12 hours clincal anyone?

DanaR85 · Oct 19, 2006

We have had a couple of 12 hour clinicals. Personally, I didn't mind them too much. For us, having one 12 hour day ended up giving us a day off during the week, which was nice. Also, even though we were scheduled for 12 hours, most of the time we did not actually end up staying that long. Your school may be different, and you may end up staying the whole 12 hours though, so I would be prepared for it. If nothing else, it gives you a feel for what it would be like to work 12 hour shifts after graduation. 12 hours is something that you might as well get used to now. I also found that we got to see and do a lot more. The downside is that it IS a long time and there were points during the day where there wasn't much going on so we would end up with not much to do. But really, it sounds worse than it is. I would just get a good night sleep the night before and tell yourself that no matte what, no matter how long it is or how tiring, that you will get through it. Good luck!

slou! · Oct 19, 2006

We don't, but it makes MUCH more sense because it would prepare you for when you actually have to work those 12 hour shirts!

i_am_evergreen · Oct 19, 2006

My school does both 8 hour and 12 hour shifts. Just depends on who your teacher is. I personally think it's better. I don't even feel how long the day is because I am so busy most of the day.

hospitalstaph · Oct 19, 2006

Thanks everyone for responding.

TL

AuntieRN · Oct 19, 2006

My second semester was in the summer which meant we had to do 12 hours a clinicals a week. We had to go two days for 6 hours...and had class the other 3 days...I wish we had just done the 12 hours in one day and had a day off. I work 12 hour shifts. Yeah they are long sometimes other times they go by pretty quick. But I like having the extra 2 days off during the week.

Little Panda RN, ASN, RN · Oct 19, 2006

I did my clinicals on weekends since I was distance education. We did 12 hours on Fri, 10 hours on Sat, 8 hours on sun and 6 hours on monday. To me the 12 hours gave me more time to complete my charting and making sure everything was done before I left. The 8 hour shift went so fast and I felt that I did not have adequate time to get things done, JMO:)

HididiScribbler · Oct 20, 2006

I'm going to start having them...before it's always been two eight hour days a week...for our OB rotation we're going to have mostly 12 hours (except for one clinical group that gets two 6 hour clinical days). The nice part is that we'll have lecture on Monday, clinical for 12 hours on Tuesday and the rest of the week is "off" (in quotations because there's a loooot of reading to do). So I'm looking forward to it...we'll see how it goes!

nurse4theplanet, RN · Oct 20, 2006

Mostly all 12 hrs here. Ocassionally, 6hrs/2x's week.

It's good to get it over with rather than doing two days a week. Leaves more time to work and study. However, 2x's weekly gives you more experience due to different pt (and most of the action takes place in the morning.)

Duncan3178 · Oct 20, 2006

most of my clinical rotations so far have been 2 6hr shifts. once i got to this level (peds/ob), there was an option to do a 12 hr rotation. believe me, i jumped on to this one, and encouraged my friends to do it also. first of all, most likely your pt would be there all day, vs them leaving and having to pick another pt for the 2nd day (therefore 2 careplans!). second, most of us will be working 12 hr shifts come may when we graduate, so it is good experience in that aspect. and i agree that it seems that you get to do most of the care for them, instead a couple of hours worth then leaving. and did i mention that it freed up a whole day to finish my careplan or study for the upcoming quiz/exam in theory class? and as a bonus, one less day a week dressed in white!! but, at our school, the 12 hr days are only for the one semester, and it is back to 2 6hr days come january!!

psalm, RN · Oct 20, 2006

...our last semester we did 12 hour shifts. We would follow our preceptor's schedule and we would eventually take a team while the preceptor was there to "help". We'd delegate, take orders, do meds, take admissions, etc.

...the first 2 sememster of clinicals we usually had 6 hour days on the floor with conferences before and after floor assignments. The 3rd semester of clinicals we did 8 hour days on the floor with conferences b/4 and after.

N-2bate · Oct 20, 2006

12 hours shifts are more realistic to what you are going to experience if you decide to go to ICU. It helps you prepare your time management and builds up your stamina.