Why are some nurses so rude to students?

[kayty2339]

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?

[gentle]

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.

@ OP:

I see this quite differently. I too work DOU. You aren't there to feed the patient, help the patient get to the bathroom or help the CNA!!! That statement isn't okay for me.

You are there to learn. I'm going to explain to you why we are giving Mrs. X clonidine for her blood pressure instead of metoprolol at this point in time. Mrs. X will be fine if she doesn't eat her breakfast, lunch or dinner immediately. She won't be fine if her blood pressure is too high and heart rate is in the high 50s. I have a decision to make and you need to know exactly why I'm making that decision.

I take your presence very very seriously. I want you to learn and grow. I want you to work side by side with me with understanding.

I understand that my patients need emotional support. However, it sucks to provide emotional support to someone who is slightly dusky or has a small change in fluid electrolyte balances. Small changes can lead to big problems later if I don't pay attention. I want you to learn how to pay attention too.

Meanwhile, there are other experiences I am more interested in you seeing. For example, I want you to witness a potential hostile situation being managed calmly and carefully with wisdom. You won't see this if you are taking someone to the bathroom. I want to explain to you why it was important for Nurse Y to use humor, with an irritated family member. Or perhaps it was better to provide an over abundance or empathy at that moment.

Ever considered service recovery? When something goes wrong. How do we correct the situation.

All these things cannot be learned and understood if you are taking someone to the bathroom or providing emotional support to a noncompliant diabetic who has gotten themselves readmitted for the 5th time in the last 6 months.

And even if my posts come off rather brusque, guess what I am still trying to teach you. I'm trying to get you to understand what my goals are for you. Believe it or not, by the time you will have finished with me you will have gained more knowledge and wisdom, than with a nice nurse who isn't going to dig in and really teach you.

Contrary to how media has portrayed nurses in the past, we are not always going to be nice. Nice is useless if my patient is crashing.

Nice was also a useless trait Friday night when my patient had a bradycardia of 50-40 at 2300. Now it's your turn. Why did I consider nice being a useless trait for this 75year old man at 2300? There was no atropine ordered for use and the patient was tolerating the heart rate fine. His initial SBP was 142. I paged the cardiologist 2times by 0031 and he hadn't called back. SBP 139. Patient is a sweetheart of a guy. Has had diarrhea for a couple of days and is still having this problem. I gave the immodium. IVF are running. I work the night shift as you have guessed and my patient has had a long day. He's ready for some sleep. I spoke with the attending physician, who said to monitor the patient because the patient was maintaining his BP and was asymptompatic. My patient was on bedrest, so I bathed him because of the loose stool. He also wasn't diaphoretic or dizzy again my patient was on bedrest.

Again, it's your turn now. What have your instructors taught you? Take the time on and off today and think through, why I might have been showing patience (character trait) but not necessarily nice. Why was I more concerned?

To figure out the answer, you will have to ask me questions. I will be in and out today - It's Father's Day!!!! and We are off to make sure the Daddy has a wonderful day :redpinkhe

[KeechieSan]

99% of the time... we are just busy. Nursing students (especially really needy ones) can add 25-30% onto my workload for the day. It isn't personal, and one day when you graduate and have been a nurse for a little bit, you will completely get it. Perhaps this floor that you were on is under-staffed and overwhelmed.

That being said, even though I am busy and not totally thrilled to have students, I am not rude. Some people just don't know how to be polite.

[sistasoul]

@ OP:

I see this quite differently. I too work DOU. You aren't there to feed the patient, help the patient get to the bathroom or help the CNA!!! That statement isn't okay for me.

You are there to learn. I'm going to explain to you why we are giving Mrs. X clonidine for her blood pressure instead of metoprolol at this point in time. Mrs. X will be fine if she doesn't eat her breakfast, lunch or dinner immediately. She won't be fine if her blood pressure is too high and heart rate is in the high 50s. I have a decision to make and you need to know exactly why I'm making that decision.

