What to put in a Student Nurse Journal?

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

I'm a new student just a few weeks into clinical. We are required to make weekly journal entries. I seen many schools do not grade these but ours are graded. Last week I did make a passing score but other students got full points. What am I missing? What do I put into a journal...keep in mind this is only my second entry...I know its not like an essay but do they want to put what did I see or do or what do I think of a procedure? I last visited an adult day care with persons that had memory impairments.

As a hypothetical example do i put I talked to person who had diagnosis of Alzheimer upon asking questions responses were xyz to question asked. this is due to person not being oriented to xyz etc. etc. further research shows xyz....

That is not exactly what I have written I just want a better clue. The instructors did not even say what a journal is or what they want from it.I had to hunt it down in the text and do internet searches...

Can anyone explain what i should and should not have in a student nurse journal? and what is the main objective i should be looking to put in each entry

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I think you might need to ask you classmates that got good scores or your CI what the expectations is......remember though that they want....what you learned....what you experienced....how you are growing.

I hope you don't find this offensive....but I have 2 children a boy and a girl....theya re 11 months apart....they call that Irish Twins. They are just genetically different. Girls talk boys don't.

My daughter will describe the sunrise and use to pages talking about the colors, the textures of the clouds, the smells of the morning, the birds she hears, the flutter of their wings. My son, on the other hand, will state the sun came up in the east.....he MIGHT mention the color if he has to....but he doesn't know why it's that important....the sun goes up and the sun goes down...it will do the same tomorrow.

Write to your audience. Write what they want to hear. Think about how much females talk...play to that audience. :)

Good luck!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Odd that they grade them. I used to require journals from my students because I wanted to get to know them better, to see through their eyes what they were learning and thereby get ideas for my teaching, and to get them to reflect on their own learning and professional growth. I told them short, long, I didn't care, but I wanted them to write something. As many of us who do journaling as part of our own personal growth can tell you, it's amazing what comes out the end of that pen, and you can learn a lot about yourself from what does. Their entries rapidly grew longer as they realized how it was helping them.

I agree with Esme, though-- if some of your classmates don't mind sharing theirs with you, you might get an idea of how they went about it, and ask the instructor if she could share some examples of what she considers more complete so you have a better idea how to complete the assignment.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Obviously, you need to ask your instructor for more guidance ... but here are a few suggestions as to the types of things most instructors want to see.

1. Relate what you are seeing and doing to the things you are studying in class -- and to the course objectives. For example, point out examples that you encounter of things you discuss in class or read in your required texts. Use the journal to show that you are meeting the course objectives and learning what you are supposed to be learning.

2. Record the skills that you are performing

3. Discuss what you learn from each experience that you describe and how you are growing as a person and developing as a nurse