Clinicals - I hate them!

Nursing Students LPN/LVN Students

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How can I be a nurse when I feel like I completely suck at clinicals? We are in long term care right now. The facility is disgusting - the charge nurse is a wench - the nursing supervisor makes no bones about how she does NOT like our presence there.

I cannot believe some of the things I have seen - these poor elderly people who are definitelty NOT cared for the rest of the week. I can't even change a brief on a patient without two of my classmates (thank God for them!) help me. I have six children - you would think I could change a brief!!!

The instructor told us that our grades are "subjective" meaning we get a grade and it may be that the instructor didn't even see you one time with your patient. How do I get an 80 when she never even observed me? I probably deserved an 80, but regardless - who does "subjective" grading??

Don't know - just feeling sorry for myself and wondering if I would even make a good nurse.

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Specializes in NP student.

hello Sista

Take it easy , calm down you'll do just fine , been there done that(during my CNA clinicals, now doing LVN ;D ). Just do your job as good as you can , ppl in facility are not blind , they know which student is slacking off and which one is helpful.

The thing that I don't understand is this "subjective grading", maybe you should discuss this with your instructor?

All the best to YOU ! You are gona be a great nurse :)

Twinkle

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Your class need to talk to your instructor about that subjective grading system. How is the teacher going to accurately grade the students and or properly teach them if they grade you without seeing you.

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How can I be a nurse when I feel like I completely suck at clinicals? We are in long term care right now. The facility is disgusting - the charge nurse is a wench - the nursing supervisor makes no bones about how she does NOT like our presence there.

I cannot believe some of the things I have seen - these poor elderly people who are definitelty NOT cared for the rest of the week. I can't even change a brief on a patient without two of my classmates (thank God for them!) help me. I have six children - you would think I could change a brief!!!

The instructor told us that our grades are "subjective" meaning we get a grade and it may be that the instructor didn't even see you one time with your patient. How do I get an 80 when she never even observed me? I probably deserved an 80, but regardless - who does "subjective" grading??

Don't know - just feeling sorry for myself and wondering if I would even make a good nurse.

I feel the same way. We just switched to our second rotation for pn1 this week. Last place didnt do any treatments really. Kinda sad but I still dont feel like I have personal care , rolling the patients, changing briefs etc down still. This new place there are alot more treatments. At this place we have less patients and work with a partner. My partner has ALOT of experience. She kind of took over, (I woulda never got it done prob anyways) and now next time its my turn and its like how are you supossed to do something you really werent shown how or never done. My classmates seemed all excited. Im hoping next week is better but I just dont know. I just want to be done! Clinicals scare me I feel so unprepared (we should have received more and better training before clinicals). I am at the top of my class in lecture though.
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The fact that you notice the deficiencies of your current facility and you care enough to be "hurt" by their mistreatment will help make you a good nurse. As far as your grading, our instructors are constantly observing us so I can't imagine how they are accurately grading you. The only thing I can think of is maybe how much you stay busy and by your documentation. Good luck!

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How can I be a nurse when I feel like I completely suck at clinicals? We are in long term care right now. The facility is disgusting - the charge nurse is a wench - the nursing supervisor makes no bones about how she does NOT like our presence there.

I cannot believe some of the things I have seen - these poor elderly people who are definitelty NOT cared for the rest of the week. I can't even change a brief on a patient without two of my classmates (thank God for them!) help me. I have six children - you would think I could change a brief!!!

The instructor told us that our grades are "subjective" meaning we get a grade and it may be that the instructor didn't even see you one time with your patient. How do I get an 80 when she never even observed me? I probably deserved an 80, but regardless - who does "subjective" grading??

Don't know - just feeling sorry for myself and wondering if I would even make a good nurse.

Nobody likes clinicals the students, the instructors or the staff. Really only the patients only like the clinicals. Its easy for people whom have never worked in a nursing home to judge what goes on, its another thing when you are in the position of working there will you spend 100% of your time with pt.s probably not. Clinicals are like dry land swimming you do most of your learning on the job.

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Specializes in Psych, LTC/SNF, Rehab, Corrections.

Eh, no one likes clinicals. I disliked clinicals. We were just 'the help'.

Like, seriously...LOL

Subjective grading? Don't know what that is.

You shouldn't really judge your potential as a nurse by how well you perform in clinicals. In my opinion, anyway. Learning how to be a nurse during NS clinicals, as another poster stated, is like learning to swim on land. You won't truly get a clear idea of it all until you approach the water's edge all hesitant in your arm-floaties, thinking, 'How best should I enter and begin my swimming...?' and someone just comes up from behind and dropkicks you (and your floaties) into the water! LOL

Oh - and that water's mighty deep... and d*mned cold! LOL Some would say those waters are shark-infested, but I've been at it for 7 months (fresh chum) and I've not had any experiences with them.

The good news? There will be other swimmers and experienced boaters around. They're not going to let you drown. Just listen and be receptive to direction.

When you pass boards and get into a position? Just hold on to that book-learnin', be proactive and remain open to learning. You'll be fine. You'll do fine.

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Wow what a bummer. Every clinical I did the instructors were with us for every procedure we did (at least the major ones) not like brief changes or anything, all the nurses were all super nice and all so helpful because most of them graduated with the same teachers we had a few years before us. I mean yea clinicals kind of sucked just because I felt like a deer in the headlights but the staff/instructors were generally always very helpful at my school

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You could've practically been writing about my first LPN clinical experience. I went into my first rotation with 6 months of CNA work at a SNF under my belt and was so excited about getting my hands dirty and learning a ton of "nursing" stuff. Boy, our first day was a nightmare! We had the same problem with staff who didn't want us there. We wear name tags with our names on them and still the nurse supervisor called me "student". I was like, "uh, I have a name you know." (didn't say it, just thought it) And the CNA's called us the "vitals girls" because that's about all we ever got to do there. It was a tiny, old run down place with 30 patients. And it was one of those places that reeks of urine. :( It was really sad. I had to go home after that first day and totally revamp my attitude and way of thinking. I decided to take it as a learning lesson of how to have a good attitude in a horrible situation and to just try to do my best to get along with people who didn't want us there. There was another group in my class who went to a different facility and got to do tons of hands-on stuff. They are all really confident in their skills. My group all feels like we got the short end of the stick, but are hoping next semester goes better as we are one-on-one in clinics.

As for the grading, I've never heard of that before. That sounds really odd. Maybe just an excuse for not wanting to monitor the students as much as they need to??? But I do understand being graded for something the instructor didn't even see. My instructor almost never saw me do anything. He had to be pushed around in a wheelchair if he did observe us. LOL! But yet he tried to tell me at the end that my comfort level with the patients had improved a lot. I was totally laughing inside because honest to goodness, he had NEVER seen me with a patient during clinical. LOL! And in my CNA job, my nurses #1 thing they tell me is that I am very good with the patients and always have them laughing and smiling. So, I took it worth a grain of salt, shook my head, and accepted my passing grade.

I am taking it all as a lesson in getting along with different types of people. Everybody tells me not to worry anyway because I will learn everything on the job, not in school.

That was a long-winded way of saying you aren't alone. :)

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Will you be at that clinical site for your whole schooling? I haven't started my clinicals but i read so many bad experiences that I'm scared now! Hope it gets better for you!

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Hmm, maybe this is out of line for me to say, but the subjective grading sounds more like your clinical instructor is too lazy to bother trying to watch everyone with their residents/patients.

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