Not enjoying clinical

RescueNinjaKy · Feb 28, 2016

Honey I am caring and open at work too, and ain't nobody thinking lowly about me at work. So I would dig further into a different personality trait of yours that might be ticking others the wrong way.

windsurfer8, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2016

Clinicals are not designed for enjoyment. If you are getting feedback from staff that your work ethic is poor maybe you should listen to them. "Could it be"? Sure anything "could" be. Ask them if you are getting in their way and what you can do to help. If you do not like nursing you can switch majors. It is your life.

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · Feb 28, 2016

I am assuming this is your first semester in clinical? If so, I want you to think about how much you are really capable of doing at this point. You need to crawl before you can walk, let alone run. Assessment, data collection, and communication are the major "skills" you need to accomplish before you can implement. I put the air quotes (or in this case, real quotes) around skills because students often want to do (what they perceive as) "real skills". Start IVs, insert foleys, give meds through a tube, etc. You are not ready for that yet. (I just re-read your post and see that this is what you were hoping for, much to my initial suspicion).

As far as the feedback you are receiving: it's time for some self-reflection here. The first red flag I see is "too open". It is great that you have recognized that you are caring, but sometimes there is a fine line between this and being too open. When you cross over that line, it is perceived as unprofessional. Are you speaking to patients, staff and your professor like they are your friends or family? Are you using the therapeutic techniques you (hopefully) learned in theory classes? Communication is something many people take for granted, yet do very poorly. Since much of what you are doing at this point is along these lines, I respectfully recommend you really focus in on this.

NurseEmmy · Feb 29, 2016

There must be something you are doing that is rubbing these people the wrong way. Obviously I'm not aware of what that is. I am going to guess that you are in your first round of clinicals. Take this time to work on those people skills that you are struggling with. Make sure you stay out of the way of the Nurses. This doesn't mean you cannot learn or ask questions. It means do not hound them, make sure that if they are in the middle of something you are not interrupting them several times, especially during a med pass. You'll figure things out.

allnurses Guide · Feb 29, 2016

Are you bathing your patients? Turning them? Toileting them? Getting them cleaned up when they have soiled themselves? Changing linens? ambulating them if appropriate? Assisting them in ordering food? feeding them? Taking vitals as per protocol for the floor you are on? These are the things I expect even a first semester nursing student to be doing and if I get pushback on them or the student fails to do them I do not much care how pleasant they are, they aren't demonstrating the bare minimum needed to show capacity for this line of work.

Karou · Feb 29, 2016

I am a nursing student and I am doing clinicals- all in acute hospital settings. I will admit that I don't enjoy it and look forward to when it is over. The students don't do much...are just expected to watch the nurse and speak with the patient and get their entire health history and spend the entire time in the patients room for most part. No meds, IVs, foley, etc.
Recently, I found that there have been various patients and mostly nurses complaining about me, my work ethic and comments I made to the patients. This comes as a surprise since i can sense I have established a good rapport with the patients. I got good feedback from my instructors. Could it be that I am the type of personality that is very caring and is too open with others? That the nurses think lowly of me because I am in their way too much, since I would love to help as much as I can and learn? There isn't much of a way of finding out, however this whole issue does make me wonder.

It's possible that your feelings about clinicals ("don't enjoy it, dread it, can't wait for it to be over") aren't well hidden and your attitude is picked up by patients and the hospital staff. If more than one person has said a similar thing about you, it's time to look at the common denominator (yourself).

Will your instructor not share with you any of the specific comments that have been made? That would be helpful to know. Do you have any idea what the "specific comments" you made to patients were, that were perceived badly?

I highly doubt your personality being "too caring and open with others" is the issue here. Or that you "would love to help as much as you can and learn" with the nurses. In fact, those statements seem contradictory to your feelings about clinicals.

I would bet a million dollars that staff and patients are picking up on your attitude and the fact that you don't want to be there.

Do you offer to help the nurses? What about the PCT/CNA's? If you find yourself bored, perhaps you can offer to assist in bed baths, ambulate patients, take vital signs, or feed patients. It's basic ADL work but will get you noticed as someone who is proactive and a team player.