When you are at clinicals

Nursing Students General Students

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You guys are starting clinicals once again, and I am offering advice to help you learn. make yourself available and on the floor. One thing nurses hate is when a group of students are suppose to be on the floor but are camped out in the breakroom. I tell every student that is with me stay with me shadow me I will show you things get you into procedures, but I will not hunt for you. I started this post because it never fails that we have a group come I and they just disappear with their instructor camped out in a room. I've had students miss TEE, cardioversions, caths, and open heart because they went to break, was not on the floor etc. The nurses I work with know which students are there to learn and which ones are just there, and yes we look at new grads applications and recommend for hire and also recommend no hires based on how they was as a student. Best of luck, work hard and stay busy.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Wonderful advice. Hopefully it will be taken to heart by our students here on AN.

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Ur the kind of nurse I hoped to be paired up with when I start. Thanks for the advice :).

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

I wish I had a nurse like you! Most of our nurses just want us to stay out of their hair. Our clinical instructor would skewer us if we even entered the break room. Off limits! :)

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Specializes in NICU.

This has been addressed by another nurse a little while back. You stated that they are camping out in the breakroom with the instructor. Why is the instructor allowing them to camp out in the breakroom? Are they doing care plans instead of patient care and need to finish them before the end of clinical? I think the problem needs to be focused on the instructor rather than the students. I think if the student had to choose between doing their care plan and missing out on procedures or doing skills but getting a poor grade on their care plan, they will choose to camp out in the breakroom with​ the instructor.

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Specializes in ICU/ Surgery/ Nursing Education.

What's a break room? In school I never new there was such a thing, kind of like a mythological creature. Something like the Quadicorn... :cheeky:

First week with students on my floor, have to say I am please so far. Keep it up students, you can learn so much if you just apply yourselves.

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This has been addressed by another nurse a little while back. You stated that they are camping out in the breakroom with the instructor. Why is the instructor allowing them to camp out in the breakroom? Are they doing care plans instead of patient care and need to finish them before the end of clinical? I think the problem needs to be focused on the instructor rather than the students. I think if the student had to choose between doing their care plan and missing out on procedures or doing skills but getting a poor grade on their care plan, they will choose to camp out in the breakroom with​ the instructor.

Although I don't camp out in the breakroom this has been a huge issue in our school. I've had to leave the OR during an active procedure because I had to go to post-conference, I've missed out on cardio cath's because if I went it meant not completing my paperwork on time and failing an assignment, and the list goes on and on.

I've honestly gained more skills as an ER tech in the past year and a half than I've encountered in my 3.5 years of nursing school clinicals. I can interpret EKGs, do foleys/straight caths, successfully draw labs on a heroine addict, change a bed with little to no assistance, etc.

After our last batch of new grads though I think this paperwork trend is common. So many of them are completely unprepared for real world floor work. I saw a new nurse not clean a member properly before attempting to cath him (I say attempt because she stopped when he started screaming - she didn't hold it straight up), I've seen new nurses avoid patient care because they are so uncomfortable in front of them because they've been so busy doing paperwork/patho maps/care plans they don't have bedside manners yet. It's sad.

I hope more instructors like you are out there though - Lord knows we need the good ones now more than ever!

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The issue here seems to be the instructor. My instructors would be horrified if they found us in the breakroom or lounging at the nurses' station. Plus, I don't understand the mentality of not wanting to be involved at clinical. I'm here to learn how to be a nurse; I can sit on my behind at home. You sound like the preceptor I have always wanted. Many (dare I say most) nurses don't want students anywhere near them.

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Specializes in ER/Emergency Behavioral Health....

I will definitely be taking this advice. We start out in hospital clinicals next week. Our instructor also suggested that we don't "huddle" in the hallway. It just doesn't look professional, and if we can sit and chat then we aren't learning anything.

I have one random question though.

We won't have anywhere locked to keep our personal belongings. I found a small wallet I can put my ID, debit card and some cash in. It will fit in my scrub pocket. We aren't supposed to have cell phones though and I feel uncomfortable keeping it in an unlocked room.

I am thinking of locking it in my car. Thankfully, my glove box locks, so this should be a safe place for it. :)

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I had a nurse like you last semester. With the permission of my instructor, I did nothing but follow her around for two full clinicals. I helped or watched everything she did from calling doctors to charting to deciding what task had the highest priority. I got to see a ton of things I really wanted to (the procedures for hanging blood, actually dealing with hospice patients/family members, managing a full patient load, etc) and I got a fantastic preview of what nursing really is. Not just the one patient you get to take care of under the watchful eye of an instructor. I went home exhausted and feeling accomplished.

After being frustrated with me in the beginning because I was camped out in the break room, she really taught me a valuable lesson about how far a nurse will help/teach a student who wants to learn. It turned out to be a blast. Especially when she had the patients quizzing me on why I was giving them meds, re-positioning them, or even asking me to explain why they were staying in the hospital to begin with. Can't wait to do it again this semester.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

I notice this a lot in psych: students tending to hide out in the lounge either because they are nervous about being on the floor, or don't want to be bothered with their psych rotation because it's not a "glamour" specialty.

I agree with OP. I'm happy to show students anything and everything and let you get your hands really dirty. But if you can't be bothered to get your rear out of the break room or from behind the nurses station and get to work on the floor, then it's your loss. I'm too busy being a nurse to hunt down unwilling students. And I do touch base with instructors to ask, "why are the students in there?" so I do know if you're in there under orders or if you're hiding out. I have no qualms about letting instructors know which students participated...and which didn't.

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Specializes in EDUCATION;HOMECARE;MATERNAL-CHILD; PSYCH.

The OP is correct!

I encourage my OB students to eat good breakfast because we do not stop for breakroom, breaks, lunch etc.

We are with our patients during labor, during pushing, in the OR and PACU and even in triage. During downtime, we are helping with breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, education and ambulating.

Clinical is the time to LEARN. By hiding in the breakroom, you are deceiving yourself and destined for failure.

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