How do you know if you will be good at clinicals?

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I know, in a way, this is a question that you can never really answer until you get there, but I have been giving this some thought lately.

I am in my upper 30s - nursing is a career change for me from a totally unrelated field. I am married with 3 children. I am currently making my way through the pre-reqs, and am in an ADN / RN program. I will start the first nursing course (which is only a theory course) in the fall (hopefully), with the first clinical course in January 2011.

But sometimes I think, what if I finally get there, and am not good at clinicals? How can you really know? :confused:

Has anyone had this concern, and got to clinicals and felt much better (hopfully I will!). I just feel like I am so invested in this, both financially and emotionally (as I have always wanted to be a nurse), that I really want it to work. If you start out a bit rough at clinicals, does practice make perfect, or is it an innate thing: you either have it or you don't. Somewhat of a philisophical question, but definitely has real-life implications!

Anyone care to please provide some encouragement and/or share their experience?

Thanks :)

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

It is completely normal to feel this way. I felt the same way, I actually was more worried about class then clinical but after having my first clinical orientation at the hospital I was very worried. I actually got so scared I reflected if I really wanted to be a nurse. Day one was supposed to be shadow day and I had a nurse ask me if I wanted to give an injection. I responded, On a human? I have only given them on little pads, maybe I should watch first. She said, that settles it, you're giving the injection. After that first injection I was eager to seek out opportunities. Anyway, it's perfectly normal to feel the way you are feeling.

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Mi Vida Loca, thank you, that is encouraging :) I love your Day One story - I can totally see this happening to me when I get there!

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Mi Vida Loca, thank you, that is encouraging :) I love your Day One story - I can totally see this happening to me when I get there!

You are very welcome :)

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Specializes in Hospice.

Good Luck WDW! I have my first Hospital Orientation tomorrow. I am fairly nervous. This is my first semester in Nursing school. The first half we were in an LTC. I felt like I finally knew what was expected of me and now I am going somewhere else. But I am just nervous b/c the hospital will obviously be a much different patient/setting/diagnoses than LTC. I am trying to prepare today and I just don't know what else to do to get ready. I guess I will go iron my WHITE scrubs. Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
Good Luck WDW! I have my first Hospital Orientation tomorrow. I am fairly nervous. This is my first semester in Nursing school. The first half we were in an LTC. I felt like I finally knew what was expected of me and now I am going somewhere else. But I am just nervous b/c the hospital will obviously be a much different patient/setting/diagnoses than LTC. I am trying to prepare today and I just don't know what else to do to get ready. I guess I will go iron my WHITE scrubs. Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb!

That's the way it is with my program too. Did first block in LTC and second block in med/surg, with shadowing on the first day of med/surg.

I am a straight A student, I do extremely well in lab assessment practice, but clinicals make me shake in my shoes. I, too, am an older student, and the only thing I have going for me, comfort and skill-wise, is that I'm not afraid to introduce myself to "my" nurse and CNA and ask them for direction if needed. I am also a pretty good therapeutic communicator, too, I think (at least that's what my LTC clinical instructor said, and I can see some of it reflected in my patients' responses). Everything else...well, I'm a newbie through and through! Everything I learned in class seems to fly outta my head when asked a direct question in a clinical setting!!!! I need a moment...or two or three...to come up with anything that even remotely sounds like the right answer.

Yes, you will be nervous. And, yes, you will get through it if you have the right attitude and the right commitment.

Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

I hated my LTC clinicals and I felt like I the only thing I learned was how to communicate with the patient. Obviously that is valuable but as far as skills, I was great at taking Blood Sugars but that was about it.

The hospital clinicals were so different. But I learned so much in just my first night.

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Specializes in Telemetry.

You will do better than you think you will. Went through the same emotions as you are now. Just get in the "nurse" mindset when you step out into the unit with your uniform and it will work out just fine. :)

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele, ER.

Yes, practice makes perfect! The more you do, the more you will get comfortable with. We ALL shake in our shoes that first day of walking into clinicals which is why I think they start us out in LTC.

Some random things that I think help in clinicals? Common sense, people skills (humor helps if it's appropriate, we all know there are times when it's not!) and most of all, try not to let the pt know you are nervous! I mostly waited until after a procedure to tell the pt it was my first time and most of the time they were like "really!" But all of these things will come to you as you start getting comfortable talking to pt and having people looking over your shoulder constantly while you are doing something!

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i am confused how to reply to other people's posts!!??

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I am a straight A student, I do extremely well in lab assessment practice, but clinicals make me shake in my shoes. I, too, am an older student, and the only thing I have going for me, comfort and skill-wise, is that I'm not afraid to introduce myself to "my" nurse and CNA and ask them for direction if needed. I am also a pretty good therapeutic communicator, too, I think (at least that's what my LTC clinical instructor said, and I can see some of it reflected in my patients' responses). Everything else...well, I'm a newbie through and through! Everything I learned in class seems to fly outta my head when asked a direct question in a clinical setting!!!!

You know, that is exactly the way I feel..and I do not know how to handle it. When I work in the hospital, I try to look at a patient's diagnosis or assess the patient the way we learned in class? Any help on how to do it? Because I find it difficult? :confused:

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You know, that is exactly the way I feel..and I do not know how to handle it. When I work in the hospital, I try to look at a patient's diagnosis or assess the patient the way we learned in class? Any help on how to do it? Because I find it difficult? :confused:

The only way to know how to do it....is just to do it. It will never be like class....which makes sense, all the folks you assessed in class weren't sick right? :)

You're supposed to find it difficult, the only way to get better is to live through being a beginner. It's ok to be an inexperienced beginner....you're supposed to be!!! Use this time to ask a thousand questions from anyone who will answer them :D

Prepare as well as you can, and then jump in

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