Teaching students?

[sleepyjane]

So here I am, 4th week off orientation...one of my patients was severely burned (80%burns) and has a very time consuming dressing change. I have been doing her dressings, along with another, more experienced nurse, for the last week or so. I did the dressings, alone, for the first time Sunday.

As I am getting set up today, feeling confident that I can do this alone, in walk 3 first semester nursing students who were told by the manager to observe the dressing change. I felt like a complete jerk...I have such a hard time organizing myself, and to have students observe me just made me uncomforable. If they were there to learn, they certainly didn't learn a thing from me...I am still filled with questions myself. It was just awful, I felt bad for them. I wanted so badly to explain that I am a brand new nurse and I'm still learning a lot of these things myself but at no time would that have been appropriate to say in front of the patient and to degown just to step out of the room to say "hey, I don't really know what I'm doing here" didn't seem right either. So the entire time, they just stood quietly and watched me fumble, I tried to explain what I was doing but I know I was not very thorough.

I didn't address this with the nurse manager, even though maybe I should have...I imagine her response would be "this is a teaching hospital". But is it my reponsibility to teach these students?

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

I know you probably felt put on the spot, but those brand new nursing students probably didn't have a clue how new you are. If your hospital is a teaching hospital, it's going to happen again, and yes, it is part of your job to teach. My suggestion would be to mentally reheorifice having an audience while you work. As far as having to explain everything you're doing, I don't think that's necessary. Concentrating on what you are doing is. I think that might be a reasonable and appropriate disclaimer in the future. Something like "I really need to focus on what I am doing, so I hope you will excuse me if I don't explain everything as I go along. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them after I'm finished.".

[David's Harp]

I can definitely picture this happening to me, partially because it nearly has. For me, it was a less urgent bedside situation, but it was about four weeks into my orientation when I realized I had three students working with my patients, though they weren't doing meds. I was as gracious as I could be, but I did tell them that I was pretty new (away from the patients' hearing, of course), though I would answer any questions I could. I'm almost 100% positive that I was more nervous than they were.

Don't beat yourself up, because in a teaching hospital like yours or mine the teaching dynamic will come to us just like everything else about nursing. I think the nurses that are worst to the students are the ones who are insecure & decide to bark rather than be vulnerable. Everything about this job requires humility, though, when you think about it.

Or so it seems. I am still new, so...

-Kevin

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Really if you truly didn't know what you're doing then why are you even doing it alone?

My guess is that you do indeed know what you're doing, that you did a great job, that the students learned a lot and were appreciative, you just don't have confidence enough in yourself to give yourself some props.

You had a wealth of knowledge to pass on that day from the previous week of doing the dressing. Yes, it is your duty and obligation to pass that on to the nursing students. I know you did a great job.

[HealthyRN]

In a teaching hospital, part of your job does involve taking part in the education of students. I can imagine how you must have felt though. It's always tough when you are new yourself. Next time, just tell them that you are new and you're still learning. It may even be appropriate to let your patient know that too. You don't necessarily have to say "I've never done this before", but just give an explanation as to why it is taking so long or why you are having trouble. Most people will be understanding of this.

[NTPinky]

We have students coming in all the time at my hospital, and it's not even a teaching hospital. I'm very new as well (I just finished 5 weeks of a very bad orientation), and while I appreciate that the students have to do what they need to do (it hasn't been that long since I was in their place, after all), it does make me uncomfortable too.

When I was doing clinicals, we were told to NOT pick a pt if his/her nurse was a new grad. I didn't get what the big deal was at the time, but I sure do now!

[SarasotaRN2b]

Chances are those new students weren't paying as much attention to you than to the patient. Seeing a patient with 80% burns would definitely have them reeling themselves.

They may have been more in awe of you than judging you...at this point they probably haven't done more than vitals, bed changes and baths.

Don't be so hard on yourself. Teaching is a skill that will come in time.

Kris