I take your presence very very seriously. I want you to learn and grow. I want you to work side by side with me with understanding.

I understand that my patients need emotional support. However, it sucks to provide emotional support to someone who is slightly dusky or has a small change in fluid electrolyte balances. Small changes can lead to big problems later if I don't pay attention. I want you to learn how to pay attention too.

Meanwhile, there are other experiences I am more interested in you seeing. For example, I want you to witness a potential hostile situation being managed calmly and carefully with wisdom. You won't see this if you are taking someone to the bathroom. I want to explain to you why it was important for Nurse Y to use humor, with an irritated family member. Or perhaps it was better to provide an over abundance or empathy at that moment.

Ever considered service recovery? When something goes wrong. How do we correct the situation.

All these things cannot be learned and understood if you are taking someone to the bathroom or providing emotional support to a noncompliant diabetic who has gotten themselves readmitted for the 5th time in the last 6 months.

And even if my posts come off rather brusque, guess what I am still trying to teach you. I'm trying to get you to understand what my goals are for you. Believe it or not, by the time you will have finished with me you will have gained more knowledge and wisdom, than with a nice nurse who isn't going to dig in and really teach you.

Contrary to how media has portrayed nurses in the past, we are not always going to be nice. Nice is useless if my patient is crashing.

Nice was also a useless trait Friday night when my patient had a bradycardia of 50-40 at 2300. Now it's your turn. Why did I consider nice being a useless trait for this 75year old man at 2300? There was no atropine ordered for use and the patient was tolerating the heart rate fine. His initial SBP was 142. I paged the cardiologist 2times by 0031 and he hadn't called back. SBP 139. Patient is a sweetheart of a guy. Has had diarrhea for a couple of days and is still having this problem. I gave the immodium. IVF are running. I work the night shift as you have guessed and my patient has had a long day. He's ready for some sleep. I spoke with the attending physician, who said to monitor the patient because the patient was maintaining his BP and was asymptompatic. My patient was on bedrest, so I bathed him because of the loose stool. He also wasn't diaphoretic or dizzy again my patient was on bedrest.

Again, it's your turn now. What have your instructors taught you? Take the time on and off today and think through, why I might have been showing patience (character trait) but not necessarily nice. Why was I more concerned?

To figure out the answer, you will have to ask me questions. I will be in and out today - It's Father's Day!!!! and We are off to make sure the Daddy has a wonderful day :redpinkhe

I totally agree with you. When I was a student I had nurses who treated me like a CNA and "extra help". I specifically had one of my instructors tell me to do just RN tasks and not aide tasks for the day. This meant to do assessments and give meds, chart. My one patient needed her teds put on. The nurse who was assigned to her said that I could put them on her. I told the nurse that my instructor wanted me to do RN tasks that day. She nastily replied that it was a nursing task. I was a CNA at that point and felt this was something that could be delegated to the CNA's. When I explained this to the primary nurse she got more argumentative about the issue so I just went and did it. When I have students I try to not treat them as aides but as future nurses. How are they going to learn if they are treated as aides all of the time?

[Blackheartednurse]

There are many reasons for this occurance.I guess some are burned out,some dont like to teach students,some wants to focus on their job...it sucks to be a nursing student and rely on the mood of a particular nurse you are working with for for that day..Just focus your eyes on the ultimate price.Develop a thick skin,face the challenge,maybe you can learn something important from that not so polite nurse-sometimes the ruddest nurses are the best teachers,remind yourself that once you graduate and go through orientation period you will be working on your own,and also make yourself a promise to treat nursing students with respect once you have years of experience.

