A Moment of your time

KarmaInMotion · Sep 5, 2008

Practice your acting skills. If you appear "clueless", lost, or scared, your poor patient will become terrified. lol Really, you have to project confidence. Even if you are uncertain, that is when you tactfully excuse yourself and go ask for help.

ADPIE10 · Sep 5, 2008

I start the nursing program two weeks from now! I've been waiting what seems like forever for this exciting time, but am feeling anxious. I have worked in the medical field since I was sixteen(minus the last 3 years), but most of it has been "behind the scenes." I am mainly concerned about appearing clueless in front of patients.
Any advice???

It sounds as if you are concerned about feeling embarassed by accidentally not meeting your personal standards. I have noticed that patients rarely perceive student nurses as clueless. My program tests for competencies and we role play until I'm ready to scream! But it sounds like the stuff that I'm going through might actually work for you :chuckle.

Even the most ignorant people in my class have been coached to the point of being able to fake it in front of a patient.

Don't be too hard on yourself. The fact that you even found this forum and are willing to participate speaks volumes about your level of intelligence.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 5, 2008

what a good question!

when a patient asks you something don't feel that you have to supply the answer. in fact there are going to be situations where you are going to know the answer, but you know you really can't reveal it.

example: patient asks, "did the pathology come back yet? does it show i have cancer?" you've seen the report and know the answer is yes. however, you also know that to reveal this information to the patient before the doctor does would be overstepping your job responsibility at this time. you have to wait until the doctor speaks to the patient first. so, i would answer, "i haven't seen any reports in your chart yet."

i know you are referring to more general type of questions. we can't know or remember everything that we learned. and, we are going to have patients with conditions that we never heard of before. your textbooks, believe it or not, are only introducing you to the most commonly encountered diseases that you are likely to run across in practice. i guarantee that as the years go on you will get patients with some diseases you (and them!) have never heard of before. so, what do you say to the patient when they ask you, "what can you tell me about this xyz syndrome?" you honestly reply,"

"did the doctor say anything about it to you? [you are always assessing for what you patient does know] a couple of us nurses saw your doctor write that in your chart and were wondering ourselves because we've never heard of it either. i have to look it up. as soon as i get some information on it i'll get back to you." and then make sure you do.
"i have to get back to you on that because i don't remember everything about it and i don't want to give you incorrect information."

as a nurse you will always be hitting the books for information of some kind. we had a patient who was admitted several times with this diagnosis: hand/shoulder syndrome. many of us thought it was a bogus diagnosis for this patient who just had pain, was addicted and needed a legal narcotic fix. well, lo and behold, some years later i ran across the definition of it and discovered that this was indeed a legitimate orthopedic diagnosis! [a syndrome characterized by severe constant intractable pain in the shoulder and arm, limited joint motion, diffuse swelling of the distal part of the upper extremity, fibrosis and atrophy of muscles, and decalcification of underlying bones; the cause is not well understood; it is similar to, or may be a form of, causalgia.]it just isn't as famously known as a broken bone. nor was it something ever covered in nursing school. i felt bad for having thought the doctor had been enabling a drug addict. it also taught me a good lesson: ask about or look up things i don't know as well as keep my attitude to myself on the job.

LMRN10 · Sep 5, 2008

Well, to ease your mind, most of us ARE clueless in front of patients here and there...mostly it's fear that makes us seem clueless though...once you are comfortable with something, that fear goes away and your confidence will kick in!!! You will also learn to compose yourself and answer the questions in a professional manner to not appear so clueless! You are learning, so you cannot be expected to know everything. It'll be ok, but those anxious feelings are very normal...I just started my second semester and I felt the same way before this semester as well. But once your there, excitement will take over...you'll have a variety of emotions. Hang in there! I promise, you'll settle once your there!

RNMom2010 · Sep 5, 2008

I have found that most of the patients I have worked with kind of expect us to be clueless. They know we are students and we are learning and do not have the knowledge base to answer every question. If I do not know something I let the patient know I will have to speak with their nurse/aide/whatever and then get back to them with the answer.