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 am sorry you have had that experience. Yes it is probably easier, quicker, less disruptive to do it ourselves but WE WERE ALL LOWLY STUDENTS AT ONE POINT. Give the students a break. Somebody took the time to explain things and show us the ropes be kind and do the same for them. God knows there have been times in my career when I was more than happy to see that extra set of hands. Nursing should not be about the money. We will make our lives so much easier if instead of eating our young, we teach them. Those "baby nurses" or as I have them called "wanna be" ARE our future and we may learn a thing or two from them as well.
I definitely understand your level of frustration because I too am a nursing student entering my senior year (BSN program). The attitude we get from "seasoned nurses" in clinicals is ridiculous, especially in certain specialties. Some nurses will act like the student is not even there. I understand that the nurses are busy and have a ton on their shoulders (students are under a tremendous amount of stress too) but how much energy and time does it take to at least be friendly??? Do seasoned nurses forget about their "soft skills" and become complete task masters? Do they forget that they too were once nursing students? In clinicals I personally do not expect a nurse to teach me anything, I should already know how to perform those skills assigned to me for that day and the clinical instructor is there with me when meds are given; however, I do expect for them to allow me to do what I am there to do and if there is a problem with that, then that needs to be addressed to the clinical instructor or coordinator, not the student.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I am going to attack this from a slightly different angle. I happen to have had the privilege of having some truly spectacular preceptors and clinical experiences. I believe that this is because the nursing school that I attended is one of the highest regarded in our area. The clinical instructors did not leave us alone of the floor with harried nurses but were there to support us in the things the Nurse was not able to do due to time constraints. Many nurses state they don't have any knowledge that they will be having a student with them - but in reality most of us know when students will be on floor 24 hours in advance. So it stands to reason that you should expect to have student during that time.
I love working with students - especially when they come prepared and with a bright inquisitive attitude. I will let them shadow me for some patients and then have them take vitals etc or help with head to toe and correct them if they are not doing it right. Heck I even let a nursing student start and IV on me once. I don't bye into the idea that we have too many patients to care for to teach. In my facility which admittedly is LTC I routinely have 19 to 25 patients. Yes they are more stable than Acute patients but one can still go south very quickly.
Part of the core of every nurses job is to teach. We provide education to patients and families and our fellows when needed. If we are ever to get rid of the "MYTH" that nurses eat their young we have to rise above the stereotype and be better. No I am not paid to be a preceptor though I have lobbied for this at my facility.
I believe this student asked a very valid question that deserved and honest not angry answer.
On behalf of all nursing students...thank you for your posts!! When I come across nurses like you it is a breath of fresh air! Students are stressed out to the max and we have a lot on our shoulders also...sometimes we do not feel like going "Good Morning" at 7AM either but we do it out of respect for the nurses. Once again, thank you for being considering how we may feel!!
I did my clinical rotation in Puerto Rico hospitals and I was hands on since day one changing IV lines q 72 hrs , IM PO AND SQ med administration, participation in change of shift report etc. it was awesome. I wish it was the same here in the states
I Agree with you, I am a firm believer in "If you don't like your job find another one" I have had many nurses who were down right rude when my professor attempted to pair me with them. One way to overcome this is to keep confidence. I would hold my held high and actually approach other nurses and ask to shadow them. We all have problems, obstacles in our lives and are downright exhausted. Some of the nurses on the floors have forgotten that they were once students. FORGET that your underpaid, FORGET that your tired, FORGET you don't feel like being bothered and do a KIND act for someone else, Much blessings to you & your studies!
It's such a shame the fervency and excitement of nursing students gets doused at the earliest moment in the hospital. I've heard about the nurse-eat-nurse environment and have refused to accept it, but after stepping foot into the hospital, I can assuredly say, I SEE IT!
Some thoughts:
1) I remember this from when I was in nursing school, too! Most of my clinicals were spent standing awkwardly at the nurses station, trying to stay out of every ones way, maybe flipping through a chart because I didn't know what else to do. It wasn't exactly an inspiring way to spend a day.
