The student nurse

3 How do you feel about working with a student nurse? How comfortable are you with the student nurse basically taking over your patients and paper work while you observe? If you are not comfortable with the student taking your patient load what do you like your student nurse to do while assigned to you and your patients.
No you can't have my whole load. I will be behind for weeks. SN's tend to believe they are 'helping'. Sorry, 9/10 they aren't- and while I don't mind teaching, they do tend to get in the way. I'd be OK with them taking a patient or two, and doing everything for just that small load with supervision.

unquestionably, i'm totally comfortable and confident as a season nurse therefore, i wouldn't have any problem with this situation. in addition, i sincerely enjoy teaching and what better situation for the student to have someone to offer constructed guidance and support while performing pt. care. undoubtedly, i would be the one making sure that the student will deliver the highest caliber of nursing care to my patients, while he/she is adhering to the protocol of the facility where i work. having said that, i would teach the student the proper short cuts in order to deliver an efficient prompt total pt. care, it would be a win/win situation in this case for me and the student:d

I want to weigh in. I am a SN. I know I have never taken a full load, if you are allowing them to take that, then that's your problem. We usually have one patient and the others we just went with the nurse and only did what she/he wanted us to do. If the nurse didn't feel comfortable allowing us to do something, they always told us and we got our instructor or the nurse did it instead. Also, you don't just observe. You have an obligation to the patient still. That means if I were to assess the patient, just because I assessed them doesn't mean you don't have to. As far as meds, my nurse I was with always watched me closely and I checked the meds when I got them from the Omnicell; I checked the meds against the computer; I checked the patient's arm band and asked the patient's name and date of birth. As far as paperwork, I always had the nurse double check it and if I didn't know something, I didn't record it or I asked. Plus, we had to have our stuff co-signed. My thing is, if you don't want a SN, say so. The nurses have said that before...and it wasn't to the instructor, we would be standing right with the instructor when they said that. My apologies if I sound hateful; but I get tired of nurses saying how much they hate students. You don't have to take them. Just remember, you weren't born a nurse; you at one time were a student too.

Quote from wish_me_luckMy apologies if I sound hateful; but I get tired of nurses saying how much they hate students. You don't have to take them. Just remember, you weren't born a nurse; you at one time were a student too.

RNsRWe, I can tell you of one. The days we were sent to peds floor; the nurses would flat tell us that they did not want students and disliked working with them. Needless to say, it became a running joke who would be rejected the following week. We would cringe having that day and sometimes would find other areas to go to. So, yes, unfortunately, some nurses do hate students. Actually, when we did practicum as well, if there was a preceptor that didn't want a student, we switched preceptors too.

Also, the first two med-surg clinicals we were actually with our instructor, not a nurse. So, we helped the nurses by doing some of their med passes. Of course we could only have 5 students on the floor because that is the only safe number pf patients the instructor could take.

Quote from musickx2How do you feel about working with a student nurse? How comfortable are you with the student nurse basically taking over your patients and paper work while you observe? If you are not comfortable with the student taking your patient load what do you like your student nurse to do while assigned to you and your patients.

I'm a student nurse also who graduates this December. I'm kind of surprised that there are programs out there who allow a student nurse to assume everything while the primary staff RN "observes". The maximum number of patients I have cared for was three and that was at the end of my second semester on a Med/Surg floor. I was allowed to pass meds after being checked off by my instructor and I did chart assessments but my primary RN was still assessing the patients and she would document something like "Agree with student assessment" and then add things if she needed to. I was always in constant communication with the primary RN. Our last semester I believe we assume care of a total of 4 patients with the same guidelines. Being a member of this forum for about 4 years now I can definitely see how student nurses can give the staff RN's more work. I am a little nervous about assuming care of 4 patients next semester because that could be the staff RN's total assignment. As students, we really aren't given a choice of how many patients we can or cannot take. I also believe that at some facilities it is very hard for the primary RN's to refuse students due to their facility being considered a "teaching hospital". Although during my pedi rotation a few weeks ago we definitely had some newer nurses refuse students which is completely understandable considering we were on a neuro floor. My mindset thanks to this board is to be respectful, keep the primary RN informed of patient status at all times, and be aware of when and when not to ask questions.

Quote from wish_me_luckRNsRWe, I can tell you of one. The days we were sent to peds floor; the nurses would flat tell us that they did not want students and disliked working with them. Needless to say, it became a running joke who would be rejected the following week. We would cringe having that day and sometimes would find other areas to go to. So, yes, unfortunately, some nurses do hate students. Actually, when we did practicum as well, if there was a preceptor that didn't want a student, we switched preceptors too.

I'm a new nurse, and it feels like AGES ago that I was a student. I got SO EXCITED when I saw my alma mater student assignment list on my floor!! Didn't even see them, because I work nights, but I have this weird nostalgia for student nursing and how, looking back, it all seems so easy.

I never told my nurse I was with what to do. She/he would ask what the med was (like what drug class) and why it was given and I told them. Plus, the paperwork and co-signing was done by my instructor mainly. I think there was only once that it was done by the nurse. If we were doing something the first time, we always had to have our instructor.

When I was in school, the nurses (and nurse's aides) were always happy to have a student nurse take a couple of their patients as it actually resulted in less work for them. However, the way it worked with us was that the student nurse was responsible for all patient care for two patients including what both the nurse and nurse's aide would have been responsible for. The nurse did not have to lift a finger for these patients while we were there nor did the NA. The SN's were supervised and guided by the nursing clinical instructor. So, no work was added to the nurses workload, in fact quite the opposite. We even did all associated med administration, treatments and documentation, which was co-signed by the instructor. If we weren't sure how to do something or needed to be walked through a procedure we were doing for the first time, that would be the instructor's job. Occasionally, nurses would invite us to participate in a procedure that they thought would be interesting or especially educational for us, usually after we had proven ourselves to be a big help to them. I didn't realize it was done differently than this. There were a few nurses along the way who were less than welcoming, but they were few and far between and it seemed to be that they had issues with people in general anyway. We were all students once. I would be glad to help another nurse-to-be any way I could.