What do you say when.....

[cjcaet]

What do you say to a patient when you walk into their room and they're less than thrilled to have a SN?

What do you say/do when your patient flat out refuses to have a SN?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

You say thank you for your time and let your clinical instructor know. A patient has a right to refuse. Your instructor or the patient's nurse may speak with the patient/family to see if there is an issue or concern that can be resolved (such as patient read online never let a student do care, previous experience, etc) and reintroduce you if patient agrees. Otherwise you may just get reassigned.

It happens. Don't take it personally (unless you did something to provoke the response, though this is rare). You may just remind them of someone they know and they are self conscious.

[RunBabyRN]

You have to respect it. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. It's rarely anything against you personally, and there are always other patients.

[smf0903]

We had one patient this semester who flat-out refused to have a student for care. The patient had just had leg amputated and was in a really bad place emotionally. There are enough patients on the floor to pick from! I actually had a patient that had said they didn't want a student (one of the other students had gone in, I didn't know that she had)...I went in (not knowing a student had already tried) and fussed over him, struck up a conversation with his wife, and had zero problem with caring for the patient. Had I known that the other student had already approached him, I would have never gone in. Most of the time our patients have been very receptive to SNs, but I would never force myself (as a SN) onto a patient who declared they didn't want a student. And most of all, I would never take it personally :)

[PurpleLover]

Leave

[krisiepoo]

I walk in confidently and assuredly and say "Hi, I'm Krisiepoo and you're one of the lucky ones who gets to have a nursing student today!" If I get the "why would that mean I'm lucky" or whatever I let them know that I don't have a full load of patients so I'm there to help them with whatever they need, that they have me, my instructor AND their assigned nurse watching over their cares so we're sure to meet all their needs.

I've never had anyone tell me to leave, I've worked with some really tough patients and have been able to work effectively with all of them

[melizerd, ASN, RN]

There's a difference between being less than thrilled and saying NO I don't want a student. I've had people that weren't thrilled but never had one say no. I think a lot of it is how you approach them. Yes people have the right to say no but I'm going to be confident and say "I'm your student nurse today and you get extra attention!" With a Smile.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

If they refuse to have a student then you turn around and go tell your instructor so you can be reassigned. Ideally your instructor should be communicating with the floor nurses/charge nurse to determine which patients are appropriate for a student and which ones are not.

[lovenotwar14]

Just leave. I have been in that position. After I had wound failure from a c.section I definitely did not want a student nurse to be in there looking at my open wound. I understand. So I dont take it personal at all.