2bNurseDR.T

Hey I've made a post about this in the past, feel free to check it out! Good luck 😀 https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/advice-for-1st-1048118.html

Good luck and congratulations!

That's odd. Mine shows up as this;

I understand that skills do not encompass thinking as a nurse. I never claimed to think like a nurse. I was just answering a question regarding my experience. There's a lot that goes into thinking like a nurse. Do I believe I'm at that point yet? No, not yet.. but I feel like I am starting to, slowly. Not fully. but in some regards, I believe that I do. Hopefully, by the time that I graduate in a few months I'll have a better understanding of the nursing thought process. 😀

My apologies, I didn't realize that it did, the only thing I see is "years of experience" listed.

I've worked the past 4 years as a tech. 2 years M/S and 2 years Trauma ICU in a Level 1 trauma center. We do Foley insertions, lab draws (with a butterfly or a VAMP if they have an A-line), trach care, hypopharyngeal suction, set up pressure lines, assist in bedside procedures with the team, help in codes, ECG monitoring, dc A-lines (except for Femorals), etc. Is that not experience?

Thanks! I will check your post out and hopefully I will be able to take some good tips away from it!

I have, and I disagree. I don't see anywhere in this post where I've been disrespectful. What I do see is, a lot of people being disrespectful towards me, and towards nursing students in general. I believe people took my post the wrong way and assumed that I was disrespecting nurse's, which I wasn't. Maybe I exaggerated when I said the percentage of nurses whom are snobby and bitter, but I didn't say anything out of line. It's troublesome so many of the responses here are so negative about students being on their units. That's perfectly fine. When I graduate in a few months, I will NOT be that nurse who gets ill and takes my stressful day out on a student who is there because that's where they got placed for their rotation.

I don't expect anything to be handed to me. I work hard, and actually have never had anything handed to me. And, I am open to advice as well as criticism, I look at both as learning opportunities.

No, no lol. I didn't fall off the planet. It has been difficult trying to respond to everyone's comments is all and I've been studying. 😁

Is it necessary to be so scathing? And to answer your question "You truly think that you know better than this pt's nurse where her attention should be?", no I don't. But to assume I'm not looking at the whole picture and to think I'm only worried about that one finding is inaccurate. I looked at the "whole picture" and talked about it with my peers before I even told the nurse. So please, continue to belittle me for my "book experience", since that's the only experience I have after all, and because you know my experience.

Thanks for the response. I appreciate your honesty as well as everyone else's. I have realized that I shouldn't be quick to blame the nurse, and as many of you have stated it's the instructor's responsibility. My clinical group met before class today and decided to inform our lead clinical instructor who is over all the clinical groups at my university of our concerns and experience with this particular instructor. She will be making a surprise visit soon to see firsthand what we experience weekly from this instructor. I apologize if I have came off to be a arrogant or to have a superiority complex. That was not my intention when I posted, I was just looking for feedback which I've gotten. I've received helpful feedback and then some not so helpful feedback. I appreciate everyone's time for reading and responding to my post. Respectfully,

How is it that I have a superiority complex as a student? I don't believe that I am better than anyone, just as I don't believe a nurse is any better than I am. I believe in equality. Also, I can't help that my instructor is unreliable and is a poor instructor. I don't expect the nurses to owe me anything, I would just appreciate if I weren't looked at as a burden when I stick to myself mostly or when I ask a question about something that I've been taught is concerning.

Excuse me, but I'm not sure where I have been out of tone at all. Furthermore, I am far from being an idiot. You don't know me at all, and I've done nothing but ask a simple question. I apologize you took my post the wrong way. I show respect for everyone, no matter who it is.

Sorry, it's difficult to respond to each comment. But my instructor, well she's not very reliable. She tells us to be at clinical at 0600 and we get there at that time, and she strolls in around 0630 usually, she's not shown up on time even once. The other day, she worked the night before, came down at 0630 to tell us she had to give report and would be back down in 30 minutes. 2 hours went by before she came down. But that's besides the point, when we're on the unit she is usually difficult to find or off the unit doing whatever it is she does. I'm not new to Healthcare, as I've worked as a tech in the ICU for the past 4 years at the largest teaching hospital in my city. I guess I'm so used to being able to ask a simple question to my nurses at work without an issue or without rude remarks. I don't expect a nurse to explain everything to me, or anything for that matter, and I usually keep my questions to a minimum because I like to research it myself. But when I ask the nurse a question that has something to do with the patient's health that I find concerning, I'd like just a little reassurance or something to ease my misunderstanding of the situation. I'm not one who hounds the nurse about every little thing, because I feel that I am pretty knowledgeable in regards to patient care and disease processes. I don't understand some of the rude comments here, I didn't say anything out of line or not true for what I have encountered. I go to clinical, do my assessment, analyze my findings, come up with a few goals for my patient and mostly stick to myself, unless I find stuff that is abnormal or concerns me or the patient. I look into the patient's history and diagnosis before I start assuming things that will make me look silly. It's not necessarily fair to the patient to get the short end of the stick when I tell a nurse something I've found and they're too busy or whatever the case may be to go follow up. I understand most of the reasons why you all don't necessarily like to have a student, but when the student really isn't bad and is just there to learn and care for the patient, why blow them off? I don't mind being told "wait a few minutes and I'll explain" or "could you ask your instructor, I'm busy right now" but if I just come to you with something that I and myinstructor agree is important and you say to me "well that stinks" or "I don't remember what the normal is" that is crazy. Thank you all for your responses, I will try not to be in the way so much and will keep what you all have said in mind.

