First Day of Clinicals....Disaster

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Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share about my first day of clinicals. It was awful. :crying2: We had partners to take care of one patient. Our patient was 95 and her daughter was glued to her side. I was to start vitals. The daughter insisted on BP first. I was afraid because she was frail. Then after two tries I couldn't hear ANYTHING. My instructor had to do it. Then after that we were to do a full head to toe assessment and a bed bath. The daughter would not let us do it because the patient was tired.

Finally after two hours my instructor assigned us to another patient. We performed the full assessment and helped her to the commode. She really wanted her bath. She smelled like feces. I felt so sorry for her. But, no. We had to then hand in some nurse's notes to our instructor by 10:30 so we had to wait on the bath. In lecture, we learned about fidelity. If you tell your patient you're going to give her a bath, give her a bath. So about an hour and a half later......We started her bath. We didn't have much time and were rushed because we HAD to meet for lunch by 12:30.

We were unorganized because someone had taken our bath supplies and linens out of the room and we had to go hunt down more. How does that happen? Only to me, right? LOL So we gave that sweet lady a bath. And we started to get her out of bed and to the chair to give her lunch and change her linens. I had the foley bag to make sure it stayed where it was supposed to. I looked up on my partner's side where the iv was and it had come out. NIGHTMARE. I hung the foley bag back on the bed (but too high. I was panicking about the iv) I went and told my instructor and the nurse. The instructor was furious about the bag. It was on the side rail. I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. Sucks when you learn from mistakes sometimes. The nurse was so sweet to us. The patient was so appreciative.

After lunch, we met with our instructor and had a little conference about the day. Everyone but us had a good day and did great. I said, "I feel bad because of the mistakes that were made." My instructor said, "You should." I guess I should expect that. She said if it happens again she will fail us. I'm definitely not used to that. I have been doing so well in the lab and in lecture. She pulled me aside and said I wasn't aggressive enough and I needed to not shuffle around so much. I was running my butt off, not shuffling. She yelled at my partner and said she was making excuses.

I went home last night and felt like a complete FAILURE. My instructor told my parter after I left that "we need to figure it out." Next week I will be by myself and I know it will be better. I can organize a little better and we will hopefully have a patient from start to finish. All night I tried to make sense of the day and how I could have done it differently. And I learned some things from it. It still feels REALLY bad. Up until yesterday I thought I was doing so well. One day can just shatter my confidence.

Sorry this was so long. It feels better to get it off my chest.

Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

I've posted my first day of clinical story so many times.....

We were told during our orientation the FIRST thing we are to do is get our residents to their rooms for assessment.....so I get this alzheimers guy, he's sitting at breakfast....i take him away, get him to room, assess quickly, and then present myself at medcart saying "mr x is ready for his 8AM meds."

the staff nurse goes "he's diabetic, did he eat breakfast?" I explain "no....i was told to get resident to room first thing to assess him by my instructor(who is standing right there)" Instructor goes "YOU NEVER TAKE A DIABETIC PATIENT AWAY FROM BREAKFAST! go feed him, and then get back here for meds...." so I do that.....feeling like crud the entire way......get him back, do meds, then spend some time in room with resident, staff nurse comes in with a fiber supplement drink "can you get him to take this?" so I do...when I get up to station to chart it in MAR, instructor says "ok, he needs his metamucil...." when I say that he already got that, I get pulled aside and told "you just gave meds without checking with me..." today is done already, and we'll have a meeting next week.

I got a action report on me, and wound up with the threat of one more instance of a issue in clinical and I was out! needless to say I was very scared the next 7 weeks, but I did it and I got through it. You will too, you will be VERy careful the next few weeks, good luck!

Wow. Thanks for writing that. I felt sorry for you while I was reading it. I don't know why instructors have to be that way. Making people nervous does not help them to learn. Although I can tell you where I WILL NEVER leave the foley bag again. And how I will watch that IV like a hawk and not get a drop of water near it. It's so scary to have so much responsibility for people but I'm going to do it. Thank you.

Specializes in SNU/SNF/MedSurg, SPCU Ortho/Neuro/Spine.

Instructors can put so much scare Into us "little lambs" and make something so easy be so stressfull!!!

I am really glad that I did not have to go through that!!!

my first bedbath lasted 3 hours, because the pt was incontinent and did not know when IT was comming, so when I got there, the bed was soiled, cleand pt up, made the bed with the pt on it, and when I was about to leave, BOOM more doodoo, so fine, cleaned patient, changed the chuch, when i rolled the patient to the side to pull the new chuck from under him, BOOM farts and diarrhea, that went all over!!! so another bed change on a room which the temperature was 85 patient was cold, I was on contact isolation, sweting like a pig!!!

what did I learned from it? when pt is incontinent and cant feel it coming, you got to move the arround, and roll them a bit to get the pipes cleaned!!!

Specializes in Onc/Med-Surg, ER, Nursing Supervisor.

I think everyone has at least 1 bad clinical experience, some of us more than others. Try to stick with it and stay calm. Trust me, by this time next year, you will laugh about how nervous you were to give a pt a bed bath.

Things will not always go as planned, in fact they rarely do (for me at least). IVs come out. We had a seasoned paramedic accidentally pull out an IV while transferring the pt from the stretcher to the bed. It happens!! No one died!!!!

