BSN practicum student

[chiongo]

Dear Nurses,

I have been so much in love with this site. I come a lot to read the minds of practicing nurses especially now that I am on a summer break.

I have a question and seeking advice. I have never worked in the hospital before. The only hospital close to me had like 4 open position for coops and by the time I had to sign up for an interview all sports were full. I work though with people with disabilities but missing hospital experience apart from several clinicals that I have been going through while in nursing school. I am now going for my last semester in the fall. It scares me that I am graduating in Dec and feels that gap in me, I have the theory but the connection with practical setting, feels its missing. Next semester I will have to do a 6 week practicum ( may be things will get better after that experience). I wanted to ask you, what do you expect from me as student if you were my preceptor? I really want to try to give the best shot I can, any other advice you might think I need to know beofore I go for practicum and how to prepare my self?

Thanks for reading.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

is your practicum more than 16 hours a week? if so, you'll have a much better chance of integrating all you've learned (and plan to learn a lot more) with the benefit of repetition and variety of chances to apply things in different ways. that's the point of a practicum.

the staff nurse they assign you to will probably have an interest in working with a student, an ability to see things through your eyes, and a good memory of what it was to be clueless and eager all at once. if you don't sense this from him/her, now and then remind him/her how you are doing so your experiences can be modified to be helpful in meeting your objectives.

speaking of objectives, remember that the purpose of the last semester in nursing school or a long practicum like this is not to fill in a checklist of tasks. it is to begin to socialize into the role of a working staff rn. that's not to say that you won't get a chance to see/do/practice tasks and work on that checklist; you will, and you will do it all your working life as you encounter new ones. it's also not to get you up on how to behave in the break room :)

it is to have you begin to internalize what it is to be a nurse. that's including developing an enhanced sense of professionalism and personal responsibility for your acts (trust me, it's different than being a student nurse), a sense of curiosity for lifelong learning, and a sense of collegiality with peers. enjoy it!

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Do you know where you will be?

[chiongo]

@GRNTea: Thanks for the advice. I will be working around 15-30 hours a week. Once again, thanks so much for a thorough response. @Tyvin: I will be in Telemetry Unit.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

GrnTea did an excellent job on her post; very well said. What more can I add but that it's all of everything you've learned and you get to apply it. I remember that my instructor was skittish and the nurses were great. It gives you the opportunity to start looking at your role as a nurse and start to figure out how you are going to apply what you've learned; what type of nurse do you want to be.

We did ours with the evening shift which was great. We were expected to be there for report and be there to give report to the night shift. It was a little bit more relaxed since it was evenings and the nurses had more time to devote to us. We were instructed to take as many patients as we felt comfortable with but it couldn't exceed 4. We were lucky to be with nurses who really wanted to let us experience the real thing with patient care and all it entails (very lucky).

I can't recall how many weeks we did this clinical but my program was extremely clinically based. It seems like we did clinical for years which we did but lots of it. I believe we did this one evenings practicum in the third quarter. That left fourth quarter for finalizing and presentation of the capstone projects.

I am proud to have my BSN. It has opened many doors for me ... it will serve you well.

Congratulations on your future success

[MissPinkrnbsn]

I had no hospital experience besides my clinical rotations during school and I had a great experience during my senior practicum. I remember being so worried about what to expect but it all worked out wonderfully! My preceptor was great and the staff was also very friendly. Near the end of my rotation, I really felt like I had grown so much in just that short amount of time. It is really an awesome feeling!

Best of luck with your last clinical!!!!