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.
Finally, I didn't realize that there are facilities that actually let the students chart. None of the ones around here do.
Oh yea, we charted. The floor nurse was still responsible for there assessments, so you'd see double charting on the patients. And back to the role of the CI, they would review our charting and pick it apart (you know, in an educational way).
My CI's were never bored. We were required to check meds with them, check procedures before doing them, etc. In the beginning, they held our hands and helped us in the room. Not everyone got to do everything because the CI would be so busy. At the end, they usually didn't come in the room with us anymore, but we still always, always had to check our meds. Giving a med or doing an invasive procedure without telling our instructor first would get us dismissed. If they had free time, then they would grade our care plans so they didn't have to do it at home. You have to remember that these are students with no nursing experience. Even if they think they are fine, there is ALWAYS something you could pull them aside and teach.
Ya. We are first semester so mess won't start until Monday! I'm sure I'll be busy then.
Some nurses may be seeing it as not getting paid to help you but the majority are focused on the primary reason they clocked in that day... PATIENT CARE!! Please don't see it as anything else besides that. I work in critical care and while I was hired in for night shift, I've had my orientation on days and it is alot for a nurse to focus on juggling their own tasks and be asked to think up ones that a student can do... It would consist of running through what can/can't be done by said student, directing them to equipment, etc.. While you may have the best intentions, know the nurse does as well. Maybe not towards you, but towards PATIENT CARE.
During school, I had moments where I felt like a burden to nurses and never truly understood until I had my own license and own PATIENT CARE to be responsible for... Physicians, family, consults, orders, meds, assessments, interventions... The list goes on and on. And unfortunately, more times than not a student is on the bottom of the list. It is what it is.
My advice is to not focus on what you're not getting clinical-wise (because you could never do enough to prepare you for actual nursing anyway... Brutal honesty, here..) but instead consider observing how those amazing nurses get done what they do. Say at the beginning of the shift "if you need any help.." Or "if there are any procedures/txs I can watch... That would be awesome!" And then let it be.
You'll also discover, a thicker skin is sometimes a necessity when you enter the nursing world. Mine becomes thicker by the day. ðŸ˜
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
I only read 4 of the pages of this thread so...
If the floor nurses are being rude or antagonistic toward the students the behavior should be reported to your clinical instructor. The school can then decide whether or not to ask the facility to address that behavior.
If the students (including yourself) are being left on the unit, without clinical instructor guidance, to be mentored by an RN who is not trained, compensated, or even asked to participate in your education; THAT is unacceptable and ridiculous.
It is not the responsibility of the floor nurse to educate you to floor nursing. PERIOD. That education is the responsibility of your school and they collect monies presumably to pay for said education. Unless things have changed dramatically, the RN on the floor is employed by the hospital to care for the patients. That nurse may be asked to work with a clinical instructor and student(s) in the delivery of care, but the RN is NOT responsible for the practical/clinical education of the student. If the RN was responsible for that education they would have an assignment which prioritized the education rather than the staffing model of the facility.
It is true that nurses who have no skill set for educating/mentoring/precepting too often get stuck in that position by employers who really don't give two cares about the needs/strengths/weaknesses of individual nurses. Yeah some of those nurses are not that cool to work with as a student. Surely you deserve better than that, you pay top dollar for your education.
Here's the rub. That unfriendly nurse likely didn't ask to have a student assigned to him/her. That nurse may not have ever been informed about what the expectations should be or what a good staff preceptor would do with a student. That RN is still responsible for all of the care and it's timely completion and did not likely get a lighter assignment so that he/she could mentor a student. They almost never get any form of compensation for these additional duties or expectations.
I went to nursing school/college a long time ago. Decades.
We were never on the floor providing ANY care without our clinical instructor.
The staff nurses did not precept us, our instructors did. The staff nurses signed off on the care that our instructors signed off on. We were given assignments and were expected to provide that nursing care with our instructors during that clinical shift. When we left for the day the care needed to be complete and up to date and we reported to the RN who would be caring for the pt after we left, with our instructors guidance.
Why is it that today's nursing students feel that it is the responsibility of the floor staff nurse to educate them? It is the reponsibility of your school and your instructors.
After Reading all these comments I am bewildered, so hard to pick a place to start, what I am reading the most is that the nurses are not being compensated for teaching students. Soooo people don't become nurses for the awesome salary I mean for real if a nurse wanted a high paying healthcare job they should've went to med school, so why all this emphasis on monetary compensation, When the main reason people become nurses is because they care about what they do.
Next, I'm a nursing student second year I have done 5 rotations each on different units at various hospitals. When I say 100% of the nurses I have worked with have been helpful, and educative I mean ALL of them. Although I do want to add on to what
CoachChris said, you as a nursing student need to have initiative and not stand around in a corner holding onto your clipboard for dear life. Nursing students are taught skills prior to coming to the hospital, in lecture and in clinical practice skills labs. USE those skills, only you and your instructor know what you have been checked off on, not the nurses on the floor. What I am saying is do not wait for the staff nurses at the hospital to tell/ask you to do something. If you are a new student (i.e first year) sometimes it is better not to do hands on skills but to OBSERVE a nurse to get a good understanding of routines from people who have been doing their job for a while. I would like to say, like some of the other comments, for the most part I have not really been "pushed off onto the staff nurses" per se, though I have been assigned to patients.
