Clinicals

[MTmomofsix]

I have been in nursing school for two months now and went on my third clinical this week. Does anyone else feel like the students get throw to the wolves? We get an assigned pt and left there to figure out what to do. Right now our rotation is long term care.

[turtlebob]

I'm in my second term and I can totally understand where you are coming from. The best advise I can give is when in doubt ask your instructor. While they may seem uninterested at times, really there are there to make sure you are doing everything you can to learn. Besides if you don't ask for help no one will know you need it!

[student forever]

I am in my second month also and have had clinical with a patient assigned to me. What are you confused about? Usually, the cna in charge of that person is the one you will work with and follow her lead as to showering and feeding the resident, etc. Have you been deserted by the cna? In that case, you will have to find out from your instructor or the lpn on that hallway is my guess.

[katiescow]

In a way you do but at the same time you don't. You can always ask someone if there's a question you have but at the same time you can't fully rely on the CNA because their role is slightly different from the actual nurses role. It is important to have the skills the CNA's have ( being able to assist with activities of daily living, bedmaking etc.) but you also have to learn the nurses role understand medications your patient (resident,) maybe taking and know possible side effects to be on the look out for, be able to practice your head to toe assessment skills. A lot of nursing schools start in long term care facilities to get your "toes wet" get use to working closely with people and being able to assist them before moving onto more complex situations.