Any tips on how to protect your self in a clinic?

[Life22feb]

Hi, I'm a new LVN, I was offered a job at a clinic but I'm kinda nervous because I've never worked at a clinic before. Everything is electronic charting. How do you protect your license when working at a clinic? What tips can you give me for those who have worked at a clinic? Thank you for your help.

[ivyleaf]

document everything, esp in tele triage. if you are unsure about anything, as the doc or NP. use tele triage protocols, esp if you are not running things by the doc. also, never downgrade a pt a triage level (as in office visit vs ED) unless doc or NP OKs. I have worked in a clinic for the past 1.5 yrs.

Also, no scanning (if you are used to that) so make sure to double check your meds. With pedi vaccines, if you are not familiar, keep cheat sheets for timing and method (sq vs im)

[Guest219794]

Go online to your board of nursing website.

Check out how others have lost licenses.

Don't do what they did.

[TriciaJ, RN]

Go online to your board of nursing website.

Check out how others have lost licenses.

Don't do what they did.

You can't get advice more succinct than that.

[Lane Therrell FNP, MSN, RN, NP]

All the advice you've received so far is excellent, and I have a few additional thoughts to share which might help you decide whether to embrace this new opportunity or not. I'm a clinic-oriented nurse practitioner, myself, so this (long) comment comes straight from the heart.

When you are making a decision work in a clinic environment, there are a few key questions you need to ask: 1) What kind of clinic is it? (ie, urgent care, family practice, specialty, etc); 2)What are the other staff members' levels of licensure? 3) What kind of training will you receive and is there a probation period? Here are my thoughts on each:

1) The type of clinic will determine the pace of work and over-all work environment, and will drive the specific kinds of interventions and duties you'll be asked to perform. For example, urgent care clinics in urban areas can be super-fast-paced while a family practice clinic in a remote rural area can move at a slower pace that some people might find intolerably boring. In general, an LVN at a clinic is likely to end up rooming patients, facilitating in-office procedures, and performing office-like duties-- such as answering phones, confirming/rescheduling appointments, following up on transfers of medical records, physician orders, prescriptions, insurance paperwork, etc. These types of things should be made clear in a job written job description. In your job interview, you might want to ask what a typical day for you might be like.

2) The levels of licensure held by other clinic staff can help you anticipate whether you might run into trouble regarding your own scope practice as an LVN. Are there other LVNs at the clinic, or are you the first/only one? Does the clinic employ RNs? Do they employ Medical Assistants? Are the providers nurse practitioners, physicians assistants or physicians? If you are the first/only LVN the clinic has hired, or if there are no RNs or NPs on staff, you may need to be prepared to educate your co-workers about the LVN role and scope of practice. In my experience, non-nurses often do not understand that there is a difference between MA and LVN or LVN and RN. (By the way, when you frame it as "educating others" regarding the LVN role you remove yourself from a defensive or protective stance and can enter a more professional frame of mind that will work to your advantage in any environment).

3) You will definitely benefit from training, especially regarding the clinic's EMR platform (not all EMRs are created equal or are easy to use). Be prepared to ask about training in your job interview -- and remember that a probation period works both ways, so if you discover after a couple of weeks that that particular clinic environment is not a good fit for you, you should feel free to move on to greener pastures. Be sure to ask about this in the interview; if they don't have a training plan in place maybe you can negotiate for one, and if they're not willing to train you, that's a potential sign that you may not want to work there.

After all the great advice you received from this post, I hope you'll feel sufficiently confident to at least give it a try! Clinics can be incredibly rewarding environments. And of course, please keep us posted on how it works out for you.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Just reading the title of the thread, my answer was going to be 'open carry'.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Just reading the title of the thread, my answer was going to be 'open carry'.

What about that little bit of "protection" guys used to carry in their wallet?

Too far?

[Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA]

Nursing schools really do make new nurses come in walking on eggshells, afraid they're going to lose their license for the slightest social faux pas. A few years in the field seems to be all it takes to get them to calm down, but until then I take the opportunities I can with the students I help to let them know: you're going to make mistakes, you're going to drop pills or forget little details, and yeah it sucks, and you may even cause minor adverse things with your inexperience

Lmao Hi, we haven't gotten acquainted yet. I'm the Atomic Stig and I'm a pre-nursing student and I've probably carpet bombed this website with my "walking on egg shells" type anxiety of what nursing school will be like. Quite a few members on here are familiar with me and my posts. Hopefully, some will see this comment and back it up. They've seen all my posts with how I psych myself up. Nice to meet you :)

Yep, you're right cause I feel that's what it's going to be like even while I'm in nursing school lol A few years? Wow...that's going to suck...