I'm in my second semester of nursing school, currently on a med/surg floor. We all have two patients per week and my current clinical instructor has two people do meds a week.
Anyways... We have 15 weeks of clinical, no meds passed the first week and 8 students. So everyone will only be passing meds 3 to 4 times this entire semester. Which seems very... small to me considering I only had 7 weeks of acute care clinical my first semester and passed meds 6 of those 7 clinicals.
Most of the other instructors have half (4) or even all (8) students passing meds every week. Although, I do know from experience having 8 students doing 8 and 9 am meds never ends well.
I was just curious, how often other students pass meds? While I'm fairly confident in my ability to give PO meds, I really would love more practice with injections and IV meds.
My current clinical instructor is an organized, vet nurse who believes in pushing us off the deep end (with her acting as a lifeguard just in case). Yesterday was the real first day of clinical and she supervised every one in our group distribute their patient's meds. Although it was more stress on her part having to go from room to room to let us do it on time, by the end of the day I felt a lot more comfortable administering medication.
There is a caveat though. Because she was so busy, she was not there to answer other questions. I relied a lot on the nurses including one new grad who took me under her wing. They helped me practice my skills like bathing and assessing. They showed me how to document. Meds are important but not the most important. You will get there, don't worry!
I pass meds every time. After I sit on shift report, I am assigned my PT, then I get their med list. After assessment and AM care, I then have to research the meds and be ready to present them to my instructor (without using my notes). If you don't know it, you don't get to push it and it's considered a clinical failure for the day. Then I am allowed to give my PT their meds, with my instructor in the room. Towards the end of last semester, I got the go ahead to pass meds with my nurse, who was eve stricter than my instructor, but I was still the one to do it.
I wish we had only 2-3 people pass meds each day last semester. There were 9 of us on a med-surg/ortho/post-op floor and typically half of us had 2 patients by mid-semester. 0800 & 0900 meds were dreadful to get passed on time and my instructor was very picky about us passing with her whenever possible. It was even more difficult as we were split between 2 floors so it was hard to find her or get to be "next in line".
I rarely did meds in any of my semesters. My 2nd, I did a few not really though. Like the one post said before, the hospitals I go to were currently undergoing computer changes at the time. I am in my 4th semester now and give all meds.. Instructor by my side or nurse. I think its instructor preference. Some want to be with you at all times.. I know mine does, and I am glad!! Two heads are better than one, and I won't have that when I'm on my own. You will get there!! This has been my best semester yet.. :) 4th semester is where it's at!
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My current clinical instructor is an organized, vet nurse who believes in pushing us off the deep end (with her acting as a lifeguard just in case). Yesterday was the real first day of clinical and she supervised every one in our group distribute their patient's meds. Although it was more stress on her part having to go from room to room to let us do it on time, by the end of the day I felt a lot more comfortable administering medication.
There is a caveat though. Because she was so busy, she was not there to answer other questions. I relied a lot on the nurses including one new grad who took me under her wing. They helped me practice my skills like bathing and assessing. They showed me how to document. Meds are important but not the most important. You will get there, don't worry!