So recently the Chief Nursing Executive as my hospital decided that all nursing staff are required to wear hospital provided lab coats while on duty, along with the ID badge, no exception. To the tune of thousands of dollars, I might add...
The rationale being that nurses as professionals should be easily identifiable to patients and other staff. Although a few didn't warm up to this idea initially after some grumbling and groaning it appears to be a rousing success.
So one particularly snotty nursing student who no nurse wished to be saddled with d/t her pompous attitude, strolled onto the unit wearing... a lab coat (the kind found at a medical supply store).
The NM took one look at her and said, "You are not staff, you are not a professional, go remove the lab coat and then you may return to the unit."
The snotty little thing went crying to her clinical instructor whining that she had been "discriminated" against causing a frenzy of bad vibes that has now caused a rift between an already fragile dynamic between staff and students, all because of one bad egg.
So was the student in her right to attempt to blend in or did she cross the point of no return?
Went back and reread the original post: this isn't some little naive newbie to the floor who simply wanted to fit in, this is a student with an established pattern of attitude that has already made her unpopular.
She deliberately brought in a lab coat, outside her school uniform;neither her CI nor the other students had them.Yes it was intentional, and the NM was right to call her on it. Wasn't there, so don't know what tone of voice was being used, but the student was the one in the wrong.
As far as only CI's being able to tell students what is appropriate or not, wrong! The NM is responsible for her floor, including students. The impression I got from the OP, is that the NM already knows this student, and put a stop to unacceptable behavior. This is not discrimination, this is upholding standards.
I went back reread the OP and didn't see information supporting the sections of your comment that I bolded.
All it said about the lab coat is that it's the kind sold at medical supply stores...which I know is the exact kind I'm required to have for nursing school. It never mentioned what the CI or any of the other students were or weren't wearing and I saw no information supporting the student's intention of wearing the lab coat one way or the other.....but I did notice that the OP disliked this student.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
You women are a bunch of HENS! Clucking over a "snotty" student? Clucking over her attire? Ladies, it's no wonder you can't get along! REALLY, don't you have something better on which to focus? Perhaps the PATIENTS!
The point is that just about every decent sized facility has issues with nurses being readily indentifiable as such by patients and family members. There is nothing silly or hen-like about that discussion, and it's discussed quite frequently here with reference to colors, badges and other solutions for the indentity issue. This is no different. It would be just as if the facility decided that nurses should wear blue scrubs and the student strolled onto the unit the next day wearing blue scrubs, you see?
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. . . The NM took one look at her and said, “You are not staff, you are not a professional, go remove the lab coat and then you may return to the unit.”
So that's what passes for rude and "uppity" nurses these days? It should have ended right there. It doesn't matter what some other student at a different school is allowed to wear. Whatever the rest of her student group was wearing, no matter how dorky looking, that student should wear, too. I can't imagine any student defying the nurse manager on a request like that.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
So that's what passes for rude and "uppity" nurses these days? It should have ended right there. It doesn't matter what some other student at a different school is allowed to wear. Whatever the rest of her student group was wearing, no matter how dorky looking, that student should wear, too. I can't imagine any student defying the nurse manager on a request like that.
I sure can. There's an attitude of entitlement today that didn't exist years ago.
As a student we were required to wear our lab coats when entering the hospital, when leaving, and also with dress clothes the day prior to clinical to obtain our assignment. Of course our patch was on the left shoulder, but still, many people overlooked it. I was actually mistaken as a doctor, just because I was wearing my lab coat and dress pants.
If I were a student in that facility, I would take notice that all the RNs were wearing lab coats and remove mine. In my program it was expected of us to differentiate ourselves from the staff, that was just common sense. As students, we are not practicing nurses. The families deserve to know who is who. How confusing would it be for both nurses and students to look the same?? Also to note, even if the nurses on the floor were rude (which was rare at my clinical site), we were always always always expected to act respectful and professional, and acting otherwise involved consequences with our CI or with the school. The student should have done like she was asked.
