Treatment of Nursing Students

[KrisNicoleE]

I hope that every nurse here is one that is kind, sympathetic and welcoming to new nursing students on clinical rotations in your department. If you are one of those who shuns students, treats them as if they are invisible, are rude and "bothered" by them, then you don't deserve to be a nurse. It's insane to me that this is a common thing. We have a critical shortage of nursing staff, yet you want to push these future nurses away.

*** Do you want help or not?******

[amoLucia]

Hopefully, all the stars aligned to best shine on all of you as best-est! ?

[Checkers08, BSN, MSN, RN]

I always tell my students to treat every encounter as a learning experience. Sometimes that includes learning what type of nurse you don't want to be.

[vintagegal, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

When I was a student I had a little notebook I would write answers to the questions I asked so I didn’t ask the same question twice. Many students don’t do this, and many want answers and don’t attempt to walk through the critical thinking component. I think that really peeves nurses who have students follow them. How many times have we all said “this patient is not on aspirin for a headache”. I agree, we need to be civil, but sometimes students mistake constructive criticism and academic rigor (not hand holding) to be a sign that we are uninterested in being a preceptor. 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

From what I've seen nurses as you describe are few and far between.  But sadly they do exist.

While we don't always roll down the red carpet most of us are okay with students. We were students ourselves once.  

Some nurses just aren't good with students.  They are struggling through their own day, are inexperienced, and having a student isn't always an extra set of hands to lighten our load.  

I agree that it's a two-way street.  Be friendly, open, jump in when it's something you can do, even if it's something as simple as filling up a water picture.  And yes, stay off that phone.

[Daisy4RN]

On 2/19/2022 at 7:10 AM, hppygr8ful said:

So this was what I was saying about a similar situation that happened when I was in school. I went to my clinical instructor, asked for and received a new assignment.

Hppy  

This is exactly what I was getting at! If I was the student I certainly would not have stood there for 8 hours doing nothing. I have been on both sides of this situation, it is not that difficult to reassign. And yes it may not be ideal but stuff happens. 

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

On 2/17/2022 at 6:24 AM, KrisNicoleE said:

Eh. I think that standing in the same spot for 8 hours is not bothering busy nurses. Their hospital agreed to take nursing students, and it is just part of it.

Exactly the hospital agreed to take students. Your nurse preceptor had no say what so ever. Infact until you rocked up to the ward they probably had no idea that you were coming. Reality is nurses are exhausted right now. Sometimes being present on the ward, getting all their nursing cares done, trying really hard to hold things together and ensure that nothing vital is missed.  They don't get any extra for taking a student. Should they be nicer about it, probably, students with a sense of entitlement are tough going something

Me personallly I'm coming back from a period of major depression, hallucinations very suicidal. I'm about 80% better than I was about 65% back to baseline.  however if I was assigned a student at the moment I would have to say no, because I'm using every spare braincell to make sure that I get everything done

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Not only that, but we wouldn't have added anything on their load since all we were doing was following and watching. They didn't have to do anything extra but let us follow them and MAYBE said a simple hello.

 

A facility I worked in recently I  volunteered to mentor and orientate a new batch of nursing students. I was told we were getting 7 students, we ended up with 14. I really enjoyed the orientating process, and it was good to teach manual handling skills and the like. They were keen and willing to learn. 

Other ways that were a stress and a challenge 

- Trying to do a medication round, I took 2 students with me, and tried to rotate through the students. That doesnt mean I didn't have to turn away wonderfully enthusiastic other students keen to learn and feel like crap because I couldnt do more for the students. 

- Trying to get wounds done, again trying to rotate through the students to ensure everyone gets a turn

- some students being rude and disrespectful to my staff. don't very often get students trying to 'pull rank' on my care staff, but that gets squashed very quickly

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Being busy is no excuse to be a *****. Maybe they wouldn't be so busy if they wouldn't push nursing students away...  we could do small tasks to help ...

