First day of clinicals

nurse2btracy · Oct 3, 2007

My first day at clinical went ok. I am on an orthopedic floor. We had a tour of the floor and then I went in to my patient. We were supposed to work on our communication skills. Everyone else seemed to have a great rapport with their patients. I am really shy normally so maybe I am having a hard time getting the patients to talk. I was in and out within 5 minutes. Everyone else had longer conversations.

Does anybody have any tips about communicating with patients? I have to take a different approach this coming Saturday.

MB37 · Oct 3, 2007

Tracy - I'm on an orthopedic floor too, although they also get medical overflow, and of course a lot of the patients have comorbid conditions. Have you learned therapeutic communication yet in lecture? It might help to try to apply some of that to talking with your patients/families. We are learning how to do PATs (care plans) bit by bit, so we have to get a patient history from whoever we are working with that day. It takes a little while, and you can let them elaborate since you don't have any other patients. So far my patients have generally wanted to talk. Ask about family, ask what they did/do for a living, let them complain about the hospital food...let them know that you have the time to listen (unlike their nurse, probably, who has 93 other patients) and they'll probably just start in.

bluerthnu · Nov 13, 2008

In my program, we already had to be licensed CNA's before starting. So our first day of clinicals, we did head-to-toe assessments on our patients. Vitals signs first then every thing else. We had a form/check off to follow. This was all after we had been there the day before to pick pts and gather information from their charts, then went home to look up their meds and all the conditions. So we did one assessment, then did the CNA stuff like getting them up, dressed, and groomed and taking them to their meals or feeding them. We did total pt care so we changed their linen and took them to physical therapy, etc. We didn't pass meds at first, but once we did, the day went even faster. Just remember, questions are a good thing and like someone else said, you are there to learn, not to impress anyone (yet). You'll be fine and hopefully you'll even have fun! Take the time to get to know your patient and spend time with them. Good luck!

shygoofyone · Nov 14, 2008

On our very first clinical, we had only an orientation to the hospital's policies surrounding privacy, HIPAA, emergency, etc. We toured the floor that we would be on and took a "post-quiz" on where everything on the floor was.

I wish we did that every semester...each floor at this hospital is different...because each has its own specialty.

On the first day of my second clinicals, we also had a tour of the floor, and then we were assigned two patients to perform vitals and assist with AM care.

On the first day of my third med-surg clinical, i was there an hour and got a quick tour of the floor. Our instructor was CLEARLY not ready for us and didn't want to be there.

Anyway....my :twocents: is that you never really know what to expect, even after a few semesters in the program. It's really up to each instructor. Some of my instructors have gone over the paperwork and told us what they expected of each of us, another (the most recent) didn't even know about our paperwork.

Go in on your first day with your paper and a pen to take notes, whatever you're required to have (we need stethascope, watch, pen light, bandage scissors) and just know that each CI is different! :)