I'm in my level 2 of my nursing program at a community college. I've been to 2 clinicals and I am in my 3rd one. I did well on the first 2 clinicals. Both instructors said positive things about me and I got a 4/4. Yesterday was our 3rd day at my new clinicals I'm in right now. I was in the patient's room trying to get an assessment. After getting the report from the nurse, she asked me if I can try feeding her. When I went in, she was very lethargic. I introduced myself to her even though she is lethargic. She is also very confused, has psychosis paranoia, copd, uti, bed rest, etc. When I introduced myself, she did respond so I wanted to see if she was able to eat. I gave her one small piece of her potato and told her to chew. She chewed and fell right asleep. I thought it was a bad idea to feed her so I was cleaning her mouth and cleaned the table. Then all of a sudden, I see my instructor walk in and ask what I was doing. I don't know if she was trying to listen to what I was doing behind the curtain since the patient was in bed 2. I tried my best to fix her up with the help of the nursing assistant later. I took her temp every hour because she had a high temp. I washed her face, arms, legs, and the patient managed to give me a smile although 5 minutes later she would yell at me saying to leave her alone and said she needed to go somewhere. I calmed her down and turned the tv on for her. I finally got some rest time so I went into the back room where some of the students were and I started to write my nurses note that I needed to hand in at the end of the night. the intructor comes in and goes to her bag trying to take something out and says to me that my patient is yelling out something that she needs to go somewhere with her mom. so i went to my patient to see if everything was okay. i just felt like she was just checking up on me or something. during post-conference, we were sharing about our patients. she started with the student near her and i thought we were going around in a direct circle, but just when it was my turn, she skips me and asks the next student. i was the last to go. i don't know if im being super sensitive. i help other students when they need help, i try to see what other nurses do so i can learn, and most importantly, i attend to my patient. am i being sensitive?
just keep an open mind, most instructors are there to giuide you aright. my advice to u as a fresh nurse is be positive always. always look at the positive side to most situations or encounter u will face. it would make u a more focused happier person. but welldone on ur posting from wat i can read u are starting ur career well. keep the flag flying.
You must be sensitive because you are trying to do the best you can. I can relate!
I agree with the posters who mentioned that she skipped you because she wanted to allow more time to discuss your pt and your experience with this pt. More than likely, she wanted other students to ask questions which would then segue into a discussion on how to care for confused patients, pt's that might have inadequate nutrition, pt's that might be at risk for aspiration when eating, and what the best course of action would be for allaying confusion and anxiety in the pt population that you were focusing on during this clinical rotation.
You sound like you did all the right things. You should be proud of yourself!
thank u sooo much!! i cant reply because im a new member. it made me feel better. thank uuuu
yes, way to sensitive. Worry less about what she thinks of you and worry more about getting your job done correctly. I learned quickly to stop trying to impress my instructor and just work hard. It paid off because she was very impressed with my work this semester.
Dont worry so much and enjoy your time at clinical and you will do great!
"i have had good instructors and bad instructors. it just seems they are coming off rude when they are just as busy as you are! :)"
busy? you wanna talk busy? try keeping tabs on eight new students at a time. checking to see that they're doing their assessments and treatments well, and modeling technique, then watching them do it in a return demonstration. eight times. checking eight med passes, or maybe 16 or even 24. getting eight reports, and giving feedback and getting them to go back and make them more complete, and then listening to them again. reading eight nursing notes and co-signing them. going directly to clinical postconference and running that. then returning to the floor to debrief with the staff and look into other departments to seek more experiences for "field trips."
since the students got to take a lunch break and i never did, i made a deal with them that i would give somebody money for a grilled tuna on whole wheat, a bottle of milk, and a cookie for me, which i would wolf down in the five minutes they had to do their 5-question med math quiz at the beginning of every conference .
I have the opposite problem, my instructors barely comes to check on me, only at the end they ask how my day was and if I did everything I was supposed to
If your spidey sense warns you that she is concentrating on you in a disproportionate manner, then prepare. Have an explanation, rationale, in depth analysis, complete with the names of any witnessing staff, of every clinical experience ready in case you are put under the microscope. Better to have your guard up and be able to defend yourself, than to be caught off guard when called in to tell you that you are not going to make it. Hopefully, you will find out at the end of the term that you really were very sensitive. You still will have learned to acknowledge your own strengths and weaknesses and what you have done to improve. Good luck.
checking to see that they're doing their assessments and treatments well, and modeling technique, then watching them do it in a return demonstration. eight times. checking eight med passes, or maybe 16 or even 24. getting eight reports, and giving feedback and getting them to go back and make them more complete, and then listening to them again. reading eight nursing notes and co-signing them. going directly to clinical postconference and running that. then returning to the floor to debrief with the staff and look into other departments to seek more experiences for "field trips."
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opjewel
36 Posts
just keep an open mind, most instructors are there to giuide you aright. my advice to u as a fresh nurse is be positive always. always look at the positive side to most situations or encounter u will face. it would make u a more focused happier person. but welldone on ur posting from wat i can read u are starting ur career well. keep the flag flying.