Nurses Eating Nursing Students

[Cisabel]

It was our first day stepping foot on the floor.

We were lost.

We were scared.

We've all been there. If you haven't yet, you will. Some of us were sweating. Some of us were shaking. Some of us were quiet. The one thing that we did have in common is that we were all scared. Here we are, stepping on a floor, full of patients that we needed to take care of but we knew NOTHING. "Go find your nurse" is what our instructor told us. Slowly, we strolled to the different pods and introduced ourselves.

As I approached the nurse that I was to shadow the entire day, I became increasingly relaxed. She was an older nurse that looked mothering and I believed that I was going to learn a lot that day. "Ms. Martha? Hi. I'm Charlotte. I'll be your student nurse today" I widened my eyes and mustered the best smile possible, considering it is 6:30am. I was greeted with a blank stare, followed with an up and down glance that could make a dead man's veins run cold. She finally said, "Hmmmm. I already have a student nurse that is in her last semester. I need to focus on her and help her graduate. Where's your clinical instructor? Can you just be with her? If you have questions, you can ask. I just need to focus on my other student."

Let's fast forward this day. My patient went to dialysis, meaning I will not have anything to do for 4-6 hours of my 10 hour day. Because my patient was gone, I volunteered my services for her other patients. I volunteered to empty foley bags, change bedsheets or whatever other tasks or errands that needed to be done. I asked questions. After the attempts of basically begging her to let me help her were denied, I even asked if I could just watch her and shadow her without even being acknowledged. (Mind you this was my first day. I know I sounded like a sad puppy but I had no idea of what else to do). Unsurprisingly, she shot those requests down as well. This is only a small insight to how my first day went.

This is living proof that the advice that some nurses give about why nurses eat their young and all of things to do to avoid it is all FALSE!! "Make yourself available". Did that. "Ask questions and act interested". Did that. "Make sure to not come off as a know it all". Did that. "Sometimes, nurses are very busy and teaching a student will disrupt them blah blah blah!"

If you are a nurse and do not want a nursing student, JUST SAY IT! It is very unfortunate that there are some nurses out there that do not want to teach. The cornerstone of nursing is teaching. You must teach the family and patient constantly during their visit. Also, "each one, teach one" should be taken to heart. Think about when you first became a nurse. You were frightened and scared.

Fellow nursing comrades, if this has happened to you or if this ever happens to in the future, take it with stride. It is difficult to work with and hard to not take it personally. Just remember that day and vow to never EVER treat someone that is willing to learn and help with disgrace.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I appreciate your point of view but this was not the case. I teamed up with the MA that was helping with her patients. I didn't know at the time. She was perfectly fine with me cleaning up her patients and changing their linen. At first I questioned myself but after returning to that same floor and my other classmates experiencing the same thing. I wish shoe would just say that she did not want a student nurse. She gave conflicting emotions because she acted the way she did but also would say "If you have any questions, let me know!" I told my instructor and I just went around helping other people that wanted to be helped. My whole point is not to believe the other posts. They don't always work. I don't care about the nurse. I will just remember the way it was this day for me. If I am too busy I will let their instructor know.

It came through loud and clear that you don't care about the nurse. The only person you cared about in that situation was YOU.

Having a student slows down the whole day, and a nurse with a full assignment AND a student knows at the start of the shift that she's going to be staying late to finish charting that she doesn't have time for during the course of the day because she's using those dribs and drabs of time that she could be charting to teach the student. Having one student quadruples one's workload; having two is so difficult as to be abusive of that nurse. You should have gone to your instructor the moment the nurse told you she already had a student and asked to be reassigned.

I am very sure that you will care about the nurse when you ARE the nurse being saddled with a student you didn't ask for, don't want and have no choice about taking.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Thank you for questions because I can correct you. #1 I did not interrupt her during her shift or in the middle of important tasks. We reported before shift report so we could be right there in the beginning. Also, she had one patient at the time. One was in dialysis, one was assigned to the other student and the other was discharged. I did not "bother" the staff as you put it. It was her nasty disposition that I'm calling out. If YOU don't want a student nurse then say so. When I asked if I needed another assignment she said no and told me to ask questions if I had any. So NO YOU ARE NOT CORRECT. My point is that I've read several posts where they say that students are engaged or show that they want to learn and I made sure that I did all of that. I did not "volunteer my services" as you're trying to put it. I was making myself available to do the tasks that I believed that would help. Again, it's my first day on any floor and I'm following what other nurses have said would cause someone to eat their young!

