Advice for student going into Med-Surg clinicals

[MissM.RN, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone,

I am a BSN student beginning clinicals in the fall. I'm wondering, what do you wish you had known before you started? Advice on what to expect? Anything NOT to do? Thank you so much:D

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

Just follow instructions. I was probably there three times before I finally memorized what forms I was supposed to fill out in the charts, but if I were to go back to the same facility right now and do the same job I still wouldn't remember, lol. It wasn't a "bad" experience, but there wasn't anything exciting or noteworthy about it.

I'm guessing a person could walk in and do about 85% of what we had to do each time in clinicals without ever stepping foot in a classroom first. That's what I would've liked to have known. The way clinicals are set up you don't really get any opportunity to think about a situation, analyze it, or even reflect on it. I told the same thing to our instructors and department chair. You more or less follow a check list, fill in the right values, put something in the chart, and give medicine as noted.