Help communicating with my nurses.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Dec 9, 2012

Just get involved. I find that I got more out of my clinical experience by helping out on the floor. In nursing school you generally only have one patient to care for...when everything was done for that patient at that time, I would help answer call lights. That brought up more learning opportunities and staff will appreciate the extra help, too.

dori586 · Dec 9, 2012

I can tell you from my experience nurses usually are the "i'll do it myself" type. That doesn't mean we don't want to teach you, it means you have to show initiative. When I was a student, I was probably annoying. I was always trying to stay on top of everything and then constantly asking them what they were doing, why, and if I could do it. I was not content with just the patients that I was assigned. So, I would follow my nurse EVERYWHERE, and constantly ask if I could do something she/he was doing. And when I say follow your nurse everywhere, I mean it!! First, we do not want to track you down and waste time that could be spent simply doing the task. Second, you may learn things just by watching that I/they may not remember to tell you because it's so ingrained into our routine. Third, you will get more opportunities simply by being there.

Answering call lights is a good way to gain experience, but sometimes can hinder you. Say your off answering every call light and your nurse takes the opportunity to get a few things done that you need to learn. My point is try and balance your time. It sounds more difficult than it is.

And my last bit of advice: I know you say you are shy, but not everyone will push you into the action. You have to be willing to jump in feet first if you want to get the learning experiences. Don't be afraid to ask questions either.

Hope I was helpful.

Stephanie H. LPN

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2012

Are you available to the nurse during clinical? Nurses are often very busy and don't have time to look for the student nurse to do a procedure. If they look around and you aren't there, they are going to do it themselves. Make it a point to check in often with your nurse during the day and let her know where to find you're going to be tied up for awhile.

Sometimes at the very beginning of a shift the nurse doesn't know exactly what procedures she will need done. Many times the doctors round in the morning and write new orders then. Try to take notice of when the doctors round and check in with your nurse after that. Ask if there are any new orders or procedures that you can help with for any of her patients.

Try to be more specific than "I'm willing to help with anything." That doesn't really tell the nurse a lot. Say something like, "My primary patient is Mr. X. but I can assist you with you other patients too. We have covered injections, inserting catheters, inserting NG tubes and doing dressing changes. Will any of your patients require those today? If so, do you know what time you would like it done? I can perform the skill with you or with my clinical instructor.

Actively seek out learning experiences. If you have some spare time, check with your nurse and see if she needs anything. If not, check with the other nurses and see if there is anything that they need. Let them know that you are willing to perform skills and what skills you can perform. Ask them to find you if there are any procedures you can perform.

LiLev · Dec 9, 2012

Thanks for all the advice. I definitely will make sure to check in with my nurse frequently. Sometimes I can go for a couple of hours without even speaking to them beyond a cursory all is stable and I see that I need to make myself much more accessible. I thought I was making their life easier but in doing so I was probably missing out on learning opportunities.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Dec 11, 2012

This time of year, just about every patient is up for a flu shot or pneumonia shot. Ask all the nurses on the floor if they have any vaccinations that need to be done, then find out where to print out the little "patient education" flyer that needs to be given with every immunization as well.

And definitely give them a list of things that you can help with, like Ashley, PICU RN stated. If they know you can remove foleys or IVs without needing to be supervised, they're more likely to say, "Room 506 needs his IV removed prior to discharge" because that means it's one less thing that they need to do. Also, be sure to mention that you're interested in observing if "anything cool" comes up on the unit during your shift -- things like PICC line insertion, echocardiograms, paracentesis, etc.

By being quick to answer call lights for ALL patients (not just my assigned nurse's rooms), I've found that the nurses on the floor are more likely to ask me to do things for them. I've taken out lots of foleys, IVs, and even an NG tube on patients that weren't mine (or my nurse's), just because I was Johnny-on-the-spot.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Dec 11, 2012

I agree with what the others have said. You need to seek out the opportunities. If you tell the nurse at the beginning of the day that you're willing to help with her patients and then are nowhere to be found for several hours, she doesn't have time to chase you down. When I worked in the hospital, I was always happy to have students do fingersticks, PICC line dressing changes, cap changes, blood draws from CVLs, G-tube feedings, NG insertions, etc.... but if it was time for the task to be done and the student was MIA, I had to do it myself. We don't get paid extra to mentor students and, at my hospital, we didn't get paid if we worked late/after our shift was over so we can't afford to get behind because a student wants to give insulin and do a glucose check but they went to lunch.

LiLev · Dec 12, 2012

You guys are great, when I went to clinicals yesterday I told my nurse that I would love to learn anything she was willing to teach me and it was an entirely different experience. What a difference the right words can make, she had me stick with her for all her patient's-not just the one I researched and I learned more in 1 day than I think I did all semester. Now I feel like I wasted most of the semester because she seemed genuinely happy to have me stick with her and share her knowledge with me.

I guess better late than never, I still have a year and a half left to get the most out of my clinical experience and I'm looking forward to it now more than ever.

:) THANK YOU

brillohead, ADN, RN · Dec 12, 2012

Great news, glad it went so well... and don't think of it as a semester lost, think of it as the upcoming semesters you will gain with this new knowledge! Yay!

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Dec 12, 2012

good for you!!!! Good Luck!

Sadala, ADN, RN · Dec 19, 2012

In our clinicals, we have a large book with different procedures and we check and document that we performed a procedure on a certain day (the instructor signs off on it). So if there are certain things I have yet to do and it is ok to do them that semester, I do ask (and if I let the clinical instructor know, she will ask as well) if the nurse has any xyx because I'd love to help, observe, whatever I am allowed to do at that point. I also bug them about anything I can help them do. And especially, I watch how they do different things. Even nurses who don't seem to like to interact with students quite as much teach me things just by modeling.

I also ask questions from the nurses here and just lurk and read many of the threads. I feel stupid, sure. But it teaches me a lot. Also, there are nurses from many different regions in many different practice areas here. So its a great cross section of information and many different points of view. I don't even know where else you would be lucky enough to see that.

This semester we were lucky to have a clinical supervisor who really looked out for the things we needed to experience and if there was even one xyz in the facility, she arranged for as many of us as possible to participate or observe skills associated with it. I know though that in upcoming semesters I may not be as fortunate so I also asked on my own.

Also, the CNAs - I requested of them to allow me to help with whatever they were doing and got to experience many different types of patient lifts, shower beds, bath chairs and just got to help with many different types of hygiene and transport and equipment and to see first hand how many things are done that I had only seen on video or read about prior or practiced in a lab prior. I was happy about that because I have a feeling different facilities will have slightly different equipment and I would like to be familiar with as many different types as possible (not being THE most mechanically inclined person in the world - its not like I can just feel my way around machinery as some seem gifted to do). Also, lots of staff would ask me to do vitals once they found out that I didn't at all mind, and I just really feel like you can never do vitals often enough as a student (both in terms of practice and theory).

If you have difficulty asking on your own, bond with a fellow student and ask to work on patients together. You'll see more that way, and maybe your fellow student will be less hesitant to ask about new procedures and you can both help with them. In turn, maybe you have something to offer your fellow student - something with which they have more difficulty. Everyone has different strengths and I find we (students) can learn a lot from each other too.

Sadala, ADN, RN · Dec 19, 2012

I guess better late than never, I still have a year and a half left to get the most out of my clinical experience and I'm looking forward to it now more than ever.
:) THANK YOU

I don't think its a loss at all! You said that you spent other clinical time taking very good care of your pts. That's both a skill and an art and I'm sure your patients were so grateful. So you practiced good, thorough care for them. How can that be a bad thing or a loss? It's all learning.