Clinicals..funnest or hardest part?

LacyGreen · Dec 30, 2013

**second

MissPriss618 · Dec 30, 2013

I've been pregnant since beginning nursing school in May, so with that being said clinical has NOT been my favorite lol.I wouldn't say that it's hard, but you are on your feet all day & staying busy.However, it's the clinical paperwork aspect that my program requires that I hate the absolute MOST about clinical.We have clinical two days per week, & many of us stay up until 2-3 am completing paperwork that has to be turned in when we arrive @ the clinical site @ 7 am (due to the fact that we get our assignment the EVENING prior, so it's not something that can be done in advance *side eye*).Not sure if all programs work this way, but if it weren't for ALL the paperwork (& being pregnant) I'd probably loveeee clinical lol.You get to see alot of different stuff, & it helps you connect the dots & actually apply what you learn in class.

SWM2009 · Dec 30, 2013

For me it really depended on the clinical instructor. I had a great one, some not so bad ones, and one who was just mean and made clinicals hell.

ready4nu · Dec 30, 2013

I have really liked my clinical instructors so far. Progress notes were complicated and time consuming last semester (for my group anyway), so if there was a bad part that was it. I always enjoy clinicals, the yuckier the better! The only bad experience I ever had was last semester, just one day, the nurse that had my patients was just a nasty, rotten person. She snatched something out of my hand and made stupid rules of how things needed to be done. My instructor agreed with me that her thinking was ridiculous, so I knew it wasn't me...lol.

Mainergal2000 · Dec 31, 2013

Yes depends on your instructor. Some all they do is sit around on the lap top while others show you and let you do. And I don't want to sit there and just do ADLs through the rest of school, some instructors that's all you do even if your in last months they don't bother to ask the nurses if there is anything else we can do like some other instructors.

ready4nu · Dec 31, 2013

That's why I keep my ears open and when I hear something interesting is going on I immediately ask if I can tag along, assist, or do whatever it is that needs to be done. I have gotten a chance to watch and do so many things that way. Sometimes you have to find your own opportunities, the instructors are usually pretty busy and don't always know when something good is going in the next room or down the hall.

mswan · Dec 31, 2013

I loved it except for careplans :cautious:

Mewsin · Dec 31, 2013

I love clinicals. It's where you get to use what you've learned. I don't sit around asking my instructor what to do though. I get busy, do my vitals, do my head to toe, give meds if we're allowed that day, do adls. I am a cca so our clinical days feel really easy to me because we only have one or two patients so far.

SWM2009 · Dec 31, 2013

I loved it except for careplans

Oh those dang careplans! So happy I do not have to write another careplan.

arudesea · Jan 5, 2014

I loved clinicals! They give you a break from boring lecture and allow you to practice the skills you have learned. There were certain clinical areas I liked more than others, but they also serve as a way to let you learn what type of nurse you want to be.

cricket0414 · Jan 5, 2014

I don't care for clinicals but my first semester one was really screwed up. We initially had a laid back instructor that pretty much let us do what we needed to do. Wrote out a ton of care plans and poured over charts. Midway through she got sick and we got a new instructor, a 180 departure from the first. She expected us to know a lot more than we did and it was very nerve wracking. We were in a pretty depressing ltc facility. I was just glad to be done. Can't say I learned alot of actual patient care because most of the people we had literally could not talk and most could not respond to questions or request, such as leaning forward to listen to lungs. I am hoping this coming semester is better.