Now I am a nurse. I love having students with me but I wish that I had the time to really teach and mentor them. Because I also have meds to pass, assessments to do, orders to process and complete.....and they can't wait till later so that I can teach a student. When I have a student, I have two jobs that day: take care of my patients, and teach the student. Guess which one HAS to take priority? I seriously wish I could teach more, but sometimes I just can't give you the ideal learning experience.
One time I was sent to a different floor that I had never worked on before for a shift. I didn't even know where the supply room was. Then they assigned me TWO nursing students that day! It wasn't a great day for me, and the students didn't have a great experience. And guess what? Nobody asked me if it was okay and nobody cared. Just as frustrating for me as it probably was for the students.
Almost every time, the frustration is NOT at you, the student. The nurse is frustrated at the system. They don't consider you a "bottom feeder" and personally dislike you as a student. But the clinicals system sucks - bring students to the hospital and make the staff "teach" them without reimbursement? Great idea for everyone but the floor nurses.
2) I am so glad to hear that you are excited about being a nursing student! I hope that you retain that when you become a nurse. But I want you to know that nursing is hard and frustrating. One of the main reasons for this is that a nurse has a TON of responsibility. As you know, the nurse is the last line of defense to make sure that the patient gets the care that they need and also to protect the patient from harm (for instance, wrong doses of medication). Nurses also generally have very little power to change their patients plan of care or anything else at the hospital. How frustrating to have all that responsibility and so little control. So when you work with a floor nurse at the hospital, please realize that right or wrong, you are likely working with someone who is frustrated, resentful, and maybe even burned out. They may wish that they could do better helping you learn, but they just can't.
3) That thing about nurses being overwhelmed, powerless and frustrated? If you already felt that way and then someone said "oh by the way, I know you have a full day of nursing classes but you have to tutor one of the freshmen today as well. They will be with you all day from 7am-2pm, here she is!" I would have a hard time hiding my frustration. Now, I really enjoy teaching students. But it IS a little bit like having a six year old help you with housework. Somehow cleaning the house with a kid helping takes twice as long. And its not their fault. Its because they are learning. Unfortunately, short staffing is real, and floor nurses are already pressed to squeeze 15 hours of work into a 12 hour shift. I'm sure you can imagine that adding a student just increases the pressure on their already packed-full day.
4) As I said, I love having students. Personally, I think that I am good at it, and I do try to let them participate where possible. But for most things, I need to be observing them or their instructor needs to. Why? Because its my butt on the line. I'm sure that you are very capable...but I worked hard to get that nursing license and that job, and I just met you this morning. I have no idea if you are an excellent student or not. And if you arent and you somehow hurt my patient or something goes wrong, its MY problem. Most of the time, everything will be fine - but what if this is the one time that it isn't? So I can't just give you some stuff to practice and save time by letting you help. I can't. I still need to be there for most of the things that you do. And those things will take longer. If I have time to let you do it with me thats fine....but sometimes I truly don't have time.
Plus, as other posters have noted, when I do tasks like vitals and bathing patients, I am simultaneously assessing. So if you go do the bath for me, thats great, but don't be under the illusion that you have saved me time. I still have to assess the patient (even if you practice by assessing them, too). Even if the student practices all of their skills all day long, it saves me little time, because I have to still do things again. I cannot reply on the students assessment. It would be irresponsible for me, as the patients nurse, to not also monitor them myself.
5) I know sometimes you are basically told to shadow and that you cant do anything but watch. Please don't take those learning experiences for granted. It can be boring and seem like a waste of your learning time. But it doesn't have to be. Please try to make the most of it. Think critically about everything that you see and hear. Make notes of things that you have questions about, so that you can ask your instructor or look up the answers later. This is a big thing: pay attention to how the nurse organizes their day. What do they do first, what waits? What patient do they see first? How do they prioritize? That is a HUGE thing that takes time to learn as you transition into your career as a nurse. Watch their assessments? Do you see them assessing everything that you have been taught about? An experienced nurse can do a full assessment fast - she is assessing things like skin integrity as she does things like checking perfusion and bowel sounds. An experienced nurse multitasks to make the assessment go faster.
TL;DR - Even if you aren't able to DO things, there is a lot for you to observe and learn. Nursing is more than just the tasks. Make the most of your time, even if its not ideal.
