nurses who don't want students

Soup Turtle · Sep 18, 2007

It's a drag to get stuck with one like that. Is it possible you could switch? If my nurse is not helpful, I find a friendly one and follow her/him around instead. Unfortunately, since I'm there as a guest, I don't feel like I have too many other options!

Luckily, most of the nurses are great. I try to assume the not so great ones are having a bad day and not take it personally.

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 18, 2007

Running into 1 nurse in a bad mood is no reason to quit school. What else is going on to make you feel so bad?

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Sep 18, 2007

Not all the nurses are going to be this way. I think all nurses should have the CHOICE to have students. I know it is a hard concept to grasp "they were nursing students once, they should understand!" but not every one is meant to teach. Don't quit because of one bad nurse. last semester 90% of the nurses on med/surg at the hospital I was at were mean. I am still here and the nurses in OB are awesome.

KrisRNwannabe · Sep 18, 2007

Not every nurse likes to teach. I hate being a preceptor and having students. Probably because of my get in there and get it done attitude. I just prefer to do things myself. Talk to your instructor, I can't see why it would be a big deal to switch. It cracks me up when this topic comes up because lots of people act like all nurses should just love teach. I have said it before on these boards and it bears repeating: Nurses are NOT super-human, we are human beings with personalities and beliefs.

kcalohagirl · Sep 18, 2007

I'm sorry you had a rotten experience. I had one like that my very last semester in nursing school. The nurse acted like I had never had my hands on a patient before. I was working in a new area, and I would like to think that the questions I asked were not asinine, yet I got the eye rolls, the sighs, thew whole nine yards.

Not all nurses want to take students. Not all nurses SHOULD take students. However, I remember when I was a new RN orientee (on nights) giving report to the day nurses when there were students on the floor, and the charge nurse had made their assignments before the nursing instructor pretty much came in and assigned the 8 students to whichever patients she chose. Some nurses had 2 or three students assigned to their patients. Now that I am a nurse, I can only imagine how stressful that must be!

Not that it in ANY way excuses the behaviour of the nurse that you were working with that day.

I just know that occasionally the nurse is not given any say in whether she gets a student or not.

They should be. Some nurses enjoy it, some don't. Some will teach the students good habits, some are lackadasical.

I hope your next experience is better. I would encourage you to address the situation with your instructor.

When I had my rotten experience, I had been on the floor for a couple weeks and had met the charge nurse, who knew that I was having an awful time with my assigned nurse. The next day, the charge approached me privately and suggested I think about working with "Jayne" that day, instead. Then the charge nurse and I went to my instructor together and explained why I was working with a different nurse that particular day.

MB37 · Sep 18, 2007

That's too bad! All the nurses we work with have volunteered to teach students and have gone through training (don't know if they get paid more, none of my business). I've had exactly one day of clinical, and mine was really nice and helpful. However, even despite our all-volunteer corps of preceptors, two of my classmates had an awful time. They were on the same floor, and were both blatantly ignored by their nurses and wound up following CNAs for the day. The two women refused to answer any questions that they had. This wasn't a, "Oh, you're supposed to be practicing vital signs and bed baths? Well, that's what 'Julie' is going to be doing for my patients, why don't you work with her..." They said their nurses actually just looked right through them and wouldn't speak to them at all. Now that it's been reported in post-conference though, my instructor (also a nurse manager at the hospital) will have spoken to their charge nurse. They probably won't be taking students from our school anymore, not without a serious attitude change. Did you not have a post-conference you could have brought it up in? Can you e-mail/call your instructor before the next clinical?

deeDawntee, RN · Sep 18, 2007

Yes, I hear your pain. That happened to me in nursing school as well. We had an entire group of nurses who disliked any teaching of any kind. It makes a stressful situation all the more stressful. I know you think that you need to be learning all this seemingly never ending list of skills and conditions, but I want you to know that whatever experience that you end up getting will be OK. Your clinicals are really a chance for you to experience some of what being a nurse really will be like. Your instructor will expect a reasonable care plan and for you to know your medications. Some students get so stressed out because they feel their clinicals aren't preparing them for their future employment.

(I know that really isn't what you are talking about, exactly.) I just want you to know that after about your first month or so as an RN what you did or didn't learn in clinicals will be forgotten. You will learn so much when you finally start your first position in a much more learner-friendly environment that you won't believe the difference.

In the meantime, absorb what you can. Try to be an asset for that nurse and have as much fun as possible.

:yeah: :yeah: :yeah: hang-in there, it will get better!

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Sep 18, 2007

No, not all nurses are good at teaching, and they aren't super humans or wonder nurses.

But that doesnt' mean that they can blow students off, or roll their eyes, or give them the long sigh when students ask questions.

If you don't like to teach students, then fine. But nobody should have any excuse for being rude and demeaning.

