Published
It depends. (the common answer in Nursing school) Last semester we all had clinicals from 6am-1pm. This semester some of our clinicals are all day once a week, others were 2 days a week for 6 hours, some were 1 day a week for 8 hours.
As for picking patients, it depended on the instructor. Last semester we could go on saturday and have a care plan by monday. This semester We had to go on Sundays to have it done by Monday. They told us which floor we were on and what criteria to look for (basically who would still be there on Tuesday hopefully) We usually picked a bank of rooms so that we didn't double up on a nurse. Then we talked to the RN on duty to get an idea of a good patient. The charge nurse was also a good source of information.
Lynn/BW
Sounds like my clinical days are easy.
Med Surg is pick-up the night before & prep (however long it takes you to do this, for me it's usually 90 minutes or so per patient). Actual clinical is 0700-1130.
Peds is the same type of thing, but I haven't done pick up yet (will tomorrow for the first time and from what I understand, paperwork is a ***** in this class). Day of clinical runs 0630-1200.
So far they have been 8:00 to 12:00, with preconference til 8:30, lunch for an hour and post from 1:00 to 2:00, so IMO they are not long enough! I am use to spending 12 hours w/ my pts as a CNA and I feel like I barely get to see them or talk to them in 3.5 hours, esp when we have to wait for the instructor before we give meds or do procedures. I have seen posts on here about being nervous when we are finally out on our own doing pt care....and I may be when the time comes, but right now, I am looking forward to having a little more independence!
We have clinical from 7am-12pm Saturday and from 7am-12am Sunday. That's the amount of time we spend on the floor with our patient. On Saturdays, we are required to have all our paper work done for clinical. If you don't come in on Thursday or Friday to get your patient assignment, you come in Saturday at 6am to get your paper work done. Then we have post conference from 12pm-1pm with our instructor. On Sunday, this time includes a nursing math quiz.
2 days a week at 8 hours a day. Just clinical prac, we don't have to do care plans or patient assignments. We just buddy up with a RN and off we go.
JHansen
44 Posts
I am just curious, how long are your clinical days? 4 8 or 12? and how many days a week are you doing clinicals?
Thanks in advance