Management Clinicals

[AlwaysMovingUp]

Hi all,

I am starting my management clinicals next week, and to be honest, I'm a bit worried about them. I don't know what to expect. I know we start the first week or two having only one to two patients, and by the end of the course we will have four to five patients. In the past we have always gone and picked out our patients ahead of time, then did a big patient work-up on them. Now we just show up to the hospital (like real nurses!) , get with our preceptor, and get to work.

I thought that I would welcome this class, because it meant not having to do hours and hours of paperwork (and getting no sleep), but I'm really nervous about it...because I'll be showing up, basically blind, without knowing ahead of time what meds my patients will be taking, what they are admitted for, and so forth. I am on a general medical surgical unit, so that doesn't really narrow it down, either.

How do I do this?

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

you go in with a generalized idea of a routine you will follow. you can do this by making a todo list (http://www.ehow.com/how_3812_make-list.html). on that list you might have things like:

• get report
  
• check medication sheets
  
• make patient rounds/do assessments
  
• give medications
  
• give am care
  
• chart

as you go through each day you edit the list as you learn which things take priority or which way of doing things works better. this is how you learn to organize and prioritize. your preceptor should be able to help you with this.

fyi. . .i've spent most of my career perfecting my organization skills. every time i changed jobs or worked on a different unit, i had to tweak and change my organization a bit. that's the nature of this business. organizing your workday is just an ongoing endeavor.

[AlwaysMovingUp]

Thank you!!! I will be sure to use this advice.