Nursing Students and Report

Annony RN · May 30, 2008

Can you chat with the instructor about it? Ask that students sit for report or she does, like you mentioned? Or perhaps tape as you give report on those days and the students can listen with their instructor if they get there later. Then they have the ability to pause and have learning moments as they go and you can actually care for your patients.

psalm51 · May 30, 2008

our students prepare the day before by reviewing the patient's chart and kardex.

they MUST attend report the morning of their clinical assignment.

not understanding why your students don't attend report -- or why they don't receive report from their CI.

how are your colleagues on your unit handling this? what does your manager say?

it does seem that the current situation is an imposition on you and your patients.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · May 30, 2008

As an educator within the hospital I expect the staff to alert me to these situations so I can intervene with the instructor. I have developed rapport with all the instructors and it usually sounds better coming from me. Plus, I can include the issue in orientation to try to head it off next semester.

Karynica, RN · May 30, 2008

Clinical Instructor got mad at you? That clinical instructor should be grateful the students are allowed to have clinicals in your facility. You are by no means should have to stop what you are doing to entertain students, especially during an emergency.

I always get to the floor early, get report and then have report ready for the students. I also let the staff know what patients we will have that day and what care we are giving.

Maybe we old school nurses are different, (I'm in my mid 40's),but I would in no way approach an employee and tell them what I thought, no matter what the situation.

RNMeg · May 30, 2008

I'm an early-in-my-career BSN student, and we're expected to be present for the report on our patient for the day. Seconding the shock that a clinical instructor implied that her students' report is more important than a patient's life! :banghead: That's completely out of line.

Psqrd · May 30, 2008

I was on the student end of this problem in my first semester on NS. I know it was a hassle for us as well as we HAD to have report before we could begin our care.

The main reason for our tardiness was that our CI had to review our careplans before we went up on the floor and of course with between 10 and 12 people waiting in line to have this review I knew that I was missing the nursing report.

If we began your care w/o having gotten even a brief report then we were in big trouble.

It was a hassle for us as well as we had to track down our RN and wait while they finished what they were doing.

I know this doesn't help but this may be what is happening at your hospital, I would definately track down the CI and ask.

Thanks for precepting, as a former student I would not be where I am, had it not been for nurses just like you.

P2

Graduated May 23rd 2008 ADN

bld24 · May 30, 2008

My clinical group is always on the floor in time for report, but I seem to run into the same problem many times. I'll have 3-4 patients with 3-4 different nurses assigned. I have to find 4 different nurses who I have never seen before and try to get report on just 1 patient. So while nurse #1 is getting report on my patient #2, nurse #3 is getting it on patient #4 and I can't be in two places at once. When I get assignments like this it stinks.

I understand why we might get an assignment like this i.e. we need to brush up on a particular disease process, but it makes it so difficult.

Fortunately I'm getting ready to do a preceptorship and we should have just 1 assigned nurse and her patients only-I'm going to be loving life!

SecondGenRN · May 30, 2008

I would discuss this with the Clinical Instructor. I highly doubt that the students decide what time they arrive on the unit. The clinical instructor must have decided that this was a better time for the students to arrive on the floor. Maybe your manager or nurse educator could explain to the clinical instructor that things would be easier if they came for report. ( My clinical group was not allowed to attend report one rotation and I hated it. I found listening to report much more helpful than reading kardex's and charts that aren't always up to date).

FYI as students we are nervous, intimidated and grateful to be on the floor. The majority of us feel lucky to get help from an experienced nurse (an don't want patient care to suffer so we can learn!). I'm sorry that situations like this are getting in the way of the student / nurse relationships on that floor. We really need nurses to be able to learn on the floor and situations like this hurt everyone involved.

suzy253, RN · May 30, 2008

Miko--when I was a student that's exactly the way we did it--we picked up our assigments the day before and looked up all pertinent info to be ready for a day of clinical and we attended report. I always got their early but now that I'm an RN i see a group of students from a different school coming in and it's the same as you described--wanting report from us right away instead of attending report and listening. I also had a similar experience to yours where I had a patient who was circling the drain and the instructor got angry at me! Meanwhile we're trying to stabilize the patient and ship her down to the Unit. arrrgggghhh. Just one of my pet peeves

miko014 · May 30, 2008

Well like I said, I have no problem with students. I think the whole problem this time is the CI. The students were the worst group ever at first, I think because they had no idea what they were supposed to do. They would watch TV in the break room, walk down the hall whistling and swinging their arms, chase nurses around to ask questions about other people's pts, etc. Just very disruptive in general. They are much, much better now about that stuff, but the report thing STILL bugs me. I have a big problem with them doing paperwork while I'm listening to report (btw, we have tapes anyway) and then chasing me down to get a report later, especially for a pt I have never seen, when they could listen to the tape and know EXACTLY what I know, hopefully more if they are reviewing their charts. I think they should be listening to the same report I get and then asking questions about things they don't understand, or, heaven FORBID, looking things up for themselves. I understand how hard it would be to be a CI and be trying to handle a group of 8, 10, sometimes more students. Don't get me wrong, most CI's are angels, because I would NEVER do that! I like the one-on-one teaching much better. But I digress. A big part of the problem is that the CI knows a lot of nurses on our floor - she used to work there years ago, well before I ever started there, and so she acts like she owns the place. She's always very b*tchy to me when she first comes in, acting like she has to "put up with me" or that I don't like students, which is entriely wrong. But then, as the shift goes on, she gets all chatty and nice. I'm really sick of it, and I know other nurses who feel this way. I want the quarter or semester or whatever they are on to end so I don't have to deal with this anymore! Of course, she'll just come back, but maybe next time will be better. I just cannot understand all this - we weren't even supposed to ask the nurses questions if it was something we could look up for ourselves!!!!! I never in my entire nursing student career got report directly from the nurse caring for the pt. Maybe after they are gone I will talk to my boss and tell her hey next time say something to her before the students start. Eh, I dunno. Thanks for the input/letting me vent!

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · May 30, 2008

Throughout my entire education it was this way....

We didn't get out of pre-conference most days until 0730 or so....well, the oncoming shift started at 0700.....due to getting assignments, being ready, etc....I was ALWAYS the first one out of pre-conf, as I had everything together, had my info down, knew what I needed to ask, etc.....I still needed to find my staff nurses, get a report, figure out the flow, etc....so I would find them, simply say "Hi, I'm going to be so and so's student nurse today. Do you have time right now to give me report?" If not, I simply either A)went to the next one, or B) did something constructive, like checking the MARs, or checking for new orders in a patient's chart.

IMHO, the instructor may not have much choice when it comes to the timing of classes...usually worked out between the school and clinical sites.....

Just do what you can, and know that most of us would NOT have made it through without good staff nurses like yourself.

L

Graduated may 16th, 2008