How to survive clinicals

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hey everyone,

I have recently been accepted into an LPN program in my state. After talking to some people who have been in nursing school or even people who want to go into nursing school they always mentions clinicals. Whether they love them or they don't want to do them because they are nervous every nursing student will do them at one point or another, for experience and knowledge. Of course everyone who has chosen this career for themselves realizes that after school is over they won't be 'clinicals' anymore and they will be a part of your everyday life as a nurse, but doing clinicals in school is much more nerve racking. why? because all pressures on us, we don't know everything and could be put on the spot, its all really personal opinion. I'm nervous for my first few clinicals because the first one is only 16 days into school, even though we will probably only be shadowing a nurse and seeing how things are run in a hospital and going over the basics i'm nervous and I'm sure almost everyone was nervous for their first few clinicals. I KNOW that I will end up loving them once I get to know more and get the hang of things.

I decided to make this thread for students going into nursing school this year or in the future to ask questions and talk to other students about their schooling and clinicals and also for current/former nursing students to answer questions, tell stories and/or give advice!

I hope everyone finds this useful!

So I guess I'll be the first to start ;) My main worry is I don't want to be thrown on the floor with not much experience I feel like 16 days into school is kind of early for clinicals but other schools have probably done it much earlier. What were most peoples first impression of clinicals? What did you do the first day of clinical?

Thanks!:redbeathe

:eek:

Wow..just..wow.

wow what?

I've had three days of clinicals, so far... Anyway, our first day we did a patient assessment; the second day, we did total patient care, at least what we were allowed to do; and the third day, we did assessments and po meds. Next week we're taking part in immunizations to the hospital staff. To me, the worst part about clinicals is the paperwork, which is, of course, part of the learning process, as everything is! Don't be afraid, we're not supposed to know everything. We've been encouraged to ask about anything we're unsure of, that's how students learn!

On my first day of clinicals, a student absolutely refused to help a patient with a bedpan...Hello...we all signed up for this....were taught about bedpans n' stuff in lecture so how could she NOT see this coming???? Well, she gets into this nervous breakdown/crying mode and the instructor had to bring her into an unoccupied room for what seemed like eternity to calm her down. Instructor pretty much told her that this would be part of her profession, so if she couldn't handle bedpans, she was in the wrong profession. All the rest of us were like zombies on the floor...we took vitals, gave bedbaths, but we could still hear the student wailing in the room with the instructor. So since the instructor wasn't around, out come the cell phones and the texting. I could not believe it. (The charge nurse told our instructor what had happened and we all got clinical warnings--on our first clinical day! We desereved it!)

Said student went to the program director the next day and claimed that the instructor "had it in for her" and was "going to fail her" because of what happened the previous day in clinical. The student sent e-mails to everone in the group asking us to step forward and back her up. No one stepped forward.

Needless to say, the following week in clinical was awkward. No one would speak to her, and needless to say, her bedridden patient needed to have a bedpan because he felt a bm coming on....the student then runs to the instructor and asks her if another student could help the patient with the bedpan because she had "flu-like symptoms" and didn't want to make the patient sick. Yeah, ok. The instuctor then hands the student a gown, mask, and gloves and pretty much demanded that she go back in her patients room and help with the bedpan. The student then walked off the floor, never to be seen again.

Welcome to clinicals!!

Wow. It's probably better that she quit nursing if she couldn't handle that.

I'm glad to hear that clinicals start off at a reasonable pace. That's reassuring for someone like me who has yet to start them.

Healthcare is real life, it can get dirty often but we should all do our best in clinicals to make the patient feel comfortable knowing that their receiving care from a confident professional in training. Meaning running from a bed pan is not appropriate.

I believe to be a good nurse u must have a desire & passion for it

Wow this is great. I am in first year nursing here in Oz, but already am a AIN nurse so do showers, beds, meds etc. I am looking forward to my first clinical too. We go to nursing homes at first. I have done a 2 week prac for TAFE there and it was preety good. Good luck for all clinicals.

Clinicals seem scary. According to my aunt, who is doing clinicals to be a surgical technician, it's tough. I'll just read as many threads on here as possible for tips!

