I just graduated from medical school. First off, I'd like to say that I've had many pleasant interactions with nurses. However, I would also like to say that I've had some very bad experiences with some nurses that seem to only pick on medical students. For example, on my emergency rotation, I had to do a 2 hour triage shift with the nurses. From the outset, I was told (rather rudely) by the nurse I was working with to bring the patient's chart up to the floor. I did this twice before I got fed up and told an attending emergency physician about this who then laid down the law. I would've let this pass, but many of my student colleagues and I have had many other interactions with nurses that have left a sour taste in my mouth. I realize that as a medical student I had very little experience compared with some of the nurses. But I still think that I should be treated like a human being. And these run-ins with nurses had nothing to do with my lack of knowledge or being an idiot on the floor--well except for the one time where I didn't know I had to pull my own glove and gown in the OR and got yelled at by the circulating nurse. Or the other time when I couldn't intubate this patient in the OR and the CRNA shoved me out of the way to intubate right in front of the attending anesthesiologist. This all seems to stem from the fact that I was wearing a short white coat. Heck, I think in the hospital hierarchy, we are the bottom of the barrel, below nursing students, PT students, etc.
The point of this post is to tell you guys to please be nice to medical students. We have it hard enough already from the constant pimping from our residents and attendings. Please be our friend on the floors.
Ah, the irony of a medical student going to a nursing site to complain about rude behavior by nurses. Where does one begin? Maybe an observation that every nurse viewing this OP could tell umpteen stories of rude mistreatment from physicians. One of mine from the ER occurred when another nurse and I were hustling to work up a chest pain patient. We were missing a piece of gear, so I ducked across the hall to another room for it. A visiting doc and med student were in the room, examining a patient. I apologized for the intrusion and, as I was grabbing the gear I needed, the doc asked where the tongue depressors were. I plucked one from the wall dispenser, but the doc had both hands busy on the patient. I asked the med student if she'd hold the tongue depressor while I returned to my patient. She looked at me and said, "No, I'm a med student, not a nurse." (I tossed the blade on the bed and left.)...Yep, we can all tell stories. ... In most settings, modern medical care is a team function. By virture of education, the doctor is the supervisor of the team. Yet many doctors haven't a clue how to function on, let alone lead, a team. The military wouldn't think of sending an officer into the field without the training to lead, yet Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal and most every other med school does it all the time. Now, medical schools aren't likely to alter their curriculum any time soon, so where do we go? Well, dear med student, maybe you should resolve never to treat a nurse, respiratory therapist, lab tech, CNA, or food worker in the manner that the rude nurse treated you. You can't change the world, but maybe by using courtesy in the face of rudeness, you might be able to change your little corner of it.
PANurseRN1
1,288 Posts
Deleted; double post.