Where should you talk to the nurse staff member?

It is always best to communicate in a quiet place such as a conference room. But it can also
be very useful o have nurse give you shift report in the clients room. This way, the nurse can show
you as well as tell you about the client condition. You can also easily ask question if you arent sure
of what the nurse is telling you (remember that the client is listening also)

After report, then what?
After you have received report, you will need to discuss the following items with the nurse
with whom you are working:
- Time you will be on the unit
- Client goals
- Student personal goals
- Client routines
- Nursing intervention whom will do them

How long will you be on the unit?
How long will you be on the nursing unit? This way, there is consistent staff coverage for the
client. Always tell the room nurses when you are leaving the unit, where you are going, and when
you expect to return.
What are your goals for the day?
What do you want to accomplish today? You should have a goal each clinical day. It can be
personal, professional, or a combination of the two. Because the staff nurse is more aware than you
are of other experiences that may be happening on the unit, it is helpful to discuss your goals with
the nurse staff each day because they can also watch for these experiences.
What are you clients goals for the day
Because cursing care is client centered, you need to consider how your nursing care will
affect the clients condition. Be sure to discuss client goals with the nurse caring for the client and
with the client. The nurse usually knows the client better and has more data than you may have as a
student nurse.
What do you need to know?
It is very important for a student nurse to know the nurse care intervention require by the
client. Although some of this information will come from the chart and care plan, much of the
information will come from the nursing staff, because the staff can describe how the interventions
are actually done. Discuss your planned interventions with the nurse on a daily basis.
It is also important to learn the routines for the unit. what are routines? They can be
described as nursing interventions that are done so often they become routines. On many nursing
units, they are unwritten rules for client care. Remember, though, that these routines can vary
considerably from unit to unit.
Another type of routine nursing intervention is called a clinical pathway. A clinical pathway is
a series of specific nursing intervention to be followed for a specific medical diagnosis, for example,
in a clinical pathway for a client who had an abnormal hysterectomy, nursing intervention are
described for each day of the client stay.
It would be go very good to go over your plans for the clinical day with the room nurse as
well as your instructor. This might be seen as having a contact with the room nurse. Be as specific as
possible

During the clinical day
As you begin your clinical day, you will see that there are many issues that must be
expressed both to and about your client. It is very important to know with whom to communicate
and about what information. You might find that communication with your client of health care staff
members is difficult for a variety of reasons.
Review the situation
Because the clients condition can change rapidly, it is vital to keep the staff members
informed of the client condition
- keep the staff or nurse room informed
-keep your instructor informed

Keep the staff or room nurse informed
If the clients condition alters, tell the staff nurse as soon as the changes occur. By keeping
the staff nurse informed, you will have a resource person to guide you with planning care around
these changes. Some examples of client condition changes could be:
-an alteration in vital signs
- Changes in physical or mental condition
-equipment that isnt working properly
-refusals by the client to do planned interventions such as a.m. care, ambulation, or dressing
changes
-lack of response to an intervention, such as intolerable pain despite the use of pain
medication

Keep your instructor informed
Just as you need to keep the staff nurse informed of the clients condition, you need to keep
your instructor aware of what is going on. Your instructor has a legal obligation to ensure that you
are delivering safe, appropriate nursing care, which may require alterations caused by changes in
client condition, your instructor will be able to lend assistance in altering your nursing intervention s
top reflect the changes in the clients condition. If you are unsure whether your nursing instructor is
aware of alterations in the clients condition, it would be better to bring this to your instructors
attention. Rather than risk not keeping your instructor informed.

At the end of the clinical day
Before you leave the nursing unit, you need to report off to the staff nurse. Provide the
following information:
- Current client physical assessment
- Description of progress or lack of progress toward the goal
-Intervention or medications that still need to be completed before the end of the shift.
- Significant events that occurred during the clinical day and the interventions required
- Requests of the client

Communication roles.
Staff nurse as resources to the nursing student
Members of the nurse staff can be tremendous resource because they have an understanding of
institutional policy and have the technical skill that every nursing student wants to have. Staff nurse
can also be a great source of moral support and as consultants to the student with whom they works.
Before you can really understand how to communicate with staff nurses, you need to know what
their role is in regard to nursing student. The relationship between nursing staff and students nurses
has changes over the years. Today, superior fashion as in the past. With these relationship changes
comes occasional confusion and even resistance to change. Not all nursing staff members
understand how to work effectively with students, but the vast majorities do.
Working with difficult people
Type of problem What does it looks like Interventions
Uncommunicative people You talk to them and they
answer briefly. They do not
search you out to talk
Keep attempting to talk to
them. Use a quiet, yet direct,
manner, dont get angry
because they will not talk to
you
If you need informationn and
you cannot get it from them,
either talk to another staff
member or your instructor.
Isnt-make-a-decision people

When you present problems to
them, they either give you
multiple solution or no solution
at all
If they are providing multiple
options, you could say, lets go
over each choice to pick out the
best one.
If they arent providing any
options, you may need to
suggest some. (check your
instructor, thought)
Dont-appear-to-like-nursing-
student people
When you talk to them, they
answer you curtly or perhaps
make fun of you
Dont take this personally. They
may be having a bad hair day.
Chalk it up as a learning
experience. (Remember this
when you have graduated and
nursing student are on your
unit.)
Forceful people These people do not allow any
choice other than their own
To decide on the right course of
action, you need to think about
why they are acting this way.
Do they have experience with
this type of situation that you
lack? Talk to them about other
options you would like to use.
You may need to include your
nursing instructor in on the
discussion.
Territorial These nurses believe that the
clients are theirs and dont
want to give up control of
their clients
Many nurses worry about the
responsibility of their job and
thus have great difficulty
delegating any responsibility to
others. To work with this type
of person, keep them informed
of every detail of the clients
care. This might help them to
share their territory.

Because staff nurses have multiple responsibilities, they may not always be immediately available to
the student nurse. Students need to realize that events may be occurring on the unit that they are
not aware of. So if the staff member appears hurried or states that he or she cant talk to you, be
assertive and say, when will be a good time to discuss this? the staff member should be able to tell
the student when he or she will b available to provide assistance.

Clinical faculty interactions with staff members
The nurse instructor is responsible for the supervision of the nursing student and the
appropriateness of care delivered by the student. The clinical faculty members must work closely
with staff members to keep communication lines open. They also serve as resources persons and
troubleshoot student-related issues.
The faculty member usually makes the assignments, looking for clients who will provide good
learning experiences for the student. The nursing instructor will discuss the client with the nursing
staff member to determine if they will be appropriate for students.