Frustrated with Clinicals Feel like Giving Up

[live&love&heal]

I have been in my clinical class for 8 weeks so far and all I have been doing is vital signs and finger stick blood sugar. This is exacty what I did last semester. Some of my classmates have had the opportunity to do dressing changes, bladder irrigations, foley catheters, med pass and trach care but not all except one student in particular. She always gets picked. She has broken the rules and comes in during the other clinicals hours to do other clinical work. I told the instructor that I want to do more. All she said is, "You will all have your chance. One at a time." The teacher said that pretty soon we will stop doing all of these treatment skills and just do med pass last week.

I lost it and cried when I got home at clinicals. I don't know if I should complain because I don't want to get a bad grade. I volunteered to do these skills when we were asked to volunteer but the teacher constantly passes me up. This is really upsetting me. I feel like complaining to the dean. The teacher and I have a friendly relationship. I don't want to jeapardize this.

What should I do? I feel like transferring schools or giving up.

[asdfghjkl123]

I'm glad that you had a good outcome when you took the issue to a higher authority, although it would not have been the path I chose. Because we have some very pushy and overbearing clinical professors in my program, I try to fly under the radar and really just let my skills and my patient's feedback do the talking for me.

Don't worry about not being able to practice all of your skills during clinicals, like others have mentioned, hospitals do realize that as a new nurse, there will be things you haven't had the oppertunity to practice.

The best advice I can offer is just to make yourself available! A lot of it has to do with being in the right place at the right time. Frequently a nurse on the floor will say I have a patient needing a foley inserted or an IV started, who wants it? You just have to jump at the chance and go for it!

Also like mama_d mentioned, you had to ask around! I will often tell my nurse and others on the shift that I am a student, and if they have anything going on that I could participate in or even just observe... that things that may seem mundane to them are really exciting to me! I have really good responses to statements like that. And many of the nurses I work with in clinicals are new grads and are happy to kind of take a student under their wing if the student really shows interest.

So ok, some things to think about! Don't worry, you'll have a new clinical professor next semester! Happy nursing!

[al7139, ASN, RN]

Hi there!

Don't be frustrated by not getting the opportunity to do clinical skills while in school. I NEVER inserted a foley in school, and my 2 pathetic attempts at an IV, the veins blew. In spite of preferential treatment, a previous poster was right on in that your assessment skills are whats goingto count in the long run.

I am an RN, and in school, I was so excited to do a dressing change. Now, If I have to do an IV rotation or a foley, it is just another thing I have to do, and lots of times, a pain in the you know what!

Trust me, the novelty wears off after a while!

What I pride myself on is that I do a thorough assessment of my patients, and if I see anything abnormal, I make sure to follow up by getting the right orders from the doc, or nursing interventions I can do myself.

Hope this helps!

Amy

[mume2mykidz]

I was in PN school and graduated in September and never did a foley,I thought what the heck will I do when I get out working,but I have been told I will learn when I get out there. I feel like I paid enough I should have been taught hands on but it seems like this happens in every school..

[Reese17]

Dont give up! As a nurse you will have plenty of opportunities to do procedures. In our clinical, there are 10 of us and only 3 or 4 get to pass meds every week. We been in clinical for 12 weeks and I have not done any procedures..IV hangs, catheters, wound care. Our instructor is not very good at her job. She doesnt teach us, she just expects us to know. When we ask her a question, she rolls her eyes, sighs, shakes her head...its been a very difficult clinical. We have 3 weeks to go and I just want to get through it. I know we are anxious to do procedures. I wish clinicals were better organized and allowed all the students to experience every part of nursing but its not so we just have to ride it out until we graduate and thats when the real fun begins! Good Luck.

[senecagirl]

i'm in clinical this semester and it has not been a clinical where i've learned any new skills. i've been disappointed because i've done this all before (worked in the field) so I feel like its wasted time.

however, a patient said to me "thank you for caring...you spend so much time making me feel good, I wish you were here all the time".

so, although i'm not learning/practicing new skills, just being there is helping the patients I work with. My nurse-client therapeutic skills are improving along with my critical thinking.

as someone else said, opportunities for skills will come up...