Why are some nurses so rude to students?

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I'm in my second semester of clinicals and am on a cardiac telemetry floor. Some of the nurses are friendly and helpful, but most on this floor are just rude all the time. It seems that the whole atmosphere on this floor is one of disdain for their job and attitudes coming from everywhere. The HUC's (especially the HUCs), the techs, the food service people, they all have attitude problems also. I don't know if it's because we are students and are getting in their way (even though we are taking on some of their load...the nurses don't even check on the pts that we are assigned, I've had complaints from pts about it). Or is it because this floor just has a toxic staff where everyone is rubbing off on each other negatively? I know one thing, I will never work on this floor when I graduate. I did clinicals at this same hospital on a different floor last semester and didn't experience this at all. They were happy to have us there and treated us respectfully.

So, nurses, how do you feel about students? Do you like it when they come and are you nice/helpful to them? Or would you rather not have students when you are working?

Specializes in L&D, PP, Nursery.
you may think you're taking some of my load, but you're not. you're adding to it. because you're working under my license, i have to double check everything you do -- after i've talked you through how to do it. having a student follow me more than doubles my work load. and no one asks us if we want a student to follow us -- we're just informed when we show up for the day. so not only do you double our workload, we have to teach you as well. i don't mind doing it -- usually. i like students. but surely you can see how some nurses might not be excited about your presence!

i have to agree. i usually like students because i also love to teach. however, they do always put me behind in my work because of the time it takes to teach plus the double checking. we have to allow them to chart and then check it. usually i am done with my assessments and ready to chart but it may be hours later until the student is done so i can check it.

also, we currently have a very lazy group of lpn students that don't have an instructor with them on the floor. they show up at 8:00 am, pass water pitchers then go on break at 8:20. they return at 9-9:15 and stand around. when i ask them it they want to do or learn something, the usual response is "i already know how to do that". then they to to lunch from 11:00 to 12:00 and leave for the day at 1:00. i have told them "we'll do this skill together after you get back from break/lunch and they never show up. this has put me behind in my work as i could have just done it myself and not fallen so behind. it's very irritating to me. i do want to stress, however, that i do like having students and we have to remember that we all were students at one time. i was treated horribly as a student also, many years ago

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Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.

I was treated poorly by some nurses as a student too. As a student I never expected the nurse to show me how to do skills. I was told as a student not to bother the nurse because they were busy. I always thought it was the instructor's responsibility to teach their students. As a student you would get limited amount of hands on skills with because there was only one instructor per 8 students. My last semester I had an instructor noone could ever find. She was as lazy as they come. Now I understand why the nurses on that semester were hostile towards the students. My instructor probably expected them to help us as she was never around.

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you may think you're taking some of my load, but you're not. you're adding to it. because you're working under my license, i have to double check everything you do -- after i've talked you through how to do it. having a student follow me more than doubles my work load. and no one asks us if we want a student to follow us -- we're just informed when we show up for the day. so not only do you double our workload, we have to teach you as well. i don't mind doing it -- usually. i like students. but surely you can see how some nurses might not be excited about your presence!

i don't follow a nurse and i have never been taught anything from a nurse from any of my clinical experiences so far. we get assigned patients, find the nurse for those patients, get report, then the only communication between me and my nurse is if it's something important i need to tell her/him or when i'm done for the day and am giving her report about what i did that day. not once has any nurse needed to walk me through how to do something. we only do what we have been taught and checked off on by our instructor. the instructor is there with us for any med passes, etc. never the nurse. once again, the only reason why i even mentioned that we take some of the load is because i've heard some of the nurses say that. i'm sorry that we are such a nuissance for you and are doubling your workload, but how in the world are we supposed to actually become your coworker some day if we don't get the chance to get in the hospital and practice? since i have experienced a unit that does not treat students this way...i know it can be better thankfully, so it doesn't turn me off to nursing all together. i'm starting to agree with some of the other posters here, some people are just miserable people, i'm not going to change that, but i definitely can choose not to be that way and not to work in a toxic environment such as that either.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

I'm sure I'm probably just echoing a sentiment that has already been put forth... but whatever. =)

Nursing students DO mean extra work for the floor nurses, and floor nurses who treat students like they are just there to help them do their job and DON'T go back and double check anything and everything that the student did... they could be asking for major trouble. They are NOT there to help the nurse that they are assigned to; in fact, they are pretty much there to learn off of that nurse. They are there to follow that nurse around and ask lots of questions, and help out in areas in which they are already trained.

So again, they do mean extra work for an already busy nurse, HOWEVER.... that doesn't give that floor nurse license to be rude/mean to them. Myself, I've always tried to be as polite, patient, and helpful as possible, because I was once a student, and because I'm a role model.

