Why do nurses have to be so mean to nursing students?

[patty554]

I am starting my fundamentals rotation and I feel very uncomfortable around the nursing staff. whenever I try to get information from the computer I hear them talking under breath and breathing like I am bothering them. If we are in post or pre-conference they come in making as much noise as they can talking loud and just being disrespectful to my instructor. I understand we can sometimes be a pain, but I am trying to learn, sometimes I am so nervous I feel as though I am going to vomit, it is bad enough I am being graded and tested non-stop by my instructor, why do the nurses and staff have to add to my anxiety?

[Spikey9001, BSN, RN]

See this attitude makes me despise nursing sometimes...

How the **** else are we gonna learn!? Keep those catty attitudes home or something, like what the hell?

[xstarsfallingx]

Personally, I enjoy teaching students, interns, and new grads...BUT, I work nights and rarely get the opportunity. This also means I do not see them over and over, and I can understand how that gets difficult semester after semester.

It is nice for nurses to help, but unless you are at a teaching hospital I do not believe the school of thought is that the nurses have any obligation to students. Your instructor is ultimately responsible for teaching you, not the staff. Sure, it's great when you can get extra info, but the reality is RNs have enough to do on their shift...if they have a slow day and are willing, great...but it is not the norm, unfortunately.

I know they make it hard to learn. I know they often want to do things on their own even if it's your assigned pt,and your only one, at that....but you are paying for the mistakes of everyone who came before you. Find the best nurse and try to stick near them. Be proactive, helpful, and considerate and they may warm up.

Ultimately, this is not an isolated situation, so do not let it get you down. It will get better.

[rsyrek]

I agree completely, I asked for help with a nursing care plan and was answered what do you think you should do, when I answered, I was never given a straight answer, she just marked it wrong! I am very disgusted with the nursing "professors" as they are not helpful at all

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I agree completely, I asked for help with a nursing care plan and was answered what do you think you should do, when I answered, I was never given a straight answer, she just marked it wrong! I am very disgusted with the nursing "professors" as they are not helpful at all

Alas, this reminds me of the classic Ann Landers advice to the teen who said her mother was always on her butt to clean up her room, do the dishes, and do her homework. What should she do?? The answer came, "Clean up your room, do the dishes, and do your homework."

It is perfectly appropriate for someone who is in a position to teach you something, like a staff nurse, faculty, or even us on AN, to ask you what you think you should do. This will force you to think about, well, what you should do as the professional nurse you aspire to be, and take you out of that comfort zone of having someone tell you the answer.

When you call a physician in the middle of the night, s/he is going to want to hear your assessment and conclusions before giving you an answer; this is part of your education for learning to organize your assessment and decisions before you act. This will be far more helpful in your professional development than just giving you the answer.

You might not know the answer (we know you don't, because you're asking for it), you might need someone to help you reach it, but you need to give evidence that you've put some effort into it yourself.

I trust this is a straight enough answer for you. :) Finally, there are the immortal words of the Sage of Concord, Emerson, who said, "Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted." They aren't being mean to you; they're expecting more of you. Learn what you have to do to deliver.

[sjalv]

I realize this thread was started in 2011 but it appears to have been revitalized so here's my opinion on things. I am a 2nd semester RN student and I just had my first clinical rotation in the hospital, on a surgical floor. Here's some simple advice our instructor gave us during orientation that I think we have all heard once or twice in our lives, but it bears repeating: "If someone [a nurse] acts like they don't want you around, just kill them with kindness. They can't complain because you're smiling or acting cheerful. Make it your goal to be as nice to them as humanly possible, so sweet they'll feel like they've got cavities." Basically, you're in charge of your education. Last semester, I asked an RN on a ventilation hall in an LTC if I could change a resident's trach collar. She was obviously reluctant, sighed, and said "Sure." I just grinned and said, "Thanks a lot!", asked her to observe me, then said thanks a thousand times after we were done. An unhappy person is going to be unpleasant regardless of what you do, so do what you need to do and don't let their negativity affect your learning objectives.

[DawnJ]

Hey, but when you get to a place where you have staff that loves to teach---WOW that feels great!

[smf0903]

When I was a student I use to wonder the same exact thing Now I KNOW WHY They are anoying ,get in the way , slow things down and mess things up!!

a few examples :

Im a CNA doing my rounds and a student is in one of my rooms taking vitals I saw her knock the mans urinal down and do yo u know what she does she walks up to me and says" oh um theres a spill in there " and I said so why didn't you clean it up? "um I'm an LVN student " and she just walked off with the vital machine

I told her instructor.

We have a rule in this facility DONT LEAVE DIAPERS IN THE ROOMS

In 3 rooms I found 3 diapers and guess who almost got written up for that? Yup me. again I told there instructor

Then the students were learning how to put in a colostomy bag ( or something like that) Well they forgot to attach a bag to it and you guessed it there was poop EVERYWHERE! And when I looked for the instructor they all went home.

I was transferring a patient ( who is usually a 1 person transfer)and this day I was having real trouble he was about to fall I said "HELP!! HELP!!" I was screaming it and looking toward the door for someone I saw the student walk by and look in and didn't do anything instead one of the LVN's came in and helped.( I think she might have told her but still she could've helped)

One of my patients is a fall risk and he has a motion alarm on .......He gets up the alarm goes off we all go looking to see where the sound is coming from I see the man walking by him self and a student was RIGHT THERE 4 FT AWAY ! and she didn't do anything I got there and sat him down in the chair and shut the alarm off I asked her why didn't you do anything she said" I didn't know his name I couldn't get his attention " And I'm thinking to myself so because you don't know someones name your going to let him fall and potentially break a hip all she had to do was stand next to him and say excuse me sir .

Im sorry for my rant........ but students really stress me out!!!

Our charge nurse cant stand them and neither can I they give me more work to do and are getting me blamed for things I didn't do.

I can't wait until they leave!!

Oh. My. Gosh. Any instructor I ever had would have our butt on a stick as a main course if this was what was going on during clinicals! I can't even imagine!! We always try be as non-intrusive as we can...we know the staff is busy as all get-out. 95% of staff has always been helpful (there's usually that "one" person a semester...), but we always make a point to be as available as possible to help the staff when they need an extra set of hands or whatever. I seriously cannot wrap my brain around the experiences you've had! That's absolutely terrible

[erifica]

The nurses on all my clinical experiences have been wonderful. I agree about not going to them for every little thing. Also, nurses have a lot of responsibility, as a student, my role was to learn and lighten the work load for them and the cna as much as I could. That's what I thought. Also, it was reiterated to us several times to help where we can as much as possible. That means answering call bells, even if we don't know the patient or we might not be able to get that patient what they need, the person could really have something serious or it could be something as simple as getting them a drink. Once again, I've had only positive experiences with all the nurses at my clinical sites! :)