It was suggested that we introduce ourselves to the patient the day before clinical, especially so we can find out if they are going to be discharged so that we can be re-assigned before doing all of the work on the care plan.
This is the first week we'll be doing this.
Other than saying "hi my name is _____. I'm a student nurse and will be assisting in your care tomorrow", I have no idea what would be the right things to say. I'm trying to have a general idea of what I want/should say so that I can feel a little more confident about going in without having to worry about the right things to say on the spot. I know it may change based on the interaction with the patient.
I know I'll want to find out discharge status/plans, if the patient asks for anything to inform the patient's nurse, and not to touch the patient without the clinical instructor on the floor / outside clinical time.
Would this be a good time to ask about routines or when they prefer a bed bath / to shower? The first set of vitals are to be done at 7. Should I let them know I'll be around at 7 the following morning for vitals? Am I over thinking this?
When we had to go do paperwork at the hospital I think we had the option to say hello if we wanted but we didn't have to. The only time I ever had to do it that I remember was for OB when we were in antepartum, just to fill out a subjective data sheet. But if your instructor assigns your patient usually they know who might be going home and won't give you that person. But in the hospital anything can change! It happened to me one of my first weeks of clinical lol if it does ever happen don't freak out and just do the best you can
We are required to meet our patient during preplanning. It's actually a big deal if you do not at least go in and meet the patient.
I think you may be overthinking things a bit. I typically just introduce myself and ask about how they came to be in the hospital. I usually do a quick look over of lines and such. I let them know I'll be with them on Thursday and Friday from 7-2. And that's about it. It's not a big deal. Most patients are super friendly.
I find the fact that some schools do this to be a bit weird. Schools should not be making students go to a clinical site without the supervision of an instructor.
I ask the question... Are nurses supposed to go before the day of their shift to obtain patient information. Yeah I though so... -.-
So why ask this of the students?
Clinical assignments should be distributed the day the clinical group meets with the instructor. And then due the week after. During morning conference everybody can get a patient assigned, and information collected for the care-plan.
I would go say hi and let them know as a student I will be working with their nurse the following day and just wanted to pop I and introduce myself...and just leave it at that. I'd refrain from giving a timeline or outlining possible activities (baths, etc) because A LOT can happen between that initial meet-n-greet and the next morning. You may get assigned a different patient or you may get sick and not see them at all....don't want to have them looking for you and you not be there or be unable to carry out whatever you said you planned on doing.
At my school, we were not required to meet with the patient the day before clinical. Sometimes it was suggested for certain patients though. Often what we'd do is confer with the charge nurse or the patient's nurse to see which patients were likely to still be there the next day or possibly next 2 days. After doing that, I'd usually ask if there was a known issue with a particular patient, like a request for "no students" or "no males" or whatever. If you're a male student, be aware that some people have religious/cultural issues with a male taking care of a female. If you think you may have such a patient, it would be a good idea if you'd ask the patient's nurse beforehand or ask from the doorway if it's OK to enter the room and/or provide care for her. Ladies, it's more rare, but some men are also uncomfortable with you providing care for them. The same applies to you too. Ask the nurse and/or the patient in those instances if it's OK.
At my school, we were not required to meet with the patient the day before clinical. Sometimes it was suggested for certain patients though. Often what we'd do is confer with the charge nurse or the patient's nurse to see which patients were likely to still be there the next day or possibly next 2 days. After doing that, I'd usually ask if there was a known issue with a particular patient, like a request for "no students" or "no males" or whatever. If you're a male student, be aware that some people have religious/cultural issues with a male taking care of a female. If you think you may have such a patient, it would be a good idea if you'd ask the patient's nurse beforehand or ask from the doorway if it's OK to enter the room and/or provide care for her. Ladies, it's more rare, but some men are also uncomfortable with you providing care for them. The same applies to you too. Ask the nurse and/or the patient in those instances if it's OK.
I am glad someone mentioned patients' preferences before I got to it. And while, for most situation, it will not be a huge issue, it's always something to keep in mind.
We usually meet in the lobby of the hospital around 6:30 to 6:45 the day of clinical and get report with the nurse at 7. Our instructors generally don't know who the patients are before getting up there so we just get assigned that morning. I have heard that some schools have their students look everything up the night before like meds and such.
I think just introducing yourself and saying you will be the student nurse on duty in the morning is fine. I would probably make a few seconds of chitchat with them to make them feel at ease with me, but that's about it.
When I did this I just went in, introduced myself told them around what time I would be there the following day and I would ask the current nurse or look in the chart for any discharge or procedure orders for the next day. We were not allowed to touch the patient - at all - not even to adjust a pillow.
Basically it was just a simple meet and greet so that you know what to expect so you can plan your day.
We usually meet in the lobby of the hospital around 6:30 to 6:45 the day of clinical and get report with the nurse at 7. Our instructors generally don't know who the patients are before getting up there so we just get assigned that morning. I have heard that some schools have their students look everything up the night before like meds and such.
I think just introducing yourself and saying you will be the student nurse on duty in the morning is fine. I would probably make a few seconds of chitchat with them to make them feel at ease with me, but that's about it.
My school was one of those programs that made us look everything up the night before, whenever possible. About 1/2 the time, one or both of our initially assigned patients would have been discharged home or moved to another floor so we'd have to pick up someone new. By doing this and being assigned to the same floor for a while allowed us to get a good feel for the commonly prescribed meds and procedures there. This allowed us to be able to pick up someone new pretty easily.
What was less than fun was having to turn in care plans for all patients that I prepped on, whether or not they actually were there. Of course, the further along in the program, the shorter the care plans were. The longest care plans were several pages so we only had to take 2 patients at a time. Those care plans typically took about 2 hours each to do. There were times I'd prep on my 2, both would be discharged, I'd pick 2 more and provide care while gathering prep stuff, only to have those two be discharged, and pick up 2 more for our 2nd day and gather that stuff... leaving me with 6 care plans to turn in.
Our care plans eventually shortened down to a single page or two and our "meds list" with us taking 3-4 patients, total planning time would be maybe 2 hours for all 4. Around the time we got to our preceptorships, our care plans were our brain sheets... and they weren't turned in.
We did this when I was in school for my LPN. I hope this is not how this is handled by my school for my RN, but I do believe most of them in this area do this. It sucks. You are up all night trying to create a care plan by the next day - so you can't work the night before because they don't post the assignments until early evening (limits the chances of the pt being d/c'd by the next shift). I hated it, but it was nice to show up and feel like you knew something about the patient you were going to care for, for the next 12 hrs.
We have to go to the hospital around noon and get our patient info and do a 15 page workup on them with nursing dx, med sheets, lab info, care plans, etc etc. It takes all day. Of course this is the day before we have to be at the hospital at 6 am. All this is done usually after getting out of a two hour lecture. It is not too fun.
Saying hi to the patient is required and is pretty much the easiest thing we have to do all day so I wouldn't sweat it.
I did just stick to the basics and was really only in there a couple of minutes. I actually felt like it helped me with the following day. I don't know if that helped me confidence the next day or if I just knew what to expect with my patient in general. We also have to have care plans done by the end of post conference. I'm definitely jealous of those of you who have extra time to turn it in!
RAndaRoo
203 Posts
When we had to go do paperwork at the hospital I think we had the option to say hello if we wanted but we didn't have to. The only time I ever had to do it that I remember was for OB when we were in antepartum, just to fill out a subjective data sheet. But if your instructor assigns your patient usually they know who might be going home and won't give you that person. But in the hospital anything can change! It happened to me one of my first weeks of clinical lol if it does ever happen don't freak out and just do the best you can