Furthermore, a student who DOESN'T ask lots of questions, pay lots of attention, look over the staff nurse's shoulder a lot..... a student who tries to learn and do it all on their own, is just asking for trouble later on.

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Specializes in DOU.

I adore having students! And yes, most of them DO lighten the workload to some extent, even if it's only that they help my patients get to the bathroom, help them eat, or help the CNAs with vital signs. (If the CNA isn't available, then I would be doing that.) Plus, students have time to interact with my people in a way I WISH i had the time for.

I have to admit that when students are on our floor, I always warn them of which nurses to avoid. Odds are that if most of the students don't like a particular nurse, their coworkers don't, either.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Tele, DOU.

I will try to word this a carefully as possible so . . . .

first off, you have not "taken my load". I find that statement irritating and frustrating. you are there to learn and I am there to teach you. yes, I understand that you have a Clinical instructor. The truth is I have probably given and received report from your Clinical Instructor as a colleague and am aware of their strengths and weaknesses as well as they are of mine. If I have taken a class like ACLS. BLS, PALS or some other class from your clinical instructor, don't be surprised if I am more bristly when I meet you. I may know for a fact that your instructor shouldn't be teaching you.

I take your presence seriously. Again, you are there to learn and I am there to help teach you. I am ultimately responsible for this patient and will have to undo anything that you might not get correct. I will also be the person who may end up quizzing you about those medications. Why you may ask. Because your instructor has too many students. Your instructor cannot possibly ensure that each one of you is learning and providing safe competent care. Your instructor is only 1 human. So now, the responsibility to supervise you has just been passed on to me. I can't supervise you without teaching you. It was engrained into my being. So, instruct and explain to you I will. However, you have just taken time away from my organization and I must now regroup, reprioritize and readjust my responsibilities. (my energy is being consumed more quickly than normally)

Yes, I do love change. If I didn't I wouldn't be in nursing.

Yes, I do love teaching. Again if I didn't I wouldn't be in nursing.

However, please be respectful of my position and level of responsibilities, while I am talking to my colleagues etc. I don't appreciate it when you interrupt me as I am giving report. I will snap at you faster than a cobra takes down it's victim. :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Please wait patiently for me until I am finished talking to my colleague. What you may consider a "meaningless side conversation" may have been important for me to relax and reorganize my thoughts so that I can help you grow and become a phenomenal nurse. And really that is my purpose, if I am your preceptor.

I don't get paid to teach you or to be your supervisor. I am doing your instructor's job and they are the ones getting paid. That's why you keep getting assigned to me!!!!!! I am willing to put the hard work into you needed for you to grow: your instructor is taking both the credit and the money. And I don't get to choose whether I have you or not. I am stuck with you. I don't mind having you if my energy levels are high.

I don't get just one nursing student for my patient assignments. I now have 2 to 3 of you asking questions, asking for help, interrupting one another, wanting to give medications and need me to go with you etc. I don't mind. I want to be there for you. I want you to grow wonderfully. However, you do pull on my patience and other deeper areas of my energy that I normally reserve for my patients and all the other people I need to interact with on a given day. By the time I go home, you have also drained some of my energy away from my family.

To work with you as nursing students is sacrificial for some of us. We are yelled at if something is missed, which can happen since we usually don't just get 1 student. We are ultimately still responsible for the patient. Those of us who want you to understand are garnering all of our resources to help you move forward. We also are very aware that many of you are barely eating, may be pregnant, about to lose your homes etc. We are trying to be patient and kind to you.

You have asked why some nurses are so rude to students. I have given you my answer and I do believe it is safe to say that some of my colleagues feel somewhat the same. If you find that one nurse in particular is rude, then feel free to report him or her to your Instructor. Your Instructor needs to know that and should handle that person quickly. (I know I would!!!!!) If you're my responsibility then you are mine. I am to guard and protect you till you leave my wings. I am not the only nurse who feels this way. However, I also need you to be more respectful of my position. I need you to be more patient with my disorganization: you've somewhat thrown me off. I need you to be polite and show respect to your own colleagues as well. I don't appreciate it when you don't.

Best wishes.

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Most of you are explaining clinical experiences in a whole different light than what I experience myself. Maybe it's the way my school does it, or my hospital, I don't know. But for me, the nurses really don't have much interaction at all with us students other than what I explained a few posts above. They don't seem like they want to talk to us. I understand they are very busy, but never has my clinical experience been one that the nurse is so involved like you are talking about. It's us and our instructor and that's pretty much it.

