Research indicates that the skills of caring, empathy, listening, ‘being with’, comforting and communication are qualities that patients value highly (McCormack et al. 1999). However, the saying ‘the patient doesn’t care how much you know, the patient wants to know how much you care’ is not always true. Certainly, patients want to be able to depend on you to take care of them with kindness and empathy, but with the increasingly complex world of healthcare, patients also want to be sure that you are knowledgeable and technically capable.

So what does this mean for students? If patients expect to be cared for by nurses with expertise and experience, how do students gain opportunities to learn and practise? You’ll be pleased to know that most patients are very supportive of students’ learning. If you fumble the first few times when taking a temperature or blood pressure, patients will understand. When you are slow at dressing a wound or removing an intravenous (IV) cannula, they will make allowances because you are still learning. Patients will not expect you to be able to answer all their questions, but they will expect you to find someone who can.

There are some things that patients do not make allowances for, however, irrespective of the nurse’s experience or level. Patients expect a student nurse to be as respectful of their privacy and dignity as any other nurse would. They expect you to be honest about what you know and don’t know, and can and can’t do. They expect you to be courteous and to treat them with respect at all times. Even though you are a learner, patients still expect you to carry out procedures safely and accurately and to acknowledge your limitations.

Patients often comment that they appreciate being cared for by students, because they take the time to stop and talk. In busy hospital units this is often undervalued. Many patients like to feel that they have been involved in the clinical education of student nurses and will happily explain their history, diagnosis, treatment regimen and medications. Listen carefully; without doubt, you will learn a great deal from your patients—they are the experts about their lives and health conditions. Listen to them, learn from them and appreciate their stories. They contain a wealth of information that you can use to plan and implement nursing interventions that are informed by a person-centred approach.

Likewise, the Nursing Council of New Zealand has a published set of standards and codes for nurses. These include:

These standards communicate to the general public, particularly healthcare consumers, the knowledge, skills, behaviours, attitudes and values expected of nurses. These are the professional expectations that form the framework against which your practice will be assessed. You will be required to demonstrate that you have met these standards as an indication that you are fit to provide safe, competent care in a variety of settings. Your ability to meet these standards determines your eligibility for registration.

Each country has regulatory authorities that maintain standards and processes for initial and ongoing registration. This is the organisation to which you will apply for registration once you have completed your course. You cannot practise as a nurse unless you are registered.