pet peeves when nursing students arrive

carl5480 · Nov 24, 2011

My pet peeves re: nursing students -

1) I honestly (usually) don't mind if you follow me around so that you can see/learn more. However, if you have a patient assignment, your responsibility is that patient (or patients). It is NOT acceptable to follow me around and not get your basic responsibilities done. For example: if you take a feeder, your job is to help that patient eat, not follow the nurse to another room.

2) Please tell me if I have charted something wrong - I can and will make mistakes. But do NOT tell me that a subjective answer is wrong. If I say that the urine was yellow and you think it was amber, guess what? I'm the one with the license. Keep your opinion to yourself. But if I say that that the patient had an amputated limb and they don't, please feel free to point it out. To extend this point further: know your stuff before correcting your nurse. If you're telling me I'm wrong because I'm flushing a feeding tube with tap water instead of sterile water, you can bet I'm going to be peeved at you.

3) Come prepared to work. If you have one or two patients that day, you are responsible for their care (see #1). You need to be available to help them eat, to the bathroom, take their vitals, and to get their baths done. They are of course free to refuse these things, but if a patient has a student nurse they should not have to go without.

4) In the name of all that is holy, if you can't do basic stuff, ask your fellow students or your instructor for help. I should not have to give a student in their second semester of clinicals a play-by-play on how to give a bedbath. Seriously.

5) Again with the computers. Be aware that if a nurse needs a computer, you must forfeit yours. If your clinical unit is anything like my unit, those nurses will probably be leaving after a 13-14 hour shift. You will get to leave on time no matter what - so don't delay them! More importantly, you could very well be delaying entry of orders, timely vitals/I&O charting, etc.

6) I actually like helping nursing students learn, and I've been told I'm good at it. But even I get irritated when I'm in a hurry and it takes a nursing student 2 minutes to draw up a medication when it takes me 2 seconds. There's not anything the student can do about that though. I was slow once, too. I also get a little annoyed by the repetitive questions - but again that's not the student's fault. If it's a good question it needs to be asked.

7) This is the nitpickiest nitpick you've ever seen, but it grates on my nerves when nursing students make such a big deal about injecting air into vials before withdrawing. I know this is because nursing schools make a big deal out of stressing this, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. Is it important for multi-use vials? Sure. Is it important for a one-time administration of Protonix or the like? Not at all. I get so tired of addressing this non-issue every single shift. Ok, I feel better now for having said that. :)

CrazierThanYou · Nov 24, 2011

My pet peeves re: nursing students -
1) I honestly (usually) don't mind if you follow me around so that you can see/learn more. However, if you have a patient assignment, your responsibility is that patient (or patients). It is NOT acceptable to follow me around and not get your basic responsibilities done. For example: if you take a feeder, your job is to help that patient eat, not follow the nurse to another room.
2) Please tell me if I have charted something wrong - I can and will make mistakes. But do NOT tell me that a subjective answer is wrong. If I say that the urine was yellow and you think it was amber, guess what? I'm the one with the license. Keep your opinion to yourself. But if I say that that the patient had an amputated limb and they don't, please feel free to point it out. To extend this point further: know your stuff before correcting your nurse. If you're telling me I'm wrong because I'm flushing a feeding tube with tap water instead of sterile water, you can bet I'm going to be peeved at you.
3) Come prepared to work. If you have one or two patients that day, you are responsible for their care (see #1). You need to be available to help them eat, to the bathroom, take their vitals, and to get their baths done. They are of course free to refuse these things, but if a patient has a student nurse they should not have to go without.
4) In the name of all that is holy, if you can't do basic stuff, ask your fellow students or your instructor for help. I should not have to give a student in their second semester of clinicals a play-by-play on how to give a bedbath. Seriously.
5) Again with the computers. Be aware that if a nurse needs a computer, you must forfeit yours. If your clinical unit is anything like my unit, those nurses will probably be leaving after a 13-14 hour shift. You will get to leave on time no matter what - so don't delay them! More importantly, you could very well be delaying entry of orders, timely vitals/I&O charting, etc.
6) I actually like helping nursing students learn, and I've been told I'm good at it. But even I get irritated when I'm in a hurry and it takes a nursing student 2 minutes to draw up a medication when it takes me 2 seconds. There's not anything the student can do about that though. I was slow once, too. I also get a little annoyed by the repetitive questions - but again that's not the student's fault. If it's a good question it needs to be asked.
7) This is the nitpickiest nitpick you've ever seen, but it grates on my nerves when nursing students make such a big deal about injecting air into vials before withdrawing. I know this is because nursing schools make a big deal out of stressing this, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. Is it important for multi-use vials? Sure. Is it important for a one-time administration of Protonix or the like? Not at all. I get so tired of addressing this non-issue every single shift. Ok, I feel better now for having said that. :)

I'm not the expert, but we learned that you inject air to help equalize the pressure and ease withdrawal.

When I worked a flu shot clinic and was drawing up the shots, I didn't inject air because I was told not to, even though they were multi-use vials.

carl5480 · Nov 24, 2011

I'm not the expert, but we learned that you inject air to help equalize the pressure and ease withdrawal.
When I worked a flu shot clinic and was drawing up the shots, I didn't inject air because I was told not to, even though they were multi-use vials.

That is the theory, but in reality it makes little difference except in multi-use vials like insulin. I think it just annoys me because every single day I get asked about this and there are just so many more important things to focus on. But I did warn that it was overly-nit-picky. :)

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Nov 24, 2011

I graduated in May but am a new enough nurse to get certain things.

As a student, the one thing that I absolutely hated was when unit nurses started telling me *things.* About my peers. My clinical instructor. Whatever.

"Oh, A seems really slow." "B is off the unit too much."

I don't need to know these things. They don't impact my learning experience at all. When you tell me these things, I'm put in the position of either tattling on you or not telling my peers and allowing them to continue with whatever bad behavior.

Also, please do not compliment me and put down one of my peers in the process. I don't want or need to be compared to other students.

goodgirl319 · Jul 18, 2018

I said I was a "mean" preceptor to my student because that is what he needed.
He had to be challenged - he was looking for short cuts. He was giving poor care - he tried to give a bed bath to a bed bound palliative pt with paper towels! So I put a stop to that. I challenged him at every step.
Example - before giving Coumadin I asked him. What is this drug for? Why are we giving it? What are we checking before giving it? What would you do if: the INR was low? High? What drug would we give if the INR was critically high?
Before giving Insulin: What is a normal blood sugar? What would you do if the glucose was critically low? Where are the glucose tabs/glucagon/D50W kept?
If he couldn't answer my questions, he didn't give the drug. Yes - I was mean, but that is what he needed. And he learned from it.

I cannot believe it, paper towels?

No, you were not mean. You were doing a good job.