What do you want to tell Nursing Students?

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Our latest group of students passing through prompts this question. Here are a few of mine:

1. If the nurses have no where to sit and chart, and 5 of you are sitting gossiping-GET YOUR TAIL UP!

2. If you are capable of doing it, like passing trays and answering call light, then- DO IT! Don't reply it isn't your patient. You aren't my student either, but when you ask me a question I don't make that my response, do I? Help me out, and I'll be better able to help you.

3. At your level, in and out the patients room in 3 minutes is probably not a good assessment. Especially when you tell me that the patient has a reg heart rate, and his admitting diagnosis is new onset A-Fib.

4. Reading a Stephen King book in the nurses station is a bad idea, and you look like you don't care. As does playing solitare on the computer in OUR breakroom.

5. If you have had a patient for two days, and he is your only patient, you should be able to tell me the diagnosis. You should also know a fair amount about his medications. At least read your drug guide before coming to clinicals.

I could go on and on. This new group we have takes the lazy/stupid cake!

BTW - I love having students that are motivated and are truely there to learn.

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
The "harm" is that the students graduate with competency as an assistant but not as a nurse. Critical thinking skills alone can only take you so far. Most lawyers should have quite refined critical thinking skills but they'd still be at a total loss in regard to how to take care of a patient.

So while doing aide work is important and not a waste of time, that experience isn't going to do more than make them great assistants. The student can use their critical thinking skills in carrying out aide work, but when it comes to higher level nursing care, without a nurse there to get feedback from, any critical thinking that they do in regard to higher level nursing care may or may not be practically effective - critical thinking needs to be applied for it to be developed and honed.

I totally agree with you. I think that continuing to do the work of the nursing assistant does not help a student nurse but so much. If it is a requirement of that particular unit for the nurse to do all care, then, the student should continue the thrend, however, the focus should be more on nursing duties. No one is going to appreciate having a licensed nurse that cannot write careplans, know how to administer IVPB, blood products and the many advanced skills that nurses need to be competent in. Even though most of the time, students don't get it, anyhow, but, at least to try to expose them as much as possible to prepare for the inevitable.

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dang, when i read about some of these nsg students, i become even more appreciative of my clinical experiences in school.

and i don't think the students are at fault here.

the clinical instructors should be finding meaningful experiences for their students.

none of us ever got the luxury of sitting around or wandering aimlessly.

furthermore, the floor nurses would go to the ci w/suggestions or concerns...

never to us.

i personally asked the nurses, "what can i do? what do you want me to do?"

often, it would entail talking to a pt who was struggling w/terminal dxs, or other types of anxiety, depression, but just didn't want to be alone.

sometimes i'd shave, other grooming/hygiene tasks, look up info for those w/knowledge deficits....anything.

it was an opportunity for me to look at the forest, and not just a tree.

nsg students, this is your opportunity to make the most of your nsg education.

whether it is an aide's job, a nurse's job or even housekeeping's, jump in and just do it.

one clinical, this pt had a 24 hr stool collection ordered, and the bathroom was dis-gusting.

i got the cleaners and scrubbed that toilet area.

and btw, i still do that stuff today...

everyone else's job is inevitably, a nurse's...

if you take pride in what you do and who you serve.

whatever it takes ladies/gents, just do it.

look for opportunity.

they are there, for sure.

you just need a little initiative and a lot of desire.

all the best.

leslie

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Specializes in ED/trauma.
Our latest group of students passing through prompts this question. Here are a few of mine:

1. If the nurses have no where to sit and chart, and 5 of you are sitting gossiping-GET YOUR TAIL UP!

2. If you are capable of doing it, like passing trays and answering call light, then- DO IT! Don't reply it isn't your patient. You aren't my student either, but when you ask me a question I don't make that my response, do I? Help me out, and I'll be better able to help you.

3. At your level, in and out the patients room in 3 minutes is probably not a good assessment. Especially when you tell me that the patient has a reg heart rate, and his admitting diagnosis is new onset A-Fib.

4. Reading a Stephen King book in the nurses station is a bad idea, and you look like you don't care. As does playing solitare on the computer in OUR breakroom.

5. If you have had a patient for two days, and he is your only patient, you should be able to tell me the diagnosis. You should also know a fair amount about his medications. At least read your drug guide before coming to clinicals.

I could go on and on. This new group we have takes the lazy/stupid cake!

BTW - I love having students that are motivated and are truely there to learn.

I'm only 3 months out of school, and all of that was common sense to me. I could not imagine any students doing that!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
:yeah:
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Specializes in ER.

I think that maybe what some of these students may be saying is that it isn't beneficial to them to do nothing but aide duties, particularly second year students. My preception during many of my clinicals was the our assigned nurse saw us as a wrench in the gears of their routine (not to say they didn't want to help us learn but let's face it, having a student does kinda jack with your flow), while a lot of aides saw us as relief.

