I'm in my last semester of nursing school and have met so many amazing nurses in my clinical experiences. These nurses were patient and willing to take a minute in their busy day to teach or allow me observe.
Of course I have also met nurses who wanted nothing to do with us students. I've had nurses roll their eyes at me when being assigned a student, nurses introduce themselves by telling me "stay outta my way", nurses that don't want me to do anything with their patients, nurses that say "your assessments don't count, you're just a student", I've had nurses say "I don't get paid to teach", nurses that have been mean and rude. Why??? Haven't these nurses been new? Students Eager to learn?
So last week on Medsurge unit in our "teaching hospital" I knew I was in for a long day when I saw my assignment. I worked with this nurse once and had heard nothing but horror stories from other students. I started by introducing myself [received an eye roll], and let her know my assignment included med administration, labs (blood draw from central line), general nursing care, and of course shift assessments. Her response a sarcastic "great". I prepared my meds and discussed them with my instructor. As we headed into the room to administer the nurse was already there giving meds. "You took too long" she said. I apologized and explained I needed to do them with my instructor. She also did the blood draw. My day went on like this.
Frustrated I caught her at the nurses station and asked if we could talk. I asked her "what made you want to be a nurse? Do you remember being a student?" She didn't answer. Then I said " I feel like I am an inconvenience, I want nothing more to be a great nurse and in order to do so I need to learn from someone with the same passion". I then walked away. 30 minutes later she came up to me and said that she thinks we have it easy. Computers and nclex prep courses we are just taught to pass an exam. Although I don't fully disagree I did explain that the nursing field is growing and medical advances, increasing comorbitities, and advancing technology does not make it any easier to learn. She then said "I wanted to be a nurse to take care of people, to be respected, and to make a change... I almost forgot". Aside from my end of shift report we didn't talk again.
Since this day my fellow students have said she's a great nurse, willing to teach and patient.
Moral of my king story -- stick up for yourself and never forget why you want to be a nurse.
With the competitiveness needed to get accepted into a nursing program I believe it begins in pre-nursing.[/quote']
No kidding.
I've worked so hard to get to this point that I'll be damned if I let someone be purposely rude towards me because I'm there to learn. They were once in my shoes. Even if the person teaching me had it bad during their time, that does not give an excuse to treat those under them the same way.
it was clear the nurse just wanted to make her shift easier for herself and disregarded the student nurse and her instructor. That is appalling.
No it is NOT appalling. For the longest time I didn't mind teaching. But every single day more and more work is thrown at staff nurses. There comes a point where something has to give. And guess what, the student is NOT the most important part of my job. It's the patient. So when I prioritize and need to make my day easier, it's going to be the student that gets dropped.
When staffing is such that every second counts, yes, waiting on a student, explaining things, the 5 times longer it takes to check if something was done (and done RIGHT) than to do it myself, etc., etc., etc.... Yeah, my patient comes first, then their family, my employer's ridiculous demands, somewhere in there my sanity, and the nursing student is very close to the bottom.
Yes, I do remember being a student. But maybe because I'd worked as a CNA, or maybe because I lack a serious sense of entitlement, I realized that the patient came first and I was a guest. That if I was lucky and did my best to make the staff's day a bit easier I'd get a chance to learn some things. I ended up learning a lot and never was "eaten." Did I encounter the occasional nurse having a bad day? Yes, but since I realize everyone has bad days, I didn't take it personally and still managed to make the most of the day.
Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.
... And guess what, the student is NOT the most important part of my job. It's the patient. So when I prioritize and need to make my day easier, it's going to be the student that gets dropped.
When staffing is such that every second counts, yes, waiting on a student, explaining things, the 5 times longer it takes to check if something was done (and done RIGHT) than to do it myself, etc., etc., etc.... Yeah, my patient comes first, then their family, my employer's ridiculous demands, somewhere in there my sanity, and the nursing student is very close to the bottom.
Yes, I do remember being a student. But maybe because I'd worked as a CNA, or maybe because I lack a serious sense of entitlement, I realized that the patient came first and I was a guest. That if I was lucky and did my best to make the staff's day a bit easier I'd get a chance to learn some things. I ended up learning a lot and never was "eaten." Did I encounter the occasional nurse having a bad day? Yes, but since I realize everyone has bad days, I didn't take it personally and still managed to make the most of the day.
