Clinicals

For the first couple semesters we would go to our assigned floor the day before after 1300 and pick a patient and have to have the care plan completed to turn in the next morning before we went back up to the floor. Now we just show up in the morning, take report with our RN and have 1 week after the clinical to turn in our care plan. So we've done it both ways. I really like having the week to do the care plan, but I had a little run in with a nurse who was annoyed that I didn't already know all of my clients meds and had to look a few of them up. Now I just show up early to get my assignment from the floor, pick the pt(s) that I would like to do my care plan on and look up any meds I don't know before I go get report.

We get assigned to a nurse who has about 4 patients, I can pick which patient I want to do my paperwork on. It's nice because I get to chose, I don't have to have the elderly patient on a thousand meds. For my program for our first semester at clinicals, we have weekly paperwork (head to toe, ROS, sociocultural info, labs, stuff like that) we list 5 priority nursing diagnoses and pick one to do a mini care plan on. Later in the semester we pick one patient we had and do a comprehensive care plan. I like it this way, it's pretty manageable.

We go the night before clinicals, all we are given is our pt name and room number. Then we have to go through their chart and Kardex etc, and do our research. We have to look up and fill out a one page paper of all their diagnoses and surgeries as well as look up all their meds.We have quite a bit of paperwork to complete concerning their care for the next day, like diet, PT, OT etc-- the night before is very time consuming!! But it prepares you for caring for the patient the next day.

We have 2 comprehensive care plans a quarter. They must be started for the second clinical day and finished and turned in about 3 days later.

I'm in nursing 4 now but it's been the same since the beginning, well except for maternity/psych. The assignment is posted a couple days before. We go to the hospital and look through the patients charts/kardex (we now have 2 patients). We have about 5-6 papers/pt to fill out like meds, kardex sheet, surgeries, labs, tests, etc etc. We have to fill everything out plus do a careplan and hand everything in at clinical.

1st semester I actually liked getting the assignment days in advance but now I don't. Patients get discharged, die or get transfered and sometimes aren't there when you get there for clinical....I know it's good practice to look everything up and do a careplan etc etc...but sometimes I feel it's a waste of time doing for a patient that may not be there. Not only that, that's not how it is in the real world.....as a nurse you're thrown patients with no preparation at all. I actually think it would be better if we were given a patient ON the day of clinical and then required to hand everything in the following week or in a couple days. Sometimes I've made careplans without seeing a patient and after being with the patient, there's no way he/she can do some of the things on my careplan.