I am a first semester ADN student and just started my clinicals in the hospital a few weeks ago. There is one major problem though... my clinical instructor is less than desirable. We essentially walk around until he/she can find us a patient to take care of (sometimes this takes 30-45 minutes) and then we aren't given instruction as to what to do with our patient or what the goals for the day are (beyond "AM care and vitals").
How important is it first semester to have a good clinical experience and what should I be taking away from these first few weeks? This is only one out of two rotations for first semester (the next is in long term care) but I am very nervous that I will continue to have this instructor. He/she is not only unorganized, but can be nasty to the students sometimes and micromanaging (to the point where they almost made someone cry over an accu-chek because the student put the test strips on the edge of the table instead of the middle.... this was the students first time doing one.)
I'm not here to just rant about this professor, I really just want to know if it is possible to have a better clinical experience than I am having. I am not sure what we are supposed to be doing on any given day and that is extremely frustrating to me. Should I speak to my mentor or would this come of "tattle-tale"ish?
As a clinical instructor my self, first semester is usually vitals, ADLs, care plans, and assessments. Don't be too hard on yourself if it is your first week. I would ask your instructor for specific daily tasks if you are having trouble with what do do exactly. Sometimes there is really nothing to do with a patient and if that's the case help out ur fellow students or ask for more direction.
Thank you. This is the kind of confirmation I was looking for. We are in week three, but it has been a SLOW start. I was really just wondering if the little amount of work we have to do the first few weeks is what many others also experience.
Unfortunately we do ask him/her for a list of daily tasks. I wish I could really explain how confusing they are, but one second they will say to do something today, then the next they will say "but that isn't until next week." I just can't even begin on how unclear he/she is.
Since you have worked with patients before I can see how you feel like you are ready to get in there and really do something. It's only week 3, so much of my first semester was just about making students comfortable washing and cleaning naked people. For people who have never just walked into a room of a stranger and took their clothes off and washed and looked at every little detail of them - that itself is difficult for some. Then you have some getting past the "pee and poop is yucky" phase. Changing an occupied bed can take some practice if you've never done it - more practice if there are tubes involved.
I know I wanted to be doing something exciting, but we pretty much did the same for the beginning of the first semester.
It gets better and with any luck next time you will get an instructor you feel better about.
Good luck.
I'm just glad to know this is normal. I hear so many of my classmates talking about all the cool stuff they see and perhaps I get a little jealous
What is bothering me about your clinical situation, is that it takes your instructor 30-45 min to get you patient's. To me that is unacceptable. Your instructor should be there before you all arrive. The instructor should already have you assigned to a patient. The instructor should have gotten the ok from the patient already, for a student to care for them. This should all be worked out with the charge nurse beforehand.
As other posters have said, practice your assessment skills, look over charts and also go over and look up the patient's medications. Start understanding the why, what and how of drugs being prescribed in the clinical setting. The medications you encounter now will be seen throughout your clinicals, so get to know your meds! I really hope clinical does improve for you and wish you the best.
What is bothering me about your clinical situation, is that it takes your instructor 30-45 min to get you patient's. To me that is unacceptable. Your instructor should be there before you all arrive. The instructor should already have you assigned to a patient. The instructor should have gotten the ok from the patient already, for a student to care for them. This should all be worked out with the charge nurse beforehand.
As other posters have said, practice your assessment skills, look over charts and also go over and look up the patient's medications. Start understanding the why, what and how of drugs being prescribed in the clinical setting. The medications you encounter now will be seen throughout your clinicals, so get to know your meds! I really hope clinical does improve for you and wish you the best.
Yep... It's that bad. We also start our preconference at 8 when all other clinical groups start at 7. By the time I got my patient the other day it was 9:15, we took a break at 9:45 (mandatory because our instructor leaves the floor) and we leave the floor for the day at 12:15... I just don't even know how that's enough hours.