While we do try to meet the needs of our students, and to always be friendly and polite, it's important to keep a few things in mind:
The budget and staffing levels are based on census and acuity. Clinical experiences are rarely, if ever, accompanied by financial support from the school. Your tuition goes to your school, not to the clinical site. Any education or support comes from the limited time of the already burdened staff nurse.
The instructor is the one responsible for the students. The nurse is responsible for the patient. If a medication or treatment is time sensitive, then the nurse can't wait for the student & instructor to be available. If it needs to be done now, it needs to be done now.
The best way to learn about the patients is to be there for shift report. Some instructors meet with their students before coming up to the unit. (I see classes coming up 8 or 830 when our shift is already well underway). If your class isn't on the unit 15 minutes before the shift starts, maybe you need to ask your instructor why?
So, most of us will be there to help you, but not to do the instructor's job or to extensively educate you on disease states or techniques. Not being mean, just being realistic.
Wooh, excellent points made. I graduated and took NCLEX in March. I don't have any work experience yet as an RN. I do very much remember clinicals, however, all done in teaching hospitals. Your comment about being a guest resonated with me. I had one rotation with a student who struggled with the nurses on the floor. The unspoken mentality was that the students should support each other, help each other out, and being one of the old lady students, that's what I did. This particular student, however, didn't seem to understand that the desk wasn't a place to sit and talk about personal and inappropriate topics and tended toward checking her phone consistently while on shift, despite being told not to repeatedly. Was she a bad student? Not really, but she didn't "get" that as a guest in the hospital, she was expected to behave in a respectful manner. She felt singled out by several well-meaning admonitions, which, from my perspective, were just that: better to learn how to conduct yourself now rather than face a sharp learning curve later on. She was a sweet girl, but not many of her fellow students got to know her because she appeared to come off as not making an effort or caring. By the end of the term, the nurses on the floor rolled their eyes at the mention of her name. Unfortunate, but not unwarranted.
I had another experience in which I was "warned" at the beginning of the shift that the nurse to which I was assigned was excessively tough on students. As a new student, I was definitely intimidated. By the end of the shift, however, I was wondering why I had ever been warned abut this nurse. I asked questions when I needed clarification, asked for help when needed, and reported to her when there were changes in the patients. I respected her, was honest, and worked hard.
I'm not tooting my own horn. There were definitely experiences in which I asked stupid questions. There were times when I should have asked more questions. I do, however, think that students on the whole can get a poor reputation based on the actions of few, and likely nurses as well.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I don't work in the clinical setting anymore, but I have experienced the opposite right here on AN. A new nurse starts a thread seeking advice. I reply, and instead of getting a "thank you," the OP will lash out at me. I had it happen to me on two different threads just this week. It's not just me, either; I've seen senior posters here like Esme, GrnTea and others be treated in the same discourteous manner. I can't speak for them, but I know that in my case, I've started to avoid threads from newbies asking for help; I'm not that interested in getting reamed out yet again.
When I was working in the clinical setting, I didn't have too many students, but the few I did have were unimpressive. They'd refuse to perform or observe a procedure because they'd already seen it or done it. Students congregating at the nurse's station, taking all the chairs, sending texts or chatting, then giving you attitude when you ask them to clear out because you need to use the computer. Sorry...no thanks.
Not all students are like this, but the ones that are make a bad impression and make you less interested in precepting.
I am so happy that you stood up for yourself. I need to do the same thing as a Student Nurse in VA, I too am getting the eye rolls, sarcastic tones and on and on... Congratulations on you accomplishments--I seem to be getting a little more of those eye rolls these days I think because I am an older student of "56" years young!!!
I really enjoyed reading your post about your experiences. I am starting an LVN program this Fall so I like reading about others experiences as a Nursing Student. Working as a CNA I too met a lot of wonderful nurses and a few that were not quite so friendly. It's just like any other profession...there are people that absolutely love their job, people that don't mind it, and people that quite obviously aren't content either with their job or maybe it's their life outside of work.
