March 26, 2010

Not so good

I'm not talking about myself.   FYI:  no word yet on the application...but that's all right.  I've heard more about the downside of going permanent since I put it in, so I'm not in any rush.  I'm also taking all I hear with a grain of salt as I need to judge things for myself, so I'm still going to see what they offer me. 

What was not so good was that we had to escort some student nurses off of the unit because of their behavior.  They were both entitled and treated the staff rudely and obnoxiously...which while not great, is something that could have been overlooked, especially if that was their only crime.  Taking charts without telling us is also forgiveable, again if that was the extent of their transgressions.  What was inexcusable was that these students were disruptive to the groups and milieu.  They bitched about having to do vitals.  They bitched that we didn't have machines but manual equipment.  They were so focused on getting their assignment done that they went into a group, sat down and started talking to their selected patients while the group was still going on.  Then they bitched to us when we pulled them out of the group and explained to them why they can't do that.  Then they went back in and DID IT AGAIN.

We told their instructor to take them off the unit and they were not allowed back.  If I'm charge tonight on my unit, they won't even be allowed to set foot on the floor.

Lest you think I'm an uppity "she's just a new grad, why is she pulling this attitude" monster...I wasn't a student too long ago, and I remember the pressure of having to get info to complete care plans and assignments and flow sheets.  I remember the struggle of trying to balance patient care and research.  I remember feeling like some days feeling like I never had enough time to get to a chart and other days it feeling like all I did was have my nose in a chart.  I rememver feeling frustrated that I couldn't do things when/how it seemed so convenient for me to do them.  And I certainly remember what CIs were like.  So I do have a shadow of sympathy.

At the same time, I was also taught that the patients are not there for our convenience:  they are in the hospital to get better.  The patients can't just be pulled out like you pull a chart off of the shelf, used and then tossed back.  It's demeaning to the patient to be treated not as a human being but as an object of study.  And even worse, to do this in a group is to not only impede that patient's recovery but all of the patients'.  

And I was taught that as a student, I'm not entitled to be in the hospital.  Even though I was on my clinical, I was their guest, and as such I should conduct myself as a guest should.  I should not disrupt  the floor's routine.  I should follow the rules of the unit to a T.  I should speak to the staff there with courtesy (I didn't have to be obsequious, but I damn well had better been polite).  And if corrected I shouldn't take on an attitude and/or bitch back, but listen to what I'm told.   Maybe the staff is wrong and I was right--no one is perfect, after all--and then I could speak up politely.  But a majority of the time, we all damn well know I (as the student) was in the wrong.

I told their instructor that when I was in school, if I had acted like their students did today, not only would I have been removed from the clinical site immediately, I would probably have been failed for clinical...and depending on the instructor I had, I may have even been flayed alive JUST for having the attitude.

It feels weird saying these things, when I'm only 7 months out of school myself...but working on the floor those seven months has taught me a lot.  Especially that my CIs knew exactly what they were talking about when they taught me.