pet peeves when nursing students arrive

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I was reading the pet peeves thread and decided to start this one and see if I could get any advice for what TO DO and NOT TO DO in clinicals.

So...

What pet peeves do you have about nursing students?

What are things you wish ns would do?

sandan rnstudent

Specializes in Pediatrics.

To nursing students coming onto pediatrics for the first time:

- Please, please, please know normal vital signs for peds. Carry a list with you if you need to... even some peds nurses do that (this isn't an exam, it's okay!). When you slap the BP cuff on him and he's screaming bloody murder, do not report the BP as 148/90 and expect me tell you that you did a good job. Also, if you got an axillary temp of 95.6, you probably put it under the arm with the clothing still on it.

In that same vein, know that a normal respiratory rate for an INFANT is in the 40s, but for a 9 year old, that's just not right. Especially when they've been admitted for cellulitis. I see where that thought was coming from, but again, review normal vitals. Also... actually COUNT the respiratory rate. ;)

- Do the ADLs. I know you probably learned about family-centered care and having the parents do everything, but the parents aren't always there. Change the diaper and wash them, please. Even if the parents ARE there. They're overstressed and will thank you profusely.

- Get out of the playroom. You say "therapeutic", I say "not a true pediatric experience". Ask a nurse or classmate if they need help, ask a nurse if there are any learning experiences going on, ask to see the PICU, practice giving report with a classmate. Just get out of the playroom.

- Stop being afraid of peds because someone told you "the parents are SOOSOSOSOSOOSSOSOSOOSOSOSO HORRIBLE". Once in a while they are, but many times, they're not. Don't assume.

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Specializes in LTC.
i enjoy having students around, but trust me -- a student is not a help. students double or triple your work load if you're actually trying to teach them something. it may take me a half hour to teach something i could just take care of in a minute or two. also, no one is "thankful that we were doing their job for free." you're not. the nurse is still responsible, and even if your instructor is the one helping you cath the patient or give the meds, the nurse still needs to follow up.

for every "mean nurse" you say you've encountered, i've encountered a problem student. that's food for thought, isn't it?

students may not have been a help to you personally but i have been told i was help by some rns. even though the nurses do have to follow up ( i know because i have to follow up after students at my lpn job) sometimes we are a help. to know that we gave meds, hung those fluids, d/c'd a line, cath a patient, followed up with labs or orders... all with the supervision of our instructor sometimes is a little help. i do agree that what can take 2 minutes on your own, can take an longer with the students.i'm glad you like nursing students because nursing schools are going to be around for a while and so are the students.

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FYI, I am a clinical instructor and students DO NOT work under the instructor's or the staff nurse's licenses. The school of nursing carries liability insurance for the students and that is what they are working under.

Then maybe that explains why they seem to do so much (?many) fewer tasks during clinicals as they did, and why hospitals have to have "nursing school" 2.0 when they get out....Nothing against you at all- it just seems that SO much has changed with nursing education and not all of it good.... JMHO :)

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Specializes in NICU.
FYI, I am a clinical instructor and students DO NOT work under the instructor's or the staff nurse's licenses. The school of nursing carries liability insurance for the students and that is what they are working under.

In addition to that insurance though, I am held responsible on a license level if I am supervising a student and something goes wrong. If I delegate a task to them, I am responsible. Maybe not in the same way as if I made the mistake myself, but my license is still involved.

I can see this person is not the nurse you want to be in clinicals with. Too bad you have such a bad attitude and feel that we students are taking up more of your time and think we are problem children. I hope to never be in your patient room :/ So much for "supporting other fellow nursing students" !! :mad:DISLIKE:mad:

Clearly, you are still a student. I LOVE having students and frequently volunteer to precept. Because I work in a specialty, students naturally come less prepared than if I worked in an area that is more focused on in school. I know that and don't fault them for being new to neonatal. I often defend students who are criticized by other staff, and I go out of my way to find learning opportunities for them. I was a student just 5 short years ago, and I can easily put myself back in those shoes. (Mine were big white clodhoppers. :lol2:) All that said, it is WAY more work to have a student than to not. I love doing it, so I'm not complaining. But I work twice as hard when I have a student with me. I appreciate their help. But I wouldn't appreciate a student coming in expecting me to appreciate their free help. Rather, do you appreciate the nurse that is working twice as hard as his/her normal job so that you can have a good learning experience?

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I think that poster was just trying to lighten the mood of the thread. geesh. Rough day at work?

