I've been in two different hospitals in both my first and second semesters and come up against some ROUGH nurses who would rather do everything themselves than let me touch a thing.
I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that they are BUSY, they have a TO-DO list, they have patients that NEED meds, help, EVERYTHING. But, I'm here to help. I'm wearing these bright purple scrubs not because I like the color, but because I want to learn, I NEED to learn. I will take them to the bathroom, I will bathe them, I will take their vitals, just PLEASE let me.
When I say 80% of the nurses I've followed have done NOTHING with me I am not exaggerating. Why is this? Last week the nurse I was following wouldn't even let me take vitals, VITALS!! I am in my second semester of nursing school, I think I can handle that.
Anyway, I wanted to know whats up with that! I recognize that they are busy. I also recognize the few nurses that have taken me under their wing and shown me SO MUCH. I'm thankful for that, and grateful.
I will tell you why my friend :) . I have been in your shoes trust me and I thought why are they so mean? but the truth is that every nurse after a while learns to short cut . They don't want you to see that. As students we want to do everything by the book, after all we are thought that way but trust me ,on the floor everyone follows their own rules. I had a nurse who did not wear gloves when she started the Iv and she said " don't do what I am doing" . I had a nurse who didn't do her assessment after changing shifts , I had a nurse who never labeled any of the IV tubes. I've seen nurses eat on their station and talk their language for hours . You name it I have seen it. I learn that I will never be that nurse. I train new nurses and I tell them do not short cut , know your basic fundamental of nursing . They don't want you see them being lazy and not doing what they are spouse to do.
Yikes, you caught us. That's exactly what I'm thinking as I run down the hall and check the break room, looking my student so I can teach them to do an EKG. That's why I'm on the phone 10 minutes at the start of my shift trying to get said student into the cath lab. As long as I can get them off the floor with the patient, they won't see me munching trail mix. My hesitancy has nothing to do with the fact your instructor can't be found.
I'm sorry, but this topic has really touched a nerve, and I far more of a lurker than a poster. We had so many students this summer with a sub-par experience because their instructor ditched them. It wasn't fair to either the students or the nurses. For example, they couldn't give meds, because the instructor was not with them. So we found a way to compromise so the student learned the 5 rights and how to do patient teaching at med pass. Did i let those students help to the degree they wanted? You bet your sweet bippity I didn't. Did I go out of my way to find them something? I did, but the vanishing instructor tied my hands.
I can sympathize with the original poster to a degree. At almost all of the clinical sites/departments that I've been to the nurses literally roll their eyes and scoff from the minute they see us walking down the hall.....this is even before meeting us. I realize the nurses are not obligated to show me everything, teach me everything, talk to me, but I do wish they would give me a chance before deciding to treat me like an unloved, unwanted stepchild just because I'm a student. I realize it can be irritating to be disrupted but there are times that I have to approach the nurse to let her know what is going going on with their patient - not all of the patients utilize the call light and need things that are out of my scope as a student.
I really *value* the time I spend on the floor watching the nurses in action because it really gives me insight on what my upcoming role will be like. My clinical instructors have been great and are always on the hunt to show us something interesting, let us perform skills etc. but there is nothing like being able to work along side of a nurse and follow through with pt care throughout the day rather than jump in here and there without knowing a thing about the pt.
I have managed to make the best out of every clinical experience but I also believe it is what you make it to be. Meaning, answer call lights, volunteer to help anyone with any task, give your nurse space and know when it's a good time to ask questions. Often I write things down and wait until she has an opportunity to go over a few things with me. I make sure to review the charts , orders, and labs so I don't have to bug anyone with questions I can get answers to myself.Yes, my clinical instructor is there and is available to me but she knows nothing about my/our pt's ( I had 3 last semester) . I think as students we have to gain the trust of our nurses and that it takes a little time for them to see what we are capable of. By the end of each semester I was able to establish good relationships with the staff and they treated me like their own.
Being a student nurse is a slippery slope but I think with the right attitude anyone can make the best of it....it just takes a little time to earn trust and respect. To all the nurses out there that love having students - thank you for all that you do! To the ones that loathe us, I'm sorry for being a burden to you but please give me a chance before throwing me to the wolves....I really am there to help and will do anything you ask of me .... even "CNA work" 😉.
This is really depressing. I will start clinical in about 7 weeks. Now that I know that I will basically just be in the way, not helping, and that the nurse I work with will not be compensated and will likely resent me ... no words for how I feel about this. I may have to use an emoji. And I suck at that. See? That is not exactly how I feel.
Maybe if I bring cookies. Or shots. Just kidding about the shots. There has to be a way to get a learning experience without making life harder for the staff nurse.
If not I just have to stop reading posts here or I'll go nuts.