And thank you for the guidance. I found out I may have a different instructor (who is actually my favorite because she is an amazing teacher) for the next rotation beginning October 20th. Fingers crossed!
Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.
Ok I'm going to tell you some realities of nursing school, please do not interpret this as being offensive as I don't mean to be.
First and foremost, there is a difference between what you expect and what actually happens. When I was a brand new nursing student I expected to be saving lives right away, perform tons of skills, but reality, especially in fundamentals doesn't work that way. Does this mean you don't learn anything? No, just that the focus isn't on what you expected. Usually fundamentals is all about therapeutic communication, assessments, care plans, adls, how to interact with patients and generally being comfortable with them. It may not sound glamorous but it's the base, the fundamentals. And you may feel that you don't need it because maybe you've had experience in hospital before but it's catered for entry level.
Second thing, assess, assess, assess. Never stop assessing. Your instructor didn't want you to do a full assessment? Assess anyway, you can assess a lot with just inspection and doing a short history. Assessment before a patient is being dc is very important also, sometimes, although rare, they will have a change in condition, or somebody missed something. Also this is where you practice your nursing plan, what discharge instruction are there? Rns educate and evaluate. Teach them about what modifications they will need to make, diet, activity, meds, signs to report. If they know it already, reinforce it, evaluate it. Think of nursing diagnosis, care plans. Familiarize yourself with the case, the disease, read the chart. If you're done with all that go snoop around and see what's going on in the unit, sometimes you'll see a dressing change.
Bottom line is, I know you're eager to learn but remember you can't run before you know how to walk. Fundamentals is there to start getting you to think like a nurse. So always assess and start connecting them. Always think, what does this assessment mean? How does it have an effect on my patient?
Yep... It's that bad. We also start our preconference at 8 when all other clinical groups start at 7. By the time I got my patient the other day it was 9:15, we took a break at 9:45 (mandatory because our instructor leaves the floor) and we leave the floor for the day at 12:15... I just don't even know how that's enough hours.
And thank you for the guidance. I found out I may have a different instructor (who is actually my favorite because she is an amazing teacher) for the next rotation beginning October 20th. Fingers crossed!
Make sure you put all this in the instructor evaluation at the end of the term. Encourage your classmates to do so as well. Those are the only real tool you have for feeding back on issues like this. If the school cares at all about their reputation with clinical sites, they'll take it seriously. Because trust me, the people at your clinical site have noticed if he's really as behind and ineffective as you've portrayed him here.
Hope you get the instructor you want next rotation. :)
Make sure you put all this in the instructor evaluation at the end of the term. Encourage your classmates to do so as well. Those are the only real tool you have for feeding back on issues like this. If the school cares at all about their reputation with clinical sites, they'll take it seriously. Because trust me, the people at your clinical site have noticed if he's really as behind and ineffective as you've portrayed him here.
Duskyjewel is absolutely correct with her post. Make sure everyone in your group does an evaluation. The nurses on your floor have noticed as well. The last thing your school wants besides a bad reputation at the hospital, is to lose a clinical site. Clinical sites are hard to come by.
Duskyjewel is absolutely correct with her post. Make sure everyone in your group does an evaluation. The nurses on your floor have noticed as well. The last thing your school wants besides a bad reputation at the hospital, is to lose a clinical site. Clinical sites are hard to come by.
Unfortunately I believe this professor has been around for a while... And I always get the same response from fellow students when I mention who I have for clinicals.... "UGH, I'm sorry". I don't know how this hasn't been resolved already.
Lori215, RN
1 Article; 124 Posts
Thank you. This is the kind of confirmation I was looking for. We are in week three, but it has been a SLOW start. I was really just wondering if the little amount of work we have to do the first few weeks is what many others also experience.
Unfortunately we do ask him/her for a list of daily tasks. I wish I could really explain how confusing they are, but one second they will say to do something today, then the next they will say "but that isn't until next week." I just can't even begin on how unclear he/she is.