It's been a hundred million years since I did clinical but I wanted to offer my advice anyway. I started out nervous and have a habit of talking to myself. I found that I would do each task with my patient and state what I was doing, why I was doing it, and what I found. As an example, I'm going to listen to your lungs because lying in bed can make secretions pool and if you don't cough it up you can get pneumonia, your lungs sound good. I found my patients loved it. It gave me confidence and I still do it. No one is more interested in their health then the patient.

p.s. my first clinical day I stared at my first patient for 15 minutes willing her to wake up. A more seasoned nurse shook her awake or I probably would have stayed there all day. :) Debra

Specializes in student; help!.

I had a Moment last night in clinicals. I was in a pt's room with the CI, talking about tube feedings and the pathphys/mechanics of it, and I thought, "Holy crap, I'm in a PATIENT'S room in a HOSPITAL and they really think I can do this stuff. They are going to trust me with sick and injured people and beileve that I can help with their care. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING but they let me into the program and I'm passing so there must be something I'm getting. But seriously, she's talking about tubes and PEGs and Jevity and I know she's speaking English, but holy cow."

Then it passed and we got on with it. But I'm having one of those moments just about every day now. And I'll be having one again on the 18th when I do flu clinics.

I am finding clinicals to be a pretty equal mix of terror, astonishment, amazement at what the body can withstand, and boredom.

I haven't cried yet, but I can hear it in the wings.

Specializes in Oncology.
I had a Moment last night in clinicals. I was in a pt's room with the CI, talking about tube feedings and the pathphys/mechanics of it, and I thought, "Holy crap, I'm in a PATIENT'S room in a HOSPITAL and they really think I can do this stuff. They are going to trust me with sick and injured people and beileve that I can help with their care. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING but they let me into the program and I'm passing so there must be something I'm getting. But seriously, she's talking about tubes and PEGs and Jevity and I know she's speaking English, but holy cow."

Then it passed and we got on with it. But I'm having one of those moments just about every day now. And I'll be having one again on the 18th when I do flu clinics.

I am finding clinicals to be a pretty equal mix of terror, astonishment, amazement at what the body can withstand, and boredom.

I haven't cried yet, but I can hear it in the wings.

:yeah:Sometimes I feel like an impostor! However, the longer I am in school, the more confident I am in my abilities. I am not afraid to keep learning and progressing. I think confidence comes with time, but being nervous for clinicals is very common. A few girls in my clinicals simply weren't cut out to be nurses and it was obvious because they never would do dirty things. However, the vast majority of people that I know do well in clinicals and if they struggle somewhere, it's on the exams over lecture.

The worst cry I had was my first expired patient, and it was during my ER off-unit in medsurg. It was a very young girl in a MVC (motor vehicle crash) and they did resuscitation efforts for 15 minutes in the ER. I was the person given the task of wheeling her body out of the room and cleaning her up for the family to see in a vacant lab waiting room because they needed the exam room for someone else (the ER was so crowded that night). The whole situation and experience of that, with friends and family just crying, was really difficult on me. I felt like I had to remain calm despite everyone else crying, and I'm an emotional person. When I left, I cried in the car because it brought up a lot of questions for me.

I think clinicals are where you see what it's like to be a real nurse. Enjoy the experiences, always thank the good nurses who help you out on the floor, jump on available skills and good patients, help out your classmates. Have a "yes, I can" or "yes, I have time" type attitude and always ask if you can accompany your patient to procedures off-unit in the hospital or help out with another patient who needs a foley or an IV started. If you have to do careplans, then pick different types of patients every week because it really does help out your critical thinking skills. If the doctor is in your patient's room, you should be, too. Soak up whatever knowledge you can about anything.

But also, just relax. You're here to learn, but you aren't expected to be an expert yet. Remember that most people you randomly encounter on the floor don't know your exact qualifications or experience, so if they ask you to do something and you've never done it, ask them to show you how. Clarify what you can and cannot do with your instructors. For my school, we had to be checked off in skills demonstration in lab before we were able to successfully do skills, including PO meds, injections, IV's, catheters and trach care. Patient identification is extremely important, so make sure you're checking armbands and get the patient to state their name when you start doing your care. Communicating with the client is important, too. Let them know who you are, what you will be doing, and when you will be there during clinical. It gives the patient a better idea of who is doing what in their care. If your patient hates you from the get-go of your clinical experience (it's fortunately only happened to me once, and the poor man had just had surgery and chemo), attempt to reason with them a couple of times, but ultimately it's a situation that you should bring up to your CI. You're there to learn, and a difficult patient can be a volatile situation, especially if family members are involved and they don't want students to give care.

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