First few weeks of clinicals!

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Hello everyone! I just wanted to share my first few weeks of clinical experience. My group of 6 were assigned to a very nice hospital, probably one of the nicest in our state! We are all very happy and excited to be there however at times we feel extremely unwelcome. Firstly, the lack of organization in this hospital is ridiculous. We came in on our first day and no one even knew we were coming. Some of the nurses on the floor look at us like we have 10 heads or ignore our presence. My instructor's badge never works when trying to access the med room. Every week she goes down to security and gets a new badge that "should work this time," and every single time it doesn't work. Out of the 15 or so nurses I have met so far I have only come into contact with two that seemed to enjoy having us around and enjoy teaching us. It's gotten to the point where our instructor told us not to bother the nurses anymore and to only come to her for help. My first couple weeks I would ask the nurses if they needed help with anything or if they were doing things I could observe and they always answered me with a no. Then I would find one in the room of the patient I was assigned to inserting an NG tube or a catheter. I could understand if we were on a busy floor and were slowing the nurses down, but this is a very nice, prestigious hospital in a very rich neighborhood. The nurses have 3-4 patients each and if you can even find them on the floor (which is sometimes very rare) they are usually sitting at their computers or hanging out in the break room. Just yesterday one of my classmates was doing an assessment on a patient and the nurse walks into the room, walks right around my classmate, proceeds to do her own assessment without even acknowledging my classmates presence and walks out. Doesn't even bother to try to teach her anything or tell her what she was doing! Also yesterday, a couple of us got to the floor early to get our assignments (which were not done) and the manager and a few other nurses walk around the corner, manager glances at us and says "oh, well they're already here so I may not have a choice." They continued talking about us as if we weren't even there. I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life. We try our hardest to stay out of the nurses' way and be as helpful as possible. A couple of the nicer RNs have actually thanked us for doing all their work for them. Regardless of how the other nurses treat us, we continue to smile and thank them for letting us be there and for "teaching" us. The last couple of weeks have just left us (and our instructor) feeling extremely anxious. It's becoming so hard to learn when we feel so uncomfortable. The tension is ridiculous and my instructor is trying to get us a different assignment which probably won't happen. So that was my little vent. I would really appreciate some advice on how to deal with this! Has anyone else had similar experiences? We just want to learn as much as we can!

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Yeah, some RNs will refuse to teach. Just the way the cookie crumbles. When the RNs fail to teach you - go help the CNAs ... they'll appreciate it and as a first year student you'll gain patient care experience

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Yes, I've actually learned a ton from the CNAs! they are really nice and always come find us when there is something interesting to do!

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Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.

I'm sorry, that sucks. Unless it is a teaching hospital for all medical professionals and not just doctors, then the nurses arent technically required to teach you anything, which sucks. We have clinical this semester at a teaching hospital that my instructor used to work for. She said it is understood when hired that student nurses come for clinical and they are supposed to teach a bit and offer skills when they can. If something needs done and it cant wait, that one thing, but if theres time, then the student should be offered a learning oppotunity. Of course there are still some nurses there that dont really like to help the students, but thats ok. I can imagine we can be a bit of a nuisance to nurses and probably slow them down. SO I just appreciate the ones who are willing to tak the time to answer questions or do procedures with me.

As much as it sucks to not get many learning opportunities, just keep doing what youre doing and stay under the radar to complete your semester then hope you get a better facility next semester. The "nice" facilities are not always the best ones to be at. Especially because just because a nurse only has 3-4 patients, does not mean its cushy and an easy day. The reason you dont see them much is because they are probably mostly running around trying to get everything done. At my last clinical, my nurse had 4 patients. I was assigned two of them for care and meds and skills. One had peritoneal dialysis every 4 hours and was a contact precaution, one had colitis with anal seepage and sever pain and an intestinal blockage, one was VERY confused and needed a straight cath every 6 hours or PRN, and one was pretty simple with just basic needs and was getting ready for discharge that afternoon. My nurse was on top of things, but still was running around the whole day to keep up and get things done on time. By the end of the day the dialysis was about 40 mins off schedule and the last straight cath of her shift was about an hour late because she just had so much to do. I am sure part of it was her willingness to teach me and let me practice on the patients and pass meds, which take me longer then they do her. As much as it sucks, just try to see yourself in their eyes. We are not convenient to floor nurses because we are slower and just learning new things. You shouldnt be ignored completely as a student and offered NO learning experiences, so they are wrong in that attitude, but you likely cant do anything you havent already done. If you have offered help and made it know you are available to watch procedures or practice them yourself, and the nurses arent open to, thats really all you can do. Get your hours then get out and move on next semester. GL

