first day at hospital>>

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2011

Congrats to starting your clinicals. I'm assuming you have already learned some sort of basic skills in a skills lab or something, even if it's just basic ADL's. Try to observe as much as you can, even if it's not on your pt. Make sure you understand clearly what your instructor expects of you in clinicals...which probably won't be much for the first day, but I'm sure her expectations will increase as the semester goes on.

Don't know what to tell you about this "interview" you referred too. I assume you mean you have to do a interview on a pt or something, but your post does not say.

smily11 · Nov 21, 2011

thanx for replying ,yes I mean an interview on a pt>>>:)

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Nov 21, 2011

We had learned basically every skill prior to starting clinical, so we were expected to take patients our first day. We have worked our way up, and we are taking 2-4 patients now, and we are responsible for all of their care throughout the day. On our first day we took one patient, and we did not give medications. We did IV starts and removal, catheter insertion and removal, vital signs, NG tube insertion and removal, bed baths, ambulation, I&O, we emptied JP drains, foleys, hemovacs, NGs, and chest tubes (if our patient had any of these), we did dressing changes and incision assessment, and we assessed pain and keep the nurses up to date on what was happening with our patient. We also charted all of our care in the computer. Now we hang IV meds, give shots, give IV pushes, administer PO meds, empty all drains, do all procedures, chart everything in the computer, call the surgeon or admitting physician if needed, and handle everything on our own. We give report to the nurses at the end of the day, and they, in turn, give report to nightshift. As for the patient interview, which we call an assessment, our instructor observed the first one, and we now do them totally independently. It gets easier as you go, but the first one can be nerve wracking. We do focused assessments which means that we do heart sounds, lung sounds, bowel sounds, a neurological assessment, a circulatory assessment, and an integumentary assessment. We don't do the full head to toe, and we usually finish the focused assessment in 20-25 minutes. Just be calm, remember what you learned, and try to provide the best patient care that you can.