I agree, and see where that could be a problem. But it's not my fault or my classmates fault that we get paired with them, after all we don't get to choose and we're just trying to learn a thing or two. I just would like to be able to ask a question about mine and the nurses patient that we're sharing without being looked at as a burden or as an idiot. It can be quite discouraging for some students.

Thanks for the response, I try not to let it get to me but sometimes it's hard because I want what's best for my patient. I hope to be a nurse that will be a good resource for students. Congrats and good luck in your new position!

I'm not questioning the nurse in front of the patient, just simply sharing what I have found and know to be abnormalities. S3 if new and not previously diagnosed may indicate ventricular dysfunction caused by fluid volume excess, renal insufficiency, valvular regurgitation, etc. So, for me to share with the nurse that I auscultated an S3, should have grabbed her attention to listen to the patient again so that appropriate interventions could have been in place. This patient also had +2 bilateral edema.

I appreciate your response and honesty. I guess it's hard for me to understand because I love to teach people and be a mentor others. Thanks!

My school goes to preplan the night before and gets to the hospital an hour before shift change to discuss our patient with the instructor and then we go get report with the nurse.

I understand during heavy assignments it's not likely for a nurse to explain everything to me. But when I am in the room for example, and the nurse comes in and changes the IV rate or gives some medication that wasn't on the eMAR a little while ago and I ask "could you tell me why you changed the rate or gave that med" and their response is "because the doctor ordered it" and leaves it at that, I feel like that's not asking much of someone. Or when I assess the patient and find a S3 gallop and tell my nurse and she just looks at me like I'm insane and does nothing about it, even though it's never been charted on. Like I understand you have a job to do, but if I tell you I found something abnormal or ask a simple question, it should be recognized at least. Or another example my patient had a potassium level of 3.0 the day before, but never had another K drawn and wasn't on a potassium protocol, so I told the nurse and she laughed and said "that seems low, but I can't remember the normal value, I'm sure the Doc will see it", like that's not okay and I'm just trying to do best for my patient and I get careless remarks or just straight up rude comments. That sets a bad example for nursing students.

I was not trying to be rude, I'm just asking a question that a lot of nursing students wonder. It's not that I'm trying to be disrespectful, this is honestly just the vibe that I myself and classmates get when we are at clinical and ask for assistance or an explanation regarding something wrong with our patient. It makes myself and many others question why nursing is known to be a field full of compassion, when that's not the case. Thank you for the tip on the other threads, I wasn't aware that you could search post on here.

So as a third semester nursing student, myself and many of my fellow colleagues often wonder the same thing. Why is it that when we go to clinical, about 75% of the nurses act snobby and like it's some huge ordeal that we are there in "their space"? They were all nursing students at some point as well, students who wanted to learn skills and gain experience while at their clinicals. I often dread clinical due to feeling as I am in the way or that I am annoying a "seasoned" nurse. One would think, that as a nurse you'd want future nurses to gain as much experience and knowledge as they can while they're in school. So the point of this post, I would like to and I'm sure many other nursing students would like to know; why is it necessary to be rude and someone who doesn't want to help students learn or why is it necessary to not explain stuff to the student when they ask? I'm not trying to be conniving, I honestly just want to know, so that maybe I can understand. P.S. I'm not saying this is true for ALL nurse's, as there are some that are amazing and share their knowledge and expertise. Thank you.

Perhaps you shouldn't be a nurse if you have no interest in physical labor. What you are implying here is, "I'm lazy and perform no care for my patients besides pass their medications". I don't care if you are charged nurse, floor nurse or any other kind of nurse, if you don't want to do physical labor or perform care for your patients, then WHY be a nurse? Where's your compassion? As a charge nurse you should be part of your unit and encourage working as a TEAM instead of relying on your CNA to do all the work.

I just finished my second semester of nursing school. I took Pharmacology 1, Med-surg 1, Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing and Gerontological Nursing. I finished the semester with 3 A's and a B in Gero. My semester GPA was a 3.9 and cumulative is a 3.8! I was very excited to have made an A in Med-surg because the class was very difficult. I ended up being the only person (out of 56 students) to make an A! Sadly, we lost 13 people due to that class😞