Clinicals and anxiety???

[blueyedgaze]

Well I'm in my 3rd semester of a 4 semester associate's program. (YAHOO!!!) I have 11 months left until I can finally call myself an RN. At the beginning I was beyond confident with clinicals but as the semesters go on, my anxiety becomes worse and worse. I find it really wierd because I've been working at an ER for the past 7 years. Maybe it's the whole 'I'm not in control' aspect or the 'All eyes on me' and the dreaded white uniform?? Are anyone of you extremely anxious during clinical time? I have found that most of the hospitals that I'm in the census is very low and we only have 1 or 2 patients at a time. Also, all of my patients have been really really young (18-40) and can bathe themselves, get up and use the bathroom, feed themselves so all I've really done is given a shot or two, hung an IV, and made A LOT of beds. I beg and beg my instructors to give me people I can actually learn on but it still hasn't happened and I began this program in ******* September of 2010! Most of the time I walk around see if my classmates need help or just hide out and become soooooooooooooo bored. Anyone else frustrated as well with their experiences????

[Despareux]

Put yourself out there by meeting other nurses on the floor and see what they have going on. Or work on assessment skills with your patients. Do a psychosocial assessment. Study your patients charts--look for something new to share with your cohort. Do some patient teaching. If you dig deep enough, you'll find something interesting about your patient that can be an opportunity for you to learn and teach.

Really, the only time I was bored at clinical was during my mental health rotation. That was because I did not like that rotation and communication is work-in-progress for me. So maybe you're anxious and it manifests itself as boredom because you have a weakness that you haven't addressed for whatever reason. Yes, that's a very wild guess.

I hope you find your niche soon.