Am I the only one that hates clinical?

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Im a nursing I student just finishing up the semester. I DREAD going to clinical. Absolutely hate it. Our student teacher ratio is10:1, and have not lost any students in that area. Meanwhile other groups are down to 4:1. I find it disorganized and hectic, and we were given little direction. When we could find the instructor (she was very nice) she was too busy w/ other students concentrating on passing meds. The first day at the nursing home we were told to give a.m. care...huh? what was that Im glad I wasnt the only one who didnt know what that was (example of the disorganization). Why are we (the last week of school) learning how to do an assessment..I guess I have to just suck it up. Other then that, I love lectures, and the material but this clinical thing stinks !

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Rehab, NICU, Peds.
Hey, I have to defend the OP here. How would she know what the exact tasks were for AM care at that particular institution as a new student --and she isn't a CNA? It's not intuitive --it needs to be stated.

:yeahthat: I guess I have to agree - my initial kneejerk reaction was also "you don't know what A.M. care is?", but, then I stopped myself and remembered my very first days several years ago working in long term care and how foreign everything was, geez, I didn't even know what a commode was. I felt like an idiot but I caught on quickly. You know, everyone has to start somewhere.

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I'm about to start my last semester and I'm so excited to start working with a preceptor rather than going to clinicals. I absolutely love patient care, but after working for a year as an aide, it's hard to go from caring for 9 pts at work to only one or two in clinicals. I understand the importance of having an instructor watching pretty much everything the students do, but I feel useless when I have to hunt down my instructor so I can give a patient the pain meds he needs. It will be more challenging working with a nurse one on one, but I think I'll learn a whole lot more. Oh, and I agree with some of the other posters regarding auscultation. I feel like I'm just guessing what the sound was half the time. I've been lucky to have a number of very helpful nurses though. When it sounds different, I ask a second opinion. I think that's a skill you just have to work on over and over again.

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Specializes in Developmental Disabilities, LTC.

My preceptorship is sometime next semester, too. I'm excited, but also sooo nervous. I don't feel like I'm prepared for this at all...does anyone have any preceptorship stories? What's it like? What actually happens...I've heard it all depends on your preceptor...that some will just dump all their pts on you while others only let you have 1 or 2 and then watch every little thing that you do.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

I hated ALL med/surg clinicals. I just despise regular floor nursing. ICU on the other hand - that was awesome. I just didnt' like getting up early in the am because I'm a night person and night shifts are way more my thing.

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.
I just didnt' like getting up early in the am because I'm a night person and night shifts are way more my thing.

:yeahthat: I especially love having to get up at O'dark thirty after being up all night doing prep work -- UGH!!

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I hate clinicals too because with my first CI the whole experience was about trying to catch the students screwing up and to put them on probation or fail them. Now I'm completely paranoid in clinicals and can't trust the instructors.

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My clinical class has not lost any students either. Our ratio is 8:1. Our teacher has concentrated pretty much on documentation. I feel that there are so many opportunities on the surgical floor to see/do procedures like catheters, enemas, ng tubes, and such. Other groups from my school in the same semester have done a ton of stuff. And our group...you guessed it, documentation. And my teacher is so militant. She has three favorites and the rest of us she really lays into our care plans and docs. I am really sweating my last clinical this tuesday. One week the word regular is ok and another its totally wrong! UGH! One more clinical, I just hope she passes me!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.

just like the OP, I had never been in a hospital before when I started nursing school. I had some limited experience with medical terminology and some general skills like starting IVs and taking BPs which from MA school...which I never finished due to special circumstances (but that's another thread lol)

Anyway, in general I was a fish out of water...totally and I struggled with common medical/nursing slang, reading charts, identifying staff (who was who, who did what), etc. I was miserable first semester even though I loved lecture and exceeded academically.

As I gained more experience, I became more efficient and more confident. I got a job as an extern in an ICU setting (which was terrifying at first but really accelerated my proficiency).

IT DOES GET EASIER.

And if you do not understand a term or what is required of you, just ask. Don't be afraid. They cannot fail you for asking "stupid" questions (and no question is stupid), but they will fail you for not meeting standards and making a mistake that could harm your patient. If you don't feel comfortable asking your instructor, ask the nurses, fellow classmates, or come here. Nobody was born to be a nurse, you grow into it through knowledge and experience.

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Specializes in OBGYN, Neonatal.

IT DOES GET EASIER.

And if you do not understand a term or what is required of you, just ask. Don't be afraid. They cannot fail you for asking "stupid" questions (and no question is stupid), but they will fail you for not meeting standards and making a mistake that could harm your patient. If you don't feel comfortable asking your instructor, ask the nurses, fellow classmates, or come here. Nobody was born to be a nurse, you grow into it through knowledge and experience.

I really enjoyed reading your response. It is really a good affirmation to what I'm doing.

thank you for saying it exactly how you said it! :yelclap:

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Specializes in OBGYN, Neonatal.

You are not alone in the distaste for clinical experiences to some extent. What it sounds like to me is that your experience was tainted by the class not prepping you well enough but hopefully as time goes on it will get better.

Sometimes we have a small ratio and do much better but sometimes not. It stinks! Sometimes we have an instructor that is on target with things and sometimes is a little talkative and not as fast but so far I've been blessed with all that I like with the exception of one who was just rude to everyone. and in front of patients!

I don't like med surg, don't know why exactly, I just don't but its a part of training and it does offer a wealth of learning opportunities so its good to do.

I'm almost done, one more semester - wishing you a better experience next time.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I really really hated my clinicals in nursing school years ago.

There just seemed to be a lack of direction and an inability to direct myself for fear of crossing some line. It was almost like this 'deer in the headlights' mentality. It's not that I didn't want to be in a hospital environment; it's that I just didn't want to be in an environment that I had no real control over.

Let me tell you a secret: the issue at play and why clinicals are so distasteful is one of autonomy. As a student, you have absolutely NO autonomy over the direction of care, and very little about your role in it.

As a 'real nurse': Autonomy is what I LOVE about my job. I have a 'give me report and then let me get started' mentality. For 12 hours every shift: ALL the reasons why you HATE clinicals are removed. I have autonomy, I set direction of my care, I have no eyes looking over my shoulders, unless I ask for them.

Learn all you can. It's a process, sort of you have to learn to crawl . . . But don't let bad experiences in clinicals taint your positive outlook for where you are going. There is a difference between clinicals and the real world and it is a difference that can only be approximated in school. So, tough it out and stick to learning everything you can, even if it's not on the planned 'menu' of things for you to do.

I'll tell you ONE of the things I learned in clinicals. I very closely watched the relationship dynamics of the nurses on the units: how they interacted with each other, patients, ancillary staff, doctors, admin, etc. etc. I looked at all these different examples of behavior extensively and when I was finally out on my own: I knew which behaviors I wanted to emulate and which I would never be guilty of doing. But more important, I very quickly not only recognized such behaviors in my peers, but I had observational experience on anticipating - and avoiding - some of the pitfalls of that behavior.

Good luck.

~faith,

Timothy.

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I wasn't overly excited about 1st quarter clinicals because we didn't get to do a whole lot and I just didn't know anything really. 2nd quarter was AWESOME! I loved getting to do the whole med pass (except IV push meds),wound care, assesments, watching procedures, D/C foleys, D/C IV's Hanging IV's etc... and learning so much. I hate getting up at 4:30 am, but that is just my own issue to deal with. I like to be busy so i liked the med-surg floors we were on... now that may change when i am a nurse and have 5-6 patients instead of 2 and no safety net....

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