LPN Clinicals- what are they like?

Nursing Students LPN/LVN Students

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What can we expect to be doing at the hospitals, nursing homes, etc, during clinicals?

All these posts really have helped me. I had not even considered that clinicals would help me broaden my horizons about what setting I might like to work in after school!

I keep reading these posts over and over and am getting more excited about school all the time. Now I just have to get accepted HaHa!! Thanks so much.

How did clinicals affect your decisions on where to apply after school? Or did it? Did you mostly just apply everywhere in order to get a job and experience (and salary of course!)?

LPN opportunities in my area are pretty limited to LTC/rehab and doctors offices (if you're lucky). It was no matter to me, I love working in geriatrics. My first job was as a CNA. I've always ended up drawn back to geri.

Now, I can tell you that prior to clinicals I would have NEVER wanted to work with anything to do with GI..never, never, never..that is until I was rotated out to the outpatient GI dept at the hospital. I absolutely LOVED it there. Very interesting stuff. So, if it ever came up that when I get licensed as an RN (fingers crossed, that will happen May 2013..only 3 more classes to go!) to work at at GI outpatient, I'd apply in a hot minute. Dialysis is another area that I thought I wouldn't like pre-clinicals. We had to do a 2 clinical at an outpatient dialysis clinic..again...facinating..to me anyway.

I think that during school I got a good feel of what areas I liked and the ones I am not to excited about...But, like you said, in this economy I am applying everywhere and hoping to land anything. Once I bridge to my BSN, then I will get a bit more focused as to where I want to apply. Network when your at clinic.. nurse managers, nurses, CNA, ect...let your work speak for you.. I have 3 good nurses that I am now in regular contact with and will be using as references in my job search..Good luck and keep the faith..

Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.

My school divided up their nursing program into two parts: after part I, we were eligible to sit for the NCLEX-PN. Anyways, our clinicals were limited mainly to sub-acute rehab floors. At first it was interesting, but towards the end we were very limited in terms of what we could do :( We also had a few days at a local hospital for our maternity/pediatrics clinicals & that was very exciting. But since were "only" LPN students, we weren't allowed to do as much as RN students. When I start the RN program, our clinical sites will be a lot better & we'll be able to do more, but I wish our LPN clinicals could have been better.

Specializes in LTC, SNF, Rehab.

I graduate next month. 1st semester, we were in a hospital & did basic cna care. We were assigned one patient & had to go to the hospital the day before to get information from our patient's chart for our care plan. We had one case study presentation to present during each clinical rotation. First semester, I was on a basic medical unit, mostly patients from LTC & some students were on neuro or HMI. 2nd semester, we did a round in pediatrics (mine was very boring. Almost Everyone had RSV & the nurses there were not very welcoming of us). I love, love, loved my O.B. rotation. I saw a birth and learned to care for a new mom & baby & helped teach a mom to breastfeed & saw a circumcision. That's also where I gave my first vaccines. We also had an O.R. observational experience. I saw a c-section. That was amazing. Now, we're in a LTC facility and will be here till we graduate. This time, instead of being assigned one patient, we are assigned a role; cna, treatment, medication, charge, etc. I like it this way because it's more realistic compared to what we'll be doing as nurses.

I'm in my first semester of the LPN program and we start clinicals on Wednesday. I'll be at a LTC and I'm excited yet nervous. Anyone have any pointers??

Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.
I'm in my first semester of the LPN program and we start clinicals on Wednesday. I'll be at a LTC and I'm excited yet nervous. Anyone have any pointers??

Don't be too nervous. Maybe your instructor will pair you up on the first day so it won't be so bad. Just remember everything you've learned in school so far and apply it to practice :) Clinical is the best part of nursing school in my opinion !

Specializes in LTC, SNF, Rehab.

I think clinical is the best part, too! My clinical instructors were great & always willing to teach & answer questions. My first semester when we basically did cna stuff, we paired up. I'm so glad we did because I've never been a cna or took the cna course. I always tried to work with a fellow student who was a cna for that reason. Now, in my last semester, we have 4 days scheduled to be a cna. I did two of them last week and thankfully, the two cna's on our hall are happy for the help and are just as happy to show us how to do everything. I have seriously learned so much from this semester's clinical and am beginning to gain more confidence in my practice. :)

Specializes in none.

Back in the Dark Ages when I went to nursing school. We worked as nurses. Our instructor would walk around the unit if we had any questions but that was it. Basically we worked as we would if we were on the unit making a paycheck. Our class didn't have trouble moving from student to working nurse We knew exactly what we were getting into. And 41 years later, all of us, that haven't died, are still into nursing. Some are Directors of Nursing.

Thanks for the insight. I start in August.

This thread is so helpfull!

I am really nervous about clinicals.

I've worked as an RA before and I think I will be good at clinicals, as patient care is the main reason I want to be a nurse, but I don't know how much heavy lifting I will be doing at first.

I have no problem with physical labor, but I am entering my third trimester, and am not suppose to do heavy lifting, but I really want to stand out and be as active a participant in clinicals as possible. School starts July 26, and I'm due October 13th...would we be starting clinicals by then, and if so, do you think being pregnant will get in the way?

My biggest concern is that I'm to eager, and might end up taking on more than is physically safe. I've always done the majority of the heavy lifting at my job at an assisted living facility, even though I was the smallest RA, so being less involved and letting someone else do lifting would be a huge challenge for me.

Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.

One of my friends was not allowed to participate in clinical during her first semester in the program b/c she was due to deliver about halfway through the semester. She was allowed to take the theory courses like Pharmacology & Health Assessment though.

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