Why are nurses so mean to medical students? (Especially older ones)?

Question

I am currently in medical school, and have interacted with a variety of nurses. I always try to be nice, professional, and courteous to the nurses, introducing myself to them, smiling, asking if they need any help during critical procedures, thanking them when appropriate, etc.

Half of the nurses are very nice and helpful in return. They teach me new things, give me tips, etc. We treat each other like friends.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really help the other half of the time. These nurses (especially the older ones, especially the Asian nurses) are super mean to me no matter what, don't really answer my questions, ignore me, or blatantly embarrass me in front of the patient.

There is one particular situation that infuriates me. I was asking the nurse how to read the patient monitor's archive on the machine so that I wouldn't have to look manually at the printed out paper strip (to save time). She blatantly yelled at me, "just read the paper strip! read the strip! see?" She handed the paper strip to me and showed me on it. I felt so dumb but felt powerless to say anything as it was in front of the patient and the patient's family. Inside, I wanted to say that I already knew that, I wanted to learn from the machine but I didn't want to mess with the machine without guidance out of respect for /her/, the nurse, in the first place. I just left.

I haven't worked with nurse ever since, but the next week, when I came back to the same hospital ward, and saw her, she just stared at me again with her evil eye, and continued staring when I waved hello and smiled.

I am a young Asian female and I am generally liked by my friends (as they say). Most people think of me as sweet and helpful. I bake cakes and other desserts for my medical team every week. I try to help each patient as much as I can.

Why are these (especially older, Asian) nurses so mean to me and other medical students?

Thank you for reading,
Baffled, Frustrated Medical Student

Answer 1

Nurses are very busy with a lot on their plates as well. Even nurses who are instructing nursing students get frustrated and frazzled because there are a million things going on. It may not necessarily be a medical student thing, it may just be that. When I was going through clinical rotation as a nursing student I got some very similar nurses I got to work with.....not always the nicest. I wouldn't take it personally or say that all nurses will treat you as such either.

Answer 2

To put it simply, Med students should only be seen, not heard! If you approached the situation differently you wouldn't leave frustrated. We don't have the time or energy for your questions. In your scenario you shouldn't have bothered the Nurse. Save your questions for your Intern or Resident.

As an RN, on behalf of the patient, I interact with family, Interns, Residents, and the Attending. I work with the lab, XRay, troubleshoot machines and equipment...this is all on top of monitoring and caring for the patient. The last thing I want to do is deal with a Med Student.

At this point in your career you are not an integral part of helping patients. Out of respect, when you encounter these Nurses, just be invisible.

Answer 3

They probably feel:



1-That as an upcoming doctor, you shouldn't take shortcuts. You don't want to have to miss something and then have it coming back to you.



or



2-It is probably inappropriate to ask when the family was in there. You should asked when you have the time, can you show me. She probably didn't want questions from the family like what is that supposed to mean? or is that a good thing?



While it is nice that you want to get on everyone's good side at the hospital, you will be met with some resistance.

Answer 4

Time to put on your big girl panties and get tough with people. You are entitled to information and need to make that clear to nurses. So, for example, in the "read the strip" situation, you could have said, "Yes, I will be glad to look at the strip in detail later, but now in order to save time I would like you to summarize the information so we can treat the patient more effectively." Make the patient the focus and there's not too much the nurse can do if s/he does not want to look uncaring in front of the family.

And then later hash it out with the nurse. Say "What was going on back there ? Why couldn't you give me that information? How do you want to handle this if it happens again?" If s'/he refuses to discuss it, then it is clear it is her fault.

Bringing in treats is not what you need to worry about right now. Being nice is not as critical as knowing your field and being able to treat patients effectively. No amount of baked goods is going to make up for a critical mistake, so work on knowledge mastery first, professional courtesy second, and baked goods WAY down the line in terms of priorities.

Answer 5

So, basically, you're a young Asian female whining about older Asian females who are mean to you.



As an RN, I'm offended that you're blaming your personal problems on my profession.



God help us all if your lack of maturity and insight extends to patient care.



For the record: There is no official conspiracy among nurses to give med studenrs a hard time.



We do, however, hope the dumb ones get hit by lightning before they do much damage.

Answer 6

Because you're a student and very inexperienced. Nurses deal with hundreds of medical students- they have to be babysat, and as soon as they become doctors their heads get really big and they look down on the nurses. It's not your fault.



There's probably a lot of jealousy going on as well.