12 and 1/2 hours with only 30 minutes for lunch

[blenderbottle]

HI I am in my second semester , we have clinicals in the hospital now, we have to work practically 13 hours every shift and be there at 6 15 am and leave at 7 15 or later

My instructor would not allowed us to take any brakes exception for 30 minutes for lunch. We not allowed to sit and do paperwork for more than 1 hour for entire day (we expected to stand in hallway and write on clipbord while being on lookout for bell lights)

My friends hiding in the bathroom every hour to get some rest, but it is kind of stinky there. I am not learning anything in clinicals, under huge stress and just tired. I am not joking I have really bad experience , do you have the same experience ?

[LubbDubb77, BSN, RN]

Suck it up and be proactive about learning. Help the other nurses out! That is what it will be like once you're done with school, so get used to it. Also, it's probably best that you don't complain to your instructor. You definitely want to be in their good graces, so keep a positive attitude and stay busy.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

Suck it up and be proactive about learning. Help the other nurses out! That is what it will be like once you're done with school, so get used to it. Also, it's probably best that you don't complain to your instructor. You definitely want to be in their good graces, so keep a positive attitude and stay busy.

And remember, depending on if you're in a ADN or BSN program, you're spending anywhere from $1500 to $30,000 to "help the other nurses."

What happened to the days when teachers actually taught their students?

[stockmanjr, BSN]

Nursing clinical instructors "realize" a lot more than you realize Staying busy in clinical is not about being "glorified CNAs," it is about maximizing your learning opportunities during your precious clinical hours, which are far too few in the first place. Nursing is all about being a self-directed learner. If your meds and assessments are done, your charting is done, and "no nurse needs my help" (which I find hard to imagine), you can still find something constructive and educational to do. (Yes, I'm a former nursing instructor who finds studying for exams a completely inappropriate use of clinical time.)

Actually I found that in my clinicals many nurses didn't want our help. They were busy and a good chunk of them werent really happy to have us around period. There were exceptions of course.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

Actually I found that in my clinicals many nurses didn't want our help. They were busy and a good chunk of them werent really happy to have us around period. There were exceptions of course.

Exactly. Some instructors need to realize that the staff nurses at the hospital are not being paid to teach the students. That's why it's so common that rooms are specifically assigned for clinicals. It's not the staff nurse's job to teach the students a single thing. I'm not going through school right now so that I can do an instructors job in a few years. The only time that should ever be passed off to another nurse is if they're specifically a preceptor for those programs, AKA they signed up for it. This is why so many students graduate and have no clue what they're doing. The clinicals are that important real world teaching, so teach. It's not a 12 hour work shift, it's a 12 hour class.

[novashark, MSN, APRN]

This seems like an issue with the clinical professor. Not all of them are like this. Just get through the semester and hopefully the next will be better!

Best of luck!

[novashark, MSN, APRN]

So not even a nursing student yet and I'm willing to bet you aren't "learning anything in clinicals" because you are too busy figuring out how to sit down or hide. Find a nurse and follow her/him. Ask questions, be involved. You can be right in the middle of a situation and get nothing out of it if you choose to - or you can put yourself in the middle and learn something. Sounds to me like you are too busy trying to be lazy that you are more of a problem than part of the solution.

I've started this post over a few times now trying to be nice and I just can't find the right words - I'm sorry. I just don't have any sympathy for you. Sick people come to a hospital for a reason and nurses are there to take care of them. You knew when you started school that nurses work long and hard hours. You have to be physically capable of working long shifts - so if you aren't - do something to fix that. No one cares if you are tired or hungry or haven't peed in the last 12 hours. Sick people come first. Maybe the one thing you have learned from clinicals is that you aren't cut out for the hospital environment.

Legally you are allowed breaks and lunch and all that. Truthfully it boils down to being a squeaky wheel and not having a job or sucking it up and doing your job and taking quick breaks when you can. People are trying to change the way that it works and advocate for better nursing conditions - but for now - this is the way that it is.... Like it or don't. Work in a hospital - or don't. For now - as a student if you want to graduate - it is what it is. Complaining won't get you anywhere.

You can't learn with your butt in a chair. Nothing interesting happens in the nursing station. I'm sure there are experiences to be had on your floor - do yourself a favor and find them!

As someone who is "not even a nursing student yet" you sure think you've got it all figured out. It seems that the OP was asking for advice from someone who was worked/has experience with hospital. Saying that nobody cares if you're tired, hungry, or haven't peed is incorrect. There will be days that feel this way. But for the most part nurses are encouraged to take their breaks and empty their bladders so that they can focus on caring for a patient. This way they won't have to focus on their stomach growling in front of the patient every 2 seconds or wonder how much longer they can hold their bladder. A nurse needs to take care of herself/himself in order to be able to properly take care of others.

