Why do the unit nurses treat the students like this?!

[CT Pixie]

I am always reading posts like that and I thought it was time that I make my own!

To the nurses who are the nurse of the patient I have been assigned to for my clinicals on your floor...and even to those I had no direct dealings with your patient...

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

For taking the time to hunt me down and bringing me into a room where something was being done that I had never seen, or to perform a skill I had never done or even if I've done numerous times but thought I'd like another opportunity to hone my skill/perfection of it!

For listening to me when I give you info on the patient that just doesn't sit right with me.

For honestly taking into consideration my opinion or thoughts on something that should be done.

For treating me as an adult.

For letting me bounce ideas off of you..even if it were just the babbling of a 2nd yr student.

For answering my questions, albeit they might have been silly or odd.

For taking me under your wing and showing me ways to do things easier, more proficiently.

For speaking those kind words and the gently hug you gave me I had reached my breaking point when my instructor was in a foul mood and took it out on the closest person (unfortunatly that would be me).

For praising me for doing well, and giving me constructive criticism when I needed it.

For bringing me a cup of coffee when you say I was running out of steam.

For having my back when my instructor insisted I did not do something per hospital protocol and you knew I had.

and most especially for telling my instructor that you thought I was very bright, had so much potential and that you'd love to see me working the floor when I graduate in May!

Thank you!

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

No love for the guys?

Much love for the guys too! Actually during an out-rotation to another floor, I was assigned to an awesome guy! He let me do so much my head was spinning. He seemed to gain as much excitement watching me donew things as I was about doing the skill/procedure.

[Wrench Party]

I will never forget the:

-charge nurse who took me under her wing on one of her busiest days and still had time to answer my questions

-the patient mother/baby nurse that taught me a better way to listen to a newborn's HR

-the guy nurse that talked me through my first dressing change, and inspired me to want to teach

I love learning, but I also can't wait to get enough experience on the floor so I can turn around and repay the favor

to the next generation of students.

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

What a great post! You are very welcome. I have to admit, when reading the title of this thread, I was thinking this was going to be another thread where I'd kick my feet up and grab some pop corn. Glad I didn't have to grab the popcorn on this one. lol.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

What a great post! You are very welcome. I have to admit, when reading the title of this thread, I was thinking this was going to be another thread where I'd kick my feet up and grab some pop corn. Glad I didn't have to grab the popcorn on this one. lol.

and that's exactly the lure I was looking for when I made the title of the post..

I WANTED nurses to read it so I could thank them and figure with a title that would make me roll my eyes and grab a comfy chair and a snack to watch the fireworks that it would 'lure' the audience I wanted :)

[RunninOnCoffee]

When I was a Med/Surg nurse I use to love having students. I loved teaching and making them think why is this going on and why whould we do this to fix that. Why would this lab value be off if this was wrong. You can read books and learn facts all day long, but it is so very different when you have to put all the learned facts into practice.

In fact it was a student who brought to my attention that my pt with the initial diagnosis of UTI had developed a very severe GI bleed quite quickly when my tech had just told me he had just cleaned them with diarrhea. The second time he had a loose BM less than an hour later the student came and grabbed me noticing the gravity of the situation and it wasn't just diarrhea. I sent that pt to ICU soon afterwards. I hope that student goes very far! She was very perceptive for just the beginning of her second set of clinicals.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

I'm on a med/surg floor.

[Guest343211]

Wow. I wish this could be more sustained and global--moving well past a nurse's orientation through to years later.

The spirit of those that truly love nursing hasn't died. It's just getting harder to sustain. It has little or zero to do with what nursing it. It has much to do with how things are run.

We need a sustained wind of encouragement. Thanks for posting this!

[seanynjboy, BSN]

I totally thought this was going to say something else...I feel the same way as a student when the nurse brings me to other patients when something "cool" is happening. Those nurses are the best! It shows they care about our education!

Can't wait till I graduate in April!!

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

For bringing me a cup of coffee when you say I was running out of steam.

I once had a student nurse run to the latte stand with the list of coffee requests from the floor nurses and techs.

That was awesome.

But I'm evil.

[Beautiful Mind RN]

Love to hear positive experiences like this. I am sure since you had such a great nurse to oversee your clinicals that it has reflected well on you and will make you that much more amazing when you become a nurse yourself. Best of luck in your endeavor!

[windsurfer8, BSN, RN]

When I see a nurse being rude to a student I will call them out. We were ALL there and it does nothing to help anything. If the student is not paying attention or being lazy then yes I will tell them to get it together I have also called out medical students in report who fall asleep. I really don't care. If I am awake then they need to be awake. However nursing students are nursing students. They are brand new and are learning. Being rude just to be rude will accomplish nothing. The "eat our young" ideal is old, worn out, and pathetic.

[Aeterna, BSN, RN]

I know a lot of my nurse co-workers don't like students. From what I gather, it's a control thing - nurses have so little control in a typical hospital environment (everything is dictated by patient wants/needs, management, and doctors!) that having a nursing student gives them even less control while still having the responsibility for the patients the student is looking after.

Personally, though, I love students. I remember very clearly being a student and feeling lost and no one would help me piece together why we do this or that, or why the lab values are the way they are, or why we do dressings for this wound like this but this wound is dressed like that. Or, no one showed me the little tricks that help changing bed linens easier, or the tricks of time management to make your work flow better.

So, I try to pass on that information to students, to show them the little details that no one really thinks of telling them to make their jobs easier or to help them piece together the bigger picture of the patient's situation. Of course, a student who is always around, asks questions, and is attentive is more likely to get my attention and my help. There was one student who practically disappeared the entire time she was on the floor - in fact, I answered her patient's call bell most of the time! I can't teach a student that I can't find. However, I've pulled students aside for all sorts of things - trach care, chest tube dressings, IV starts, stoma care, and more! I almost always have something interesting in my assignment for them to see/do, and if not, there may be a colleague of mine who does!