Anxiety over Clinical Placement

[christianflutegirl]

Hi everyone,

I am currently in my forth year of my nursing degree and I have had this ongoing issue of being really anxious before clinical, to the point where I cannot sleep and get panic attacks.

Obviously this makes it hard to get through a 12 hour shift. I am currently on a maternity floor, which isn't too busy, but I still have issues with my anxiety.

I was wondering if there is anything that you guys do to try to mentally get ready for clinical. I tend to not be able o stop thinking about things, so I lay awake in bed for a lot of night, going over and over things which have happened, or things that I anticipate happening.

Thanks so much for your help.

[HappyMeNow]

Can you be more specific about what it is at clinical that makes you tense? Is it the patients, your instructor, fellow classmates?

[bananimal]

I believe I am now an expert on managing my clinical anxiety (: I hope this helps.

It begins with being thoroughly prepared. Mondays we go to our clinical sites to get our patient information, and then Tuesdays we do our patient care. Monday I get OVER prepared by looking up all their problems, drugs, labs, procedures, etc. Then, I make a PLAN of what I'm going to do/what I need to get done. It doesn't always work out that way, but going in with a plan seems to really help my anxiety!

I have a prescription for Ambien that I only need to take on the nights before clinical because my anxiety also keeps me up. I take it nice and early so I get a full nights rest, so I'm better able to handle the next day. You could try getting a prescription from your doctor for a sleep aid, or you could try Unisom, or benadryl or tylenol pm.. whatever works for you.

I wake up and have a BIG breakfast, because I tend to get really light-headed if I don't lol.

Then I will listen to some really upbeat music to loosen me up and get me psyched for the day!

It has really worked well for me so far. I think exercising and eating healthy in general will also help (it helps everything!). Maybe try some meditation and some deep breathing exercises in your car before you go into the building.

Good luck!