I had a nursing student assigned to one of my patients yesterday. I had a very busy day with several issues coming up, and this student was not exactly helpful. She definately was in the chapter of the book to never let the patient be in pain, because the patient that she actually had could have IV pain med every 2 hours, which I was trying to keep on top of the best I could, but I had some other pressing issues with my other patients. I was trying to include the student in what was happening with my other patients too, since she had expressed interest in this. But, she seemed very annoyed with me when I didn't get back into that room soon enough to get him his pain med. The patient was NPO and had a lot of IV BP meds due contantly, in addition to abx and IV Dilaudid, so this was all very timeconsuming, and this student couldn't give anything IV.
The patient was scheduled for a follow up CT scan and had to take oral contrast, and was supposed to go down in an hour after taking it. This student was acting like an annoyingly pro-active family member and became very annoyed when radiology got delayed in by other patients. She insisted I call them even though I told her that they would call when they were ready for the patient, then she was very put out when they didn't come when she expected them, as if they were making her poor patient suffer. The student acted as if I was neglecting her patient. I know she was trying to be an advocate for him, but I needed to prioritize care and had several more pressing issues with other patients. The patient was fine with everything, he'd been in the hospital 15 days and was finally starting to feel a little better.
I told the student that we could change the sheets when he went to CT, but she said that she would be going with him there. She never did let me know that she was taking him, but just took off. She definately wasn't into doing any personal care for this patient. Basically, this student was a thorn in my side all day, I felt. I kept trying to explain some other issues that were going on with patients, but she was disinterested.
Basically, this student was clueless still about the big picture of caring for several patients, and was pushy with me in advocating for her patient, and she definately annoyed me.
Absolutely! Providing anticipatory pain relief is a crucial component of nursing. That said, the wound care team is also responsible here. When a professional is going to be doing something painful to a patient, the professional has a responsibility to make sure the patient is medicated. Looks like several people dropped the ball here, and were that my family member there would be a problem.
Blows my mind that this student, who was apparently in the early stages of a nursing program was hung out to dry by the instructor.
Really, how is this supposed to be a learning opportunity with no instructor to reinforce the lessons? I've taught at three sepparate institutions from ADN to BSN accellerated, and I've never heard of leaving a student alone for long periods on the floor unless it was the semester or quarter prior to graduation.
I wonder if this instructor's dept chair realizes that this is going on? Sounds sort of fishy on the instructor part.
But then again, not how I was taught and is not how I teach.
And I agree to that to an extent we don't prepare our students for the real word, but with 8 -10 students, two pts each (totaling 16-20) that I'm responsible to make sure care and meds are given to, it is no wonder that they don't get it until orientation. though they certainly see ME multitask and prioritize (i.e., no I cannot watch you give your scheduled zantac yet, I've got a 8yo post appy who needs his morphine!)
My school assigned 1-2 students to each floor throughout NS, and we worked more with our nurse than with our instructor. There was communication between the nurses and instructors though, and we were graded every day by our assigned preceptors. We had tasks to complete each day, but it was really self-directed. They rounded on us and were always available by beeper. I also posted earlier that our instructors weren't allowed to get meds out of the pyxis for us. We weren't allowed to give IV push meds either - I think that's our whole state. It worked well for me, and I got along with just about every nurse I worked with. However, I'm pretty motivated and do well in self-directed activities. I can see how many students would have a harder time when they aren't being told what to do every second.
Farmer Jane
281 Posts
Absolutely! Providing anticipatory pain relief is a crucial component of nursing. That said, the wound care team is also responsible here. When a professional is going to be doing something painful to a patient, the professional has a responsibility to make sure the patient is medicated. Looks like several people dropped the ball here, and were that my family member there would be a problem.