Re: Student clinicals
The theory is vital, but unless it's paired with practical application and practice it makes no sense and doesn't feel real. One of the advantages of hospital training is that we were given a full patient load and full responsibility (according to our experience, of course) after less than three months.
While that just isn't feasible now - both from professional perspectives and because patient acuity is so much higher now - it not only meant we knew really early on whether or not we liked actual nuring, it also meant we got a great grasp on the fundamentals before taking on more advanced cases.
To those of you who feel unsupported by the RNs on your placements I would like to remind you that teaching and supporting students isn't part of their job, it isn't soemthing they're paid for or given extra time to do, and must be done in conjunction with all the other work that needs doing.
I enjoy teaching, but last year my ward had five weeks where there were no students of any kind - constantly explaining, teaching, supporting and encouraging is exhausting. When we have to balance the needs of the students with competing patient, family , team and colleague needs, it's not surprising that sometimes the students will not be prioritised.
I'm not saying you guys aren't important - clearly you're vital - but I do ask that you view your placements from the staff's perspective as well as in terms of what you need from the placement.
Nursing News