Clinicals

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I start my clinicals on Nov 6th. I am extremely anxious!! I will be doing clinicals once a week starting in Nov. Can anyone tell me what they are like? What I can expect?? Also any tips on what you can put and should put in your clinical bag??

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Hi! When I started clinicals the first few weeks were CNA work basically, it's good because you get to familiarize yourself with the setup & where everything is at. I recently started passing meds, insulin shots, accuchecks, & assisting the nurse a lot more instead if CNA work.. I always take my pens, notebook, penlight, scissors, stethoscope, school books(when there's nothing to do, I study) , & a clipboard to carry with me to keep my patients info with me. Good Luck!!

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Oh ok.. I will bring my books too. I didn't get a clipboard yet so I will shop for one this weekend... Thanks so much.. BTW Do you like clinicals is it really difficult?

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I really do like them. Sometimes it's hard because the nurse you get assigned to isn't so helpful & that's when I get bored or I'm finding random things to do to waste time. But most of the times the nurses are really understanding & they try to teach/show you as much as they can, especially if anything is very interesting, like wound vacs or tach care, just things like that. They appreciate your help a lot especially when you start passing meds. Hardest part for me is having confidence in myself, I know how to do things but I just get scared I will panic & mess up. But for the most part clinicals is fun, interesting & you will learn so much by doing hands on!

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At my school we are only allowed to bring what fits in our pockets! Which is a few pens, high lighter, penlight, various "cheat sheets" and our clinical book with everything we have to pass on

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And at my school we only get one pt so it gets kinda boring at times after you finished everything and they're taking nap. You can use that time to chart but its hard to find a spot to sit sometimes!

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the first few weeks consist of CNA work. get used to lots of bed bath and toileting lol. youll go in and do your vitals my teachers usually want them within half an hour. hopefully they start you off with one patient. if you have two or more just manage your time. go in do your TPR, BP and asses for pain then go to the next one and then start the morning care. bring paper with you and a pen, keep your vitals on there, your daily report and your pts dx, have your stethoscope, pen light, BP cuff and lotion( you will be washing your hands non-stop). a little cheat sheet with the normal vitals will be good if you dont have them all memorized and dont bring too much with you because its hard to find a safe place to leave your stuff while at clinicals and mostly theres really not a lot of space. i wish you the best of luck

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Wow! Thanks for all the info I greatly appreciate it :) When you say you do not leave your stuff around because it is not safe, are you talking about people stealing?? Oh boy... Like the staff?? We haven't done any BP yet.. Do you guys learn that there?? We didn't get to that yet in class!! I was kind of figuring it would be a lot of CNA work in the first half because we are learning about bed bathes and bed making etc... I am a bit nervous but excited to learn, I am not a CNA and have never worked in the medical field before... Good luck to everyone on their nursing journey...

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I'm 5 weeks into my clinicals and I can tell you to just claim ANY opportunity you can to learn. Ask your precepting nurse and any other nurse, PA, CNA, or even doctors if you can watch/do/help, even with mundane stuff. You will identify yourself as an eager, intelligent, enthusiastic student nurse and stand out from those who are too intimidated to speak up. And it CAN be intimidating! My patient yesterday had a partially closed abdominal wound from a colostomy reversal and earlier in the day a team of 5 doctors came in to examine and re-pack his wound. Wound care is something that we just covered in class and I was cleared to do, and I WANTED to pack his wound in the worst way, but with all the doctors standing around him I lost my nerve and lost out. I didn't get to do anythingmore than hand him his inhaler and PO meds the rest of the day...he refused his insulin so I didn't even get to give him a shot.

With just 10 minutes left to go before I was released for the day, I heard one of the doctors come up to the nurse's station and ask where to find a staple remover. My patient and one other on the floor had abdominal incisions with staples so I knew some staple removing was going to happen. My inner cheerleader kicked in...beee AGRESSIVE...be be AGRESSIVE!!! And I rushed over to this doctor and asked if she was going to be removing staples and could I please do it? I made myself ask even though I was SO nervous.

So I did it...I removed some of this patient's staples and even got to assist in applying a wound-vac! So don't be afraid to ask to do anything. The worst anyone can do is say no, but you can watch.

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Know how to do your vital signs, relax and try not to be nervous, look through your patient's chart and try and understand certain things and get used to certain medications, assess your patient when giving them a bath for bed sores, any changes, bruising, etc, also show the staff respect and be very nice because you may need a job in the future, etc. I packed my small LPN clinical book to refer to vital sign ranges, also a pen, paper, stetescope, pin light, etc. If you are able to give needles,shots do wound care, ask the nurse if you are aloud to do it under their watch or your instructor's watch, I gave an insulin shot, levenox (sp?), changed a foley, did accucheck, etc.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

You need to remember that "CNA work" is also nurse's work. Just because you will eventually be a nurse doesn't mean that you will be exempt from providing personal care to patients. It is the foundation of good nursing care and it is worth learning to do well.

One thing that will give a good impression during clinicals is if you answer call bells. It doesn't matter if it's not "your" patient, answer it anyways.

Good luck.

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I am excited now!! Thanks so much for all the information. I will keep you posted :)

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