Having a difficult time with my Practicum Experience:

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I feel awful. Practicum experience is suppose to be one of the best learning experiences in nursing school. I am working on the postpartum unit, and it was my number one choice. I thought for sure that I would love it; however, ever since week 1, I have just been clashing with most of the nurses on that unit. I found a lot of them seem to be either lazy, clueless, or both. I was assigned to a preceptor, and I constantly asked her what I could do to help. I always consistently checked on the patients and was willing to help her out and the other nurses out as well! Well, she went to the manager at the end of my first week and told the manager that "I wasn't interested in what she was doing....." When I worked with her, she was so lazy, sitting at her computer the whole time and kept talking about her pregnancy. She barely checked on her patients...all she did was complain about her nausea feeling and how it will be like 9 months from now..... Anyways, I got really upset but the manager did change my preceptor.

Now my new preceptor is much better at teaching me and is more pro-active than the other preceptor; however, I feel like she thinks i'm a dummy because I forgot how to do some nursing skills, since I didn't work in the hospital for about six months. And it's been a year since I was in OB clinicals. I don't trust that she would give me a fair and accurate evaluation report. I was suppose to work with her this week, but she had another job to do on the unit, and she wasn't assigned to patients that day; therefore, she could not precept me that day. The manager told me not to show up even because she had no one to work with me. Basically, in nice words, "no one who is working that day will wanna work with you...."

I only know one nurse on this unit who likes working with me and likes to teach me. She lets me do most of the skills and I learned from her in one day more than I have the past 5 weeks I was on that unit. Unfortunately, she can't be my new or secondary preceptor because she's a new nurse :(

I basically feel alone and unsupported at all. I've tried talking to my school instructors about this, but they don't say or do anything about it.... I've tried talking to my friends about it, but they don't understand because they have awesome working relationships with their preceptors. I tried talking to my parents, but they just blame me and think i'm just bugging the nurses and that's why they don't want to work with me.....This is one of the worst experiences in nursing school...and I do not know what to do.....

Luckily, I'm half way done with my practicum....but it has been stressing me out, when it's suppose to be a learning experience for me..... Any tips or ideas on how to deal with this practicum misery????

Thanks! I'm almost done. 7 more clinical days to go on the unit! Next week, I'm going to do 3 days...so after that, I will have 4 more left. It goes by so quickly. It's also difficult when my preceptor looks at me like i'm a dummy for not knowing how to do something or not remembering material from a year ago. Before this clinical qtr., I haven't stepped foot in a hospital in about 6 months! So, I haven't had practice clinically wise. I know I looked and sounded dumb my first two weeks especially, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable as I am in the hospital more and more. In fact, the more i'm in the hospital, the more i'm loving nursing (: I love taking care of the adults lol. But the babies are such cuties (: I will try to get my eval done by the nurse that I worked with this week, because she let me do a lot with her; therefore, I feel like she'd give me a more accurate and fair eval than any other nurse i've worked with. Hopefully it goes well!! I just wanna pass and move on, pass my NCLEX, and work on a medsurg floor (:

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Misty I can feel and relate to your frustration. I am like you and I have to stay busy, that way I feel I am accomplishing what I am there for. Our goal as nursing students is to learn and gain experience in every clinical site we enter. I would be unhappy as well if I was at a clinical site and the nurse did not utilize me in even the most smallest task. My advice to you is to find little things to do while she is doing her thing. There is always something to clean. Grab wipes and wipe down the counters, phones, portable vital machines. Round patients make sure they are comfortable and have everything they need. Let the nurse know that you are checking on pts. and to grab you when she needs you. One good thing about clinicals is that we get a feel of what area we want to work and what area we don't want to work in. It also teaches us to be that "awesome RN at my clinical site.." kind of nurse when we have nursing students. We all start somewhere!! Good luck! :}

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Yah, I try to clean something and I always check on my patients and see if they need anything (: Then, I ask other nurses if they need help. Most of them don't take me up on my offer though. I just feel like such a bother to my preceptor though. I asked her about my eval this week, I didn't even work with her this week, and I went to the unit to give her the eval...but she was too busy to fill it out this week. So I spoke to my teacher about it, and she said that its ok to ask the last nurse that I worked with to do my eval. I then emailed my preceptor about it and said that I'm just gonna ask so and so to do my eval since I worked with her this week (midterm week). She hasn't responded, and I probably should've left it alone until I see her next time, whenever I see her. That's also the thing that's different between me and them, I like to sometimes repeat myself to emphasize a point or restate what they say to me to make sure I got it right, but in their minds...it sounds like i'm not listening or paying attention or i'm just bugging them. My preceptor is the kinda teacher where if she tells or shows you once, she expects you to get it right after that. Which is understandable, but i'm the kinda student that needs to review, study, and do a skill over and over again before I master the skill! I just have different ways of learning, and I'm ok with that. It just clashes with some instructors. Which can be uncomfortable...unfortunately! It's been so inconsistent, because she has different jobs on the unit, so I can't be with her all the time now. So, i'm just winging it and showing up, and hoping and praying to work with a nurse that will be willing to work me. It's really sad. I just feel awful because I thought i'd love my practicum experience and I was sooooo excited before clinicals began! All my classmates I feel love their practicum sites and have such great working relationships with their preceptors. And i'm just left out of the loop, desperately trying to work with someone who is at least somewhat willing to work with me for at least just one day.... :(

