student nurses: What (realistically) would you like to see from the staff nurse you are with(either following, or you just have their patient)
Nurses: what would you like to see from "your" student with your patient?
AND, for both roles, do you feel you do well at the nurse/student relationship?
As a nurse, I would just like the student to be well prepared, of course. Ask questions, but not ones that you should already know (stuff you should have found out in your info gathering the day before).Don't be afraid to ask about anything you don't understand. DOn't act like you have superior knowledge we don't have. Be eager to try new things, even if nervous. Make the most of your learning experience.
And I do try to make good at the nurse/student relationship. I make sure the students know I am available to them, that they can ask questions. When I have good procedures (iv start, wound vac change, etc) I go to the students and ask if any of htem would like to do it. If the instructor is too busy, I walk them through it. I try to make chit chat w/ them, just to help make them comfortable.
i do feel like I am not so good at constructive criticism, though. If I am not pleased w/ something they did (poor documentation, for ex) I am not as good at talking about that. Especially to students older than me (I'm only 24)
I don't expect too much from the staff nurses...a good report, (and I will try my best to do the same) no barking. I would really appreciate if you don't like the way I do something for you to talk to my instructor about it. I do things the way I have been taught. My instructor is the one who taught me so talk to her and maybe the three of us can find a solution together. I try not to bother the staff nurses unless it is something that both my instructor and myself can't do. For example, order a missing med. It would be great if you see a student in the hall and you are going to do something we may not have a lot of exposure too (IV's is one I know I don't have enough exposure/experience with) to pull us in the room so we can watch...even if we are not "your" student nurse. Mostly my experience in clinicals has been positve and I have learned so very much! Thanks to all of you who put up with us newbies.
When I am negotiating for a nursing position, one of the things I ask is that I do not precept students or orient new nurses. There are people out there who may enjoy that, but I'm not one of them and I don't want to be responsible for that in addition to everything else I do.
When I was a student (in the Dark Ages LOL), I cna't recall one nurse helping me. I looked up all of the info, made myself scarce around the nurses, and immersed myself in my duties with my patient. I knew the nurses had full assignments and having to "teach" too wasn't necessarily part of their duties and I was sure staffing hadn't taken into consideration how much additional time having a shadow for your shift also took away from your patients.
That said, where did I get my interaction time with patients that prepared me wonderfully for my future as a registered nurse? As a nurse tech! If I wasn't at school, I was working my tail off as a nurse tech. I worked nights too and foudn myself late to a couple of lectures because work ran late. I learned so much at work, probably more than I did in shcool.
Nursing school never felt "real" to me. Even my NP program felt out of touch with reality. At least my clinicals there were a great experience.
Getting your hands dirty in the actual work environment with patients is where it is at, in my opinion. The school clinical thing? Frustrating!
I am a student nurse in Atlanta Ga. I have had the fortunate experience of doing a clinical rotation in the inner city communtiy hospital which is also a teaching hospital. With that being said, the staff was great. I learned so much I was able to return to school and share with other classmates procedures and skills I was able to learn. The staff took a hands on approach with the students. They were not aggitated, angry or hostile with us (which I have experienced at another clinical site). They allowed us to perform procedures and be a gentle voice and talk us through when needed. The staff was also great on keeping us on our toes. We werent simply there to perform tasks, but we were questioned contiously on why we were doing it and the importance of doing it. In a nut shell the staff gave us independence, but did not abandon us. The watched us closely, but not so close that we could feel breath on our backs. The staff allowed me to gain confidence and not have fear in asking for help.
So what I want from nursing staff is to remember we are human, we make mistakes, and we only learn by doing. Intimidation, anger, and hostility will only turn away future nurses and make them more likely to try and cover a mistake rather then seeking help to begin with.
I love teaching students, but I have major issues when I do not see their instrutor until almost their time with us is up. The student on the unit should know how to sign their name when charting, such as --------SN, name of school. Not their name, and RN Student afterwards. These are things that should have been taught in nursing school. And be able to chart, not tell me that they have done the pain assessment, and notihng else has been done.
Sorry for my rant, but this issue came up yesterday, and as you can tell, it is 4AM here and I am awake.
Second year student not knowing how to give meds is just not acceptable.
Belly tap done on the patient and on her patient, and yet the student was no where around. :angryfire
fAs far as not taking charts, please understand students receive mixed messages. I was told to take my chart into the conference room and to never stand at the nurse's station. But then a nurse screamed at a fellow student for taking the chart away from the station. So, now I've started reading mine at the station even though my instructor said not to.