Yes, its possible for students to do tasks often we end up having to show you which takes more time. And yes, I agree there is no excuse to be an ***, we are in very difficult times right now and you have an opportunity to be the change you want to see

I love having students. I'm passionate about nursing and want to pass that on to the next generation of students. I'm also burnt out, tired, depressed, suicidal and carrying a load that no one really knows the extent of 

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

9 hours ago, Tenebrae said:

Exactly the hospital agreed to take students. Your nurse preceptor had no say what so ever. Infact until you rocked up to the ward they probably had no idea that you were coming. Reality is nurses are exhausted right now. Sometimes being present on the ward, getting all their nursing cares done, trying really hard to hold things together and ensure that nothing vital is missed.  They don't get any extra for taking a student. Should they be nicer about it, probably, students with a sense of entitlement are tough going something

Me personallly I'm coming back from a period of major depression, hallucinations very suicidal. I'm about 80% better than I was about 65% back to baseline.  however if I was assigned a student at the moment I would have to say no, because I'm using every spare braincell to make sure that I get everything done

 

A facility I worked in recently I  volunteered to mentor and orientate a new batch of nursing students. I was told we were getting 7 students, we ended up with 14. I really enjoyed the orientating process, and it was good to teach manual handling skills and the like. They were keen and willing to learn. 

Other ways that were a stress and a challenge 

- Trying to do a medication round, I took 2 students with me, and tried to rotate through the students. That doesnt mean I didn't have to turn away wonderfully enthusiastic other students keen to learn and feel like crap because I couldnt do more for the students. 

- Trying to get wounds done, again trying to rotate through the students to ensure everyone gets a turn

- some students being rude and disrespectful to my staff. don't very often get students trying to 'pull rank' on my care staff, but that gets squashed very quickly

Yes, its possible for students to do tasks often we end up having to show you which takes more time. And yes, I agree there is no excuse to be an ***, we are in very difficult times right now and you have an opportunity to be the change you want to see

I love having students. I'm passionate about nursing and want to pass that on to the next generation of students. I'm also burnt out, tired, depressed, suicidal and carrying a load that no one really knows the extent of 

I feel for you. I experienced something very similar 20 years ago and even attempted to end my life. I went through 5 years of therapy as well as getting sober with the help of a group of friends. Know that no matter how dark things are the sun will surely rise and you will walk in that light. My journey is my journey I embrace life every day and don't trouble myself with things I cannot change. I you need a supportive friend send a PM.

Hppy

 

[Savvy20RN, BSN, RN]

The only time I had an issue with getting a student was when I was a new nurse. They gave me a student when I was less than 6 months off orientation. I was still learning the ropes so having someone asking me questions when I was still figuring things out myself was stressful. Other than that I didn't mind them at all. They actually made me realize how much I knew. The confidence boost was nice. :) 

[Carla N. V.]

Hello, I've come across this forum as I'm researching why a lot of experienced nurses have such difficulty with nursing students following them around during a 12-hour shift. I am in my last semester and have a few weeks left before I graduate. Sadly, I have experienced many clinical rotation situations where my instructor is introducing us to the charge nurse who is the one responsible for assigning us to a nurse in their unit, and they've just rolled their eyes in front of us and said things, such as "I guess" or, "great". I think that we, nursing students, have learned and are fully aware that our assigned nurse will have a busy day and that patients are the priority. However, we, as nursing students, are still required by the state to complete these hours. Whoever mentioned that we cant perform any skills on our own to help our nurse's workload is partially correct. We are not able to perform interventions, such as pushing meds on an IV line without supervision. But we are, however, able to help with things like, answering one of the call lights and assisting with vital signs if their tech is busy--which seems to be the case most of the time. There are many small CNA interventions that we can help with when there is no one else that can do it for the patient. It's not an actual nursing intervention but we have been taught that there will be many instances where we will need to do our own CNA work. And let me tell you, I appreciate every single skill that I get to do because we don't get much hands-on training at school. With all of that being said, all of the experienced nurses had to go through the same process that all nursing students are currently going through. So how are you forgetting that you--the experienced nurse--were once too following a nurse during your clinical rotations? Also, if you're so short-staffed, how are you welcoming new nurses into your units by giving them a bad impression? Do you want to continue to be overworked and understaffed? It only takes one first impression to ruin your chances of having new nurses fill your unit and decrease your nurse-to-patient ratios. Therefore, respectfully, if I were you I would try my best to give those nursing students a great experience in my unit and hope that they come and help my team. 

