Seriously.....5 Patients????

charebec65 · Sep 11, 2006

I haven't have more than 2 pts at a time during clinicals. It was easy to get everything done except meds. The thing that made that hard was having to wait for the clinical instructor who was working with 7 other students who each had 2 pts to give meds to as well. We weren't allow to pass meds without her.

During my PN preceptorship I had 21 pts. Lord did I feel slow and out of sync. I had a great preceptor though and it didn't take long to figure out how to prioritize and get things done.

chysyl · Sep 11, 2006

Well in my own country nurses are usually short staffed,sometimes it's one nurse to 17patients.During my first year clinical posting i had 20patients and we were 4student nurses on duty,so we each had five patients to nurse.Of course we were being supervised and we did well.it made us more confident at work.Now,in my final year i get to manage the ward under supervision especially during the afternoon shift.

I believe starting with 5patients right now will boost your confidence when you become RN,so go do it. :nurse:

Finallyat40 · Sep 11, 2006

During my last semester of school, our instructor allowed us to take 3 patients the first week, then four for a couple of weeks, then you had to take your precepting nurse's entire assignment. Delegation is the key to surviving....you need to know what you can/can't delegate and you need to be able to communicate your needs efficiently so that you foster teamwork. During that last semester, there was one day that I actually carried 6 patients...three that were low acuity, just needing meds, two that were medium acuity, IV's, piggyback's, full care, etc, and one who had just moved out of ICU and had her foot on a banana peel....I even had to assist in doing a cutdown for a new central line when hers gave out!

Keep your chin up, remember your ABC's of care and do the best you can...if you're behind, ask your preceptor to help, but be ready to be specific as to what you want them to do, i.e., please give meds to the man in room 4 and make sure lady in room 3 has had her bath and doesn't need anything.

Jamie

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2006

I am just starting my third semester. We had our first week of clinicals for the semester, and in a couple of weeks we will be taking up to 5 patients. I have to admit that I am worried about this. We had two patients this week, didnt give meds, and I was overwhelmed with this. Will I get in a routine or get the hang of things to actually care for 5???? I know that nurses usually take 7 or 8, but right now I am seriously nervous about 5....will I forget something, or is it do-able? I guess I am just looking for some kind of encouragement, or positive advice about this to ease my fears!! Thanks to all!

Some of my classmates complained when we were to care for multiple patients, but I didn't care. Caring for multiple patients as a student will prepare you for the harsh realities when you are actually working as a nurse. I would just take this assignment as it comes and try to make the best out of it. My first job involved caring for 33 stable elderly patients and, honestly, it was tolerable.

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Sep 12, 2006

I'm in my last semester of school and I just wish we got more than 1 patient but we overwhelm the staff, the patients and the CI if 10 of us get more than 1 patient - so that is the way it is. We can't pass meds w/o out CI, we can't do dressing changes w/o our CI, we can't do any invasive procedure w/o our CI, so you can see where this is going......nothing would get done if we took more than 10 patients on the floor at one time.....Plus we are not allowed to be on another floor w/o our CI, so sometimes we are lucky to find 10 willing patients to even let us in the room on the floor we are on. The primary nurses also freak out if more than 1 of their patients is taken by a student too...so that has to be factored into it as well.