Advice from medical students to a nurse

[Delfia]

Hello!

I'm a nurse in a Level 1 trauma center on the east coast. We have a lot of nursing and medical students who come through the ER where I work, and I wanted some advice on how to help make their experience as fun and welcoming as possible.

I noticed that when a code or trauma comes in, the nursing students usually have a lot of chances to get involved since they are paired up with a single nurse. Its also a lot easier for me to relate to nursing students and I feel very comfortable with what their expectations are, what they can and cannot do, etc. We also have a lot of medical students who come through, and I want to extend the same warmth and opportunities for positive learning that I do with the nursing students but its a bit harder since I'm unfamiliar with what their goals are or how it works. Many times I've seen them standing near the pit by themselves without the benefit of being paired up with staff or even being filled in on what is coming in. Please know this is no judgement whatsoever on their mentors, I know how busy things can get! But I also know it takes a whole village sometimes and I want to do what I can to help them have the best experience possible.

I always try and be as warm and welcoming as I can, and share information on the trauma or code that is coming in. I will usually also offer for them to come into the room and check it out, if they're by themselves without a mentor and its not too crowded. Not that its "my room" or anything like that, but I've noticed that they seem more at ease once they get officially invited to come in (if that makes sense). I also always tell them to feel free to come ask me questions, as long as I'm not the one charting or actively doing something at that exact moment. Every time I do this they get really happy, which I love since its so hard to be any kind of student and in a new place.

I guess I'm just looking for different perspectives on this. Are there certain things that nurses have done in the past that have made your experience better, or helped you feel more welcomed? Is there anything that nursing staff can do to help you out? Have you found that there are things that you've been able to learn from nurses, or is there nothing we can teach you? Am I being a weirdo for even caring about this? Maybe its not a big deal, but I wanted to reach out just in case. I know what to do for nursing students, but am not sure about medical students. Thanks!

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[sliceofbread136]

It will you be program dependent, so what I would suggest is asking a lone student what kind of help they would appreciate. If they don’t look busy maybe offer to have them practice placing an IV, it’s actually fairly rare to get to do

 

[Delfia]

.

 

[Delfia]

It will you be program dependent, so what I would suggest is asking a lone student what kind of help they would appreciate. If they don’t look busy maybe offer to have them practice placing an IV, it’s actually fairly rare to get to do

Thanks so much for the perspective, I had no idea that medical students would even be interested in putting in an IV. I will definitely keep an eye out and offer if I ever get the chance. Thanks!

 

[Stagg737]

Like Slice said, I think the best thing you can do is ask the students if they'd like to be included in the care team, especially if you're going to run some kind of test or do a minor procedure (IVs, caths, etc). Most of those are things we do one time as a competency and then may never do again, and I always appreciated when the nurses asked me if I wanted to watch or if I wanted to do one. The other thing I always appreciated was just general tips on how the floor was run, who was nice/didn't mind being bothered, and if there were any major dos and don'ts. It both helps us work better with the team and makes us look better to our attendings, so it was always really appreciated. Overall, I always just wanted to be involved as much as possible and really get a feel for what it felt like to work on the unit/in that clinic.

The only thing I'd say I wasn't always keen on was when a nurse would start to do his/her own little didactics session with me. Occasionally I learned something valuable, but most of the time it was something I'd already studied but with less detail/geared towards nursing tests instead of shelf/board exams. I always listened because I felt rude interrupting or ignoring them, but a lot of time the info we need to know for our exams is either more in depth (especially path and pharm), or just different. So while I appreciated the tips like "hey, if you see this on the patient's ECG, make sure to check this too" or "If a patient says they have X symptom, make sure to ask them about Y" a lot (as certain units look for certain things due to relevance to the field), but when it came to the textbook info it wasn't usually as helpful.

Thanks for starting this thread! It's always nice when someone wants to help and actually cares about how they're doing it. Best of luck!

 

[Delfia]

What inspired me to make this thread was a great student that we had recently who helped with a trauma patient. She was running back and forth to find supplies that we needed, asked great questions, and all around was very helpful. She had a great energy about her and it was refreshing. It got me thinking that if we offered more feedback or direction that some students might feel more comfortable jumping in and helping. Maybe not, but it would be worth it to try. Maybe I can ask my charge nurse if we'd be allowed to take a student up to the helipad to get a patient every once in awhile. Oh, the possibilities!

Thanks everyone for your replies, you gave me some very valuable insight. I wish you all success in your careers.

 

[Michanel]

Thank you for your advice