[Nurse Pompom]

On 2/14/2022 at 2:06 PM, KrisNicoleE said:

I hope that every nurse here is one that is kind, sympathetic and welcoming to new nursing students on clinical rotations in your department. If you are one of those who shuns students, treats them as if they are invisible, are rude and "bothered" by them, then you don't deserve to be a nurse. It's insane to me that this is a common thing. We have a critical shortage of nursing staff, yet you want to push these future nurses away.

*** Do you want help or not?******

I am meeting an increasing number of students who know everything already, cant be bothered to learn the SBAR format, and overall have the wrong attitude/approach to nursing. I still like teaching students but let's not pretend it's a nurse only issue. 

[CalmCurator, RN]

I know this post was from a while ago, but I wanted to throw out my perspective as a student in my last semester of nursing school. I'm in an accelerated program which accepts current LPN's and EMT's.  I love going to clinical's because I get a peek into what it would be like working in a hospital setting as I've only ever been able to work in clinic and LTC settings.  Some of my classmates however really hate going to clinical.  I have been on the unit with classmates who have complained about nurses because they think they are bossy and are using them to do work for free.  Some have literally said, "I've already done my time.  These CNA's/PCT's get PAID to do the care, I'm not doing their job for them."  These are the same type of students who like to hide out, stay on the computers to get information for their assigned paperwork (complain when a staff member asks them to get up so they can WORK), and chat in break rooms or areas where nursing staff and techs can't find them.  

I try my very best not to be one of these types of people.  It sends a clear message to the nursing staff on the unit that you don't care to be there and definitely doesn't give a great first impression, especially if you want to apply to work for the hospital in which your clinical experience takes place.  It's also extremely entitled behavior.  Clinicals are a LEARNING experience in which you get what you put into it.  If you want to hang out and complain that others aren't nice to you or aren't willing to show you anything, some self-evaluation needs to be done regarding your own behavior.  Have you reached out to nurses on the unit and asked them if they could show you some procedures if they have time available while you are there?  Have you asked your CNA's/PCT's if they need help?  (PCT's have a lot of knowledge to offer, but are often overlooked because they aren't in the role you are going to school for.. however, if anyone knows how to take efficient vital signs, or prioritize care, they are the ones you should turn to without a doubt!)

Most of the time, when I come onto a unit at our local hospital, nurses and staff are not going to approach me first and go out of their way to say "hi" or "good morning" to me.  I must initiate.  And I understand their reasoning for this!  My group of classmates are not the first, nor will they be the last set of students that these nurses will see, and I'm sure they have seen many students act and behave the way my fellow classmates have at clinical.  Personally, I have had great experiences at clinical because I showed interest to learn, and the nurses I followed reciprocated that desire and were very receptive to me and gave me their time.  At some point, as a student, we really need to start stepping into the perspective of the nurse and less about our own perspective.  We need to learn to ask for help and guidance and give respect instead of expecting it.  Again, your clinical experience will be what you make it.  And if you've done everything you can and are still experiencing rude behavior from nursing staff, talk to your clinical instructor.  They want you to have a good experience that supports your learning.  It may be something they consider for the next semester when choosing which unit to bring students to in the future.

[Grande_latte04]

Throwing my two cents into this conversation. 

Personally, I don't mind students and precepting. But I do have a problem with not being compensated for the extra time and effort I have to put forth to train and teach a new nurse. Some jobs I've had add a little to my hourly rate (not enough for the service im providing), some don't. When I'm not compensated for something, im not doing it. look at it this way. You work for a hospital or facility that makes millions if not billions every year. You make somewhere between 50-150k. Pennies on the dollar compared to what your hospital is making. To say they can't afford to pay you for that is not just inaccurate, its blatanly lying. Your labor is valuable, your skills are valuable and you deserve to be appropriately compensated for your time and effort. Nursing is a female dominated profession, and as with most female dominated professions were expected to provide extra labor without any extra compensation. This has to stop.