Clinical advice

DowntheRiver · Jul 13, 2015

Two instructors that I remember from clinical:

1. An instructor that was "unique" but fought like hell to get us access on all the floors in the hospital. Because of her, my clinical group was the only group that got to rotate in the ER for two separate semesters. She was quirky and kind of strange-looking but very friendly. She gave us just the right amount of supervision - she'd be there if we needed to do a procedure but wasn't hovering over us all the time. She established relationships with floor nurses so we'd have awesome preceptors for our final semester. Sadly, she died the semester after we graduated after developing an infection from surgery. A ton of her former students went to her funeral.

2. The instructor that tried to be our friend, and not in the good way. The first time I met her I honestly thought she was high, no joke. She would curse, inappropriately joke around, and let us leave early. She showed obvious favoritism to a student and let that student do all the procedures while the rest of us fended for ourselves. We also got little feedback on our performance because she hadn't seen us do anything.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Jul 13, 2015

I really like that my current CI only has us complete the portions of paperwork that are relevant. She also gave us options on which physical assessment form to use, so we had a choice.

I like that my current CI uses common sense regarding skills. If we are comfortable and can demonstrate competence to her, we can do certain skills independently.

I also like that she uses her cell phone to allow us to communicate with her to ask her permission and / or presence so that we can do a certain skill when the opportunity arises.

I also like that she is pretty available, walking the units and asking if there's a skill we would like her to supervise.

sandytoes · Jul 13, 2015

I really like that my current CI only has us complete the portions of paperwork that are relevant. She also gave us options on which physical assessment form to use, so we had a choice.
I like that my current CI uses common sense regarding skills. If we are comfortable and can demonstrate competence to her, we can do certain skills independently.
I also like that she uses her cell phone to allow us to communicate with her to ask her permission and / or presence so that we can do a certain skill when the opportunity arises.
I also like that she is pretty available, walking the units and asking if there's a skill we would like her to supervise.

I think we have the same instructor! Lol my favorite CI sounds a lot like that. Available but not hovering. Demanding but not mean. She expected professional behavior but was also very encouraging and your biggest ally!! She had us do a lot of reporting, even if to our group only in conference.... Which helped us feel confident in handoff. She also grabbed us all if something cool was going on or neat to see. Also expected at least one head to toe physical exam from you that she was in on. She provided great feedback and always made me comfortable with questions. I have not had a bad CI, thankfully but some in my program have..

JaxJax5423 · Jul 13, 2015

Great advice. Thanks

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Jul 13, 2015

Bwahahaha Sandytoes! I dunno, I'm just so thankful to have the opportunity to be in the RN bridge program that I am grateful for any and all positive opportunities. But yes, my CI has been awesome! Don't get me wrong, I came home one day super stressed, but over all, I'm thankful. I try to be a glass half full type of gal. ðŸ˜€ðŸ˜€

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Jul 13, 2015

I like a clinical instructor who tells us their expectations from the very beginning. I like them to make sure that we the students are treated with respect and ensures we treat staff with respect. I like it when they don't hover, but adequately guide us.

I had the most awesome CI last semester. I knew from the get go what she wanted us to learn from her. She was patient and did not yell or criticize me in front of a patient. We did not get to do much my first semester Beto d basic ADLs. I was worried about not remembering how to do stuff from fundamentals. She eased my nerves from the beginning, and was awesome in guiding me through procedures.

Our first day in the hospital, you could just tell this floor did not want students there. I was assigned to a nurse that hated her job and made no bones about that. I tried to break the ice with her asking her questions about her schooling and what she loved about her job. Just little chit chat here and there to get us more comfortable with one another. She proceeded to tell me she did not like it and if she had known what nursing was like, she would have chosen something else. Then she got a new admit from a doctor she did not like and her attitude went from bad to worse.

My instructor pulled us from the floor that day. This nurse slammed doors in my face and u was not allowed to observe a skin assessment. It was my first day and my instructor told me to only

observe which is what I was doing. My instructor did not allow us to be treated that way and it made me feel better that she had our back. On the same note, I would expect her to pull me if I ever disrespected a nurse in any manner.

Because of this instructor, I became much more proficient as a student nurse. I became better in time management, charting, med passes, assessing patients and what to look for and why with those assessments. I also gained confidence. I can never thank her enough.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Jul 15, 2015

The other thing I like about my current CI is that she is pretty supportive / doesn't belittle me or make me feel stupid.

Some CIs have such a great bedside manner that they make us student nurses feel more confident when they are around.

The other thing about my CI I like, now, is that she forced us to be aggressive about getting opportunities to perform skills. At first I didn't want to be aggressive with looking for "skills". But I learned in a couple of days with her, to get out there and find opportunities to do things.

Jenngirl34RN · Jul 15, 2015

Some of things that made my favorite CIs favorites:

1. Be available, and check in, but don't hover all the time.

2. Encourage students to find good observation or practice opportunities

3. Be available for questions or concerns, without getting angry at students if they need to ask you something (within reason)

4. Ask questions about the patient and the situation and help to think things through...I learned so much from two of my CIs in particular because they would ask a lot of questions that really made me think critically.