Calm down. You haven't started yet. Your clinical experience may even be completely different from what the OP has described. Mine has. I've had good days and bad days. You will too. Know you aren't entitled to anything and be grateful for the good days and you'll do just fine.
Once again (how hard is this to understand), yes, the students are paying to attend nursing school. But that relationship is with their school, not the staff nurses at the hospital at which they do clinicals. You're right, the staff nurses don't care that you're "paying money to learn" -- that has nothing to do with them. They didn't ask to have students assigned, and they get no compensation for having students dumped on them.
What I don't understand is why all these frustrated students aren't angry at their schools for providing such poor learning experiences.
I have to let you know that we are. I hold an officer position for the student nurse organization at my school and we do these *lovely* gatherings where students get to come and basically complain to the faculty about everything any nursing student can complain about. We have made fantastic changes as a result of these forums. I wonder if there is a lack of involvement or a perceived inability to actually enact change as a student, but let me tell you, it is entirely possible and not unheard of at all to let the school know something has to change. Generally it is on the students to make the changes but since I work closely with the faculty I understand why there are educational gaps. There shouldn't be but they exist and as students, HERE IS WHERE WE ACTUALLY CAN HELP SOMEONE.
I'm sorry you are feeling this way. I know there are many veteran nurses in the hospitals in which you train that would enjoy helping you learn the ropes. In a true learning environment, they should reduce the number of patients assigned to the nurse preceptors. Unfortunately, that isn't always possible. Also, although you may be careful and thorough, those nurses may have had bad experiences with students and don't want to get burned again. I wish I could offer a simple solution to this complex problem but I cannot. I can only suggest you keep offering your help and at least ask the nurse you're assigned to if you can watch her perform her tasks instead of leaning against the wall as you stated you often find yourself doing. I wish you luck!
In a true learning environment, they should reduce the number of patients assigned to the nurse preceptors. Unfortunately, that isn't always possible.
Why would hospitals do that?? They are allowing the schools to use their units as a clinical site, but they are not agreeing to provide any clinical instruction. That is the school's responsibility. I'm surprised hospitals don't just kick out the schools that dump students on their staff. That's certainly what I would do.
Specializes in Medical-Surgial, Cardiac, Pediatrics.
I will tell you why my friend :) . I have been in your shoes trust me and I thought why are they so mean? but the truth is that every nurse after a while learns to short cut . They don't want you to see that. As students we want to do everything by the book, after all we are thought that way but trust me ,on the floor everyone follows their own rules. I had a nurse who did not wear gloves when she started the Iv and she said " don't do what I am doing" . I had a nurse who didn't do her assessment after changing shifts , I had a nurse who never labeled any of the IV tubes. I've seen nurses eat on their station and talk their language for hours . You name it I have seen it. I learn that I will never be that nurse. I train new nurses and I tell them do not short cut , know your basic fundamental of nursing . They don't want you see them being lazy and not doing what they are spouse to do.
Eh, I always said I'd be THAT nurse to ALWAYS be perfect all the time, never cut corners, blah blah.
But then I got overworked, underpaid, and have days where life just sucks, and I freely admit that I won't and can't be perfect every day.
I have days where my nursing just barely passes par because I'm stretched so thinly with hard patients, angry families, sick patients that take time and energy, angry docs, and horrible loads that will wear me down and force me to try and help myself as best as possible while keeping everything juggled.
Sure, I am good most of the time. But I have those days where I know I'm not my best. I will skip the glove on my left hand when starting an IV so I can feel for the vein better and get the stick the first time, rather than the second or third because I can't feel through my glove, which wastes minutes I know the patient with the trach needs down the hallway. I eat at my desk when I'm behind so my charting stays up and I don't miss something that could come back to bite my in the butt later.
I was that student snarking and harping about how horrible some nurses were in that one day where they weren't as good, and that crow wasn't as tasty to eat when I realized how corners get cut, and the priorities that happen when assessing which corners can stand cutting and still be safe. It's not lazy; it's self-preservation.
Specializes in Post Acute, Med/Surg, ED, Nurse Manager.
I work as a CNA and watch nursing students and nurses. ( plus i was accepted as a student woohoo.) But the biggest thing I see anoying nurses are students who dont just jump in. Waiting to be told what to do ect. If you see there are vitals ( and cna's arent getting it.) Could you just say, you have vitals i will go get them for you, grab the vist and go. Some nurses are old and grumpy and like to throw their power trip around. But I think many want a proactive student. Just dont stand around or be in their way. But i think you sound like you want to be useful maybe you just need to find the right nurse. Good luck!
I was that student snarking and harping about how horrible some nurses were in that one day where they weren't as good, and that crow wasn't as tasty to eat when I realized how corners get cut, and the priorities that happen when assessing which corners can stand cutting and still be safe. It's not lazy; it's self-preservation.