No- I got her later post....just that a lot of students were posting comments their education at this point can't back up...:)

And NO, not a bad day at work... I'm disabled. I'd give anything to have a bad day at work. But I have had students work with me.:)

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And please remember, your instructor is paid to educate you. Floor staff do it for free unless it's your final placement before graduation. Depending on our union contract, we do it for between 0.50 and $1/hour. We're not getting rich having students with us.

My best workmate preceptors 3 -4 times a year. It's not for the money, it's because she darned good at showing/mentoring students. But she's at the end of her rope. Nobody wants to floor nurse anymore, they have told her they are marking time until a management job opens up.

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I've never seen a nursing student act like he/she knows everything. Most of them have the "deer in the headlights" look about them and are terrified of older nurses who treat them like insects. I got bullied enough by my nursing instructors; I certainly didn't need more abuse from the nurses I worked with during my clinicals, who also didn't "know it all." Let's face it--if you are a nurse and think you know it all, you are a poor nurse. A good nurse never knows it all--it is a lifelong learning process. So give the student nurses a break. Smile at them. Answer their questions. Help them learn. If they are "in your way," kindly ask them to step aside or take another seat or go to the "free" computer (and there never is a free computer) or let you see your patient's chart for a few moments. We are here to help them become good nurses, not to serve as a bad example.

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Specializes in Psych.

I've had the opportunity of being a student and the nurse on the floor with students.

I think making sure you know why a patient is on the medication is important. Yes and don't make it a huge production when a blanchable red area is found on a late stage Alzheimer's, bed bound, not eating patient. thank you for telling me, please turn them off it and I will get right to it in a few min, do you want to see the paper work involved and the protocol for treating it... hey where did they go?

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quote: "... The OP asked the question- nurses are answering. If students don't like it, well, that's too bad, isn't it.... seriously- they're blowing their own education. :( "

That is the reason I posted this topic in the "nurses" section of this forum and not the "nursing student" section. I wanted the ones with the experience of preceptorship (?precepting?) to offer some advice to get us newbies off on the right foot!

sandan rnstudent

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry, PACU, Med-Surg.

I think a lot of the negativity comes down to the fact that nursing students mean a lot more work. I have seen MANY students come through our floor with the attitude that they are doing us a favor by being here.

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Specializes in Skilled Nursing, Rehab, LTC.

After being in nursing for a while, it's easier for me to understand why some nurses act that way. Nursing as a job can be very stressful and perhaps they were bogged down with work that day and simply did not have time or energy to explain things or act super friendly. They probably didn't mean anything by it. I had some rude nurses when i was in clinical, but i've had to deal with lots of rude nurses on the job as an STNA too, so I really didn't care that much :D

If somebody ever treats you poorly or says mean things to you, or you feel that somebody is harassing you, feel free to let your clinical instructor know immediately. I had an MDS nurse in a LTC facility picking at me and I let my instructor know immediately because I knew she was doing it out of spite for whatever reason.

I work as an LPN now and I have to say I would probably not enjoy working with students just because my workload is so heavy at times I don't have time to sit down and explain things or have students getting in the way or finding extra work for me to do. Maybe one student would be fine, but not a whole group.

I also have to say that a lot of STNAs who are in nursing school can be really bad to work with. In fact, they can be the worst, which is sad. Not only do many of them seem to be lazy, but a lot of them try to tell me how to do my job and are very condescending. It's gonna be fun working with them as nurses, I'm sure. :twocents:

All of the nurses that replied to this post actually seem to like have students around. I wish you guys were at my clinical rotations. I felt like every clinical site I went to students were not wanted. Nurses deliberately ignored us. We would say "good morning" and they would give us a dirty look and walk away. Or just look at us and keep walking.

I just could not fathom how they could be so cruel to students when they were students themselves once. Students can be a huge help to some facilities we have our instructors whom we worked under and supervised us. I just thought that some nurses would be more thankful that we were doing their job for free under someone else's license.

My advice is be optomistic and just be nice to everyone even if they are being witches!! Don't stand around and do nothing, even that would irritate me. There were a few instances that I got some mean nurses to warm up to me and actually trust me to do things. Kill em w/ kindness! good luck.

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Specializes in critical care.

The fastest way I've found to get on a nurse's bad side? Unsafe practice.

My first day of clinical, we got reamed out because a classmate forgot to put a chair alarm on a fall risk patient. Later, I got lectured for not using a gait belt while transferring a patient to her wheelchair; I had looked high and low and couldn't find one, and figured I would be fine without it. From then on, I borrowed a gait belt when I needed it.

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