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Nursing school can be hard in different ways for different students.
Academic, personal, social, ethical, and mindbody demands are interwoven in a complex drama played out by many actors with different levels of authority: the student, the educator, the practicing nurse that oversees the student, and of course, the patient and the patient’s family.
One day I may write an essay to express my own thoughts, experiences, and feelings about it. It’s one reason I created, designed, and publish Go Student Nurse.
In 1160 words Ann Leonard beautifully explains these issues in The Dual Role of the Student Nurse. View or download the essay by clicking on the title. The publication date is missing, but as you can see by the scanned pages, this essay was produced in the age of the typewriter. I encourage all nursing students, nursing educators, and practicing nurses to read this essay. It is relevant, eloquent, and in my mind, timeless.
The essay is preserved by the Education Resources Information Center which is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.
Here is an excerpt from The Dual Role of the Student Nurse:
Many time [sic] educators expect students to react in an emergency situation in the same manner that an experienced nurse would respond in the same situation. Being held responsible for the patient is often overwhelming for the student, yet nursing educators expect that they take on this dual role of student and professional in the nursing situation.
Student nurses are human beings. They have human needs that must be met especially when they first encounter the patient. It is important that the student’s human (especially their emotional needs) are considered as they begin the nursing process of assessing, planning, and intervening for patient care.
For more contemporary perspectives on the roles of the student nurse, you can preview Nursing Education Challenges in the 21st Century at my much beloved Google Books.
Image from Have a Beagle and carry on.
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