I don't usually post here but today I just need to vent. We had our orientation for Clinicals today and I am freaking out...I am not so much concerned about the paperwork, but I always doubt my decisions. Everyone in my class is so excited to start working with the patients, but I cringe when I think of it. Not because I don't like people, I am definately a people person, but I do not know what is wrong with me. Even basic things, like moving a patient from their bed to the wheelchair or to the shower or soemthing like that...we only did it for about half an hour in lab..and now I am supposed to know what I am doing with a patient? I keep telling myself that I can do this, yet while my professor is instructing us on how clinicals work, I am on the verge of tears bc I am embarrassed that I won't be able to do it. Embarrassed that if I end up quitting, I will have to hear it all from my coworkers, friends and family how I couldnt cut it.
I am just dreading to go next week, I am so scared that i put all this effort and money into this program and I am ready to bail ship already
I had my first clinical experience this week, and I was so terrified that I couldn't do anything, not bed baths, not mouth care, and not even waking the pt up! (pt was a hard sleeper) By the end of the day, I got a little more comfortable and was able to at least do feedings (pt needed total care). I am in the same boat as you, and I like that quote, I will have to learn to feel the fear, then do it anyway.
Just wanted to inform you that I feel so much better about the program. I just got my test score back from our first test(on 14 chapters btw) and I got a 93.3!! YAY The class ave was a 78 so I was excited!!
I stepped off the elevator for my first day of clincals feeling like a complete idiot, I kept thinking that I didn't know enough about anything to help anybody, but I was wrong lol Now I inwardly complain that 2 days a week from 6-3 isn't long enough and 1 patient doesn't keep me busy enough lol and this is also the semester where it is all starting to click, med/surg II lectures actually make sense and don't send me diving nose first into a million books for reference, and our instructor tries to give us different patients each week so we aren't taking care of the same types over and over so we learn more there as well. Just take a deep breath, you'll do great and I bet you come back to post a great clinical update for us!
i currently am a third year nursing student... but a "third courser. i have finished A.B. Sociology and took up Master in Mnagement Technology. When it was time for our first day at clinicals, i thought that my age, experience of having been in marketing as a pharmaceuticall representative for 15 years (already familiar with clinical and pharmaceutical terminologies), that i would be able to go through with it effortlessly. I WAS WRONG!!! i had the jitters!!!
my clinical instructor noticed my nervousness (as well as my groupmates for that particular shift) and instructed us to review and practice all the basic nursing procedures one by one several times. her rationale was that these nursing procedures should be learned by heart... thus bringing confidence and less margin for error. Constant practice brings in mastery and confidence.
Our group is now currently assigned at the e.r. A week ago we had 2 v.a.'s with 1 d.o.a. and 2 critical (1 a.k.a. and 1 with head trauma). if it weren't for constant exposure, review and practice, we would have messed up.
the first days at clinical practice really are scary and at times self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy creeps in. but as time goes by and you get more exposure and competence, what you'll get is the feeling of acomplishment in doing your best in trying to help a sick or ijured person.
You CAN do it. I felt the same way during CNA training clinicals. You will learn as you go, trust me.
I start my clinicals for nursing school next Monday and I know that we have at least two days of orientation. If you have orientation also, I suggest that afterwards you get a group together and practice the skills just to get your confidence up.
Also, talk to your classmates. You'd be surprised at how everyone feels pretty much the same as you - overwhelmed, scared, on the verge of tears if they haven't already cried.
If you need help during clinical, ask your classmates, ask your CNA, ask your nurse. No one expects us, as students, to know everything.
I am a forty-three year old nursing student, about to get my LPN degree in early December. I have many career experiences, and have no experience in a medical setting.
So while I may be able to cite experiences I've had in Europe, or Tahiti, and since my background is hospitality and hospitality management in Las Vegas, I can tell you stories about serving celebrities, etc, I never changed or cleaned a bedpan until a few weeks ago.
I remember the intense fear, when I was 23 and working in an upscale restaurant in Atlanta, that a customer would order a bottle of wine and I'd have to open it. I was petrified. Opening wine in a professional, graceful manner was an expected part of my job. So I went out and bought several bottles of cheap wine and practiced at home. I was still nervous to do it in front of people, but over time, I gained confidence.
When at the beginning of school, I was so nervous about taking blood pressure readings correctly, I went out and bought a bp cuff to practice on my husband at home.
You do what you have to do to gain confidence. I'm still not confident about moving patients, but there are always other students with CNA backgrounds, who are happy to help me. (You usually need two people, anyway, just make sure you are the one with the soapy washcloth doing the dirty work,)
And I feel like an idiot many times throughout our clinical days, too. Working with a great nurse makes it easier. If you are unsure- just ask. Ask everyone for advice, even CNA's and housekeeping personnel. You will win the approval of all if you go in with a humble attitude and just be honest about your lack of confidence.
Most of all, hang in there. I start venipunctures next week, and believe me when I say that I am anxious about it. Practicing a few times on a mannequin and then doing it on a real person with my instructor hanging over me, are two different things. I'll get through it, though, and you will, too!
Confidence comes with time and practice. No one starts out on this nursing course with knowing it all, and those who say they do are LYING!!! Yes, you can do this...just take it one day at a time. Don't worry about skills you aren't going to need to learn tomorrow...concentrate on the skills you need to develop today. I can't tell you how much I used to freak myself out when it comes to worrying about tomorrow...so know what happened? I gave up...but this need to become a nurse has never left. I've been given another chance and by the grace of God, I will succeed and the way I will succeed is by just taking it one day at a time and do the very best that I can. If it requires my practicing a skill over and over, so be it...that is what I will do.
It's the unknown you are afraid of......what will it really be like? You'll be fine, the girls I started with that had never set foot in a hospital were just like you, we have had 3 clinicals, and they are fine now. Most were fine after the first one! It's really fun after you get past the unknown of it!
:D 
sgmanda
14 Posts
I had my first clinical experience this week, and I was so terrified that I couldn't do anything, not bed baths, not mouth care, and not even waking the pt up! (pt was a hard sleeper) By the end of the day, I got a little more comfortable and was able to at least do feedings (pt needed total care). I am in the same boat as you, and I like that quote, I will have to learn to feel the fear, then do it anyway.