It's not hard to be polite.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 18, 2007

Hi, crimsondawn and welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

Well, you could quit, but what does that say about you and your character? Just what kind of nurse are you going to be? Nursing is a career where you interact with people and, believe me, you are going to be exposed to all kinds of weird behaviors. Are you going to quit every time someone rubs you the wrong way? That's a heck of a way to go through a career let alone your life. Better yet, learn to let it roll off your back. Take the view that you'll never be like that because you're a better person and move on. For every witch like this nurse there's another who will be helpful and supportive. You are also going to run into patients who will come into the hospital for care but won't want to do what the doctor's and nurses recommend. Some will outright walk out. Oh, well. It's a free world and we all have freedom of choice.

Ask to be paired with another nurse for your next clinical and be assertive about stating why. Even if your instructor never checks up on you, you should have a number to page or contact them. Use it. Your instructor can't know that this is happening unless you tell them.

You need to learn that nurses are problem solvers. We don't stand around and just let things happen. If we see a problem, we do something about it. Remember the nursing process. It can be used to apply to all situations, including the ones you find yourself in

Assessment - partnered with a difficult staff nurse who has a negative attitude toward you, rolls her eyes when you asked questions, blew you off
Problem - frustration, tearful, day going to hell in a hand basket really fast
Plan - notify nursing instructor of what is going on, ask for advice on what to do, ask if I can be paired with another nurse who is nicer and friendlier to working with a student
Implement the plan - pick up the phone and notify the instructor
Evaluate - this is based upon the results of implementation

WDWpixieRN, RN · Sep 18, 2007

I had never been anywhere near the healthcare field or in a hospital except to have babies or labs done. I am 50+, so am not exactly a child.

Our first semester of clinicals we were on a floor where they apparently hate students. I can not tell you how miserable we were. I am obviously a career changer, so started wondering, "Gee, maybe this is why there is a nursing shortage. I just left one field with a BUNCH of unhappy employees; am I heading in to another?" I told my fellow students that I was thinking of quitting, too. I wasn't going to spend 2 years in school only to be miserable again. Thank heavens I had fellow students who work at techs or secretaries in other hospitals and they said that "No, not all nurses are this miserable." So I stuck it out. I had eyes rolled at me (by nurses young enough to my children), we were ignored, we were treated very badly. I understand that the students who were assigned to another floor at this facility went through the same thing during second semester. It's on a lot of our lists of places we don't want to work.

Second semester I ended up at another hospital where the nurses were amazing!! We still ran in to the occasional cranky nurse, but that was more than offset by the nurses who went out of their way to help us. I think we all understand that not everyone is meant to teach and I am one of those "get 'er done" gals, so know I will have to keep this in mind when I am working.

I did an internship this summer at a sister facility of the location where I did second semester clinicals. My preceptor was terrific and the staff overall is wonderful. I don't doubt my decision anymore and am glad I stuck it out.

Someone also pointed out that sometimes the staff's relationship is a reflection of their relationship with the clinical instructor for that site. Is your instructor never anywhere to be found? Our instructor is liable for all of our actions whether it is med admin, wound changes, IV insertions/DC, etc. That may be an issue where you are if your RN is made responsible for your actions when she is not prepared to be.

Please take some of Daytonite's advice and talk to your instructor if you are stuck with this person for the long haul. Clinicals are hard enough when you're feeling unsure of yourself without having another human pound you in to the ground.

Best wishes and hang in there!! The good days will outweigh the bad!!

JarOfPennies · Sep 18, 2007

This reminds me of the customer service job I did in my years before deciding to go to nursing school. When I started there, I absolutely LOVED training the new employees. Early in my career, there was adequate staff and usually enough time to get everything done, so I had time to spend with new hires and we were always ASKED if we wanted to train someone. However, after a few years and a couple of management changes, we lost employees, all of us were given more work to do and there was HUGE pressure to make our "numbers." Our managers barely took the time to even introduce the new hires to anyone and would just put someone with us, without asking. I did come to resent that. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with the person who needed training. I actually felt sorry for them because I knew they weren't getting the time and attention that they really needed. So I would grit my teeth, wear a smile and help them the best I could, all the time knowing that my "numbers" were going to suffer since I was spending more time with a new employee than actually doing my job.

I don't really have answers for you. I understand both sides. Maybe you could make it clear to the nurse that you understand that she's busy and you don't want to be a bother, but that you would love to help her out as much as possible if she would just let you know what you can do, etc. etc. Just try to be helpful and sympathetic, compliment her on her organizational skills, bedside manner, etc. Tell her how much you've been looking forward to learning L&D. Hopefully, you will start to notice an attitude change. If all else fails, ask to be paired with someone else. This is your time to LEARN and practice before the real world. Just be assertive and take care of yourself. Hang in there and just remember this for when YOU are a nurse and have a student to teach!