Student nurses, what will you different when you have student's?

[stunurs08]

What would you like to do different for your students that you did not have during your clinicals? Where there any nurses that did not like having students? What could the hospital do different to improve teaching for students?

[krisiepoo]

I had awesome experiences as a student nurse. I didn't sit back and watch the world go by, I asked to help/see/do/experience whatever I could and the staff nurses seemed to respond in kind to that. I would have like to shadow a nurse more than once to see how they do things instead of just being assigned my patients but that's neither here nor there

It's not the hospitals job to improve teaching for students. The school is responsible for teaching

[rubato, ASN, RN]

I will try to be more of a teacher and include them in everything. Of course, when I become a nurse, I'll probably find that the reason they didn't do that was because they were running their tails off and had no time!

[DatMurse]

Depends on their attitude, if I will help them or not.

Shy- do an icebreaker

careless- I could care less about you.

proactive-awesome

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

Depends on their attitude, if I will help them or not.

Shy- do an icebreaker

careless- I could care less about you.

proactive-awesome

As a person who falls under the "shy" category, PLEASE don't do an icebreaker. If I could fully express how much I dislike being forcibly "drawn out" by some cheesy social activity, it'd be censored on this board.

For shy students, allow them to remain in your shadow for a while. Ease them into care. Often times, they're shy because they're unsure. Explain everything, have them show you skills that you teach them before they go into the room, and provide a lot of reassurance.

That's how I eventually got out of my "shy" streak and into a mode where I was not just functional as a nurse but a preceptor and mentor for new nurses/students.

[DatMurse]

As a person who falls under the "shy" category, PLEASE don't do an icebreaker. If I could fully express how much I dislike being forcibly "drawn out" by some cheesy social activity, it'd be censored on this board.

For shy students, allow them to remain in your shadow for a while. Ease them into care. Often times, they're shy because they're unsure. Explain everything, have them show you skills that you teach them before they go into the room, and provide a lot of reassurance.

That's how I eventually got out of my "shy" streak and into a mode where I was not just functional as a nurse but a preceptor and mentor for new nurses/students.

An ice breaker is not just forcing them to draw out into the open. simple conversation can be an ice breaker. a mild conversation is good enough to get someone comfortable

[Stephalump]

I'm going to try to get them more involved with the ins and outs of things. You want a patient or three? Fine, they're YOUR patients. I feel like I was treated more like a gopher than really taking responsibility.

I've gotten to do and see a lot of things, but I think a little more education in time management and structuring my day would've been useful.

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

An ice breaker is not just forcing them to draw out into the open. simple conversation can be an ice breaker. a mild conversation is good enough to get someone comfortable

Agreed! And kudos to you for recognizing as much.

I saw the term "icebreaker" and immediately flashed back to uncomfortable conversations around the table led by my clinical instructor about where we were from, what kind of nursing we thought we wanted to do, and our favorite color (or something equally as irrelevant).

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

The hospital could give us badges.. I spend a lot of time standing outside the med/supply/biohazard rooms waiting for and employee to pass and open the door.

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

I'm going to try to get them more involved with the ins and outs of things. You want a patient or three? Fine, they're YOUR patients. I feel like I was treated more like a gopher than really taking responsibility.

I've gotten to do and see a lot of things, but I think a little more education in time management and structuring my day would've been useful.

I'm sorry that's how your clinical was. We did almost everything for our patients including assessments, meds, wound care, baths, feeding, calling the pharmacy to find meds, patient/family education, and advocating. The nurses were barely involved except to do their assessments and to check in on the patient every once in a while. To be honest, we were so busy, we only really saw the nurse to give them an update on the patient. My clinical instructor tried hard to help us develop time management. She expected us to get everything done without her or the nurse running behind us or reminding us.

[laKrugRN]

Some of the nurses I had were awesome and helpful. Others were downright rude and treated us like we were dumb. When I am a nurse, I will be grateful for my students. They are there to help. We were all students once, just wanting to learn. I will really focus on helping the students with meds and offer to assist them with IVs, caths, etc. Nurses on the floor taught me these things, and I am grateful! PS I AGREE WITH HAVING BADGES. I too, have felt the anguish on constantly asking to get into the clean linen rooms.

[RunninNurse]

I've talked about this exact topic with my cohort this last week. During our last quarter of nursing school we have the opportunity to be "Management Students" and essentially act as clinical instructors to the first quarter students. I remember being in my first quarter and being thrown into clinical with big eyes and no idea what I was doing. My saving grace was the final quarter management students who were super helpful and really pointed me in the right direction. It's exactly how I want to be as a management student, and as a nurse who has students.

One thing I promised myself I would do as a nurse with students is always make the student do the procedures. I guess "make" isn't the right word, maybe offer. A few nurses I had would never let me do specific procedures (i.e., IV starts, EKGs, caths, etc.) because they just wanted to hurry up and get something done. However, the nurses that allowed me the experience were the most influential and taught me the most. That's the type of nurse I want to be.