I need some honest opinions from people outside my circle, as all of my fellow students share my same opinion and all the faculty blow sunshine up my you know what, when I even hint that the situation isn't right. So here is the deal...
Me: Adult senior student in BSN program at local university
Preceived problem/issue: Clinical assignments
History:
Fall semester junior year - 10 wks clinical mostly focused on CNA duties w/some assessment
Spring semester junior year- 7 wks med/surg where I passed meds 3 times, then 7 wks mental health where I observed patients (not shadowing nurses) in different settings (eating disorders, adolescence, geriatrics, etc)
Fall semester 2011 -
14 wks med/surg at a nursing home, where I (a BSN student) shadow an LPN whose primary duties is to administer medications to 30-45 patients in their 8 hours shift.
*LPN's, please don't be offended or turn this thread into an arguement of LPN's vs BSN"s. I fully appreciate that I can learn a lot from an LPN and these people bust their A** all day, every day. My issue is that my university placed me in a clinical situation where I am shadowing a nurse who 98 % of the time is handing out PO meds to long term residents, who are primarily stable (because they take 17 meds 3 times a day...OMG).
Community clinical-public health nursing- 7 wks at a local health dept whose budget has been desimated, so we spend our time watching CD's, observing employees in the Lead Poisoning program, or shadowing health inspectors. One was lucky enough to do an at home visit w/an actual nurse meeting w/an at risk mother.
My feelings- I am ANGRY. My primary complaint is that I feel like I am paying a ton of money to learn how to do everyone elses job. My mental health clinical taught me the job of behavioral health specialist (the counselors), my current med/surg clinical is teaching me what it is like to be a full-time CNA (as when I am done assessing and medicating my patient I answer call lights all day, as there are never enough CNA's to help the residents and my community clinical, where I am learning the jobs of health inspector and other misc health dept personnel.
The final thing I will say is I appreciate that all of these people are part of the health care team and I need to have an understanding of what they do, but I have a finite amount of time to learn NURSING, and it feels like I am learning anything but. While I think every student nurse would do well to be exposed to a nursing home setting, I am spending the greatest chunk of my clinical experience there, while my classmates in other clinical groups are one on one w/ICU nurses, in IV clinics, and in hospitals with acute patients, experiencing hospital nursing.
Am I wrong? Should I believe my instructors who give me the party line of "it's a good opportunity to learn____" fill in the blank. I feel like the clinical portion of this nursing program is substandard and I keep getting sunshine in an attempt to deflect the fact that I am in fact right. Please tell me what you think, as I am about to lose it!
Specializes in Early Intervention, Nsg. Education.
Reading many of these posts is making me realize how fortunate I was to get the clinical experience I did. Before I got my RN, I earned my LPN in a hospital-based program. We were out on the floors from the first week. We did have evening rotations and I think a few 3rd shift in OB and ER, but our "regular" clinical was 3 days/week, 7:00-1:30 on the floor and 1:45-3:00 or 3:30 in the NS building behind the hospital, with classes 8:00 to 3:30 Mon and Fri. Except for a few special rotations (VNA, OB office, other things I can't remember), all of our clinical was in that one hospital. By the time we graduated in late summer, we were doing pretty much everything and most of us ended up working at that hospital, at least as a new grad.
We started the year with 25 students and 15 graduated. The instructors were very "well-seasoned" and expected 100% preparation and participation from everyone. The result was 15 nurses who knew their stuff and slid seamlessly into LPN positions at the hospital. One thing that slipped my mind until I ran across some pictures a few days ago: we earned our caps, and wore them every single day! Do any programs require caps anymore?
That sounds exactly like my school. We have 4 clinical groups and all four groups are doing things that are completely different. My group is the one that is focused on CNA type things. Not a surprise considering I just discovered today that our clinical instructor has only been licensed for 3 years.
Did it occur to you that its the site who sets the rules for rotation and not the fact that your instructor has been "only licensed for three years?" Do you honestly believe that if they had 30 years of experience that you would be allowed to do more? Many sites don't want students in their facilities to begin with. With this economy those who do let students in are routinely demanding the students be given CNA duties. Its win win for them, they can send half their CNAs home, let the students do that job for free and get paid to even let the students in the building. Yes thats right in my area the "good" hospitals are PAID by the nursing schools to take students which is another reason why tuition costs keep climbing.
Yes thats right in my area the "good" hospitals are PAID by the nursing schools to take students which is another reason why tuition costs keep climbing.
This is true which explains sometimes why the for profit schools have more prestigious clinical placements than some more reputable but not so expensive schools
Did it occur to you that its the site who sets the rules for rotation and not the fact that your instructor has been "only licensed for three years?" Do you honestly believe that if they had 30 years of experience that you would be allowed to do more? Many sites don't want students in their facilities to begin with. With this economy those who do let students in are routinely demanding the students be given CNA duties. Its win win for them, they can send half their CNAs home, let the students do that job for free and get paid to even let the students in the building. Yes thats right in my area the "good" hospitals are PAID by the nursing schools to take students which is another reason why tuition costs keep climbing.[/quote
No, that's not it. If you had read what I said, the other clinical groups at the SAME hospital, aren't having these problems. There is nothing, as far as nursing skills, that we're not allowed to do at this hospital. It's wide open. The problem IS my suck a** instructor. He has no business teaching with his very limited experience. He also clearly hates teaching so I'm not sure why he's even there. Thankfully, his sorry self will be gone in 4 more weeks. We can't wait.