You aren't getting it. You presented your point of view, you've been told you were wrong by various experienced nurses, but you persist in insisting that you were right; everyone else is wrong.

The nurse told you from the start that she was already teaching a student, she had no time for you and that you should contact your instructor for a different assignment. That wasn't nasty, unfair or mean. That sounds pretty straightforward to me. She didn't want to teach you; she made that clear. The fact that you don't accept her decision is on you, not on her.

There was no young eating going on, but you sound like someone who is dangerously close to displaying the attributes that posters here assign to a bully. Since you're complaining about nurses eating their young, or bullying, you might want to think about that.

[WestCoastSunRN, MSN, CNS]

Wow! These responses to this young nurses post is proof of how nasty nurses can be! I don't know if it's our culture or the fact that our career is made up of mostly women but I have never seen anything more catty!

I never took her post as looking for pity but perhaps as a new graduate she was reflecting back on her own experience in nursing school and possibly giving a forewarning to new nursing students who may experience or will very likely experience a Nurse Nasty. Those of you offended by her post should ask yourself why you were so offended? I hit dog will holler ....

oh dear. I have to say equating female nurses with being catty and nasty, as this post very strongly insinuates, will certainly ruffle feathers, if that is what you are trying to accomplish.

That said, I will say that in the realm of nursing I do not think assertiveness and even occasional abrasiveness should be confused with being "nasty". People's lives are at stake. Literally. The job is intense and tension is often a norm. This can take getting used to, but it's the nature of the profession and not a reflection on the innate likeability or gender of the people who do the job.

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

It's only recently I guess that schools are pulling this on hospitals. How great is it for them that they can take on too many students, charge them out the wazoo for tuition, inflict the students on the staff nurses, then try to make the nurses feel GUILTY for not wanting to provide free services for them, all the while giving the students the impression that that staff nurses (who have absolutely zero affiliation with the school) have some kind of noble obligation to take on students with no compensation or reduction of patient load? You know, because those nurses were students once, too. Not only that, the student nurses go into the situation believing that they are somehow lessening the work load of the staff nurse, not adding to it. And apparently they graduate still believing that!

It boggles the mind that this is apparently becoming SOP now.

Bingo! It's horrible.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I did! I said it several times. And every time the nurse made a snarky remark, I told my instructor. My instructor came over there and the nurse made it seem like everything was fine. I was lucky enough to return to the same floor in a different clinical group and different instructor and she acted the same way with my classmates. I just steered clear of her. Then she would come reporting things about my classmates that we knew wasn't true.

Please use the quote function so we can all follow the conversation.

It sounds as though you were running to your instructor trying to get the nurse in trouble rather than trying to get a change or clarification in your assignment. You may wish to re-consider who was eating whom in that scenario.

[avrilmay86, ASN, RN]

I've seen both awesome & not so awesome nurses. Some like to demonstrate, some will come out and say they aren't able to handle a student. Sometimes other nurses will see you and ask for your help, so you don't end up following 1 nurse, you may follow multiple nurses based on the needs of the floor. We aren't allowed to work with a nurse who is training or one who has a student, we have to be reassigned in those circumstances. Some people are nice, some aren't. Never take it to heart, just keep moving forward.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Apparently, people missed the point of the entire post. I don't care about the nurse. It is MY point of view of what happened to me on my first day of clinical. There are many snarky comments and things that happened throughout the day and I won't outline a full 10 hour day. The point that my instructor should reassigned me is something I can agree with. I did not volunteer my services or was begging for attention. I was more so trying to make myself available like other blogs have said Nursing students should. I am very aware that they do not get paid to teach students and when my instructor came she made it seem like it was not a problem for me to be with her she walked off and it changed every time. When I returned to the floor months later, she acted the same if not worst and she did not have another student. I overheard her saying things about my classmate and my second clinical instructor knew it wasn't the truth. After that, no one was with her again during my second clinical rotation there. I just want future nursing students or current students to know that there's no perfect way to avoid some things. I fell right into the trap of "this is what you do and don't do".

You don't care about the nurse. Yet here you are, with post after post claiming that she was "eating you," even after being told by multiple experienced nurses that you were wrong. Your point of view is wrong. YOU weren't being eaten; it's possible that you were trying to bite a chunk out of that nurse and she wasn't having it.

