Do/did any of you hate clinical?

Only 2 med-surg clinical rotations, because of the instructors. I LOVED all of my Psych, Home-Health and OB/Gyn clinicals though.

Hated most, tolerated a couple, LOVED one: ICU. That's where I'm going next year and I will stay there until I am either physically or emotionally unable to keep going.

Loathed every minute of pretty much all of them.

i absolutely despised my clinical rotations, as they did not accurately reflect the real world of nursing...never in a million years will you be taking care of only 1 or 2 patients as a bedside nurse.

i couldn't have said this better myself. although i'm glad we only had 2 patients because several of the instructors struggled to keep things running smoothly & on time, no matter how organized they or the students were. and med passes were no better, since the instructor had to be present every time a student gave a med(for the record, i completely understand why). one instructor for 7-8 students, and each student having 2 patients to pass meds on. like that's realistic!

actually, this reminded me of a scenario that always happened no matter which instructor i had and always when i was waiting patiently to give my meds: at the first opportunity that the instructor became available, i would snatch her up and make a mad dash for the patient's room. all while silently praying (alot) that she wouldn't get stopped 1/2-way there by the "i-have-a-quick-question-for-you" student who seemed to have a knack for doing this & at the worst possible time. of course the inevitable happens and the instructor stops to answer the "quick question", which resulted in a 20 minute mini-lecture on some complicated patho-phys topic and made me even more late with my one med: a damn multi-vitamin. :angryfire

How true all the comments are!

As a student, there is never enough time! In my school, if you had been signed off on a skill (passing oral meds, etc), you just had to get the meds with the CI, then go over them (what they are for, dosage, side effects, etc.), then you could give them on your own. Some CI's who had a good relationship with the RN's on the unit would trust them to instruct us on a skill like foleys, IV's etc. But that was rare.

When I graduated, and started working as a "real" nurse in the "real" world...I realized that except for my 40 hour preceptorship (where I worked with an RN for her shift), I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. It was not until the last semester of school that we got a pt load of more than 3 pts, and were allowed to do everything (with the exception of transfusions).

Until then, clinicals really sucked. I felt trapped, impatient, and frustrated with what I saw as "being held back."

When I did my preceptorship, and by the end of the 40 hours had 6 patients to totally care for, I realized just how sheltered a student really is.

It does get better, you just have to get through school first.

Amy

Can anyone who hated clinicals at school, tell me why it is better once you graduate?

I guess I'm the odd ball. I haven't had clinicals that I hate. Not too thrilled with the out rotation I had to do to for Growth and Development for children. But I wouldn't say I hated it.

I must have lucked out big time. I have had the BEST CI's one could hope for. Each one of them went out of their way to make sure all of their students got every opportunity to do all the things that were ok for us to do. Some of my classmates had CI's that wouldn't let them do anything but CNA work. My instructors pushed us to do more and more even though we might have felt a bit nervous about doing more than what we were use to. It has really helped us with our self confidence and autonomy.

I feel so bad for those who end up with bad clinical experiences. Hopefully, my good experiences carry through the last 2 sets of clinicals I have before graduation.

I really didn't like Maternity.... I was pretty grossed out by the whole push-out-a-little-gooey-body-while-you-poop-everywhere ordeal..... I never enjoyed the mushy warm fuzzy mom-baby bonding stuff either... just isn't me.

I couldn't stand psych clinical... (it required getting up at 4:30 am, which was part of it).... and 8 hours of conversation was exhausting for me. I'm a hands on kinda gal... and this clinical consisted of more communication than I could ever want to have....

Spent one clinical day in the ER and I was hooked :)

Now I'm almost done with my novice nurse orientation in the ER!

*Life after clinical is better because you are flexing your skills, you're not following around an instructor, and you can find your niche. You're able to develop your own routines, and discover your place in the world :)