NST Student Nurse Externs

[911RMRN]

Hi All,

I need some help getting the proper understanding!

Our hospital has started a new program for the Student Nurse Externs.....But the hospital has not a clue of WHAT they can do. In order to be eligible for this program the nursing student MUST be in nursing school AND have completed the first semester.

They can begin in any area the extern that they like....ICU CCU CVR etc. We several in the ICU CCU and CVR but they are often treated like CNA ( of which they are not) OR are OFTEN eaten by other selfish nurses who are intimidated or threatened by their positions or are just frankly forgotten about. These nurses dont EVEN bother to educate, instruct or even encourage them. It's horrible!!!!!

I am however VERY excited and eager to assist them in ANY way I can....BUT not quite sure where to draw the line?

Does anyone have or can send me ANY information, Web site materials that they are using or have used in the past to help these future RN's?

Thanks for ANY assitance in this matter,

911RMRN

[kat29]

Not sure how much I can help but Ive just graduated in December. I was a Nurse Extern in the program for the hospital that I work at for a little over a year. The difference at our hospital is that you have to be in your LAST year of nursing school. So most are little more comfortable at the bedside.

We could do much of what the nurses did. Assess, chart, pass meds, do procedures, etc. What we couldn't do was IV push, give controlled drugs, initial blood hangs (we could not be the only one in the room the first 15 minutes, but could manage the transfusion after that), and taking physician orders.

We were able to change units every ten weeks and if we found a unit we liked, and the unit staff & manger agreed that they wanted to keep us, we could stay until graduation. It was/is an absolutely wonderful program that for me turned out to be 6 mos of "on the job" ICU training.

We made our own schedule as we are not actually part of "staffing" and are paid by the education department." Most of us found favorite preceptors and would schedule ourselves when that person worked. We could take as many, or few, patients as we wanted and the nurse would verify our assessments, check and sign off on our charting. Naturally, if you were new to a floor and hadn't "proven" your competency, you'd double-check everything with the nurse. Some nurses trusted me enough to "let me fly" on my own once they knew that I wasn't one to pretend I could do something that I was unsure about. Others were more strict. Most were very good teachers. I asked a lot of questions and picked many a brain!!

The best advice I can give you for your externs is to give them a couple patients of their own, as they (and you) feel comfortable, and have them paired with a select few nurses that enjoy teaching. That way they get structure, attention and aren't just "running errands" for the other nurses.

If you like, I can get you in touch with the manager of the extern department at my hosp. She probable has lots of good info. Just PM me.

[CABG patch kid, BSN, RN]

I think every hospital is different, as I had many classmates in extern programs, and all of our experiences were slightly varied. Personally, I worked most of my shifts in a CNA-type position due to the staffing. Often times there was only 2 aides for 24 patients, and it was a lot easier on everyone to throw me in the mix as an aide. After the nurses got to know me, they'd come to me and ask me to start a Foley, start an IV, or some other fairly quick skill. I'd also assist a lot of nurses with procedures on difficult patients when they needed an extra set of hands.

The most important thing was my JOB DESCRIPTION! If your HR or nursing department does not have a job description for the student nurse position, of course everyone is going to be running around not knowing right from left. My job description specifically listed duties that I could or couldn't do. It made it a lot easier for me to back up when the nurses asked me to pass meds (strictly forbidden in my position) or didn't know if I could start that IV (yep, yep I can).

So I'd advise you to find out about that job description because these positions DO very quite a bit from facility to facility. If there is no specific description on file, then I hope someone gets around to making one very soon. Joint Commission could come in at any time and ask the students what their specific job duties are and if the students don't know? Well that just can't look good in Joint Commissions's eyes. Maybe that will be a motivating factor for your nursing department to get on the ball.

[bcyogi]

I am not sure if they are exactly the same thing, but in my state (Nevada), we have positions called Nurse Apprentice. From what you've described they sound very similar, and what is OK/not OK to do is cleary stated on my states BON site. I would check there. I would also think that an orientation packet as a new hire would have some sort of details of the position.

Good luck. It is a great learning experience and adds so much more than just school clinical experiences.