Clinical Days

[nursebrandie28, BSN, RN]

Hello fellow nurse educators,

I have read the above post about making the clinical day better, however, I am still seeking better ways to conduct my clinical day. I do get better every semester, however, I am always willing to learn better ways! If you have time and willing to share, please read my questions/comments and share your experience.

#1: Ideas for post conference: I have tried having a casual, lets talk about our day, nursing and etc. experiences and I cannot stretch that out into an hour. I have tried giving topics that correlate with theory and having the students present in post conference, but they later complain about having "more" homework in addition to their care plan/concept maps, etc. Any suggestions?

#2: Med pass: I like to start around 8 and be done by 10 at the latest. I try to assign patients that have injections, g-tubes, etc. Do you try to have all your students pass meds or take turns? How do you quiz them about if they know the medication?

#3: Day schedule: Do you have a "flow or timeline" to your clinical

#4: Assessments: Do you assess your patients before the students or do the assessment with the students every time? I think it depends on the semester of the student and the ability of the individual student.

Please share any of your experiences.....I would greatly appreciate it.

Brandie:nurse:

[JBudd, MSN]

My preceptor asked students to name and talk about a nursing intervention they had initiated that day; or a clinical judgement they had made. Of course, it meant that we were watching closely enough to help them, by pointing out things they had done that they didn't realize counted as an intervention or judgement!

All students had to be ready to pass meds (in order to correlate meds with treatment and diagnosis), but only two a day passed meds. There were so many during the day, plus PRNs, that I could not possible have overseen all of them and get the meds to the pts in any reasonable amount of time. Quizzed them on the rights, and why this particular patient was getting this particular med, and the side effects of this class of med.

I watched the students do the assessments, and only helped out if they were unsure about something.

I really enjoyed teaching clinicals! But I'm a long term night shifter, and trying to work my ER shifts and then switch to an early morning clinical day was too much.

Since I worked in the same hospital I was teaching at, I knew plenty of people in specialties, and arranged for students to get to watch extra procedures (stress tests or doppler studies).

[organichombre, ADN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

nursebrandies28,

Post conference is an interesting time! An hour and a half is the longest these should last and I agree that even 1 hour is difficult. I usually have 6 to 8 students for clinicals and this is a good number. The first couple weeks of clinicals I try to get the students thinking of how they sound when they try to give report and what a report should cover. Using SBAR ; Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendations is a good place to start. I tell the students to give everyone report on their patient and then ask the group what was relevant, what wasn't, what was left out and how to improve it. Invariably this stimulates a dialogue concerning a patient problem and a further focus on care plans.

As for meds, I think that's an individual thing based on who needs that skill today. I try to ask them relevant questions that pertain to specific outcomes expected.

Assessments are ssomething else altogether!

Good Luck!