No CNAs are sent home, they just sit around on their wide butts all day.
I find your clinical experience to be disturbing, too.
There is so much to see and get your hands on.
I had wonderful clinical assignments in a wide variety of areas. I got something out of each of those (even if it was just the knowledge that I hated Peds, lol) and could always get my hands on something and learn how to do it.
All for the cost of a community college.
While I fully believed there is a lot to be learned about your pt as you do "CNA work", I also believe that if that is all you do, then you are missing out and having a p*** poor experience.
On the bright side, you seem interested enough in your education that you will probably learn quickly and do a great job once you are finally working the floor as a new grad.
I'm sorry you are paying for for a crappy clinical experience.
Normally, I'd say that a student only gets out what they put in... but if you can't touch anything or do anything... well... you're sorta screwed there.
We are allowed to do pretty much anything, the problem is that there is no opportunity on the floor I am assigned to. We get a lot of hospice patients and the nurses don't really do anything with them except pass a few meds. The non-hospice patients we get are usually in for things like pneumonia or bronchitis. Not much to do there either.
My classmates are on other floors and they see a lot more action. I think we should have been rotated instead of stuck on one floor the entire semester.
I'm sure my instructor loves having nothing to do. Keeps him from having to do any instructing, you know.
My clinical rotation on Med Surg was fantastic. My instructor had us go with a nurse for 12 hours and do everything she did. We did more in one 12 hours shift than the other groups did all semester. The problem is that one of the instructors thinks that we should have one patient and do everything. More CNA than nurse. It's frustrating because we have done all that the last two semesters. It is time to learn more. I am not above doing anything on the floor, but I have to learn! The upshot of it is that the instructor who has a hair across it is angry and now we are all being shuffled around out of our clinical groups. They will probably lose a great clinical instructor because of it. Very frustrating.
My clinical rotation on Med Surg was fantastic. My instructor had us go with a nurse for 12 hours and do everything she did. We did more in one 12 hours shift than the other groups did all semester. The problem is that one of the instructors thinks that we should have one patient and do everything. More CNA than nurse. It's frustrating because we have done all that the last two semesters. It is time to learn more. I am not above doing anything on the floor, but I have to learn! The upshot of it is that the instructor who has a hair across it is angry and now we are all being shuffled around out of our clinical groups. They will probably lose a great clinical instructor because of it. Very frustrating.
What you describe is how my school's clinicals USED to be set up. But a couple of years ago, some nurses complained about some students who had bad attitudes. I guess they ruined it for all of us so its no longer done that way. My instructor, as crappy as he is, wants to do it that way but unfortunately, the nurses on the floor we're on are so overworked and overloaded with patients that they don't really have time to fool with us. A couple of them are willing to do it every now and then but the nurse I was with is a brand new nursing school graduate. I hate to say it, but I learned nothing that day.
Thankfully, I have TWO more days at this clinical site and then I'll be in my final semester at a huge metro hospital with a DIFFERENT CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR! :yeah:
We are allowed to do pretty much anything, the problem is that there is no opportunity on the floor I am assigned to. We get a lot of hospice patients and the nurses don't really do anything with them except pass a few meds. The non-hospice patients we get are usually in for things like pneumonia or bronchitis. Not much to do there either.
My classmates are on other floors and they see a lot more action. I think we should have been rotated instead of stuck on one floor the entire semester.
I'm sure my instructor loves having nothing to do. Keeps him from having to do any instructing, you know.
Of course I'm biased but I think there is a lot to learn from a hospice patient. :)
Glad to hear your moving to a big metro hospital. Other members of my cohort who did their clinicals at a busy county hospital got a great ( though scarily unsupervised ) experience because they let them have the run of the place
Of course I'm biased but I think there is a lot to learn from a hospice patient. :)
Glad to hear your moving to a big metro hospital. Other members of my cohort who did their clinicals at a busy county hospital got a great ( though scarily unsupervised ) experience because they let them have the run of the place
I'm not really saying there isn't anything to learn from hospice patients, its just that we aren't normally assigned to them and the nurses don't do much with them in general. The hospice nurse comes in and does her thing.
I do know that I wouldn't want to do hospice as a job. It takes a special kind of person and I'm not it.
Oh, and, I have to say, we haven't been very closely supervised so far...
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:yeah:
mercurysmom
156 Posts
Reading many of these posts is making me realize how fortunate I was to get the clinical experience I did. Before I got my RN, I earned my LPN in a hospital-based program. We were out on the floors from the first week. We did have evening rotations and I think a few 3rd shift in OB and ER, but our "regular" clinical was 3 days/week, 7:00-1:30 on the floor and 1:45-3:00 or 3:30 in the NS building behind the hospital, with classes 8:00 to 3:30 Mon and Fri. Except for a few special rotations (VNA, OB office, other things I can't remember), all of our clinical was in that one hospital. By the time we graduated in late summer, we were doing pretty much everything and most of us ended up working at that hospital, at least as a new grad.
We started the year with 25 students and 15 graduated. The instructors were very "well-seasoned" and expected 100% preparation and participation from everyone. The result was 15 nurses who knew their stuff and slid seamlessly into LPN positions at the hospital. One thing that slipped my mind until I ran across some pictures a few days ago: we earned our caps, and wore them every single day!
Do any programs require caps anymore?