[leslie :-D]

i can't say i love teaching students, esp if i'm frazzled...

because students really do double our workload.

there isn't anyway i would delegate, w/o checking w/instructor and doublechecking student's work.

i don't think it's right to 'force' students on nurses.

not all of us are naturally-born teachers.

and, it really is the instructor's responsibility to ensure clinical experiences...not the nurse's.

our instructor is the one who presented us with opportunities, and none of the nurses on the floor.

so if a nurse comes across as rude, chances are it's not personal, but that she's stressed and busy.

i would whole-heartedly advise students to seek the assistance and input of their instructors...

because there ARE instructors who will try and pawn it off on the nurses.

not acceptable.

i just want to do my darned job.

if i'm having a good day, then sure, come along and i'll show you what i can.

but that's the exception and not the rule.

my school and curriculum, was superior...excellent pass rate for nclex, qualified/experienced and responsible instructors.

it was their job to teach us...

and not the nurses.

leslie

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

I spend more of my time in clinicals these days balancing personalities, being a mind reader, and reconciling what my clinical instructor wants me to do with what the nurse in charge of my patient wants me to do, and overhearing pointed remarks about what I did or didn't do (all the while being unable to defend myself because I'm just a lowly nursing student), rather than actually learning nursing.

I can't wait until this rotation is over. I've never experienced this in any rotation before, and I hope to never experience it again. Bring on the next one! I'm done.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I vividly remember 2 bad experiences I had as a student.

My first clinical rotation was on a TCU. My group had 7 students, and I don't know if the floor had dealt with students before. My class had 3 clinical groups: Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. The Sunday group started a week after the Thursday group. I was in the Thursday group.

Our 3rd day of clinical, the charge nurse looked right at us and said "Thank God you're here! We had the Sunday people here last week, and they didn't know ****! They asked all of these stupid questions! I don't have time for that ****!" Yes, she said that to our faces. That day, our instructor told us to come to her, not the nurses, with any questions.

My pedi rotation was in a home for children with brain injuries. Most of the nurses were 20-something LPNs, we were studying to be RNs. Anyway, one LPN had just gotten back together with her cheating boyfriend, and one was wondering whether or not to rent her sister's house. I only know that because they sent the entire shift talking about it. It was our first day on the floor, and whenever anyone asked a question they got very upset about us interrupting their conversations.

Sometimes the instructor is the problem. One of mine kept disappearing. She also encouraged us to use the Dynamap for vital signs, instead of using the manual BP cuffs in every room. If you weren't very aggressive about doing procedures, you made beds, gave showers, and checked blood glucose all shift long.

I haven't dealt with many students (I worked in an ALF), but I've taught private-duty caregivers about turning and repositioning. Many of them are nursing students. However bad he day is going, I'm determined not to treat any students the way I was treated.

[vashtee, RN]

@ OP:

I see this quite differently. I too work DOU. You aren't there to feed the patient, help the patient get to the bathroom or help the CNA!!! That statement isn't okay for me.

You are there to learn. I'm going to explain to you why we are giving Mrs. X clonidine for her blood pressure instead of metoprolol at this point in time. Mrs. X will be fine if she doesn't eat her breakfast, lunch or dinner immediately. She won't be fine if her blood pressure is too high and heart rate is in the high 50s. I have a decision to make and you need to know exactly why I'm making that decision.

I take your presence very very seriously. I want you to learn and grow. I want you to work side by side with me with understanding.

I understand that my patients need emotional support. However, it sucks to provide emotional support to someone who is slightly dusky or has a small change in fluid electrolyte balances. Small changes can lead to big problems later if I don't pay attention. I want you to learn how to pay attention too.

Meanwhile, there are other experiences I am more interested in you seeing. For example, I want you to witness a potential hostile situation being managed calmly and carefully with wisdom. You won't see this if you are taking someone to the bathroom. I want to explain to you why it was important for Nurse Y to use humor, with an irritated family member. Or perhaps it was better to provide an over abundance or empathy at that moment.

Ever considered service recovery? When something goes wrong. How do we correct the situation.

All these things cannot be learned and understood if you are taking someone to the bathroom or providing emotional support to a noncompliant diabetic who has gotten themselves readmitted for the 5th time in the last 6 months.

And even if my posts come off rather brusque, guess what I am still trying to teach you. I'm trying to get you to understand what my goals are for you. Believe it or not, by the time you will have finished with me you will have gained more knowledge and wisdom, than with a nice nurse who isn't going to dig in and really teach you.