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I had a section about learning styles during my orientation this week. It covered your learning style as well multitude of styles. The take home message is to know how to communicate your learning style, and respecting everyone's learning style. Another message was if you want a good learning experience, it is best to communicate you learning style, get familiar with your preceptor's learning style, and make a plan. No learning experience is a one size fits all, and these are parts of everyone's personality...you will find the same types of personalities on every unit, and every job.

Take your experience in stride. Make sure you communicate your learning style, which is logical, and maybe visual, and a little hands on because you like to stay busy, you ask people to repeat the process and like to know the step by step process. I suggest from this point on, communicate that you have a go go go attitude; you may ask to repeat steps in order to learn, etc. Make your self clear...that's how you can advocate for yourself, and make the best of your learning experiences, and your career, because there are going to be plenty in your career...still learning something new everyday as I go up the ladder, and I've been in healthcare for about 13 years, and plan to be for MANY years, and plan for many experiences. :)

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I precept people in the OR and it is an exhausting job. Cut your preceptors some slack. You said at originally that you forgot some of your basic nursing skills but then in your next post your turn around and make an ugly comment about your preceptor not knowing what to do when a patient was SOB. What's the difference? Go in there with a positive attitude and don't act like everyone is out to get you.

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Well the difference is is that they are experienced nurses and I am not. If I don't know something, some give me a hard time about it, but they don't know other things either. And I wasn't attacking my preceptor, she did know what to do, but other nurses were running around the unit panicking. I just think many of the nurses in my unit are not use to really sick patients. They freak out about any sick patient. I don't think everyone is out to attack me, it would just be nice if they worked with me. If you remember what it's like to be a student, think about going to clinical where no one really wanted to work with you or teach you. Not fun! And the skills I forgot to do aren't basic skills you see on every unit, they are skills that specifically obtain to OB, in which I haven't taken OB clinicals in a year.

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Specializes in L&D.

I hate to say this, but it sounds like your attitude needs some work. Good luck with everything. (:

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Just remember this experience when you are a nurse with a student a few years down the road and do your best to teach them as you would like to be treated now (:

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Brithoover: I will definitely remember to try to stay humble and patient always when I become experienced nurse! Because even the experienced nurse doesn't know everything.

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The same things happened to me when I was a student. It felt like no nurses had time for me and wouldn't teach anything. So I swore I would be great with the students I had. Now that I'm a nurse I'm struggling being a great teacher because of how overloaded I am with the high acuity of patients. I'm really struggling with that

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I understand that. On the more intense floors it gets pretty crazy, the workload. And that can explain why some nurses (not all) get easily irritated with students. My mom is a nurse and she also gets pretty impatient with students. But it's best to know what your student can do, if he/she can do vitals or check blood sugars, let them do that maybe. And the skills they don't know how to do, show em a few times and then maybe let them try at least once when the case isn't as critical. My nurse preceptor is pretty good at that. With my first preceptor, I noticed the cases and workload wasn't as intense and she just wanted to get things done to be done with it. Some nurses are just like that, where they won't let the student do the skills bc it will take longer.

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Well the difference is is that they are experienced nurses and I am not. If I don't know something, some give me a hard time about it, but they don't know other things either. And I wasn't attacking my preceptor, she did know what to do, but other nurses were running around the unit panicking. I just think many of the nurses in my unit are not use to really sick patients. They freak out about any sick patient. I don't think everyone is out to attack me, it would just be nice if they worked with me. If you remember what it's like to be a student, think about going to clinical where no one really wanted to work with you or teach you. Not fun! And the skills I forgot to do aren't basic skills you see on every unit, they are skills that specifically obtain to OB, in which I haven't taken OB clinicals in a year.

I never said that you attacked your preceptor. And not all preceptors don't like working with students. I enjoy having students, it can just be exhausting. And I know what it is like to be a student because I am a nursing student now. Cut the nurses some slack. Maybe they see a student with a chip on their shoulder. Just go in with a positive attitude. That could make a world of difference.

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