I agree that it could have been handled better on both sides, but I have seen and been in school with students similar to the one mentioned in the OP, and it seems these select few will always blow things out of proportion when they are told something they don't want to hear.
Specializes in acute care med/surg, LTC, orthopedics.
Went back and reread the original post: this isn't some little naive newbie to the floor who simply wanted to fit in, this is a student with an established pattern of attitude that has already made her unpopular.
She deliberately brought in a lab coat, outside her school uniform; neither her CI nor the other students had them. Yes it was intentional, and the NM was right to call her on it. Wasn't there, so don't know what tone of voice was being used, but the student was the one in the wrong.
As far as only CI's being able to tell students what is appropriate or not, wrong! The NM is responsible for her floor, including students. The impression I got from the OP, is that the NM already knows this student, and put a stop to unacceptable behavior. This is not discrimination, this is upholding standards.
THIS.
I thought my post was clear in suggesting that the student was a frequent trouble maker, but seemingly only a few of you got that. For all of you who tried to make excuses for her, she is known for pushing all the wrong buttons, as per my "pompous attitude" description, and WAS quite deliberate in wearing the lab coat as the students and CI were made well aware only nurses, doctors and other health PROFESSIONALS wore coats on duty to be easily distinguishable as medical staff. This was a hospital wide policy.
As for the NM's reaction, she is known for not pulling any punches with anyone, if she's got something to say to you she will, no matter who you are and you can darn well bet she won't sugarcoat it. I like that about her.
I got a kick out of the "professional student" comment. What exactly is a professional student as opposed to a non-professional student? If a professional is defined as "conforming to the rules or standards of a profession", then students are most certainly NOT professionals. Not yet anyway, maybe you will be, maybe you won't but you haven't earned that title just yet.
So it appears the snotty little thing's future is still up the air, it does appear she may be tossed from the program.
"it does appear she may be tossed from the program. "
For her white coat stunt, or was this just the icing on the cake?
As a previous poster said, there seems to be a sense of entitlement that simply didn't exist in my nursing school. In my current position, students come only as one-day visitors, observing a patient from pre-op assessment through the OR, PACU, post-op and discharge. We have just recently had to institute a check-in/sign-off policy by the manager (including arrival/departure times) at the request of the nursing school, due to the numbers of students arriving hours late or not at all, or ducking out after an hour.
Not to mention that when they do show up, they're often carting giant Starbucks cups of coffee (which they like to carry into the NPO patient's room), chewing wads of gum, or armed with a cell phone on which they text and take phone calls. All of which would have certainly been reported to the CI "back in the day."
"it does appear she may be tossed from the program. "
For her white coat stunt, or was this just the icing on the cake?
As a previous poster said, there seems to be a sense of entitlement that simply didn't exist in my nursing school. In my current position, students come only as one-day visitors, observing a patient from pre-op assessment through the OR, PACU, post-op and discharge. We have just recently had to institute a check-in/sign-off policy by the manager (including arrival/departure times) at the request of the nursing school, due to the numbers of students arriving hours late or not at all, or ducking out after an hour.
Not to mention that when they do show up, they're often carting giant Starbucks cups of coffee (which they like to carry into the NPO patient's room), chewing wads of gum, or armed with a cell phone on which they text and take phone calls. All of which would have certainly been reported to the CI "back in the day."
None of that would be tolerated in my program today. Why would that only be reported back to the CI back in the day....why wouldn't that be reported to the CI now?
I think what's confused the issue is the fact the incident took place in Canada NOT the US.
In my hospital, the issued lab coats all have the name of the hospital on the front of it. They are worn by some nursing staff and the lab personnel who draw at the bedside. Our doctors wear scrubs or street clothes on their rounds. The residents usually wear the coats (joke being the shorter the coat the less knowledge between the ears).
