Any of you make excellent grades but suck at skills?

[aem31]

I'm curious as to how many of you started off with really good grades but found yourself floundering and feeling awkward in lab and clinicals. I've made straight A's so far during this first semester but I feel so clumsy and unnatural with skills. I certainly have the knowledge but I become an idiot when I have to do stuff. Any tips?

[ok2bme]

Oyes you are not alone. I'm an RN now, but as a student I was so bad at clinicals that my precepter made me do mandatory time in the skills lab. I would recommend this to anyone struggling clinically. You will hopefully get 1:1 guidance and repitition with skills you would otherwise do sporadically in clinical. Repitition yields confidence and comfort with skills. Best of luck!

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Prioritize what's more important to you, skills or grades. Or both?

For me, it's both. I do very well in school, but when you're fumbling in clinicals, it does not inspire confidence in your preceptor (regardless of how good-natured they might be), and more importantly, the patient.

I sometimes get frustrated when clinical instructors say that skills come in due time. I personally think they go hand-in-hand, and I wish today's nursing schools would realize that knowing your stuff and competence at skills is what makes a confident nurse...it's not one or the other. After all, good, efficient patient care is both, right? How difficult is it to include both in today's curricula?

However, I do find solace in DeLanaHarvickwannabe's post. :)

[Spikey9001, BSN, RN]

It's the opposite for me. I excel in clinical skills but my grades are horrible!

[latebloomer74, LPN]

As a student, I was always near the top of the class in the classroom part ... but always felt awkward in the clinical part of my schooling. That was true for me in graduate school as well.

Here's the good news. Feeling awkward and clumsy in school clinicals does not mean that you will be clinically deficient on the job after graduation. I found that when I was in the actual RN role and working with a patient as a professional, a lot of the awkwardness disappeared. I was a competent staff nurse -- and an excellent charge nurse. (I now do education and research.) For me, it was something in role of nursing student that made the situation (and me) uncomfortable.

I still find myself clinically ucomfortable in certain situations -- usually while learning something new and being "checked off." But I do fine when I am alone with a patient and that patient is counting me.

This gives me hope, thank you.

I feel like the world's biggest dumb*** when it comes to skills but the lecture and lab written exams were so easy for me. It doesn't help when you do something for the 1st time in clinical and are asked "Is this your 1st time doing this in clinical?", I say yes and CI says "It shows". Thanks for the support. I get so frusturated I want to cry:crying2:

[MissJulie]

Actually, I'm the opposite! In class I'm an average student, but in clinicals and lab, I feel a lot better! I guess I'm just a hands-on learner :)

[vitaminA]

You will do fine....have faith in yourself & like I read above, laugh at yourself and with others. Remember, when you are finally an RN, no one will ask your grades, but your skills & knowledge will define who you are as an RN.

[Fuzzy]

This is kind of a mind or matter method. Most skills are practiced in front of someone usually a student and/or the instructor. This is why many people with good grades have a hard time with skills. They can study the non-skills portion themselves and take those tests privately. Not so when learning skills. There's always an audience.

First, relax. It's hard but take a big breath before you start the skill. Sure people may look at you weird but taking that big breath will put your body and mind at ease. After all you cannot do the skill unless you have some O2 floating through your body. The more people tense up the less they breathe, the less they breathe, the more they tense up...see the cycle here. So several deep breathes will make this go easier. As you approach the skill, smile a bit. a small smile will give many people confidence and will help some with relaxation. Finally have a mental picture as to what you want to accomplish. Picture the skill step by step. Picture yourself doing the skill step by step. Make sure that your picture shows you doing the skill perfectly.

To learn the skill, watch several people do the skill. Make sure that the person is doing this skill profienctly. Don't watch the skill itself but observe the person's body language, how they hold themselves, breathing, how the equipment is handled, etc. You already know what the end product is supposed to look like, you need to observe how to get there.

Practice but practice correctly. You want this skill to become a part of you. Doing the skill should be as automatic as taking a breath. So in your practice, don't just practice the skill itself, but practice your breathing, where you are going to place parts of your anatomy to get it done, your picture of doing the skill perfectly, and all the steps to get there. Practice does not make perfect but perfect practice makes perfect.

I'm not a nurse but a veterinary technician. I have had the opportunity to teach assistants, vet tech students, new vet techs, pre vet students, vet students, and graduate vets everything from the simplist nail trim on a dog to how to intubate a cat with severe squamous cell carcinoma in the phranyx plus quite a few other things that I won't mention here. The one thing they had in common is that they were scared to death the first time that they tried the skill no matter how simple or how difficult that it seemed.

Fuzzy

[mackie818]

I was also a straight A student in school and felt inadequate when in clinicals and working. It just takes time, experience and practice. Don't shy away from the things you've never done or feel uncomfortable with. Volunteer to do new things, ask for help when you're unsure; the more you do it, the more comfortable you will feel. Also, whenever you possibly can get time, go in a talk with your patients, sometimes they just need someone to talk with and you will feel more comfortable when needing to perform a skill on the patient.

[NancyPie]

I still get out my skills packets from nursing school & go over them. Perhaps not as much as I should. It will definately improve confidence to have them down.

[MaritesaRN]

I'm curious as to how many of you started off with really good grades but found yourself floundering and feeling awkward in lab and clinicals. I've made straight A's so far during this first semester but I feel so clumsy and unnatural with skills. I certainly have the knowledge but I become an idiot when I have to do stuff. Any tips?

hi , skills are not learned from books . You practice a lot to get the skills. so heads up. Practice makes perfect , or you may be jsut so nervous, maybe?

[tech1000]

I think it's normal. If you have time, maybe you could get a tech job somewhere? I feel much better about clinical skills since I work in a hospital. All my friends feel lost. You need practice to be able to do this stuff without being awkard and that'll come with time.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

I came into this having been a paramedic so a lot of the skills I had either already mastered, and many of the others I have seen. It's always good to brush up though.

All that said, I'm finding that I like knowing much more than I like doing, lol. Understanding the why and how is much more appealing to me now than actually implementing an action for healthcare purposes. I've learned this in the last couple of months.