Clinicals at the hospital

[Selenajudon]

Hello all !! Going into my 3 semester of Nursing school (Med-Surg) and I’m so nervous about going to the hospital to do clinicals . Can you all share your stories about clinicals at the hospital and is it normal to be nervous about going there ?

[TAKOO01, BSN]

Yes, its normal. For me, here are things that worked:

Be on time

Research your patients. Hx and labs, meds. Write down key info

Be present. Don't hide away. There are some people who bragged about not doing certain tasks during clinical. But really, you're paying for the clinicals. If you hide to avoid things, you cheat yourself.

Volunteer for duties first. Bed bath, med pass. Jump in. Waiting can increase nervousness. Plus i think instructors are a tad more forgiving for the first.person trying a new task.

Find the nurses who are interested. Some don't want to be bothered. No hard feelings, just move on. There will be a nurse who is willing to answer (thoughtful) questions.

When you do find a nurse who is interested, let the person know that you want to see things, and ask them to let you know when they are doing stuff like IVs, assessments, whatever you need to see.

You will be fine.

[Selenajudon]

Thanks for your help .

[Dy-no-mite Nurse1, CNA, LPN]

I was nervous as well when we did hospital clinicals. But once we got into it I liked it and learned a lot from it. You will do fine, just follow the advice of others on here.