Working with student nurses

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How do you guys feel about working with student nurses? They are helpful but at times irritating to my day. I am always kind and polite to them because I remember how it was to be a nursing student. Sometimes I feel that they have a "know it all" attitude.

It's really surprising to me that there are some nurses who don't understand the purpose of clean gloves versus sterile gloves and the difference between them. Both will protect the nurse but only sterile gloves (put on properly, without contaminating them) will protect the patient. As has been said on here before, clean gloves are no more clean than your hands that just touched them when you pulled them out of the box. I would even go as far as saying that often they are less clean than just-washed hands.

Yep. Gloves are PPE- PERSONAL protective equipment. They enhance your barrier in case of fluids getting on them, and in case of a needle stick, they wipe off some of the blood on the needle so you get less in the stick.

Our gloves sit in patient rooms in fairly open boxes. Housekeeping doesn't wipe the gloves down between patients. If you palpate a vein after cleaning for a blood culture and don't reclean the skin, the blood culture has a HIGH chance of coming back false positive because of contamination.

I always wear gloves- I learned that way, but I think if a student ever tried to correct me like that in front of a patient, I'd have the student leave the room.

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I vowed to myself I will NEVER treat a student nurse like I have been treated. At the end of their day, 99.9% of them were so grateful someone was treating them like a human being.

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Your response is I'm wrong!?! This is not 1819. Something as simple as putting in an IV without gloves could give someone an infection that could possibly (and this may be a stretch) kill them. And my years of experience have nothing to do with anything. That is common sense. Even if I were the patient I would call her out! I may not have gone to the extreme that the student nurse did but you better believe I would tell her to put on gloves.

Common sense? Common sense would be: I just cleaned my hands. The gloves have been touched by who and what? They're not sterile. They aren't any cleaner than my just washed hands. Perhaps dirtier (depending on who refilled them, I worry sometimes about what the guy that refills ours has been touching.)

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Your response is I'm wrong!?! This is not 1819. Something as simple as putting in an IV without gloves could give someone an infection that could possibly (and this may be a stretch) kill them. And my years of experience have nothing to do with anything. That is common sense. Even if I were the patient I would call her out! I may not have gone to the extreme that the student nurse did but you better believe I would tell her to put on gloves.

Gloves weren't used universally for inserting IVs until the 1990s. :) There are a LOT of us who are still able to breathe and potty ourselves who clearly remember not using gloves. There was a box at the nurses' station. Yet patients survived. Gloves are used to protect the nurse- the only gloves to protect the patient are sterile gloves (and with an IV insertion, that would require another nurse to handle the non-sterile tubing, extensions, etc to hand to the nurse who has on sterile gloves). You're not the first generation to think about the patient. Not by a long shot.

1819??? That's just plain rude. Get it straight who those gloves are designed to protect in what situation.

A little look back on when Universal Precautions started, and the purpose might be a nifty thing to do; might even learn something.

Stars are falling...... not worth making a wish on. :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_precautions

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Your response is I'm wrong!?! This is not 1819. Something as simple as putting in an IV without gloves could give someone an infection that could possibly (and this may be a stretch) kill them. And my years of experience have nothing to do with anything. That is common sense. Even if I were the patient I would call her out! I may not have gone to the extreme that the student nurse did but you better believe I would tell her to put on gloves.

You might want to apply a little critical thinking to your position because you are very mistaken.

And are displaying preciesly the attitudes that nurses dread to have as a student.

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Changed my mind..... not worth the energy to type when it is most obviously pointless :D

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

The nurse was the model of self-control. Barring a life-threatening emergency I would've let the student stand there with the gloves in her hand glowering at the sheet. Like the tin man. Hopefully someone will find her.

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The ignorance towards students I see from some nurses is unbelievable. Nurses are quick to complain about a heavy workload or a short staff but will just as quickly complain about the help of a student. Students are there to learn from nurses - not be criticized or discouraged. Maybe it slows you down for a shift but try thinking further ahead than the ten extra minutes you'll be on the floor - the nursing shortage is only getting worse and as professionals it is your responsibility to promote and encourage others to enter the profession, not scare them off. The Code of Ethics outlines nurse's responsibilities to guide and support students so if you do not wish to do so I would reconsider the career. It astounds me how many nurses so quickly forget that they too were once students. That being said - not all nurses behave this way and some are very supportive towards students.

Also, policies and procedures CHANGE. The student nurse and the nurse with 30 years experience will obviously have differences in the way they approach care, learn from each other! If the discrepancies between techniques is causing an issue - check the best practice guidelines, that is what they are there for.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

The student is there to learn yes, but first and foremost they are there to provide the best possible care to the patient.

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Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.
How do you guys feel about working with student nurses? They are helpful but at times irritating to my day. I am always kind and polite to them because I remember how it was to be a nursing student. Sometimes I feel that they have a "know it all" attitude.

I have had two shifts working with student nurses and I enjoyed both of them. My facility invests quite a bit into student development through clinicals, preceptorships, and internships and the positive attitude reaps huge rewards.

Students and their instructors are very well trained on facility policies and their expectations. The students I have had are attentive, polite, and eager to learn and show what they could do.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

I'm a student nurse about to graduate in December! Anyways I know there are some girls in my clinical group that have that I-know-everything attitude. One girl in my group said the tech told her that the patient really needed a bath and she replied, "oh yeah when are you going to do that". She told me she was not letting the tech get out of doing her job. I thought her response was crazy especially since we only have 1-2 patients at that time. I try to be as considerate as possible when I'm in clinical. I want to learn anything I can and even if a nurse is telling me something I might already know I just listen anyway!

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The ignorance towards students I see from some nurses is unbelievable. Nurses are quick to complain about a heavy workload or a short staff but will just as quickly complain about the help of a student. Students are there to learn from nurses - not be criticized or discouraged. Maybe it slows you down for a shift but try thinking further ahead than the ten extra minutes you'll be on the floor - the nursing shortage is only getting worse and as professionals it is your responsibility to promote and encourage others to enter the profession, not scare them off. The Code of Ethics outlines nurse's responsibilities to guide and support students so if you do not wish to do so I would reconsider the career. It astounds me how many nurses so quickly forget that they too were once students. That being said - not all nurses behave this way and some are very supportive towards students.

Also, policies and procedures CHANGE. The student nurse and the nurse with 30 years experience will obviously have differences in the way they approach care, learn from each other! If the discrepancies between techniques is causing an issue - check the best practice guidelines, that is what they are there for.

Helpful students keep us on the floor an extra 10 minutes? Uh, ok. Thanks for recommending we check out best practice guidelines and the Code of Ethics- please remind the nurses you work with in clinical to do so as well, and report back on how that goes.

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