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

When I was in school, most of the nurses weren't helpful to us students. We had to sit back, observe and glean what info we could via listening and watching. I still learned a lot. And I don't fault them, they were busy. The few nurses we had that allowed us to learn via teaching, I'm eternally grateful for. Because They didn't have to.

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

This seems kind of the "paying your dues" moment for your 1st clinical rotation. Mine was similar. Our RNs were very ambivalent towards us but the CNAs and techs were thrilled to have us help them. This was fine because you're learning the skills that, at a beginner level, you should be getting down so well that you can do them in your sleep. This gives you confidence in being on the floor and learning time management. A lot of units do not have the luxury of CNAs (or may have very few to rely on) and you must do total care yourself. It's good to get a grasp on this early on. Yeah, it would be nice to drop an NG in your first clinical or do some other things but you'll have your whole career ahead of you to drop NGs, insert Foley's, etc.

You keep mentioning the prestige of this hospital. It is very likely that the RNs and managers act like you all are invisible and keep giving your instructor the run around because of another school (or even the cohort ahead of you) had students go in there and act like jackasses. So, there's that to consider, too. This won't be your only learning experience. But, the biggest lesson you can learn from here is to never forget what it is like to be that eager student.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I really do like teaching nursing students on my med surg floor, but sometimes I really don't have time! When I have time I will teach if you're around. I don't have time to go find the nursing student. If you aren't with your patient you will miss out! Plus, some days I have a practicum student and my priority on those days is her education. Also, all your teachers are different. Some will let me show you how to do stuff and practice on my patients and some only want you to do stuff with the teacher. It's hard to know your instructors preferences if noone tells me. I think the biggest factor is time. Nursing students can be huge help if they are motivated and confident. I don't mind questions. I really don't. But teaching takes time.

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Specializes in ICU.

Ok, so let me ask Lev, how do you expect people to learn? Just asking. Your hospital is receiving a pretty penny for those students to be there. I'm sure in some way, you benefit from it. Whether it is new equipment, a pay raise, better benefits.... Take 2 seconds and teach someone. It would take a few extra moments and now you have passed your knowledge onto someone else.

I felt very uncomfortable the first few weeks. I stuck myself to the CNAs sides and they finally gave me stuff to do and started teaching me some things. I was very grateful.

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Sorry you feel you're not getting the experience. Hopefully you have more than one clinical site. During nursing school I had a few sites. Some let us do so much and others didn't even let us touch patients. I do remember one nurse who was a total B. But with some ass kissing she let us do wound care and pass meds. (With supervision) Personally I can't wait til I get nursing students! So i can torture them. Just kidding. Even if you're busy it takes seconds to tell a nursing student hey I'm really swamped today but you can follow me and observe what I do.

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The hospital we are at is a very well known teaching hospital.. this particular location is a newer one and my instructor told us our school will not be doing clinicals there anymore. I wish I was exaggerating but that's how bad it has gotten! Hopefully next semester we will have some better experiences! That's not to say I am not learning anything. My instructor has been wonderful with trying to get around to each one of us and teach us all she can. The CNAs are great as well! And Lev... this floor is very small. We are always around our patients rooms, but the RNs seem to make it a point to go into our patients rooms (right in front of us) and not even bother to tell us what they just did. Half of them won't even look us in the eye when talking to us. I really feel so inferior around them. And I understand that some RNs simply do not want to teach. My main issue here is the tension. Last week I felt sick to my stomach with the way we were being talked about as if we weren't even there. Every time I walked past the nurses station I felt uneasy and even slightly frightened. It's just been a horrible learning environment. The tension makes it very hard to do things confidently.

I have even had different CNAs say to me and my classmates "please don't become a bad nurse." And I'm using the word "bad" in place of a different word that was used. Talk about awkward! I hardly know these people and they are complaining about their co workers to me. But all I do is smile, keep my head down, and focus on my task. I just can't wait for this to be over!

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