When you returned to the floor months later, no doubt that nurse remembered the negative experience she had with you and absolutely did not want to contend with you at all. After what you describe, I would be talking to your instructor from the beginning of your first day back, saying "I love teaching, and I love having students but please do NOT assign me to Cisabel. I will work with another of your students, but not with Cisabel." In fact, given the way you behaved, it is possible that you have soured the nurse on ever working with another student from your school! You didn't make the time to talk to your instructor about reassignment, but had the time to run to her with every remark the nurse made that you interpreted as "snarky". No wonder she didn't want to work with you. And I wouldn't blame her for refusing to work with anyone from your school, since your instructor evidently failed to set you straight.

I sincerely hope that other nursing students don't read your post and conclude that you were in the right here, or that you were being eaten. The student's attitude is a big determiner of how clinicals will go, and yours needs work.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Some people are nice, some aren't.

All too true, and important to remember that as all students are people, it's statistically indisputable that a good number of them aren't nice either.

[whiteorchid81]

I'm not going to defend or refute the OP's post. But I will add my own experience and what I took from it.

I have met some great nurses. Nuses who were willing to take their time and teach students. Even with a hectic schedule, an impossible pt load, student after student, and shift reports that would make you drop your head and cry. Now, I am not saying that anyone should be able to take on anything and become a great preceptor. That's just not possible. Why? because everyone is different. It has nothing to do with the work, pt load, or how busy you are. It's the person and how that person responds and reacts to stress from work and whether or not that nurse is able to keep a level head and not take it out on others, mainly students.

Now, I have met some truly nasty nurses. And their attitude has nothing to do with how busy they are or how important their pts are to them, or whatever excuse you can come up with. Some of the worst nurses I have met are not the ones who don't want to take on too many students. Or are too busy with their pt load and just worried about the pts safety. The ones I refer to are just horrible people. It has nothing to do with being a nurse. It was their personality. Or simply just the fact that they are unhappy with their lives and just take it out on students. These nurses would blame nursing students for their mistakes, would make up accusations to the charge nurse, would make nasty comments when they think no one is listening or sometimes right in front of another student, and some would set a student up for failure (like teaching a student to give a med wrong then later going to the instructor and charge nurse just to get the student in trouble).

What I got out from my own experience, from observing what other nurses do to students, is that it has nothing to do with being a nurse. It was just who they are, horrible people. And yes, they are horrible people. Teaching a student to give a med wrong then running to a charge nurse to get the student in trouble makes them horrible people. Luckily the student didn't get in trouble with our school. But the facility took the word of the nurses and stopped taking students for a while.

what did I take from that experience? There are horrible nurses who will go out of their way to either to just make your rotation a living hell or will try to ruin your career before it even starts. There are also nurses who truly care about students and take the time to teach. While there are others who are more focused on pt care and would rather not take on students. I don't dwell on the negative experience I had from clinicals. I don't hate those nurses who were just nasty to students. I feel sorry for them. To be that horrible, that nasty, would only mean they are unhappy with their lives. Also, it is important to be mindful on how you treat other students and nurses. You never know if or when it will come back and bite you in the behind.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Wow! These responses to this young nurses post is proof of how nasty nurses can be! I don't know if it's our culture or the fact that our career is made up of mostly women but I have never seen anything more catty!

I never took her post as looking for pity but perhaps as a new graduate she was reflecting back on her own experience in nursing school and possibly giving a forewarning to new nursing students who may experience or will very likely experience a Nurse Nasty. Those of you offended by her post should ask yourself why you were so offended? I hit dog will holler ....

Psssst! Your misogyny is showing!

I was waiting for this.

None of the responses to the original post (or poster) were nasty. They were blunt and straightforward perhaps, but not nasty. The original post (and subsequent posts by the original poster) were, however, nasty. Please pay attention to the content of the replies to the OP. It's clear that you don't like what you've heard, but that doesn't make it any less valid.

[Wuzzie]

what did I take from that experience? There are horrible nurses who will go out of their way to either to just make your rotation a living hell or will try to ruin your career before it even starts. There are also nurses who truly care about students and take the time to teach. While there are others who are more focused on pt care and would rather not take on students. I don't dwell on the negative experience I had from clinicals. I don't hate those nurses who were just nasty to students. I feel sorry for them. To be that horrible, that nasty, would only mean they are unhappy with their lives. Also, it is important to be mindful on how you treat other students and nurses. You never know if or when it will come back and bite you in the behind.

You are one smart cookie!

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

"She finally said, "Hmmmm. I already have a student nurse that is in her last semester. I need to focus on her and help her graduate. Where's your clinical instructor?"

That is not NETY. That is telling you ...to have your instructor reassign you.

I gladly precepted any nurse I was assigned to, I could not be responsible for two.

By the way, your description of the units as "pods", tells me what facility you were working on. You need to change that.