Work Load at clinicals

SunshineLPN2Be · Apr 27, 2008

Hi everybody, I start school on monday the 28th and we start clinicals 3 weeks after, I am the type of person that I have to be prepared for everything would any of you guys mind giving me some info about what the clinical workload is like for an LPN student, Approximately how many patients do they give to a student, do students have to do charting or nursing care plans, does most of your day consist of following someone around??????? Any answer would be helpful thank u

I am also starting Monday the 28th! I am restarting second semester though, which I failed out of back in the winter - thankfully i am able to start over this soon!

Anyways, To answer your question about clinicals.... Every school is different as far as what and how much responsibility they give their students.

Here is what we did though..... Hopefully this will at least give you an idea as to what to look for :)

In our nursing home rotations we:

Basically did everything the CNA's do; bathing, dressing, grooming, etc and then also did the am routine assessments/vitals on our assigned residents. The first 2 days we shadowed a nurse pretty much... but then after that, we were on our own. We were each assigned 2-3 residents as well as answering call bells that went off for other residents. . And yes, we did *some* charting, but not as much as we did in the hospital... We did also get to do things like dressing changes, NG tube feedings/flushes... and any skills we had already learned in class, we were allowed to do. Don't worry, you are kept busy ALL day! No room for boredom....

In the hospital we:

checked our patients charts and MAR's first thing in the morning and went in with the nurses to listen to report so we were aware of what needed to be done for our assigned patient's that day. After that we would get our AM vitals, daily weights, etc.. and also do our baths, and daily routine assessments. We were generally only assigned 2 patients each... and answered various call bells that went off when we had down time with our own assigned patient's. We did pretty much everything within our scope of practice as nursing students. There is never a dull moment, ESPECIALLY in the hospital. even moreso than in the nursing homes.... That's what I found personally anyway.

As far as care plans go... YES we have to do the dreadful things! (As well as drug cards) Everyyyy week, on each of our patient's/residents that we are assigned to. They're torture, and very time consuming... but they really do help you learn about the specific disease process you are dealing with in that person... signs to look for, etc... So i guess in a way they're good.... I just HATE doing them, lol.

Well I hope this helped at least a little. Hope it doesn't sound too confusing or anything lol. Good luck with your schooling! And word of advice READ READ READ YOUR TEXTS! and STUDY, STUDY, STUDY - Don't slack off with that! I found it out the hard way. Seems like it should be common sense though, right? but seriously, start off the program with good study habits, so you will be allll set for when it gets more and more intense. :)

AngelKisses · Apr 27, 2008

hi everybody, i start school on monday the 28th:yeah: and we start clinicals 3 weeks after,:bowingpur:nurse: i am the type of person that i have to be prepared for everything would any of you guys mind giving me some info about what the clinical workload is like for an lpn student, approximately how many patients do they give to a student, do students have to do charting or nursing care plans, does most of your day consist of following someone around??????? any answer would be helpful thank u:nurse:

congrats on starting school tomorrow! you'll love it! :yeah:

at my school, we only have one patient in clinicals. but you are doing everything for that patient, from adl's (activities for daily living, meaning bathing, dressing, and grooming) to meds and any dressing changes that need to be done. you, of course, are doing all vitals and assessments. we do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. you are also going with your pt to any procedure he/she has done. and you are doing all of your own charting, and pt. education. then that evening we have a 11 page packet that is due first thing in the morning on our patient. the packets are a long, and like the previous poster said very time consuming! it takes me about 4 to 5 hours to complete it (i don't know if your school's packet will be as big!!) but i definately learn from it. take care and enjoy nursing school!