Our nursing programmes know the culture of the units because there are specific teaching sites for each part of the course.
My college has gone to standardized scrubs that student nurses MUST wear on clinical time. A decade ago we could only wear solids, no warmup jackets. Permission had to be granted for the orthodox, Muslim, and conservative Christian students to wear sleeves under their scrub tops. A few years after I graduated, it seemed as anything went, cartoons, warm up jackets, lowrise pants.
Now we hear from the patients they like the look of the uniform from the PN college, they know who is providing the care. The BScN students from the universities are wearing any old combo and just don't look as well turned out.
Oh, and "professional student" in my region means someone who keeps going to post-secondary institutes as long as Mummy and Daddy keeps paying or the government keeps giving them student loans.
I know exactly the type of student you are venting about Ottawa, they are pretty common out west as well. One still brings shudders to my Unit Manager. (This student filed a complaint that the unit wasn't welcoming enough and made the students stand during report, shock, horror)
Well I have to agree with the students on this one....snotty or not there is no reason to treat students poorly. All nurses were students once and should remember that! As a student I have ran into some pretty snotty staff nurses who display no patience or kindness and I would not want them taking care of me!
Specializes in MPH Student Fall/14, Emergency, Research.
My college has gone to standardized scrubs that student nurses MUST wear on clinical time. A decade ago we could only wear solids, no warmup jackets. Permission had to be granted for the orthodox, Muslim, and conservative Christian students to wear sleeves under their scrub tops. A few years after I graduated, it seemed as anything went, cartoons, warm up jackets, lowrise pants.
Now we hear from the patients they like the look of the uniform from the PN college, they know who is providing the care. The BScN students from the universities are wearing any old combo and just don't look as well turned out.
I hate, hate, hate the "anything goes" idea. Our school does that. Drives me crazy. I would LOVE to have uniforms, or even just tops, like the ones you suggest. No one should have to stop what they are doing and stare at my nametag to figure out my designation, or feel awkward and ask me (especially patients!), before they decide whether I'm the person they need to talk to.
No one has yet addressed whether the students had lab coats included in their dress code.
Other then the post above, I've never heard of students being able to wear whatever scrubs they wanted for clinicals. The schools I know of require, at the very least, all students to have the same solid color, with a school patch placed on the shoulder.
I know in my school (actually in two other programs that I have friends in as well) 3/4 long while lab coats are part of the dress code and students are allowed to wear them over their scrubs if they are cold.
All we've heard is the description of the hospital lab coats. Did the student have a lab coat with the hospital's name embroidered on it?
Or did they have the lab coat that they were required to own for nursing school?
No matter the student's dress, it seems that going up their chain of command in private (speaking to their CI off the floor) was a far more professional action then calling out a student in front of the entire floor. I'm getting a clearer picture who I'd prefer to work with.
One thing I often come away from AN feeling is just thankfulness for the kind, patient and reasonable people that I work with both at my school and at my clinical sites.
I can agree with both sides of the situation here, for sure!
My own take was that the nurse manager should probably have taken the issue straight to the instructor for her to handle it. The student really is the instructor's responsibility, and I believe it wasn't the NM's place to correct her so sternly. (unless, of course, a patient's safety was at stake)
And if I had been the student in question, I probably would have been thoroughly embarrassed and vented to the other students (and yes, maybe the instructor) but not in a manner that was tattle-tailing. Perhaps that part was overreacting on behalf of both the nursing staff AND the student
disclaimer... I am a scared sh**tless student who wants only to learn as much as possible without stepping on any toes!
CuriousMe
2,642 Posts
I went back reread the OP and didn't see information supporting the sections of your comment that I bolded.
All it said about the lab coat is that it's the kind sold at medical supply stores...which I know is the exact kind I'm required to have for nursing school. It never mentioned what the CI or any of the other students were or weren't wearing and I saw no information supporting the student's intention of wearing the lab coat one way or the other.....but I did notice that the OP disliked this student.