I am so VERY sorry that I mentioned something about taking the load since that obviously strikes such a nerve. But once again, I was just repeating what I've heard some of the nurses in this hospital state themselves. I've even heard some complain that they never get students and wish they did because they would get help. I never once assumed that I was taking their work load, that is what THEY have said, so get mad at those nurses who said that, not me, as I am just repeating what I've heard. Obviously the nurses we are working with are not as involved with the students as some of you are and I think it's probably safe to assume that not every nurse does things exactly the way you do, and it is possible that some nurses are not double checking what us students are doing and not checking up on thier patients that we are assigned. I personally wouldn't trust a student if it was my license on the line, so I don't understand why some of them do this. Once again.....I am only complaining about SOME nurses, not all of them are this way.

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Unless you have been on both sides of the fence, you truly cannot speak. Each side has their short-comings. We just have to continue to do well by each other.

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Specializes in med/surg/tele/neuro/rehab/corrections.

Good instructors make good nursing students!

When I was on the floor with students, the students were always very polite and informative. They introduced themselves, said what patients they had and what they were responsible for, and how long they would be there. Then the student always came back and notified me of having passed the meds etc and now leaving the floor.

After several students did the same routine I realized that this is how they had been taught and it was a great system that really worked.

One day I was super super busy and could barely talk to the student. Later (I was still super busy) the student came up to me with the instructor close by and said excuse me I know you're really busy ...... (forget what she said) but what impressed me is that SOMEONE noticed how busy and nearly overwhelmed I was. I still remember that because I really appreciated that. And with the instructor standing by the student it made me think that the student was coached on how to approach me and I really appreciated it. It's not that I didn't want to help, it's that I just could not and they knew that. So to me that says the instructor was good. She was always there and the students did a good job. :)

Every time when the students left the floor they thanked me and I very much thanked all of them for all their help :)

I believe it was the instructor that made all the difference.

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Specializes in DOU.
Most of you are explaining clinical experiences in a whole different light than what I experience myself. Maybe it's the way my school does it, or my hospital, I don't know. But for me, the nurses really don't have much interaction at all with us students other than what I explained a few posts above..

Eh, that's how it was when I was in nursing school, too, in all but a single rotation. I was so used to being on my own, I was actually shocked when I ended up on a floor with fantastic nurses that loved to teach. I modeled the way I interact with students based on that one rotation, and after I graduated, I accepted a job at that hospital, with those same lovely, supportive nurses.

Working with students can be incredibly rewarding. I am so humbled when I have instructors tell me that the students want to model their future practice on the way they see me interact with patients. It makes me feel like I made a positive difference. And you never know: those students may end up colleagues when they graduate.

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Specializes in CVICU, telemetry.

Katy:

You sound like a conscientious student who wants a good clinical experience, and I do not take umbrage at your statement that you feel as if you are there to "take the load off of staff nurses." You are a student, and I believe you mean well; it's hard to be precise and accurate about every single thought expressed on these message boards, and it's wonderful when you are able to help us, and when we have the time to teach.

Take heart; I've worked many different units as a traveler and staff, and some units are understaffed and/or have dysfunctional way of coping with stress, to say the least. There are also some days where an otherwise wonderfully patient staff nurse with more-than-capable teaching skills is up-to-her-eyeballs in a rough assignment and, as much as she would like to teach, simply doesn't have as much time as she would like.

These factors don't excuse the rudeness you may be encountering, but they do explain why it may be happening.

I think the great majority of nurses would love to have time to teach students--heck, we'd love to have enough time to do everything we need to do for the patients and families themselves--but we are often faced with far-from-ideal circumstances, the monkey's wrench of sudden-emergencies, and so forth, as a given part of our regular shift.

Try not to get too discouraged. When you graduate and apply for programs, find the strongest clinical-skills emphasized orientation you can find, if you feel you are not getting enough practice in clinicals now. And don't worry about being proficient in every skill when you graduate--that's what orientation and experience will teach you! Trust me when I say this is true ;-).

Realize it takes many months, even years, to become proficient as skills, time-management, and integration of the skills you will need to become a competent nurse. No one expects you to do this straight-out-of-the-gate. You are learning--and so are we, every day.

Soak up what you can, offer to observe what you can, help with procedures when you can (even if it's not your assigned patient) and talk to you clinical instructor about your feelings about your clinical experience in the most professional way possible. I would frame it something like, "I would like to learn more, and practice more skills; what are ways you suggest I approach nurses to facilitate this?" I would avoid placing blame or negativity on your clinical site unless you've experienced outright verbal abuse or other intolerable conditions--then that definitely needs to be addressed with your CI.

Most of us really do want to you learn, and feel badly when we can't teach as much as we'd like.

Best wishes to you. Being a nursing student is difficult, but now is a good time to learn to get exposure to the clinical experiences you need to master eventually, while juggling the politics of the floor/staff as delicately and professionally as possible. This is a skill set you will find invaluable when you become a registered nurse!

We wish you well!

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Thank you piperknits! :)

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