My clinicals were frustrating too, but its a short season of life. Just get through it and get that degree....then you can be the nurse and have students of your own!
Edit to add: Yes, it is stressful for a floor nurse to have a nursing student with you. No, it doesn't give the nurse a free ticket to be rude to you or to try to give to a bad clinical day. I'm not saying to suck it up because the nurse doesn't have to be nice to you. I'm just trying to give you a broader perspective. On the whole, nurses are not trying to be nasty to students. They just don't have enough to give.
On behalf of all nursing students...thank you for your posts!! When I come across nurses like you it is a breath of fresh air! Students are stressed out to the max and we have a lot on our shoulders also...sometimes we do not feel like going "Good Morning" at 7AM either but we do it out of respect for the nurses. Once again, thank you for being considering how we may feel!!
I know how it feels to have a unhelpful, almost-mean preceptor. Once I had one, who took my mid-semester evaluation sheet and literally crumpled it up and stuffed it in an envelope and wrote NOTHING on it except enough to sign-off and get it done and over with. I was so hurt and truthfully, it's been years and it still hurts.
When I was in nursing school I was always the quiet one. I would shadow the nurse I was paired with and didn't jump in to do things. I would try to assist with handing them gloves if needed or position the call light if it moved out of place. At the times when I could tell the nurse could catch a breath I would ask very simple questions to show interest - was that a g-tube? Was that a wet to dry dressing? etc. Even though I knew the answers, it showed the nurse that I was curious and most often it would start a conversation and they'd show me some things (and I ended up learning more that way). Once in ICU I asked about the g-tube and the nurse walked me through on how to give meds and flush it. There was a different patient that had trouble voiding and I just asked the nurse how they expect to help the patient and that nurse let me assist (more watch) foley insertion. As a floor nurse, I honestly don't like when people jump in to do my job (unless its a nurse I know well) because it is stuff I need to document on.
Point is, I think as a student - less is more. Just stand back but gently show interest and wait for the nurse to invite you to do tasks. If you just jump in wanting to do stuff they just might get frustrated with you. Let the nurse do their shift how they planned. I HATE when people try to change my task list in my head.
Maybe its just the schools around my area but the students NEVER assigned to a floor nurse and left to be taught by him/her. Both my LPN and RN schools were the same, we were assigned to a clinical instructor.
anything we did, we had to do with the instructor. We could get the things that had to be done from the nurse, but we were left with our instructor to do it.
On the other side, I had 3 different students assigned to 3 of my patients. Each of the 3 patients were great teaching opportunities with various lines, diagnosis, tasks to do etc. I was more than willing to take the assigned student to the patient and teach them how to do something they had never seen or done. They were checked off for all these tasks and very eager to do them. I asked the CI if Mary, Sam and Ellen could do X, Y and Z and the CI said they could ONLY with her. Because the CI was busy doing med passes with other students, these 3 students lost out on valuable 'learning'. I did have all of them come in the room with me and observe as I did the tasks/skills. Let them look/touch/etc the different items for the tasks etc. If nothing else it gave them less anxiety for the time the would be doing the skill themselves.
As many have previously stated, we don't get any extra compensation and just expected to teach the students when they show up to the floor. And then you have the ones that think they know more than I do....I actually had to fire a student one time.
Interesting. I saw students a couple weeks ago and I really appreciated their help. They did most of what the CNA's do (which is a lot in my hospital!) and so it was like having extra staff. We say, "Yay" when we see students. I am sure they learn a lot in our hospital. However, new learning opportunities don't come up everyday...but thanks for planting the thought. If I think a student may want to see and learn from a procedure, that may be more in the forefront of my mind now when they are there.
lynnwilfong
4 Posts
I am sorry you have had that experience. Yes it is probably easier, quicker, less disruptive to do it ourselves but WE WERE ALL LOWLY STUDENTS AT ONE POINT. Give the students a break. Somebody took the time to explain things and show us the ropes be kind and do the same for them. God knows there have been times in my career when I was more than happy to see that extra set of hands. Nursing should not be about the money. We will make our lives so much easier if instead of eating our young, we teach them. Those "baby nurses" or as I have them called "wanna be" ARE our future and we may learn a thing or two from them as well.