I know what you mean about this. Sometimes it's just too crowded at the nurses station. If we need to take the chart elsewhere (not far, mind you!), we always leave a slip in the slot saying who we are, have the chart for room #, and the exact location of where we can be found. Sometimes that doesn't work so well either but it's worth a try. :)
The stories that nurses eat their young has been around a long time. In some places it is very true. I have heard from friends who went in to ICU settings that the nurses are very tough. I have worked mostly med/surg and really once I was out of school , with the exception of my first preceptor who just didn't match my personal style of learning. ( She asked me one night if being a nurse is really what I wanted. It was just working with her was not! LOL) ANyway, if you are easy to get along with and don't stick yourself out there like you know more or share your war stories instead listening, I found most nurses to be receptive and really the more helpful I was to other nurses the more friends I made. But don't worry yourself about nurses in the workforce until you are there and when you get to your clinical, just be prepared and respectful like all these nurses are asking and you'll be fine!
Good luck in school and consider getting a nurse tech job, like one of the other postings mentioned. I ,too worked through school and learned more the small community hospital I worked in than most of my clinicals. Clinicals in my opinion are almost worthless. Not enough time spent and not enough patient care.
Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.
Everyone has their pet peeves. This is not nurses vs. nursing students. We all have a common goal. The best way to facilitate a relationship of teaching/learning is to be courteous and respectful to each other. As a student you are a 'guest' so act accordingly. And as a nurse you are a 'role model' so act accordingly. No one should be forced to take on the responsibility of taking students, especially new grads if they feel uncomfortable. And students should not be so critical of nurses who do not want to teach, until they themselves have had to deal with a full pt load, doctors, co-workers, call lights, and what have you. And the nurse should try to remember her own nursing school years, before she passes judgement.
As a nursing student things that I would have liked to have had from some of the nurses in my clincals. I have been a student on 3 different nursing floors for two full semesters. These are just my personal experiences..I know not all nurses are this way, in fact ive worked with many great ones!
I don't want to hear nurses cussing and talking bad about a patient, calling them "crazy"
I don't want a nurse who acts like i'm a bother to her and that I should know everything. Go get this from the store room and I dont even know what it is!
I don't want a nurse with burnout! When your nurse for the day sees her patient dying and says to you that "the family should just get over it" when they ask if he can be put on IV antibiotics vs. augmentin p.o. (for the fact that he couldnt swallow the augmentin). Burned out nurses are bad...it makes us students lose faith in our profession.
I don't want a nurse putting me down bc of the degree I pursued..or asking me why I "wasted" my time going the way that I did.
I want a nurse who is interested in helping me learn.
As a student, I expect of myself:
To come prepared every day.
To be on time every time to clinical
To do whatever I can to help
To not forget that basic care includes: bathing, changing sheets and making the pt. comfortable
To be professional and refrain from unprofessional behavior such as gossiping or gathering around the nurses desk
I'm on my last clinical before electives (which annoyingly will be next year), regardless, I've never had any troubles with RNs. I've found that being really nice, and giving the RN lots of compliements, especially along the lines of "I thought you were only 35! WOw, you don't look 45", goes down a treat - even if it is a bit of a brown nose!
Seriously, I dont' have too many requirements of RNs because I acknowledge students can be a pain in the orifice, but I try to make it look like I have the knowledge of a third year, I make sure my questions are relatively insightful, and I make sure I dont' get on that proverbial high horse - which I have seen other students do and they've fallen flat on their face.
I've found it interesting in a lot of cases where other students have told me horror stories about particular nurses and wards that I then found were completely unfounded and more often than not the student turned to be in fault, someone told me they were failed by a "*long list of profanity inserted* RN who were mean", when I later found out said 2nd year couldn't even do a manual BP.
THe only issues I've ever had on clinical, but not complained about because I didn't think they were that big of a deal and the comments didn't come from RNs, was from other workers, like care givers and social workers. One social worker had a laugh at me the other day because I couldn't pronouce Quetiapine fumarate. Another caregiver called me a dunce to my face because I couldn't pronouce campylobacter. I don't like to peddle my dyslexia as a crutch, but I would be appreicative if people, especially ones who are not nurses, tried to understand the concept of "reading by word recognition".
All the RNS who've foudn out about said dysl. (from my big mouthed fellow students) have been fantastic! I've actually met a few RNs with the D, who've been great.
All up, I think firstly, communication as mentioned by so many, a mutal respect, and as a student who's seen it in other students, especially those middle aged mature students (we got a lot of bad ones down here, not trying to over generlise) lay off the arrogance, at the end of the day, if that student knew more then the nurse, she'd be the nurse!
With that rail typed and posted, a big thanks to all the helpful nurses out there who make going to clinical fun and education filled!
annievnurse2b
9 Posts
I don't expect too much from the staff nurses...a good report, (and I will try my best to do the same) no barking. I would really appreciate if you don't like the way I do something for you to talk to my instructor about it. I do things the way I have been taught. My instructor is the one who taught me so talk to her and maybe the three of us can find a solution together. I try not to bother the staff nurses unless it is something that both my instructor and myself can't do. For example, order a missing med. It would be great if you see a student in the hall and you are going to do something we may not have a lot of exposure too (IV's is one I know I don't have enough exposure/experience with) to pull us in the room so we can watch...even if we are not "your" student nurse. Mostly my experience in clinicals has been positve and I have learned so very much! Thanks to all of you who put up with us newbies.