Do you enjoy med surg clinicals? Vent...

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I was wondering how everyone felt about their med surg clinicals? I hate mine and can not wait to rotate to a different area. I am in my 3rd semester and have 4 patients. I am expected to do everything for my patients: all adl care, vital signs, assessments, meds, IVs, procedures, electronic charting, calling the md and pharmacy ect...

This wouldn't be so bad if I could get more than a couple of hours of sleep before going to the hospital. We have to pick our patients the day before, then go home and fill out the clinical prep packet. This prep packet takes about 3 hours per patient! So, I usually get about 3-4 hours of sleep before clinical days, and I am not the type of person who can function well on little sleep.

I think the worst part of clinicals is the dread that builds up waiting for my clinical instructor to come follow us around, interrogate us, and rip us to shreds. I am so stressed about clinicals that I have diarrhea and a constant headache the day before clinicals, and both clinical days. I assumed it was just me, but recently found out 6 out of 10 students in my clinical group have the same problem.

Sometimes I think med surg is just not the area for me. But then sometimes think about it and realize that RNs can just come in and do their job. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I could get enough sleep, pull my own meds, and not have to spend 30 minutes looking for the instructor every time I have to do a procedure.

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Specializes in Med/Surg,Cardiac.

I always felt like that in school as well. Although due to policy at my college, we couldn't know anything about our actual patients until the day of clinical. We would have to do a generic care plan on a made up patient. It was free game when we arrived.

I always enjoyed clinical though. Waiting was frustrating but imagine how your instructor must feel. He/she is responsible for everything you do.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

How safe would it be if you were pulling your own meds and doing procedures by yourself as a student? Iy may seem like a pain but your instructor is there to make sure you are doing things properly and not endangering the patient.Yes instructors are tough on you. They have to be.A mistake can hurt a patient and as an instructor they have to make sure you know your stuff. Yes it is nerve wracking, we've all been there.The one nurse that I was terrified of (she made me cry)when I did a placement on her floor is now trusted colleague and friend.Clinicals in another area will still have the same responsibilities on your part.

You will get through this. We all did.Yes I remember the sleepless nights and the queasy stomach.Breakfast? Forget it.Hang in there and let us know how you get on.

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Thanks for your input and encouragement. Yes, I realize I will have the same responsibilities on other units, but we don't have to do the 12 hours of prep sheets the night before on psych, ER, urgent care, or OR rotations : ) The lack of sleep seems to be my biggest problem right now. Everything seems twice as hard when your running on empty.

I understand the instructor is there to help us and the patient, and of course as a student I can't do meds or procedures by myself. I was just fantasizing about being able to do it by myself after I get my license. Its frustrating as a student because usually 3-4 of us get written up everyday for giving meds late, even thought the whole group will follow him around for 2 hours asking for the meds to be pulled. 10 students giving meds to 40 patients within a one hour window is A big responsibility for the CI.

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Oops, double post

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I'm sorry you are having such a bad experience. I loved my med surge clinical. We also have to go the day before and do client paperwork and have things done! All the nurses were nice and let us do just about everything we could. Our teacher was there, but never really bothered us. She'd ask us things pertaining to our client (what certain meds are for, what labs/test would we perform, stuff like that). She was always available when we had to pass meds or do IV's or if we had questions/concerns. I wish everyone could have had my teacher!

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Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

Wow...3rd semester in and you guys are expected to have 4 patients? That might be the main problem right there.

Even after 2 semesters of med surg we only had 1 patient to take care of, but it gave us time to help

our classmates, ask the nurses questions, experience different procedures, chart accurately, etc.

We also gave meds on specific assigned days, so that we were able to do full research on the

meds, effects, route, dosage, etc.

10 students with 4 patients each as well? No one your CI is at the end of their rope.

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Specializes in Neuroscience.

I don't like med surg either. I miss psych and L&D.

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Specializes in L&D.

Welcome to nursing school. What you explained is pretty common for nursing school and it's not just Med Surg, it's through all of it.

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Wow, I just started third semester. We currently have 1 patient and we are allowed to pull and give our own meds. I thought that was normal. We do have to wait for either the instructor or a nurse if we are doing procedures though.

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At the point we have 3-4 pts, we are expected to be able to plan care w/o coming in the night before (which is good and bad, lol).

We still have reams of paper for each pt, but it is due several days later.

My suggestion is do all your care plans on the computer so when you get a similar pt, you can refer back and often cut and paste. I also started a drug database, which has made a huge time difference (sometimes it's the meds that take the longest for me esp in med-surg where some people have ridiculous amounts).

Try some progressive relaxation before you go to sleep & melatonin. I had the same problem in fundamentals when I had to wake up at 4:30. I NEVER got more than 3 hrs. It is terrible working on no sleep and dreading having to think coherently in front of instructors.

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At my school we are not allowed to pick our pts the day before clinicals due to hospital policy, HIPAA, and stuff. I just started my 3rd semester as well doing Med/Surg II + OR, Cath Lab, and PACU during clinicals and we are only required to work with 2 patients.

I think 4 pts might be too much for 3rd semester students especially if you have to do all that paperwork the night before, and as you said if you have to do EVERYTHING for your pt, it is also hard for your CI to manage 10 students and 40 pts at the same time.

I really hope that you find a way to finish your paperwork faster so you can get more hours of sleep and perform better in the floor. I don't think it is a "Med/Surg thing", it's just that you have too much going on right now. Good luck :).

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