What do you wish students knew?

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I've read a lot of posts about people being annoyed by some of the things nursing students do or the way they act when on the floor. I'm going to try really hard to avoid being that student so I was hoping that you could share some things that you wish students knew if you could tell them anything.

Thanks.

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

I had a really good student the other day. She stayed with the patient, observed the patient really well, and notified me when he started getting increased SOB, then she checked the sats which had gone down. She was awesome and I told her instructor so! I explained that I was going to turn off the fluids before I called the doctor, recheck the lungs, she got to hear the increased crackles. I told her then what I was going to do.

I thanked her very much for doing such a good job, she was great!

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Specializes in Gerontology.

oh yes, fake your interest in being there. you and i both know you don't want to be there, it's wasting your time, it sucks, there are ton of other things you'd rather be doing, etc. i feel the same way. but fake a smile anyway

If you don't want to be there, if its a waste of your time and it sucks - why the heck are you becoming a nurse?

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Please pay attention to were supply rooms, dirty supply, bathrooms, and equipment are kept. I don't have time to answer your question about where something is 30 times during your time with us.

Maybe to avoid this happening and having the students "bothering" you all day you could show them where everything is when they come to the floor so they will have a general idea of where things are. I am new to my floor even though I worked at the same hospital for 7 years and still have to figure out where things are. But my preceptor took the time to show me where the different rooms are and I can go from there without asking people where is such and such cathether etc. You were a student not that long ago....

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Specializes in Ambulatory Care.
Please pay attention to were supply rooms, dirty supply, bathrooms, and equipment are kept. I don't have time to answer your question about where something is 30 times during your time with us.

Wow. You are exactly the kind of nurse I do not want to be when I graduate.

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I can't imagine sitting around at clinicals all day gossiping and getting in the way. If I'm not with my patient I practically beg to be given something to do - and I never take up chairs or counter space if I see a Nurse or Doctor needs it. Maybe some of them just need to be set straight. Tell them what they are doing that bothers you. I bet they won't do it again. (if they know what's good for them) :D

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
I can't imagine sitting around at clinicals all day gossiping and getting in the way. If I'm not with my patient I practically beg to be given something to do - and I never take up chairs or counter space if I see a Nurse or Doctor needs it. Maybe some of them just need to be set straight. Tell them what they are doing that bothers you. I bet they won't do it again. (if they know what's good for them) :D

Not some of the groups we get! They come in with their "we're the best" attitude from day one. We had one AWFUL group not long ago, one gal in particular, telling one of our seasoned nurses what she should be doing in a situation to the point of following her around to do so (wish I could remember the details!). She was, really, a snotty little orifice, a know-it-all of the worst kind. And this was NOT a nurse you want to **** off like that, she scares ME and we've worked together for over 7 years. There were several incidents with this student during that rotation.

Many figure, they deserve to be there as much as you, and they have work to do (to prep), so they'll sit there and do it, no matter what.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

I'm learning a lot from this thread. There's tips in there every student should read because these are the things they don't teach you in the classroom ;)

However, in our defense...what we the students wish the nurses knew:

  • If this is our first clinical, we're terrified
  • If this is our last clinical...we're still terrified, but not as much
  • It's our instructor/school that decides what we can and can't do. Trust us: if we had our way, we'd jump at starting IVs and giving IMs and doing for you most of the other things our CI told us we can't do.
  • Our instructor has to be there when we do certain things, especially when we give meds. The problem is there's only one of her and 6/8/10 of us, and if she's with one of us, the rest are jockeying to see who gets her attention next. So we can't always do things as quickly as we--and you and the patient--would like. And we are as frustrated about it as you.
  • They teach us how to do things in school a certain way. You may not do things this way. Please don't get mad at us: until we're RNs, we've got to do things the school's way (though we'll probably file your technique away for later use :) )
  • We're nervous, so we're going to double (and triple) check things we're not certain about. This doesn't mean we don't believe/trust/know better than you. We don't believe/trust/know ourself.
  • If you can, let us watch you do things even if we can't do them. We want to learn! If you don't want us to pester you with questions while you're doing it, tell us before so we know not to.
  • When we're standing around, we're not always slacking off. OK, sometimes we are. And sometimes we've done all we can for our patients at the moment, and we are stuck waiting for something to come up. Though I will admit that, yes, we should remember to ask if you need help with things while we're doing that.
  • Tell us right away when we're doing something wrong, be it something with a patient or using someone's personal coffee creamer by accident. Otherwise we don't know and may keep making the same mistake.
  • We sometimes miss the call light if we're in another patient's room, and we don't answer the call bell phone at the desk because the floor secretary will kill us for touching it. But if she/you/anyone tells us to go to a room, we're on our way.
  • TELL US what you want/expect from us. I know that some things are obvious...but a lot are not, and we can't read minds.
  • Some of us are just as bad as you've complained. We can't deny that. But we do want to say that most of us aren't like that
  • For those of you who couldn't be bothered with us, we're sorry our presence bothers you. We're there because our school assigned us to this site. Don't worry, we'll be gone in a few weeks.
  • And to those who, though we may annoy you at times, do their best to be patient with us, and teach us whatever you can however you can...thank you. We may forget to say it, but you are doing more for us than you realize, and we're grateful for it :)

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I agree with the previous posts. Ask questions when the nurse is able to answer, or show you. Most of all I wish students would understand that we can learn from each other. And please let the staff know or have the instructor inform staff abput what students can & can not do...

And nurses need to remember that we were all students at one time....

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Specializes in cardiac.

Personally, I think it's refreshing to see a student on the floor willing to learn. We work in such a complicated field. And, there is so much to learn. And, we still learn even after we are out of school. I welcome them!

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Specializes in Just about all of them.
Please pay attention to were supply rooms, dirty supply, bathrooms, and equipment are kept. I don't have time to answer your question about where something is 30 times during your time with us.

WOW, I hope you remember that you weren't born with that title behind your name.

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Please pay attention to were supply rooms, dirty supply, bathrooms, and equipment are kept. I don't have time to answer your question about where something is 30 times during your time with us.

WOW, just WOW, I didnt know you were born as an automatic nurse, i thought we all learnt as we went along the way with help from our fellow workers.

im sorry that i dont seem to have an inbuilt satnav like you have, im so sorry to have dared to ask you where something is kept, geez im only trying to do a job.

Its nurses like this that make life hell and work highly unpleasant. I hope i dont come across anyone like this.

As a student can i just say a big THANKYOU to all the staff who point me in the right direction when i get lost or lend a helping hand when im drowning in work. Without you wonderful people i would be lost. Thankyou for passing on your knowledge and valuable advice.

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