In addition, a nursing student has even LESS of a reason to go through this. Students are there to learn. Not to be enslaved and forced to stand for 13 hours. In order to learn, people need rest and food. As a student, I took all of my breaks, sat down at the computer to do POC/research meds and conditions etc, and helped out nurses. I made it out of school and am working as a nurse just fine.

Please do not go on and on about how OP is probably not cut out for the hospital environment especially if you are not a student yet and haven't experienced it.

[Lipoma, BSN, RN]

So not even a nursing student yet and I'm willing to bet you aren't "learning anything in clinicals" because you are too busy figuring out how to sit down or hide. Find a nurse and follow her/him. Ask questions, be involved. You can be right in the middle of a situation and get nothing out of it if you choose to - or you can put yourself in the middle and learn something. Sounds to me like you are too busy trying to be lazy that you are more of a problem than part of the solution.

I've started this post over a few times now trying to be nice and I just can't find the right words - I'm sorry. I just don't have any sympathy for you. Sick people come to a hospital for a reason and nurses are there to take care of them. You knew when you started school that nurses work long and hard hours. You have to be physically capable of working long shifts - so if you aren't - do something to fix that. No one cares if you are tired or hungry or haven't peed in the last 12 hours. Sick people come first. Maybe the one thing you have learned from clinicals is that you aren't cut out for the hospital environment.

Legally you are allowed breaks and lunch and all that. Truthfully it boils down to being a squeaky wheel and not having a job or sucking it up and doing your job and taking quick breaks when you can. People are trying to change the way that it works and advocate for better nursing conditions - but for now - this is the way that it is.... Like it or don't. Work in a hospital - or don't. For now - as a student if you want to graduate - it is what it is. Complaining won't get you anywhere.

You can't learn with your butt in a chair. Nothing interesting happens in the nursing station. I'm sure there are experiences to be had on your floor - do yourself a favor and find them!

Lmao! You need to get off that high horse you're sitting on. I hope you realize that the number one reason why mistakes happen is due to human error... One of those is due to fatigue. You should be ashamed to assume that patients come first. Patients come SECOND. Personal safety is priority. You can't help a patient if you're exhausted, you'll become a patient yourself.

Answer this: if you've been doing CPR for 40mins and you you're exhausted... Do you stop or do you continue? Btw, there's no one around to assist you.

Also, PLENTY happens at the nursing station. Here in the ER, after we assess a patient, we go through the patient's last visit to see how their care went and what was done for them prior to discharge or admission to a unit.

Lazy clinical instructors, lazy nurses, and lazy nurse managers would love you on their unit...you sound like a push over that will do any and everything because you were told to do so.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

Here's the reality of EVERY job. If you overwork yourself and it leads to you getting injured or possibly dying, you'll be replaced the next day.

Fatigue is also a serious issue. It's like being at work drunk.

Take care of yourself first, so that you can take care of your patients. I promise you, unless you're on the trauma team in a level 1 center and you have someone in your trauma bay, and another on the way, you're not doing anything that critically urgent that it can't wait 5 minutes so that you can go to the bathroom, or get a drink of water, or catch your breath. And you better be taking your lunch break. If you're getting dizzy from hunger, you're feeling weak and tired, getting exhausted, the last thing I want you doing is being responsible for drugs that can kill me with a mistake. Seriously, put yourself in the patient's place... Do you want an exhausted nurse starting your IV? Do you want to trust that person who can barely stand anymore to have that medicine going at the right rate?

Don't be a martyr for a nursing job, you're more likely to kill someone other than yourself.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Here's the reality of EVERY job. If you overwork yourself and it leads to you getting injured or possibly dying, you'll be replaced the next day.

Ummm, yeah, for sure the dying part.

If you get injured on the job, you might well be entitled to worker's comp, a less physical assignment etc. But of course, not taking care of yourself on a regular basis isn't a good tactic for staying gainfully employed long term in a physical job.

[blenderbottle]

I personally, would love to take breaks, but my instructor would not let me. One day i did not each much protein in the morning, so i I was feeling shake and dizzy to the point where i was about to pass out, I ask my instructor for 5 minutes brake, she allowed, but I was getting really bad look, and she make altitudes that I am lazy and would not make it, if I need to take brakes. By away I am done with this class

when I be done with school I will have few words for agency who accredited my school , could not wait to speak up.

[SeasonedTech]

Wow! I wonder where those nurses that have time to get on Facebook work?! Because during my 12hr shifts I take the breaks I'm entitled to by law, but I sure as hell don't have time to play on a computer! Welcome to nursing, where yes, there will be shifts where you don't sit down except for when you're on your breaks. It's demanding and physically & mentally hard. But I love it!