Hi all...I have question for you...has anyone else wondered if they are doing the right thing? I will be starting my second semester of nursing school in about a week and a half and I am feeling pretty blah about it. Nursing is something that I have wanted to do forever and I was SO excited to learn that I got accepted to school on my first try (I was an alternate and got the call a week before school started that I got in)...anyway, I am not sure if it was the hospital that I had my clinicals at or if I am just burned out with school but I am feeling pretty discouraged right now.
Firsty, my clinicals were not at all what I had expected. They were 6 hours two days a week. For about 4 of the 6 hours we stood around with nothing to do because the techs could do things faster and the nurses always asked them to do it. Also, the nurses were always rude to us. It is like they just thought that we were stupid if we asked questions. :angryfire
Also, I am having a really hard time studying and comprehending the information. I made 2 Bs and an A this first semester but I don't feel like I am learning anything...I just worry that I am not going to be a good nurse.
I agree with the other posters who said that clinicals are what you make of them. Our first clinical was in LTC, and while several of the students were kind of wandering around, I went right up to the CNA and just said "we are here to learn and help you.....just tell me what you want me to do!...I then just followed her and she not only showed me tons of stuff but also was great with letting us follow her around. I told my clinical teacher that she was really nice and helpful to me and the teacher was surprised and said that she must have "chilled out" over the years because other students didn't have the same reaction from her............I suspect that a lot of times it is in the way you approach whomever you are supposed to be following. They are so busy and probably feel like it is a waste of their time to try and teach students but if you present yourself as being of assistance to them also, they might have a different attitude.
As far as learning goes, I have learned a ton of stuff....even though I have not had a chance to apply it all clinically yet. I notice that nursing school is pretty self directed and so you must be very proactive and always volunteer if a shot needs to be given, etc. I will be starting my hospital rotation in the spring so we'll see how that goes but hopefully even the nurses that may "not want to be bothered with students", will soften up a bit when they realize that we want to learn and also help them to lighten their workload while we are there.
Good luck and hang in there....you will probably find each clinical to be different insofar as whom you are dealing with and also you might like other rotations better than the hospital.
I question myself often. I'm making decent grades, but I'm just not sure how much I'm learning or how well I've retained the information we learned last semester. I'm not all that comfortable with my assessment skills, either. I feel like I'm behind all my classmates, even though I do well on exams. I think my issues have more to do with self esteem and confidence than they do with level of knowledge.
We were also at a very small, rural hospital for my first semester clinicals - so I feel I didn't get the exposure to procedures that some of my classmates have. While most of them have started IVs, put in foleys, put down NG tubes, given IM injections - I and many of the others in my clinical group have done none of those things.
Will you have the same clinical hours and site next semester? Good luck!
Euphrosyne7, MSN, RN
122 Posts
Laura:
I agree with the other posters who said that clinicals are what you make of them. Our first clinical was in LTC, and while several of the students were kind of wandering around, I went right up to the CNA and just said "we are here to learn and help you.....just tell me what you want me to do!...I then just followed her and she not only showed me tons of stuff but also was great with letting us follow her around. I told my clinical teacher that she was really nice and helpful to me and the teacher was surprised and said that she must have "chilled out" over the years because other students didn't have the same reaction from her............I suspect that a lot of times it is in the way you approach whomever you are supposed to be following. They are so busy and probably feel like it is a waste of their time to try and teach students but if you present yourself as being of assistance to them also, they might have a different attitude.
As far as learning goes, I have learned a ton of stuff....even though I have not had a chance to apply it all clinically yet. I notice that nursing school is pretty self directed and so you must be very proactive and always volunteer if a shot needs to be given, etc. I will be starting my hospital rotation in the spring so we'll see how that goes but hopefully even the nurses that may "not want to be bothered with students", will soften up a bit when they realize that we want to learn and also help them to lighten their workload while we are there.
Good luck and hang in there....you will probably find each clinical to be different insofar as whom you are dealing with and also you might like other rotations better than the hospital.
Carla