I have read a few posts that say nursing students can't help the floor nurses and that they get in the way, im not sure about other students but when I'm assigned to a patient(s) (usually 2-3) I pass all their med during the time that I am there and if they need any procedures done that I've been checked off on (i.e inserting foley, I.V's, trach suctioning, etc.) that is a lot of help imo on top of charting their shift assessments, doing pt. education.
I do understand that there probably are a lot of people( nurses, students, clinical instructors) with a chip on their shoulder and will give those around them a negative experience... Just look past it and understand that it is usually a rare occurrence and you probably will have an overall positive experience in the nursing/healthcare field when it's all said and done, and that's what you should take from this
I mean that paragraph was pertaining to teaching students, lol ofc I was not insinuating that this is a volunteer job I apologize for the miscommunication
After Reading all these comments I am bewildered, so hard to pick a place to start, what I am reading the most is that the nurses are not being compensated for teaching students.
Anesthesia2G, the compensation comments are coming up in response to the students who continue to say that we are required to teach students because they've paid a lot for their education. They feel entitled to our time because in their minds they've paid for that. That money does not come to us, though. That money goes to the instructors not earning it. I don't think anyone here is saying anything like, "we aren't getting enough pay to teach you." It's not like that, and the situation is far more complex than that simplification anyway.
After Reading all these comments I am bewildered, so hard to pick a place to start, what I am reading the most is that the nurses are not being compensated for teaching students. Soooo people don't become nurses for the awesome salary I mean for real if a nurse wanted a high paying healthcare job they should've went to med school, so why all this emphasis on monetary compensation, When the main reason people become nurses is because they care about what they do.
Perhaps I can help clear up your bewilderment.
The RNs who are working that floor are there for the PATIENTS. They most certainly DO CARE about "what they do". What they DO NOT DO is guarantee in any way, shape or form that they will take on the educational needs of a STUDENT whose own school or CI is blowing them off. Regardless of your own feelings of entitlement to the attention of the floor staff, it is most certainly NOT their job to teach you. Period. You've gotten education from them? Fabulous. Consider yourself very fortunate. You were not OWED it at all.
Your comment "why all this emphasis on monetary compensation" is quite out of line. Nurses, like every other professional out there, expect to be monetarily compensated for what they do. For what their JOBS ARE. The floor nurses' job is to take care of PATIENTS. Their job is NOT to take care of STUDENTS. And when students impede the ability of the nurse to do that very thing, care for the patients, there is a very valid reason for complaint....by the NURSE.
I have read a few posts that say nursing students can't help the floor nurses and that they get in the way, im not sure about other students but when I'm assigned to a patient(s) (usually 2-3) I pass all their med during the time that I am there and if they need any procedures done that I've been checked off on (i.e inserting foley, I.V's, trach suctioning, etc.) that is a lot of help imo on top of charting their shift assessments, doing pt. education.
Is your instructor directly supervising you while you do these things? If so, that's great. You are not being a burden to the nurse. But in many hospitals, the instructors are not present much of the time -- and the students are not allowed to give meds and do technical procedures unless they are being directly supervised by either an instructor or a staff nurse. So with the instructor not around (or an instructor who is not qualified to supervise many technical skills) -- it's up to the staff nurse to demonstrate, teach, and supervise the student in the performance of those skills -- and that is a burden.
It sounds as if your situation is unusual -- and not representative of what is typical in the United States.
Our instructors always emphasized that being a nurse is being a teacher; whether it is teaching a patient or a caregiver, or a student nurse, or a community. It is part of being a nurse. There really is no exception, excuse or reason for a RN to be mean, belittle, rude, condescending to ANYONE. Isn't a nurse's character one to be admired? Not questioned? I have only had one nurse that was rude to me and she was rude to everyone, patients and caregivers and other staff members. I wondered how she was even able to work at this particular hospital as everyone else is so extremely nice and caring. I truly believe that you are either a nice person or you are not. There is no in between. You can't just switch on and off your character and if you do then you are NOT being genuine and people pick up on that right away; especially patients. Being tired and over worked is not an excuse to be rude or impolite to anyone. This is my opinion. Treat people the way you want to be treated. :)
Our instructors always emphasized that being a nurse is being a teacher; whether it is teaching a patient or a caregiver, or a student nurse, or a community. It is part of being a nurse.
Sure ... an instructor will tell the students that. She's not the staff nurse being asked to take on the extra responsibilities of teaching the students. She's the one hired to DO the teaching and she is looking to find people to help her do her job.
Consider the source of information before you take it to heart. Instructors do not represent the entire profession -- only 1 aspect of it. Some of them haven't worked in a hospital for decades. (Of course, others are quite current in their practice. My point is that "just because an instructor said it doesn't mean it is right -- or that it represents the opinion of the nursing profession as a whole.)
But I agree ... there is no reason to be rude or mean to the students. We should always be reasonably polite and friendly.
NICUmiiki, DNP, NP
1,775 Posts
Oh yea, we charted. The floor nurse was still responsible for there assessments, so you'd see double charting on the patients. And back to the role of the CI, they would review our charting and pick it apart (you know, in an educational way).