Clinical Instructor site problems...need ideas

[sexyrn1]

Hello all. I'm going to make a long story short. I have a group of RN nursing students who are unable to go to the clinical site. We are now going into the 4th week of clinical and the hospial is basically yanking our chain. Now I have to come up with some creative ideas for the students to partake in because they will not be onsite for clinical. We have to have "clinical" at the school and I have no idea what to have them do during this time. The nursing simulation lab is out of the question because it will be in use all day. Any ideas are welcome...Thanks!!!

[pattyjo, MSN, RN]

Could you create a clinical scenario or maybe find one on line? Sometimes the text book publishers include these in their online resources. Perhaps your students could work in teams and then come together for a discussion.

Good luck with this; I had something similar happen recently and I'm trying to find a replacement experience as well.

[Blu rose]

Last semster, my clinical instructor got sick so, we didn't go to the clinical. She gave us some make up assignments instead. She gave us many scenarios with loads of information about the patient and asked us to write many mini care plans for the patients.

Well, I don't know how will your students learn and practice new things though. Maybe find a classroom and do assessments on each other? :/

[NoviceRN10]

It's hard to give you advice if we don't know how far along your students are in their program, or what rotation they are currently in :).

[JustJen, BSN, RN]

An alternate site? Maybe rather than a traditional hospital, a hospice or maybe a dialysis center?

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Can you have other students or faculty come into the class to act as patients? Borrow some supplies from the skills lab and give the students a senario and some (non invasive) interventions to perform. PO medications, dressing changes, vitals, hanging IV meds, priming lines, doing assessments, mouth care, etc.

You can also create a list of possible clinical senarios and have the students come up with ways to address them. They can do this individually, in pairs or in small groups. For example: Your pt is Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith has a trachestomy connected to a heated trach collar at 5L/min. You walk into the room and find Mr. Smith struggling to breathe. What do you do? Adjust the senarios based on the skill level of your group.

Also, see if you can find out what equipment will be used in the simulation lab. If there are spare manniquins or equipment that you can borrow for your students during that time.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

moved to our nursing educators & faculty forum for sage advice.

[BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN]

You've gotten some very good advice so far. I've been in your shoes (kicked out when JCAHO came to visit). This was before sim lab, so we needed to come up with some case studies. IMO, this is the best thing to do in a pinch. The key is, making it meaningful. I've done ones that were literally taken from real life; actual patients that I've cared for. Or you can find some through your texts instructor resources online.

[dabearrn]

Depending on where your students are in your program... I have done the following... Give the scenario of a patient who is coming into the ED. Full H&P info, with the treatment given in the ED. Have your students (in small groups) determine a plan of care for that patient from ED admission through to discharge from the hospital after a 2 week stay. Then one week of home health visits. Include Nsg Dx, c all interventions, pt. teaching, meds, etc... A couple of days into his/her admission planning, give your patient a set back that your students will have to deal with to get your client through to discharge.

We have a TINY hospital that we use, so I have to do these exercises several times a semester because the census is too low.