How to Deal with a Student Nurse Management Placement

Getting a placement student is always a great honor for a nurse as it is a show of trust from the administration that the mentor-nurseis trusted, responsible, and most importantly, proficient in their position to warrant such a responsibility.

Getting a placement is also a busy and stressful time for the student which needs to be taken into consideration.

Having said that, always realize that being a sign-off nurse for a student involves a few tricks to ensuring that the student graduates past that final hurdle.

Deal to a Student Nurse Management Placement

Have a pep talk – This sounds like something from a nineteen eighties sitcom, but it is important to do.

Having a five minute talk at the beginning of a placement is invaluable because it lets the student know where the nurse stands and vice-versa.

This is the opportunity for the managing nurse to let their charge know that the placement isn’t a rubber stamp process.

The student nurse needs to know that the nurse isn’t there to sign-off and let them into the workforce without gauging their ability.

This major step isn’t a quick cup of tea and a signature. It’s an important pass or fail test to find out if the student has what it takes to be a full time nurse.

The only way to do that is with real hands-on practical experience and they need to know that.

Be patient – Keep in mind that a student has had a lot of study and teaching, but little in the way of practical experience in the field.

That means that they’re going to make mistakes. Count on it, but be patient with them. They are there, after all, to continue learning.

So, be informative and helpful whenever they make a mistake, because that’s the way to ensure that they don’t make the same mistake again!

Be Firm– This goes along with being decisive. This is an opportunity for student nurses to learn, and a mentor-nurse who can’t seem to make a decision and is a little too easy-going can send the wrong message.

It can also set a student-nurse onto a path of bad habits.

Don’t be a Door Mat –There’s such a thing as being too hard on someone but there’s also such a thing as being too lax.

A student nurse is a responsibility that requires a firm hand, but a mentor can also be a friend. Friends make a shift fly by and have a host of advantages.

But, there is such a thing as being a bad friend. If a student nurse decides to take advantage of that friendship and walk all over someone, then they’re showing bad form from the get-go.

In that situation, don’t be a doormat, let the person know what they’re doing is manipulative and inappropriate.

Show Them How to be Organized – Organization is one of the greatest things a mentor can teach a student when it comes to nursing.

Getting a student nurse introduced to all of those good habits, and good organizational software is one of the first things that should be done to get them started on the right foot!

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