Many clients are very aware of the persons responsible for providing care. Thus, they also are aware of the arrival of new persons, such as student nurses, on the unit. The unit staff or clinician is responsible for informing clients about the purpose of the clinical rotation and explaining that the student nurses will be present for a specific time period. Clients who are cognitively impaired, who are withdrawn, or who have difficulty communicating for various reasons also may be assigned to your care to facilitate or further enhance or expand your learning experience.

You have probably become accustomed to wearing a name tag that displays your given name and title (eg, M. Jones, Student Nurse). Additionally, you typically wear some type of uniform that identifies you as a professional student nurse.

In the past, when psychiatric clinical experience occurred in the state hospital setting, student nurses introduced themselves by only their first name because they did not want to provide the clients with any personal information. Today, because clients may have a medical diagnosis in addition to their psychiatric diagnosis, clients may be seen in a variety of clinical settings, such as an outpatient clinic, different units in the general hospital, the emergency room psychiatric triage unit, the practitioner’s office, a long-term care facility, or the local community mental health center. Members of the staff in the psychiatric hospital may wear name tags that display a first name only. In other settings, the staff members may wear name tags that state a given name and title (eg, J. Smith, RN). Any identification, such as a name tag worn, and what is presented depends on your educational institution’s policy. In any event, informing the client that you are a student nurse is appropriate. (Refer to Chapter 11 for a more thorough discussion of communication skills and the establishment of a therapeutic relationship with a client.)

Street clothes are generally worn in the clinical setting unless uniforms including “scrubs” and laboratory coats are required in areas where both medical and psychiatric–mental health nursing care are provided.
The student nurse may feel uncomfortable at first because he or she has lost the “props” (uniform and stethoscope) that assist in establishing one’s identity and ability to communicate with clients. The school of nursing generally provides the student with a list of what is considered to be appropriate attire.