Student Nurse Nightmare-Help!

[RNFiona]

Recently my boss sent an email asking if any of the ER staff was interested in mentoring a 4th year RN student. I expressed that I MAY be interested and without further adieu she immediately assigned him to me, without any further details. I was annoyed because I never confirm that I would do it. The student then called me at work in the middle of a busy shift and was rather rude. I then sent my boss an email stating I was no longer interested and to please assign the student to someone else. She never answered and I never heard from the student again so I was shocked when he showed up looking for me. So then I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and make the best of it. Long story short, this guy is a nightmare. He is rude, arrogant and thinks he knows everything. He is only interested in performing tasks, even though I have tried to stress to him the importance of assessment, critical thinking and prioritizing. He frequently interrupts me, questions my clinical judgement and several times has walked away from me while I am speaking to him. He takes no initiative and seems only interested in busywork, like making beds, fetching blankets etc. I gave him the opportunity to perform chest compressions and to observe a paracentesis, which he declined. He has insulted me several times and I honestly don't think I can do this for six weeks. I keep asking my boss to assign him to someone else and it hasn't happened. What should I do? I am trying the best I can to be patient but I my patience is wearing thin.

[Rhody34]

I know this is an older thread but I have to put my two cents in on this and that is: It has been my experience with male student nurses and male RNs (with the exception on 1 over my 12 years of nursing) that they ALL act like they are the "big rooster in the hen house" and know it all!! I noticed in school that the men seemed to have an easier time of it given that the instructors were female and there were very few men (1 or 2) in my class. The instructors catered to them. Now they get out on the floor and think they're "all that and a bag of chips" and can't take any constructive criticism or instruction from their preceptors/coworkers. We presently have a male PCT/student nurse working prn on our floor that is a nightmare to say the least.

Wow... thanks for stereotyping my entire gender (in your words; with the exception of 1 in 12 years of nursing). Believe me... there are women nurses out there who are nightmares... your gender does not make you more compassionate, more educated, or more able to do this job. Sorry you've had such negative interactions with the professional men in your life- but lets not bag us all.

[chrisrn24]

I can think of one (female) student like this in my graduating class. She loved to argue and despite that, thought all her problems were everyone else's fault. When I got the senior capstone she wanted...ooh she was mad at me.

With her, I think she felt scared or something about things and rather than say that, she acted like a ****** instead. Maybe that is this guy...rather than admit he doesn't know anything he tries to act like the big cheese.

[kool-aide, RN]

As a student nurse, I would be thrilled to pieces to have a preceptor from my clinical site take so much interest in finding learning opportunities for me! Also, I would love to just follow the nurses and work with them on all their pts just to really hone my assessment skills with them-having someone validate my assessments is an extremely valuable thing, and I haven't ran across many RNs will to take that time for me(understandably).

[TerpGal02, ASN]

OMG I would never had DREAMED of acting this way when I was a nursing student (not that long ago). We had 2 male students in our class, only 1 of them graduated with us, but it was not due to an attitude believe you me. The guy we graduated was great, he had this really dry self depricating sense of humor and was very reaps tful, was always jumping in to help out or to take advantage of seeing anything new. I remember in Fundamental he jumped at the chance to do a post mortem. I observed bit couldn't bring myself to touch the body. Expired bodies have always scared me to death. I am afraid they are going to reanimated on me LOL. One too many zombie movies on my part LOL. I guess that's why I'm in psych nursing now.

[SleeepyRN]

This is exactly what drives me nuts. There are so many of us new grads that love the opportunity to work with and learn from experienced nurses. When I hear there are students and new grads that behave this way, it floors me, and upsets me because it gives us new grads a bad name. So much so that so many nurses don't want to precept. What a shame.

[Kittylin]

Contact his instructor with your concerns. If the instructor hears how difficult things have been maybe he will be told he is at risk of not graduating. That might get him to change his attitude a bit. After I have had RN residents who apply for positions in my unit. My director then asks me if I would recommend hiring them. He will be in for a rude awakening if he is not employable due to his attitude.