One of my last clinical days my last semester, I showed up for my three assigned patients. After report, one of the aides came up to me and handed me a list of ten patients that needed their morning vitals and accuchecks. Only one of my patients was on the list. Since I had already done vitals and BGLs on my patients, I worte down what I had for that one for her, and handed her the list back. She complained to the nurse that I was refusing to learn, but my nurse took up for me. Fact is, I wasn't there to do her job. I was doing total care, including assessments and meds, for my three patients, and it was more beneficial for me to learn how to access a port on one of them, not off doing the aide's job for her. I've been a CNA, I know how hard the job is. I had taken one patient off her hands, and two off the other aide's list. But I wasn't going to be responsible for her enitre load, any more than she would be responsible for all my duties.

I agree 100% that it's vital for nursing students to know the basics, even be able to do the efficiently and thoroughly. If a student has time, by all means, get in there and do it! Learn the skills well in your first semesters, it'll be second nature by second year. But in your last semester, don't pass up a chance to put in a Foley on your patient because someone guilted you into doing a bedbath for another patient that isn't on your list.

(Disclaimer- I'm certainly not saying ALL aides do things like this. Nor am I saying that their duties are less important. )

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Specializes in Addiction & Recovery, Community Health.

I have had many "reincarnations" as far as careers go and I can sum this all up very simply...

IN ALL THINGS, SHOW INITIATIVE!

It is always admired and always rewarded.

Peace

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
I'm sorry if the group you have now are not the most ambitious. I'm hoping that not all nursing students are representative of that group.

Sometimes a lazy group just comes through. It happened recently where I work. All of them, and I mean all of them were lazy dumb as dirt students. The worst I've ever seen in my 16 years.

Of course if you have lazy students, you have the instructors partly to blame.

But know, it's not fair to label students this way because I know it's not true.

So I promise not to label all students as lazy if you promise not lable nurses as battleaxe catty old crows that eat their young. :lol2:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
I think you might of missunderstood what she meant by that comment. I'm guessing she is saying that she wants to learn what an RN does, not just the duties of an aide.

While I'm sure she understands that nurses do ALL of the tasks that an aide does + the work of an RN, she probably feels that she is just doing the work of an aide without learning the role of the RN in addition to. Does that make sense??

Of course, I'm just speculating... but I'm thinking that was what was meant by the comment...

I agree.

A lot of aides when the see nursing students think "YAY, a vacation day for me....". It's frustrating for a student trying to learn to be a professional nurse, especially upper level students, and having the CNA do nothing for the student's patients, as if the CNA's assignment suddenly doesn't include the student's patient. The student has to look up meds, look up labs - and read up what they mean, learn diagnostics, charting, all kinds of things and is not there to do the CNA"s job.

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how can this be??? don't you have to be fairly intelligent to be a nurse? this kind of witchy nurse is my biggest concern. i'm actually more worried about witchy nurses than horrible patients. i expect patients to be irritiable....they're in the hospital!!! but if my co-workers are unbearable....that's another story. :no:

i need to clarify that the nurse is my coworker and is so not witchy to me... just students and the instructor - i don't understand why. i'm not nor do i condone such behavior, in fact - i make it a point to be "gentler" to students and the instructor even with this witchy nurse around. hopefully as i grow older i continue with this practice.

unfortunately for students, dealing with these nurses has become part of the territory and i had to go through it, past students had to go through it and surely up and coming students will continue to go through it. sorry... what you go through will make you a stronger person.

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So I promise not to label all students as lazy if you promise not lable nurses as battleaxe catty old crows that eat their young. :lol2:

I'll try, LOL. I'm not too worried though. I've been trying to lose weight just so I won't look so appetizing when I start working. LOL

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Another pet peeve is to not bring your cell phone onto the floor, trying to discreetly (sp) text with the phone in your pocket is VERY annoying. Besides it looks very unprofessional, JMO.

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I think this is a problem that should be addressed between schools and nurse managers. It seems like the nurses have expectations of what the students should be doing and the students aren't sure what that is.

If both sides had a better understanding of what is acceptable then everyone would benefit.

For example at my school we have objectives for each clinical day, if the nursing staff knew what they were, when something pertained to a specific objective they could grab a couple of students to observe or help out.(If possible) And if you could let the clinical instructors know what's going on on the floor, "Hey we're short staffed today do you guys mind giving a couple of baths." I certainly don't mind, I'll take bed baths and soiled linens any day over doing nothing.

I also think that alot of times nursing students are afraid of stepping on toes.

Basically, communicaions between clinical sites and schools would help out alot.:twocents:

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