Contrary to how media has portrayed nurses in the past, we are not always going to be nice. Nice is useless if my patient is crashing.

Nice was also a useless trait Friday night when my patient had a bradycardia of 50-40 at 2300. Now it's your turn. Why did I consider nice being a useless trait for this 75year old man at 2300? There was no atropine ordered for use and the patient was tolerating the heart rate fine. His initial SBP was 142. I paged the cardiologist 2times by 0031 and he hadn't called back. SBP 139. Patient is a sweetheart of a guy. Has had diarrhea for a couple of days and is still having this problem. I gave the immodium. IVF are running. I work the night shift as you have guessed and my patient has had a long day. He's ready for some sleep. I spoke with the attending physician, who said to monitor the patient because the patient was maintaining his BP and was asymptompatic. My patient was on bedrest, so I bathed him because of the loose stool. He also wasn't diaphoretic or dizzy again my patient was on bedrest.

Again, it's your turn now. What have your instructors taught you? Take the time on and off today and think through, why I might have been showing patience (character trait) but not necessarily nice. Why was I more concerned?

To figure out the answer, you will have to ask me questions. I will be in and out today - It's Father's Day!!!! and We are off to make sure the Daddy has a wonderful day :redpinkhe

I am not a student anymore, and the students I precept are generally responsible for TOTAL patient care, which includes (in addition to the important things you mentioned) normal ADLs. I don't know why someone can't do everything you mentioned and still be pleasant. They aren't mutually exclusive traits.

[tewdles, RN]

I realize that I went to nursing school in the dark ages...but the bedside nurses were not responsible for patients assigned to nursing students while the students were on the floor...the instructor was. We practiced on the floor under the direct supervision of the instructor...not the unit nurses.

This was part of the arrangement between the hospital and the nursing school. Similar arrangements are made for all disciplines training in that setting. This is common place in teaching hospitals and the staff should be accustomed to it. If bad attitudes and behavior is noted as commonplace it is because the management allows it and possibly behaves that way as well.

I do have to say, however, that I have been in the acute hospital setting a great deal in the past 5 years...seeing patients in different specialty units. And I have noticed that some nursing instructors seem to be "invisible" during the course of the day. It seems that the students are tired of looking for her and rely on the staff to answer their questions, etc. This surely creates friction as well as liability issues.

[68wildcat]

This happens everywhere, at least from what I have seen in my many years in nursing. Although I am only a personal support worker, we too get student psw's and some staff here treat them awful! I like to make newcomers feel welcome and am eager to show them the ropes and help them navigate their way around. I do this because I know how nervous they are and how much better it is for them and us when they get into the 'swing' of things. Unfortunately some staff are just plain mean and ignore their requests for assistance. And like a bad cold others get 'infected' and get an attitude towards students and new staff too. It's too bad this happens. It is not necessarry to be like this. All it does is turn people off and then they don't come in to help when we are short. Can't say as I blame them.

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

It seems like the OP is fishing for a specific type of response. She's already heard what she wanted to hear (that the nurses at her other clinical liked having students and found them helpful), and seems determined to be offended if anyone in this thread says otherwise. She is looking for validation that, as a student, the hospital revolves around her. It's a waste to even try to answer the question she asked, because it's not what she wants to hear.

[gentle]

I am not a student anymore, and the students I precept are generally responsible for TOTAL patient care, which includes (in addition to the important things you mentioned) normal ADLs. I don't know why someone can't do everything you mentioned and still be pleasant. They aren't mutually exclusive traits.

Your statement is correct. However, you and I have 2 different priorities.

Mine is to make sure the students understand the "whys" not just the "how tos". They will constantly be reminded of the ADLs once they are working. The ADLs will not have the potential to injure a patient.

The "whys". Those can make or break a tough situation. My preceptees learn not just how to but why to.

You and I are just 2 different people who look at one situation from 2 different perspectives. For me, no harm no foul.