How much clinical lab time do you get to practice?

S.N. Visit, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2006

We had a minimum of 35 hours of lab time, but you could stay & have as much time as needed. I think it was adequate time because, we do the majority of learning in our clinicals. Putting in an NG tube , foley cath, or even giving a shot in a manequin is so very different than working on real people. The only thing I think lab was good for was learning sterile technique.

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Jan 14, 2006

I've never been impressed with my school and clinical or lab time. I haven't felt like day one that we have any clue what we are doing. Clinicals are tough for us (probably for others just like us) because there are usually 5-8 of us, we each have at least 3 patients and we do total care. So you end up spending so much time doing the work that you never get the time to understand why that patient is there - the meds they are taking - the procedures that you are doing (or watching). You just run around in circles all day long and then go home and crash. Of course...it is my responsibility to look that stuff when I get home, but I'm exhausted. A majority of us feel our clinical time is rushed and we are expected to do SO MUCH that we forget why we are there (to learn) and we end up loosing all these opportunities to learn while we are there.

luvmy2angels · Jan 15, 2006

We actually only had a couple hours after learning a new skill to practice (of class time). If you wanted to practice in the lab you either had to come to school early or stay late. Let me tell you, I stayed late on many nights!!

sasparilla · Jan 15, 2006

I agree w/ Tanzanite, doing a procedure on a dummy is nothing like a real live patient you're scared you're going to hurt by doing something wrong. After one semester of clinical, I certainly don't feel comfortable starting back next week and jumping right in to do some procedures. Luckily, our instructors had us do a "review" lab this week where we went back over the more complicated procedures like NG tubes, Foley's, etc. Many of us hadn't gotten a chance to do more than one (or even none) last semester plus with the holiday break, a refresher was certainly needed.

Does anyone ever "avoid" an opportunity to do a procedure because of feeling scared to do it? I have though I'm really going to try not to do so this semester. It we make a certain number of points doing different procedures, we don't have to take the Procedure Lab final in May. That's some incentive for me.