were opening up that would be able to accommodate the sudden increase in nursing students (and in fact, several hospitals have closed their doors in recent months/years). So yes, there are many schools competing for the exact same clinical spots. Those schools who students make a good impression are more likely to be granted clinical access than are schools whose students make a poor impression. Unlike medical schools, nursing does not limit the numbers entering schools and thus trying to enter the workforce. Quite possibly and likely part of the reason for stagnant wages- supply far outpaces demand in many areas, and nurses may be competing against hundreds of other applicants for a single position.

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Off topic but I have noticed the fighting for clinical spots here as well, wonder whats fueling that, the student population now (not asking sarcastically)?? I actually picked my program based on the fact its attached to a few hospitals so there would be no issues there. But a lot of the for profit schools are struggling with securing proper clinical sites. I know one for profit bridge program had their ped clinical at a daycare! And its two times the amount of my community college tuition, crazy.

Because they are so many so schools (non profit schools) that need clinical sites, in addition to nursing students other fields of study also want their students placed at the same clinical sites for learning. Hospitals can afford to be more picky, continuous bad rapport with students can cause the school to loose clinical placement.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
And thats totally your opinion, may or may not happen.

An experienced opinion. Something that most, if not all, nursing students fail to "get". ​And continue to deny, despite all evidence to the contrary.

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Specializes in Oncology.
Everybody keeps repeating that this student was dangerous. What?

I read and re-read the OP. Pulling by the legs, shoulders instead of bottom for Stage 4 sacrals? I've never heard of that. Then she didn't turn the pump around for her preceptor to see it. (Nowhere in the OP did it say she got them mixed up or turned one off and one on....nothing.) Okaaaay. Doesn't seem super dangerous to me.

what I see when I run this scenario through my head is a preceptor who doesn't like her orientee. "I told her to 'stand back'" because she made the life-threatening error of pulling on the bottom? Really?

I was reading this trying to figure out where the huge, egregious error that would prevent OP from ever wanting students again was, as well. My thoughts are that it's not so much a specific mistake, but the overall attitude, and the directly refusing to do what the OP asked him to do. That might not be a huge deal with a feeding pump while moving a patient. It could be a huge deal if a patient were to fall, code, or have any number of other serious emergencies.

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I was reading this trying to figure out where the huge, egregious error that would prevent OP from ever wanting students again was, as well. My thoughts are that it's not so much a specific mistake, but the overall attitude, and the directly refusing to do what the OP asked him to do. That might not be a huge deal with a feeding pump while moving a patient. It could be a huge deal if a patient were to fall, code, or have any number of other serious emergencies.

Not to be pedantic, but even the refusal to turn the pump off while repositioning a pt is dangerous. It raises the very real risk of aspiration. In some pts, that's a bad, bad risk. One that wouldn't exist if the preceptee could just accept guidance.

I was in an ADN RN program, and had an LPN classmate that was only getting her RN so she could take a position as an MDS coordinator. It was abundantly clear that she thought the whole process was bullcrap. I can only imagine how the floor nurses must have felt being a preceptor or the floor nurse she followed.

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Student nursing is so different in the US. In the UK we are assigned mentors who we work with throughout the whole placement period and the mentors can't even refuse to take us, but students are incredibly obedient as it's really easy for mentors to place us under disciplinary action. I think you could have tried talking to the student and tell her that her attitude was out of line and could get her into trouble in the future.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
I'm taking it that you want me to hate /dislike student nurses? I work in the hospital, experience with both good and bad students, same with nurses. It goes both ways, I believe in open communication. Like I said, it may not have been appropriate to place a new RN with an experienced lpn, she probably felt she could intimidate her and do whatever she likes because of her experience. Age may have played a factor as well.

Take it however you will. It is apparent to nurses that you are not yet one of us. If you were, you would get it.

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Specializes in ICU.

If my pt needs stat labwork or an IV start, it is a lot more efficient to do it myself than it is to walk a student through her first ever stick.

The time invested in teaching a student is significant.

Students put us behind in our work, causing us to miss breaks and work late.

Some are just unbearably snotty, immature and unappreciative anyway so is it any wonder that bedside nurses want no part of it anymore?

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Specializes in Oncology.
Student nursing is so different in the US. In the UK we are assigned mentors who we work with throughout the whole placement period and the mentors can't even refuse to take us, but students are incredibly obedient as it's really easy for mentors to place us under disciplinary action. I think you could have tried talking to the student and tell her that her attitude was out of line and could get her into trouble in the future.

I think students do need to experience working with a variety of nurses, though, as they will in the real world. Please tell me they're not just always working with one person. They need to learn how to introduce themselves and behave professionally around someone they just met. Learn that there may be different approaches that are also correct. And learn that some people are sugary sweet and some people are gruff, and you will be expected to work productively with all types of people in a professional environment.

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I am also tired of having students dumped on me... I just don't have the time, and if I wanted to be a clinical instructor I would have become one.

Assign students to nurses who are willing to take them (this will probably require an incentive, so offer it!) and leave the rest of us alone.

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It would be interesting to set up a poll of employed RNs regarding nursing students in 2015.

1. I never wanna have a student ever again.

2. I love having students

3. I dont have enough time for my workload as it is so a student is the last thing I need.

4. meh. It's comes with the job so whatever.

# 1 and #3.

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