Love School/Hate Clinical

[CBsMommy]

Ok. I posted a long time ago in a thread far, far away about how much I love school, and I still do, although I'm ready for the summer break.

The problem is clinicals. How can I be so good at school and yet so bad at clinical? I'm afraid to hurt people, even just to give them an injection. I feel bad waking them up so I can do a full assessment. I HATE, HATE, HATE the paperwork involved in clinical and I forget to do things the nurse asks me to do. What the heck is wrong with me?

Anyone else feel this way and eventually get over it?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

We are on a med-surg floor this semester and guess who most of our patients are? Transfers from nursing homes! lol! So...yeah. You'll still get those elderly frail folks.

Keep your chin up. It gets better as you gain confidence.

[dstiegyrn]

I too was in LTC last semester when I dreaded clinical. This semester we are on the med-surg floor. As gentylwind said, many of the patients I care for are transfers from nursing homes, but it is different for me caring for them while they are in the hospital. If they are in the hospital it is likely due to an exacerbation of one of their diseases. For me, I feel like treating them in the hospital truly is for their benefit, not just for me to practice. For me LTC was a constant struggle, but as soon as I got into the hospital setting things started clicking. Good luck!

[gpatry]

It seems to me you need to gain confidence and stop worrying :) You can do this! I'm sure it will get better in a hospital setting too... just relax, get through this, and things will get improve and you'll get more and more comfortable as time goes on. Hang in there! :)

[Ilovethe80s]

Oye, I know exactly what you are going through. I entered nursing school absolutely thrilled to do clinicals, but I will never forget my first clinical day and how petrified I was the minute it started. I don't know what happened...I think it was being overwhelmed and feeling out of place and I too was afraid to "bother" the patients even though we really are there to help them! I felt like I didn't know enough, but learning and applying everything you learn takes time. I am in my 3rd semester and there are still times my confidence level gets low, but I try to pick myself up and push myself to do my best. Sometimes my clincals are awesome where I'm busy, I'm in a groove, and I feel like I actually have a handle on things w/ my patients, but then there are other days that seem like the complete opposite. Just try to keep your chin up and remind yourself that you can do it, but if you find it's really not what you want to do then maybe something in pharmacy would be more up your alley. Best of luck!

[jkmk]

I'm an elderly caregiver who works mostly with dementia patients. One nice thing about those folks is that even if you are bothering them, they won't remember it after a few minutes anyway. :heartbeat