Oh that anxiety that comes w/ clinicals

allthingsbright · Oct 4, 2007

We have all had those moments. I am a senior and was doing a blood draw off a powerport (central venous line right into the jugular of a CA patient) and I uncapped my 10ml flush and laid it on the bed (it was no longer clean in other words). :uhoh3: My instructor had a hissy fit! But I learned from it--as I do from all my mistakes. Thankfully that was a "relatively" small mistake, but still!!!!!!!

So learn from it, pat yourself on the back for sticking things out, and move on! (((HUGS)))

fmrnicumom · Oct 4, 2007

Everyone makes mistakes. You're learning, and it isn't going to go perfectly every time. Don't beat yourself up. If you feel you need more practice, practice more, but it sounds like it was just nerves. You'll get it next time! Hang in there.

Tiffany

MistiroseRN · Oct 4, 2007

There is no pressure in the lab and noone gets hurt. When you get on the floor it's a different story. I think it also depends on your instructor. I have an exellent one this rotation. I am never afraid to ask questions and even the nurses and aids are awsome and helpful. That was not the case last semester. I had a teacher that scared the answers right out of my head. I think once you get more confident in your skills by practicing you will be fine.

southernbelle08 · Oct 4, 2007

Oh we have ALL had those moments. I bet if we got together and wrote a book on it, the end result would be larger than our HUGE nursing text books! :) For example - I went in a room and did an entire procedure (IV push) and never once put on a pair of gloves. Believe me when I say I felt like an IDIOT when my instructor asked me what I had forgotten when we exited the room. But you know - I bet I'll never forget my gloves again, haha!

You just have to pick yourself up, realize you are LEARNING, and do your best next time! The instructors might seem like they have it all together, but there were right where we are at one time in their lives...and by the same token, we'll be where they are one day! :)

APBT mom, LPN, RN · Oct 5, 2007

I was a medical assistant before starting the nursing program and have probably done about a million blood pressures. Did them in clinicals with no problem. First check off the instructor made me do it THREE times because she said I was getting it wrong even though I was getting the same number every time. The final time I tried she told me to take the gauge off the cuff because she couldn't see it.When I heard the first sound I stopped the sir from coming out and let the needle bounce so she could see it then I let it back out until the sound stopped. Got it right with the same numbers. Then she told me to get the Dynamap to get the real reading and it was the same one that I had given her four times. The instructors can get it wrong too.

On top of that the double ear stethescopes that the school has suck and they are very difficult to hear anything. One of our instructors rigged up her own using a double tubing and Littman bells and you can hear the person beside you dinner digesting.

Don't worry it happens to everyone at least once. One of the students in my class kept getting her respirations wrong because she was so nervous. In the real world if your ever in doubt get someone else to check it too.

MB37 · Oct 5, 2007

I had my catheter insertion check off in lab last week, and while I passed, my hands were shaking so badly I almost couldn't stick the tube into the urethra! I knew the procedure, watched the video like 7 times, came into the lab and practiced when we had an open lab slot, read the procedure a few more times, and practiced again before checkoff. My instructor is NOT mean or scary, but I couldn't stop shaking. I actually broke sterile field twice too, but I caught it both times. She made me start over though, so that probably didn't help with the nerves. W e don't fail as long as we catch it - I cleaned the meatus, for example, then took my hand off the labia to move the catheter bag closer. Oops. I had to do it all over from the beginning.