Putting a patient first does not mean you have to also treat other people poorly or crappy, the nurses I have worked with have told us numerous times when they are too busy and should not be interrupted and none were rude or dismissive. The nurse in the OP's post changed her behavior in the end which to me tells me she identified in herself something to correct. Also, I do not think wanting to learn as much as possible during clinical is "feeling entitled." You can't have it both ways: you can't complain about the lazy nursing students, but also complain about the enthusiastic ones. Its also not the student's fault for the state of the facility and how much they pile on the nurses- is it wrong? yes. But why does that mean the nursing student's get to be mistreated as a result? If anything, its wasting precious time from your patient you claimed comes first.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
"NETY!" is also the rallying cry for the perpetually aggrieved, and it annoys the heck out of many of us who don't shoot rainbows and unicorns of unconditional love and acceptance out the leg bands of our Depends. :) So when we see a thread entitled "Why do NETY?" we reflexively feel our hackles rise.
There are a number of us who, with our colleague Esme, spend inordinate amounts of time here, for free, counseling and teaching the student nurses who will grow up to care for us in hospitals when we are even older and crustier, or our parents, or our children, or our grandchildren. We do not cut a lot of slack here because we sure as hell don't want slack cut out there.
You (the generic you, not the OP specifically, who sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders) may not like what you hear from us. However, it is always, always given with genuine best wishes to help you be the best nurse you can be in an environment that is a lot more foreign to you than you think now. Nurses don't eat their young any more than sailors, architects, choral directors, or anybody else. SOME people are mean. SOME people unconstructively, intentionally, are hurtful just for the sake of being hurtful.
On the other hand, SOME people are too sensitive by half, or inexperienced with any performance feedback more critical than, "Nice job! Good for you!" They are in for a world of hurt if they don't toughen up and learn the ropes. AN is a safe place to do that, again, even if SOME people don't give or receive feedback the way SOME people would like.
We wish you well. Be good, we need you. Nobody will chew on you if you are tough.
I'm one of those who immediately felt my hackles rise when I read the title of this thread. "Why do nurses eat their young?" implies that nurses DO eat their young. And once again, the poster went on to describe a negative experience that she had with ONE nurse. A negative experience with one nurse, however painful it may have been for the OP, does not prove that all nurses (or even the majority or even a large minority or even more than one) eat their young.
These days, experienced nurses aren't given much choice as to whether or not we teach -- we WILL teach. Period. There are a dozen newbies for every nurse with more than two years experience; those of us with decades of experience will teach. Even if we're not good at it, even if we don't like doing it, and even if we haven't had a break from teaching for a year. We understand what it's like to be brand new -- most of us remember it, some of us even remember it vividly. YOU (the collective "you", not the personal) have no idea what it's like to be the only -- or one of the few -- experienced nurses on in a 21 bed ICU. Or a 31 bed Med/Surg unit. So try to understand why the "NETY" accusation gets a rise out of us.
I'm a nursing student and YES I have experienced nurses before I can even say hello roll her eyes and say "I don't fool with student nurses"! To me I feel like some nurses FORGET that they were once students!!!! And yes nurses are busy and have huge work loads but if they just took a min and REMEMBER their first clinical day and how nervous and scared they were their attitude would change. There is ALWAYS a polite and professional way to say ALL things. I've seen way too many nasty nurses as a student nurse, so yes nurses do eat their young, by nurses plural this does not mean ALL but certainly ALOT do, so plural nurses is the correct form.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
So I do not understand why it's the student's fault for eagerly and respectfully trying to do her job to help the nurse.
You are absolutely right -- you do not understand as evidenced by your assumption that the student's job is to try to help the nurse.
Students do not help the nurse, ease our workload, take off the pressure or anything of the kind. In fact, it's the opposite. It's far easier to just do the work ourselves than it is to try to teach someone else how to do it, to wait while they do things in about 4 times the time it would take us, and to try to criticize constructively rather than just step in and stop them from doing something stupid. I've read a quote that says "Show me a student who only triples my workload, and I will kiss your feet," or something to that effect. (That's probably from "House of God", but I don't remember exactly where I read it.) A good student only triples your workload. A bad one . . . .
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Telling the OP that nurses might treat students poorly because we "don't know the color of our stethoscope," wasn't very helpful in her situation since she had already explained that she was being respectful and ready to take on tasks. Were you trying to imply that because you think some students do not know their colors, nurses can treat all students equally poorly?
Yes, the OP explained that she was being respectful and ready to take on tasks. But not every student who says she's respectful and ready to take on tasks IS respectful and willing to take on tasks.
cannolis
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