And when it comes down to it, those moments of corner cutting and not doing things 100% by the book are the opportunities to improve the working conditions of nurses. You are challenging what you are taught through cutting corners (not always, but sometimes) and perhaps paving the way to make changes in protocol that are better all the way around for everyone involved, particularly the patient.
Eh, I always said I'd be THAT nurse to ALWAYS be perfect all the time, never cut corners, blah blah.
But then I got overworked, underpaid, and have days where life just sucks, and I freely admit that I won't and can't be perfect every day.
I have days where my nursing just barely passes par because I'm stretched so thinly with hard patients, angry families, sick patients that take time and energy, angry docs, and horrible loads that will wear me down and force me to try and help myself as best as possible while keeping everything juggled.
Sure, I am good most of the time. But I have those days where I know I'm not my best. I will skip the glove on my left hand when starting an IV so I can feel for the vein better and get the stick the first time, rather than the second or third because I can't feel through my glove, which wastes minutes I know the patient with the trach needs down the hallway. I eat at my desk when I'm behind so my charting stays up and I don't miss something that could come back to bite my in the butt later.
I was that student snarking and harping about how horrible some nurses were in that one day where they weren't as good, and that crow wasn't as tasty to eat when I realized how corners get cut, and the priorities that happen when assessing which corners can stand cutting and still be safe. It's not lazy; it's self-preservation.
Sing it! You just listed some of the many reasons I changed jobs, so that I could get off of floor nursing. The thing about the glove struck me, though: I can't feel a vein through one, and I'm sure not going to stick someone if I CAN'T find it. I pretty much always wore one glove (the one that would get blood on it if there was going to be any blood outside the flash in the cath, that is).
I did this in front of students, too. Yessir, One Glove Sally. Oh, I'd seen people rip the fingertips off a glove, but seriously, what's the diff? In my case, I had one full glove, one no-glove. So there was this one student who looked shocked and asked why I would "put the patient at risk" by not wearing a glove on both hands. MY turn to look shocked, as I asked her why she thought I was putting the PATIENT at risk.....did she not understand that it was for MY protection that I would wear gloves when inserting an IV, that the patient's skin had been prepped with alcohol prior to insertion, and that the gloves were NOT sterile? Nope, she did not know this. She thought it was to prevent me from "giving something to her, infecting her". Umm.....time to get back to class.
I'm sure she had a lot to say to her classmates about the nurse who used a glove only on her right hand (the one that was pushing in the needle and the one near where the blood risk was). But in case anyone's wondering, after thousands of IV starts, I never got blood on my left hand
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
In my case, I had one full glove, one no-glove. So there was this one student who looked shocked and asked why I would "put the patient at risk" by not wearing a glove on both hands. MY turn to look shocked, as I asked her why she thought I was putting the PATIENT at risk.....did she not understand that it was for MY protection that I would wear gloves when inserting an IV, that the patient's skin had been prepped with alcohol prior to insertion, and that the gloves were NOT sterile? Nope, she did not know this. She thought it was to prevent me from "giving something to her, infecting her". Umm.....time to get back to class.
I'm sure she had a lot to say to her classmates about the nurse who used a glove only on her right hand (the one that was pushing in the needle and the one near where the blood risk was). But in case anyone's wondering, after thousands of IV starts, I never got blood on my left hand
We've already seen the thread started by the student who wanted to know how to report the preceptor who DIDN'T USE GLOVES to start an IV, and how disgusting it is that the preceptor put the patient at risk like that. Not "Should I report this?" but "HOW should I report this?" And the student was indignant when I pointed out that the gloves are to protect the nurse, not to protect the patient.
And this is one reason why floor nurses are so reluctant to teach.
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See? That is not exactly how I feel.
Clever_Alias
9 Posts
Yikes, you caught us. That's exactly what I'm thinking as I run down the hall and check the break room, looking my student so I can teach them to do an EKG. That's why I'm on the phone 10 minutes at the start of my shift trying to get said student into the cath lab. As long as I can get them off the floor with the patient, they won't see me munching trail mix. My hesitancy has nothing to do with the fact your instructor can't be found.
I'm sorry, but this topic has really touched a nerve, and I far more of a lurker than a poster. We had so many students this summer with a sub-par experience because their instructor ditched them. It wasn't fair to either the students or the nurses. For example, they couldn't give meds, because the instructor was not with them. So we found a way to compromise so the student learned the 5 rights and how to do patient teaching at med pass. Did i let those students help to the degree they wanted? You bet your sweet bippity I didn't. Did I go out of my way to find them something? I did, but the vanishing instructor tied my hands.