Clinicals at the hospital I work at. WWYD?

[vc01ca]

So my clinicals for med surg will be at the same hospital I work at and in the same dept I work in. The school knows I work there and work knows Im in school, so its not a problem in that aspect. Ive actually did one set of clinicals there already for OB. Basically our school places us by location and tell us if we feel uncomfortable going to a place we have or currently work at then they can change us.

At first I was thrilled to be going there again. I am familiar with the charting and the layout of the unit. Plus I know a lot of people. On the plus side I wont be a total "newbie" and I may be able to help my fellow students with simple things like where to chart what or how the beds work or whatever.

Then I was thinking about how on the negative side I would know a lot of the staff. Obviously Im still a student and still learning, so I know Im not expected to know everything, but I don't want to look stupid in front of nurses I work with. Most of the nurses I work with are super nice, but I feel like if I make mistake they might think Im an idiot.

What would you do? The other clinical location is an hour away from my house. It is also a teaching hospital. My hospital is 2 miles away and is not a teaching hospital.

Thanks for your help!!

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Disclaimer: I'm not in your situation... I don't work where I'm doing my clinical.

If you're worried about looking stupid, you can always use the phrase "I'm a X Semester nursing student" along with "please give me feedback about..." Now if it is things that you should know, like where things are in the hospital, being a student nurse won't help you fix that one.

For me, I really don't care much about whether or not I look stupid in front of what could be future co-workers. Why? I'm new and I'm not expected to know everything and as long as I'm willing to learn, they're pretty good about having me there. Besides, I would expect to receive a proper orientation to everything no matter where I get hired (should I be so lucky). If you ended up getting hired as a nurse there at the end of your program, you'd probably expect to be properly oriented to your new role, just as anybody who got hired there would be.

In other words, it's OK to look stupid because you don't know something that you've never been exposed to before, just don't refuse to learn... that's way worse!

[nolanurse88]

If I was in your shoes I'd stay right there at that hospital. No sense in driving a hour out your way to go to a hospital your not familiar with.

If anything you have the advantage of knowing the charting system, the doctors, staff, everything there. That's one less thing to worry about IMO. I hope when i start my program they will let me do clinicals at the hospital I work at because if not I'll have to drive a hour out the way as well. Never worry about feeling stupid no matter if you know them or not. This is the time to look stupid when ur a student.

[Malorymug]

I think your pros waaay out weigh your cons. I'd be thrilled to have a level of comfort when I started my clinicals. I couldn't even find my way around the floor the first day.

[Mewsin]

I just did a clinical placement at my place of employment. It was the best clinical experience ever. At my work not only were they understanding about being a student they also were very helpful and tried to come up with more experiences for me to do.