Student sense of entitlement

[kris113]

Hi,

I am a second year student currently doing my third semester of practicum. During a praxis session, our teacher and my class were going through comments that had been made during our placement, and previous rotations that she had had. She said that one of the most common comments that she has had through the years was " Students always have such a sense of entitlement".

I'm wondering what this means. The students that I have always worked with help out around the ward, although we are limited in some areas as per our scope of practice (and we do have to do extensive research on the clients we have).

Our teacher couldn't tell us what the "sense of entitlement" meant. In school we are taught to hold ourselves equal to the staff, and advocate for our patients. As we do not hold a full patient load (often we only have one or two patients), and do not work full twelve hour shifts, we cannot fully understand the position the nurses are in on the wards. We also do understand that we are probably the last thing that a nurse wants to add to their day- more questions and responsibility.

I am asking this question in the hope that some experienced nurses may clarify what is meant by a "sense of entitlement". What are we doing/ or should we be doing to display this? (We really do want to be good, hardworking students, which contribute!)

- K.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

when i see or hear the phrase "sense of entitlement" in the context of nursing student behavior -- it conjures up images of students who think that their needs come before those of others. "i am a student and am here to learn and that comes first, before your need to have a reasonable work load, take a break, use the chart, etc."

i was struck by the op's statement that her school teaches the students are taught to "hold themselves equal to the staff." that may be part of the problem. while all people should be treated with courtesy and respect, etc. .... the needs or desires of the students are not the hospital's primary responsibility. the staff's primary responsibility is to the patients, not the students -- and students need to be gracious as they sometimes have to "take a back seat" to the needs of the patients, the staff, and the hospital. some students are better at doing that than others.

perhaps in their efforts to be patient advocates, some of the students are giving the impression that they believe their patient's needs (or their learning needs) are more important than the smooth functioning of the unit as a whole.

this pretty much describes what i think of when i hear about students with a "sense of entitlement."

i've worked with students who seem to believe that their needs and their "rights" to do procedures, become involved with situations that are good learning experiences, observe, etc. comes before anyone else's needs. sometimes we have orientees whose needs come first -- we hired this person, we're paying for their orientation. we need to get them the experiences before we give the experience to a student. and sometimes patient care comes before the student's learning experience.

now if you want to talk about a new orientee's sense of entitlement . . .

[jackson145]

From what I've seen in the healthcare world, no matter how long you've been at it & how much experience & education you have, there will always be someone who trumps you. I guess that means you should never let yourself get too big for your britches.

I did hear an interesting story from my school, though, about a student who had a bad rotation on a particular floor. The instructor insisted on the students delegating to the Techs & one Tech in particular made her life miserable because of it. She also was given a hard time by her patient's primary nurse. Now that student nurse is Charge Nurse on that same floor. Guess which Tech & nurse are looking for a new floor to work on?

I guess the toes you step on today just might be attached to the a** you'll be kissing tomorrow!

[Vito Andolini]

I see students interact with nurses in which the nurses are annoyed at what they perceive as the students' sense of entitlement. Sometimes students do act that way. Students believe they should be able to practice skills at every opportunity and get so excited they forget the patients are human beings, not there for their education. Sometimes students also act as though the staff must take their opinions to heart and get indignant that the nurse doesn't give pain medicine, comfort a family, call the doctor about something the patient wants, etc. because the nurse is grappling with other more important problems at the time. Students don't understand the hospital culture, be it right or wrong, that says new nurses (and by extension students) have to prove themselves before they are given equal status with more experienced staff. All that can add up to what seems like a sense of entitlement.

Or the student isn't willing to do anything or will do only what she wants to do, not any more or anything different, should an opportunity arise. Or the student's eyes are on the clock or they hide out or the student is on the phone, stuff like that. Or maybe they say stuff like, "I don't need to learn that (something in the bedside care arena, like bathing, bedpans, and the other hands-on things) because I'm going to be a

midwife, NP/CRNA/Manager.

I think it's interesting that your Instructor couldn't tell you what the term meant. She sounds like kind of a screwball .

[truern]

It's not been *that* long ago that I was a student....I think it has more to do with maturity and respect than anything else. I would never have taken a chair that a nurse needed...heck, who had time to sit?!? I gave up charts right away when they were needed by staff. I was respectful and THANKFUL for the opportunity to learn in a clinical setting.

Sadly, I seldom see that type of students. I'm not sure what instructors are telling them is ok, but it's NOT ok to take chairs and space meant for staff...it's not ok to hog computers that staff need to look up labs, etc...it's not ok to think that student needs trump patient/staff needs.

Hopefully this thread won't get pulled like the last one did.....