Communication....any other new nursing students stumbling over their words?

[JKindRN]

Hey fellow nursing students!

This is week two for me in my quest of becoming the best RN that I can be. I know I'm just beginning and I have a TON of things to learn, but I was curious to see if anyone else has the same issue that I seem to be having...and that is....communication!!

The thing is, I've worked in many different administrative assistant-type jobs before deciding to go back to school. I've been communicating just fine with coworkers, managers, VPs, and customers for the last 10 years.

For some reason, last week at my first clinical, trying to simply introduce myself and communicate was an issue.

My classmates and I were set up to learn and then demonstrate how to move a patient to the edge of the bed/move a patient to a chair/move a patient to a chair using a gait belt. Each of us were the "patient" and then we were the "nurse". I sat back and watched everyone in my group go before me, and when it came to my turn this is what happened....

"Good morning fake patient #1, my name is Jules777 and I'm a nursing student from (enter college in here).

Right now...umm....we're going to, I mean I'm going to...ummm....stutter, stutter, we're going to move you from the bed to the chair. I just need you to umm.....if you have the strength and can push yourself up a little, I'll help you...I mean...how are you feeling? are you dizzy? Is the belt too tight? Okay ready...1...2...3...lift."

etc etc etc....and while this is happening, I can feel my skin turn bright red and I'm starting to shake a little.

Now....this is what gets me. I like people! In my head, I know what I need to do and I can picture myself doing it. I'm starting to get a little shred of confidence in my abilities to start functioning as a nurse, even if it's just BASIC skills.

Why in the world can I not communicate that?

I'm thinking my anxiety occurred because #1. I hadn't even laid eyes on some of my classmates before that day. #2. I could feel the eyes of the instructor burning into the back of my head, and I don't work the greatest when people are watching me...even now in the administrative job that I'm in. Someone standing over my shoulder irks me a little, but I try not to let it show. #3. I'll be honest...I don't know what questions to ask. I don't know what's appropriate. My instructor must've been cracking up inside, thinking "this girl's all over the place!".

I don't pretend that I know everything. I'd rather be honest and just say "I don't know what to say in this situation". Or am I really over-analyzing everything and it's just as simple as a smile and "Hi fake patient #1, my name is Jules777 and I'm a nursing student at (insert college here). I'm here to help you out today, and right now we're going to move you from your bed to this chair. You let me know if you feel any discomfort or dizziness, and together we'll get this done, okay?"

Is anyone else having this issue?

My apologies for the novel.

---Jules777

[metricalpound]

Awww - sounds like you had a horrible experience. =(

Don't fret - I had a really bad first communication experience too but it was with a real patient. =/

Communicating gets easier as you practice it and become more confident in your skills as a student nurse. Even by the end of this semester, you'll see a drastic change in how you communicate with the patients that you work with. My first semester, I started out as the weakest communicator but ended up getting compliments on my communication skills by the end of the rotation.

Just keep in mind that you are learning and keep speaking to patients. I think what helped me the most with communication is that I spent a lot more time with the patients than what was expected of me. And speak to them as if they were a human being, not some sort of "thing" that needs to get done.

[SnMrsSmiley]

communication is tough. We just got through learnign the different therapuetic and nontherapeutic techniques last week. We had to go into our sim room and talk to our sim robot for 20 minutes alone (our instrustor was on the other side of the 2 way mirror watching us and speaking through the dummy. It was mortifying. But after the first 5 minutes i forgot it wasnt a real person and things started clicking lol. Its very hard to speak therapeutically (gawd forgive my spelling its been a long day) Knowing what you can say or not say so that you dont block communication is not a natural response it really takes training!!

[iPink, BSN, RN]

Jules, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! I'm use to speaking to VPs and managers. I even managed an entire team, which requires a lot of communication. But for nursing, I literally have to reheorifice in my head a few times on what I'm going to say. I live alone so I don't have someone to practice on, but try doing a "fake" scenarios with family/friends/classmates. I remember when I had to do a head-to-toe assessment, I practiced so many times in the mirror and with my classmate. It helped because on the day I was being watched by my professor, my professor interjected on how great I was doing. Even though I was a train wreck internally, I exuded confidence.

Last week, I was assigned a patient who had her grown son staying with her in the room. I just went in the room with confidence. I stumbled a bit at first ("Hello. I'm Glad, a student nurse, and I will be working with your primary nurse today, um.."), but I kept going. At the end of my shift and walking out of their room for the last time, I heard both she and her son saying "she is such a wonderful person." The statement boosted my confidence. You CAN do this.

[mommywithplenty]

On the way home today from my second lab day I made my self repeat :good morning mr. Tree(or anything I passed), I'm Tina and I will be your nurse today. For some reason it was hard to spit that out.

[JKindRN]

Thanks for the comments everybody....it's good to know I'm not the only one.

I looked around at some of my classmates, and their introductions and explanations were just flowing right out. They just seemed so comfortable. I know some of them are already in the medical field, so this is a walk in the park for them.

Like a couple of you said...internally you're a wreck, but on the outside, you portrayed confidence. I want that.

Haha...everyone keeps telling me to "fake it 'til I make it"....maybe they're right. I don't want to fake it though...I want to know what I'm doing is correct.

We all get our first patients next week...LTC setting. Maybe I'll just sit and chat with my patient for a while if they're okay with that. It couldn't hurt right? Like metricalpound said, they're people...not things.

[P B and J]

I looked around at some of my classmates, and their introductions and explanations were just flowing right out. They just seemed so comfortable.

We are always more critical of ourselves than others. I'm willing to bet your classmates weren't as comfortable and confident as you think they were, and I'm also betting they didn't watch you and think you did as badly as you think you did!

Look back, think about what you did and said, make decisions about what you need to improve on, decide how to make those improvements for next time, then forget about it and look forward to doing better next time! :)

Best of luck!

[nicubee]

This is such a relevant topic for me! I am a 1st semester BSN student but am also a practicing occupational therapist x 13 yrs. I provide family education for the infants I serve on a daily basis, do inservice training for our nurses on infant feeding and neuromotor development. I even train the med students and residents in neurological examinations during their NICU rotations. All that comes like second nature.

But get to class and I can hardly answer a question or make a 2 minute presentation without choking from trying to coordinate my breathing with talking! I feel like a trembling mess! Go figure!

I have been trying controlled breathing exercises to help, but really feel that it is a case of not feeling competent with the material I am discussing. Being a health care provider does not seem to make this any easier for me. I'm hoping someone will have some good suggestions...