Student Nurses

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I am one of the main mentors on my floor and spend a great deal of my time working with student nurses, and feel it is part of my role to educate and work with students. Yes it does slow me down on occasions and sometimes I may take over the hands on experience because there are situations you need to take control and then we will debrief.

My students always enjoy their experience with me because I do make them think I do make them work and I do debrief. My concern is however the way they are sometimes treated by other RN's who wont take students, who have abosolutly no time for them, Other RNs let the students follow them around but they are not allowed to touch, document, touch drugs and on and on.

I am interested to know how students are treated on other units and are there any protocols in place re education of these student.

I sometimes think that we forget how important these students are, as they are our future co-workers.

[shellsgogreen]

i love to have students - it's nice to see things from their eyes sometimes, and for the most part the instructors are great.

i try to find as many things for them to experience as possible, as long as it is approved by their instructor - of course there are things like iv push that they can't do but i always try to be patient with them and answer any questions and vocalize to their instructor which patient would be a valuable experience for them.

[fiveofpeep]

thank you for being so great to us student nurses :)

at my school we give all meds (with supervision), do the assessments, and chart both. We also chart the UO and VS qh in the ICU. We do all procedures in nurses scope of practice. I guess we are very lucky in comparison to what it seems to be like at your hospital.

The RN's usually go over the assessment to correct errors and instruct us on better assessment techniques.

[Hisown]

Thank you so much for being that model nurse who passes on your knowledge to students and really enjoys teaching them!

I'm a nursing student and have had many different kinds of nurses...I've been on a med surg floor( clinicals) for the past 7 weeks and it's been really exciting. We are allowed to give all medications and I've done a whole lot of IV pushes, piggybacks, Sub-Q's etc! We are also being taught to document on the hospital's database as well.

I love to meet nurses who truly have a passion for their profession and who would take their time to teach you, query your actions, direct you and correct you when you go wrong. I pray that one day, I'll be that kind of nurse!

[TXstudentRN]

We have recently had a problem with this, and unfortunately we have discovered the root cause often comes down to having a floor that is mainly staffed with travelers. Twice in the last two weeks people in my clinical group have been treated awfully, with point blank comments as soon as the student introduces herself such as "I don't like students - find someone else" (and the student had already pre-planned the night before for two of her patients) and "I hate students, so all you can do is follow me, you aren't giving any meds or doing anything... why don't you go make that bed," especially when we can give all meds/do procedures - only thing is we need either a nurse or CI in the room with us when we give IVP or set up an IVPB. Thankfully the students didn't take it personally, but for the record, these nurses are reported, as they should understand that when taking an assignment in a teaching hospital, nursing students are part of the job.

I've been lucky and have had great nurses that want to teach - I've actually discovered that new(er) nurses are often more accepting, as they were in my place not too long ago. Not to say nurses with more experience haven't also been great, but it was an interesting observation. I do however understand that I slow them down and are completely okay with not doing things when they just have to be done quickly. I don't know if it has something to do with students' personalities, like do some come off more needy than others, or what, but it is definitely a problem. I hate to see people come into clinical all excited because they have an interesting patient and can't wait to help them, then are shot down before they even listen to report because the nurse wants nothing to do with them. On the flip side, having a nurse that trusts me and goes out of her way to help me absolutely makes my day and I soak up all I possibly can, and also let them know how much it means to me.

I totally understand having bad days and sometimes just wanting to get things done your way, but it's hard for us not to think "well how did they get where they are if no one wanted to let them get experience?!".

Thanks for posting this - it hits home for sure! I would love follow and learn from you any day!

[Flames9_RN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Im a student and it is great when one finds a Rn that is happy to share her experiences, and for the most part that is the case. But there are a few they want nothing to do with a student,and that is their decision, one that I respect BUT not one that i will follow, as I enjoy passing on knowledge.

[Dottie78]

As a future nursing student, I am reading this with my jaw to the floor, and now I'm a little nervous to start clinicals! Seriously? Some nurses actually tell students point blank that they want nothing to do with them? That just amazes me, and doesn't sound very encouraging!

So that brings up a question I have: How do you react to that? What do you do or say if a nurse tells you something like that? Do you let it roll off your back and just find another nurse to help you? What if there isn't anyone else??

[OBGYN*RN]

I'm glad that you are one of those nurses that truly understands how important it is to treat student nurses with compassion and kindness. Im so fed up with having to deal with so many nurses who make me and my fellow classmates feel like crap. We are either in their way and they get annoyed or if we ask questions we get the "eye roll" and the "huffs and puffs"..its so discouraging. And alot of these nurses who do this are ones who just graduated 2 or 3 yrs ago. I would think they would have more compassion then anyone since they JUST went through it. But Ive learned through my going on 4 yrs of nursing school how quickly these experienced nurses forget what its like to be in our shoes. So THANK YOU for being one of those nurses that makes it that much easier for students to learn. Its hard enough without having seasoned nurses making you feel horrible. And sorry if it seems im venting..this subject is just really touchy for me because ive been having to deal with this for awhile now.

[onetiredmomma]

We must treat students and new grads kindly and do whatever we can to help them move into their new profession! Not only are they our co-workers but they may someday be the nurses we need to take care of us as we "baby boomers" become older and need care!

[Batman24]

You and all the experienced nurses who share their experience and education with student nurses are a credit to our profession. Thank you. :)

[suni, BSN, RN]

I love to have student nurses on the unit when I am working, it is especially nice if we ee them for more then one semester and can see how they grow. My only issue is that there is a lack of clinical instructors so unfortunately the students have to turn down an experience because there is only 1 instrucotr for 8 students.

[CHATSDALE]

i liked the comment that if you work in a teaching hospital then you will have to deal with student nurses and perhaps interns

for students let the nurse take the lead about what will be done..let them decide that you are capable of doing

if you are brushed off go to your instructor and request another nurse because you are not going to learn anything sitting at the nurses station because someone doesn't like students

i believe that the shortage of instructors is one of the most seriious

health issues facing our nation