Done with first clinical rotation!

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I'm a first semester nursing student, and in my school, the first 6 weeks, you don't have clinical, but you learn skills and practice in the lab, then starting right after that, you go into clinical. We have two clinical rotations per semester, and tomorrow is our last day of our first one! I can't believe it!

I had the clinical instructor who is notorious for being the hardest, but also the best to start out with because you'll be prepared for being with every other instructor and be ahead of the game for everything too. I was on a telemetry/med-surge floor which was kind of cool, and I think a pretty good place to start.

Starting next week, I'll be with the most relaxed of the clinical instructors on a renal floor, so I'll definitely have a lot of different stuff...probably a lot more catheters haha!

As much as I love my current instructor, I'm really glad that we get to switch because it gets intense having to be at a higher level than everyone else and therefore having to do so much more work! Plus, since my program tries not to put you with the same instructor twice, wherever I end up next semester, it'll be in a place that's a happy medium since I will have gotten both extremes this semester.

Any of you done with a rotation right now? How's your semester going?

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Isn't a wonderful feeling to mark a clinical rotation off your list?? I have my last clinical of my last semester this Friday and I actually cannot wait to get up at 4:30am to get there at 6 because...we will be absolutely done with clinicals at the end of the day! :yeah:

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Jealous!!:) I have the rest of this semester of Pediatrics and then one whole semester left. Graduate in May!! Can't wait!!!! Congrats to you, hooray for the last day! I can't wait!!!!

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It's extremely exciting!

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Very exciting. Do you like the shortened 1/2 term clinical? We divide rehab/psych in one term for clinicals, but the remainder of our clinicals are full term long. I can see pluses and minuses to both ways of doing it. Next week is our halfway point in our first clinical rotation.

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I think it's cool to have two rotations/semester...it means that we get more clinical experiences!

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Specializes in NICU.

I have a divided clinical semester--1st half was Peds and 2nd half is OB. It's interesting. Congrats on getting your first rotation done with.

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Specializes in student; help!.
I'm a first semester nursing student, and in my school, the first 6 weeks, you don't have clinical, but you learn skills and practice in the lab, then starting right after that, you go into clinical. We have two clinical rotations per semester, and tomorrow is our last day of our first one! I can't believe it!

Congrats! You've come a long way already. I'm glad you stuck with it through A&P.

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My last day on the unit was great! I was paired with a second level (senior) student since the patient I had yesterday was transferred to another floor which was cool.

The patient the second level student I was working with had was in isolation for MRSA, got her sternum removed, had a trach...anyway, not long after we got into the room to do vitals, our patient started de-satting which made for some excitement! When we first checked her pulse ox it was only about 70, and it was dropping. I think it got down to about 50-something at the lowest point. We suctioned and started bagging her with the Ambu and called respiratory who then decided that she should be put on a ventilator.

I watched her dressing being changed...she had a wound from her sternum being removed...it was cool. I'm actually allowed to do dressing changes (we just did that competency last week), but because the patient wasn't actually mind she was another student's, she got to do it. Oh well, there's always next time.

Umm...there wasn't really a whole lot else that was anything special...except that we washed her hair! Legitimately washed her hair with shampoo and water and everything. That was an experiment! A very messy one! That was to be expected though.

I'm definitely excited for our next rotation though! For our post-conference today, we went to our new units and got oriented and talked to our instructors...and it was so funny because after we had walked around the unit and were sitting down getting ready to talk, my new instructor looked at us and went "You all look so relieved!" (We all were -- very much so! Our new unit is very quit, not bustling unit like our last one, and the instructor is way more laid back, so it's a good combination).

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Sounds like a great experience for your last clinical day in that rotation.

We do our first term clinical in a LTC facility to practice assessments, so I haven't had anything exciting like that. I do like having the same couple of residents for the term. It gives a great learning experience in terms of communication and assessing. But, I am looking forward to the acute based clinicals. We have a minimum of 8 acute based rotations, so I know I'll get loads of variety and I try not to be anxious for that.

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Doesn't it get boring having the same people week after week?

We get assigned a different patient every week (although one girl in my group got the same patient twice, but it was 3 weeks apart I think), and therefore we have to look up many different medical diagnoses and orders etc. which forces us to learn about a variety of things.

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Doesn't it get boring having the same people week after week?

We get assigned a different patient every week (although one girl in my group got the same patient twice, but it was 3 weeks apart I think), and therefore we have to look up many different medical diagnoses and orders etc. which forces us to learn about a variety of things.

I'm curious what sorts of things you are doing in clinicals? Are you passing meds, etc. already? IVs, caths, etc.? I think it's very interesting to learn how different programs structure their teaching. Ultimately, we should all have approximately the same education (depending on lots of things), but schools go about it many different ways.

I don't think it gets boring. Our school requires a 2 term STNA and CNA course sequence prior to applying to nursing school and we have clinicals in connection with those. So, we all have prior experience with bed baths, lifts, some minor dressing changes (we didn't do any wet to dry) and other clean and some sterile techniques. We really don't do STNA/CNA type work in clinical at least this term - unless of course your resident needs assistance with toileting, etc. while you're there. So, our first term in nursing school is all about assessment and communication. I had the same resident for the first 5 weeks and over that time, I've done therapeutic communication, teaching, head to toe assessments, ADOPIE. We will spend the next 4 weeks with a different resident doing the same things. Then, and only then the last 2 weeks will we get to see their charts. They want us to learn to do all of those things without knowing in advance what's wrong. So, our purpose for clinical this term is to learn nurisng process, particularly assessment, nursing diagnosis and some outcome/planning.

Next term is OB and I'm really looking forward to it. So, it'll be spring before I'm on a med/surg unit. In OB, it is unlikely that I will encounter the same patient 2 weeks in a row. We're on a 7 hour/once a week rotation for OB and then progressively longer and more days until our last term when (if you aren't in a preceptorship) you do 2 10-12 hour shifts. We take 2 terms of pharmacology starting in our 2nd, so we aren't passing meds yet in 1st term, but should be doing some next term and beyond.

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