Are clinicals supposed to be like this??

[Lafont16]

Hello,

I'm a freshman nursing student and I just had my first clinical experience last night. I'm so confused!!! We went to a long term care facility. Our instructor first had us look through the charts for a while and then she gave us a select group of patients to choose from. Once we picked our patient, she wanted us to go to their room, introduce ourselves, etc. One student went to see her patient and changed his diaper and cleaned him. We have never done this in class yet, but she was a CNA so she had already done this several times. I have absolutely no health care experience whatsoever, so I was under the impression that my instructor or a nurse from the facility would sort of walk us through some patient care. Or at least watch us while we do it to make sure we're doing it right. But that's not the case. My instructor is just sort of letting us decide what should be done. Is this the way the first day of clinicals is supposed to be? I'm not a lazy person and am very eager to learn actual patient care, but I'm very apprehensive about taking it upon myself to decide what the patient needs since this is my first time ever doing this. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[APBT mom, LPN, RN]

Our first clinical rotation was in a nursing home and we did CNA work. Our instructor told us what we were allowed to do with or without her plus checkoffs that we were required to have. After that she left us with our partner and would come by once every hour or two to see what we were doing.

I would ask the instructor what you are allowed to do. She/he is there to help you when you need it. I would also ask if it is ok if you can partner up to do things. Bed baths and changing bed bound patients is much easier when you have two people.

I would look in your fundamental book for procedures on bed baths, feeding, oral care, changing patients, feeding patients, etc. basically whatever a CNA does and make some cheat sheets and stick them in your pocket so you can look at them before you have to do something.

As for what the patients need just ask they usually more than willig to tell. Good luck it gets much easier.

[marshgreencohen]

i guess u

[marshgreencohen]

i guess u have to make the first move in asking or something:trout:

[allthingsbright]

I've noticed that throughout my clinicals there is an very hands on approach where you learn by doing. This can be stressful but pretty effective. Always ask "how" before you do something new--you will learn a lot on the floor if you jump at every opportunity and if you always ask for direction and help when you are unsure. Take care! :)

[natrgrrl]

This is what happened to me at clinicals this week. We were handed a form to fill out on assessment and introduced to the client on the first day. The next day they told us to go to go take care of our client.

AND DO WHAT????????

We had no idea what to expect or what we were supposed to get accomplished. We can't do meds and there is only one machine for the VS and 9 students. The nurses were very polite when they told us to get out of their way but we could see frustration on their faces.

I made it through my first two days of clinicals. THANK GOD!