Foley bags are placed on a pts legs while in transit. Granted, that's increasing the risk for infection, but you simply placed it on the bed rail, no need for panic!

Be patient with your instructors. We are practicing under their licenses. Medication can be a sore spot for many instructors. I have had both types, one that wouldn't let me do any meds, but I still had to research them. And one that would watch me pull them up, verify pt, and then leave the room while I administered them. Go figure, everyone is different.

You will eventually figure out what each instructor wants. I tend to take the, "Yes, ma'am, You're right, ma'am. I will try not to let that happen again" approach. But again, Stay Calm!!

When I first began thinking about nursing school, I took a CNA class. I asked my RN instructor how nursing school had been for her. She shared some of the things she had loved about it, paused, and said, "Of course, there's always some old battle axe ready to jump on you..." But she laughed as she said it, and then said, in a serious tone, "But they were the ones I learned the most from."

I don't actually think jumping down people's throats is an effective teaching tool, but it doesn't matter what I think. When I run into correction at my job *or* school, no matter how it's delivered, I try to look the person in the eye and say, "Thank you. I appreciate the feedback."

And I *do* appreciate the feedback. If I don't appreciate the delivery, my response tends to turn down the emotion. Even if your instructor is being unprofessional, keep responding as a professional. If nothing else, you'll be learning to respond as a professional under stress.

One thing you've learned is that this instructor does not intend to soothe you when you feel overwhelmed. You still deserve some soothing, so kudos to you for coming to a safe site to get some. I hope your next clinical goes smoothly.

Dina

Definitely sounds like a hectic first clinical. I hope you have a (much) better experience next week. I'm not in school yet (start in May at BC, north campus) and must admit I'm somewhat fearful of days like these. Just thinking about it makes me cringe a little. Try not to let your thoughts consume you though. Learn from it and move on.

Hi there. Good luck starting in May! It's exciting. When I went back to clinicals the following week it was much better. I did well for the rest of the time and passed. We just got through Nursing Process I. Process II starts next week.

Thanks for the pick-me-up!

WillBe,

You must be very proud of yourself! I'm so glad to hear that you are now proceeding to process II. These experiences, as nerve-racking as they may be, will make you that much stronger and smarter too!

Please keep me updated on process II. I'm always up for any tips and advice on how to survive (lol), grow, and just different things to look for to be more successful as a student and hopefully a nurse...

Specializes in Community Health.

I totally feel your pain! My first clinical rotation was a complete nightmare. My instructor was a complete witch, she made me cry every week and told me on numerous occasions that I should look into a different vocation. She humiliated me in front of my classmates during post-conference-she actually announced that she was pulling me from the floor for the rest of clinical because she felt I was "unsafe" to give pt. care. It was a nightmare-I almost quit school after that.

It's a hard thing to get used to-doing invasive procedures on a living breathing human being, while being scrutinized by an instructor who has years of experience on you and the power to fail you out of school. It WILL get better though. A good instructor can make all the difference-once I was put with a NI who saw potential in me and actually put the effort in to help me learn from my mistakes and grow as a nurse, I really started to hit my stride. Hopefully you will get someone like that next time around.

Specializes in Surgery, Geriatrics.

Oh my goodness, you poor thing! It sounds like you don't have a very nice instructor. Remember WHY you started this journey...you want to care for others. Don't let that day discourage you. Some days you leave feeling defeated and others you leave walking on air because everything went smoothly and you made a huge difference in someone's life that day. Things will get better, just keep going, learning, and it will just come naturally. Hang in there!!!:chair:

That is really good to hear. thank you for sharing that it is possible to come back from a shaky start

Yea, I just had 2 clinicals so far. The first week we were to buddy up and follow around a PCA to get a feel for the unit and help her out a bit with the basic nursing duties. All the patients were so nice and I felt good changing beds and helping people to the restroom! LOL Small things, but they made me feel good.

A few weeks later, after we had to get checked off for our meds (which was an ordeal in itself), it was time to go back. At first, we were going to be buddied up again with one of our classmates to one patient. Then, all of a sudden we were changed to one patient each. Me and my partner were already nervous and then we get separated! Man, I swear for that whole shift I probably went into the patient's room 5 times out of 8 hours. the rest of the time I was on the hospital patient computer system to get the med information and look up some information on the database about things I didn't know that could help me. I gave meds, which went fine, and did a half-assed head to toe, which could have been better. I hadn't did one since last semester for the check off so I couldn't remember the exact places to check and how to do it. My instructor showed me how I would document it on the hospital system. It was during that time that I realized how much I missed. I felt incompetent and said that I missed so much. She said that it'll happen for a while, even after when you're a new grad, because it happened to her. I just don't want it to be a common occurrence for me to be so forgetful. I'm pretty sure my patient was like "Get outta here! What are you doing?" compared the the compliment filled patients from the last time. The way the RNs and PCAs had good relationships with the patients made me feel worse, like a worm on a totem pole. The only I know to do right now is to prepare myself as much as possible for next time. I don't like feeling inadequate.

Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.

The 95 year old patient's family had the right to insist on the blood pressure first...had you given the bath first or moved her around for the assessment, your BP might have been artificially high, so the patient's daughter was correct in her request.

Also...did you have to take health assessment BEFORE you started your class for clinicals?

That was the first thing that stood out on your post...we didn't have health assessment until our second year and that is when we did the assessment.

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