Why are some nurses so nasty?

cantabria_azul · Oct 18, 2007

Well, I would let it go, but I can tell you that that seems to be very rampant. I think that some nurses have this sense of entitlement being as rude/as un-helpful as possible AT WILL or whenever they see or have to make any contact with a student. I think is very sad, while we are very busy as nurses I do not like treating any student badly. I have no reason to bully or be rude based on your condition as student. Our hospital has a Zero tolerance for this with our students and you can complain. Just think she actually displays a lack of empathy, and probably has some issues in her own life, nevermind being a good mentor....stay clear of her. There should be other nurses who are better examples. Just ignore her and work on being the best that you can be your energy will be better used that way.

lilredbedhed · Oct 18, 2007

Thanks for your response...I will let it go. For the most part the nurses on our unit are very helpful although very busy. This was just way past anything I had witnessed before and the reason it is bothering me so much is probably shock!

deeDawntee, RN · Oct 18, 2007

I don't know what to tell you, I recall having the same problems in my clinicals as a nursing student as well. I really think it has a lot to do with the environment in which you are entering, obviously they have not been set-up to deal with students. They are probably feeling powerless everywhere on there job and unfortunately you get the brunt of their anger and frustration. Preceptorship is really an honor and a fine skill and it really helps the preceptor grow as much as the student. It is one thing to be able to do something, but to be able to explain it in a way that works for the STUDENT is an art. I would bet that none of those nurses have any sense what a powerful and important position they could play in your development if they would think about it. I would consider it their loss. They are very unevolved nurses and aren't at all looking at contributing to their profession, IMHO.

You can and will get through your clinicals without them. What a shame really, I see it as a system failure, where the experienced nurses aren't educated and empowered to pass on knowledge....

It is a loss for all of us.....

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2007

Maybe her husband just left her for a younger woman, her house in in forclosure, her teenaged daughter is pregnant, and she spent the weekend helping move here aging mother to a nursing home?

lilredbedhed · Oct 18, 2007

Wow...that's something to think about! I know we all have bad days....

APBT mom, LPN, RN · Oct 18, 2007

Something similar happened to us today at clinicals. The hospital has these mobile computers that you can roll around to all the rooms but all seven of them weren't working. The only ones that were were at the nurses station. So we sit down and all huddle around the one computer that noone is using. This nurse who we've never seen in the two months that we've been there tells us to get out of the seats they're for the doctors. Mind you there are NO doctors around. She then tells us to use the charts to get our information from and stand at the counter where anybody can walk up behind you and read what you are doing so the doctors can use the computers. This was right after we heard the same nurse complaining abut how she's tired of putting the doctors orders into the computer for them because they can't take five minutes to put it in. We just let it go because some nurses don't like having students and if you get one angry s/he can make your whole experience terrible.

al7139, ASN, RN · Oct 18, 2007

Hi,

I had some similar experiences in school. Some nurses are not cut out to work with students, and are very difficult to deal with. We had one rotation where almost the entire staff was a pain to deal with. I just kept to myself, and went to my instructor with questions. On the other hand I had some rotations where we were welcomed, and the nurses were genuinely eager to work with us. Think about it like this; As a nurse with a heavy work load, it can be a real inconvenience to be assigned a student. The reality is that it takes time out of an already busy shift since as studemts you need to be supervised, and it takes alot longer for a student to perform a procedure that the nurse could do in 5 minutes. However, everyone has to start somewhere, and it has to happen in the hospital, not practicing on a lab mannequin. I looked at nurses who were mean to the studens as an example of how not to be, and learned that I really wanted to be in an environment where I could have the opportunity to work with students and hopefully be a good example and make their experience a positive one. So I got a job on a unit that I was on in school that was exactly that. Welcoming, eager to teach us, and never gave us the impression that we were an inconvenience (even when we were!). Hang in there, it does get better. I will never forget that I was a student once too, especially because of the not so great experiences I had.

Amy

Soup Turtle · Oct 18, 2007

I am in my first semester of nursing school, and I am doing my clinical rotation at a smaller community hospital. The evening before clinicals, we all go to the hospital to pick up our patient assignments.
Tonight, there were 3 of us sitting behind one of the tables with a computer ( mind you there are approx 15 computers) doing our patient reports/careplans and gathering info from pt. charts. This nurse walks up and slams her folder onto the desk on top of our papers (scared the daylights out of us) and says in a really snide voice, " this is the computer I like to use, and that is the seat I like to sit in, so I will be sitting in it now. You girls will just have to find someplace else to go". WTH? am I overreacting? I don't know why this is bothering me so much, but I have been thinking about it all night long! Should I just let it go ( which is my first thought ) or should I tell my clinical advisor about it? If she would have rephrased it differently, I would have had no problem, but her tone was just SO nasty! Sometimes I don't think they remember the days of being students themselves. I just wish I could figure out why it infuriates me so much.

I might have asked her if she wanted me to massage her feet, too!

Honestly, people like that make me LAUGH. I can't help it...sometimes I just laugh in their faces. (and then I remind myself not to ever become bitter)

southernbelle08 · Oct 18, 2007

I think that is something that just happens. Last week I was told I was sitting in a nurse's chair as well....not by that nurse, but by one of her co-workers. I just gathered my things and found another spot...no big deal. I am a guest on their floor, so I just try to be as nice as possible, understand that it could be frustrating for some to have students there on top of their load, and let things like that go. For every bad experience I have had - I've had way more good ones. :)

psalm, RN · Oct 18, 2007

In my OB rotation I had my assigned nurse tell me she didn't want any students and to stay out of her way! I relied on my days as an OB aide in the 70s to work with the pt. breathing and back massage, VS and comfort. So I got experience, the pt. and her fam loved me, and even though I didn't "get to" give any meds, I was okay. The resident doc on the case was cool and showed me alot.

rn/writer, RN · Oct 18, 2007

Some nurses are nasty because some people are nasty. It doesn't have to go with the territory. There are just a few folks out there who would be nasty if they worked in a bakery or a had a job testing feather beds and bon-bons.

Laugh it off, if you can. Don't take it personally. They usually don't even know you well enough to pick you out of a line-up. If you weren't the target, someone else would be.

That impersonal nastiness says a lot more about the giver than the receiver.

I wish you the best.