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?
Specializes in Tele, Interventional Pain Management, OR.
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 agree with you, because first and part of second semester I had to meet my patients the night before without supervision from a clinical instructor. I felt super-awkward in my business casual clothes and white nurse coat digging through charts and hogging computers potentially needed by the actual nurses.
I never did anything beyond introduce myself and make sure the patient was comfortable receiving care from a student nurse (program requirement). No questions about the next day's plan, discharge, etc.
Second half of second semester, it was JOYOUS to receive report the morning of like a real nurse instead of coming in the prior afternoon...then coming in at 0600 the following morning despite report not happening until 0645 or 0700. Some students in my class bemoaned the lack of "extra time" to prepare for the clinical shift, but we needed to be able to take report on two patients and provide safe care.
To the OP: Now that I'm preparing to graduate, I can't even imagine the need to go in the night before! As you go through your program, you'll be happy at the progression you see in your ability to glean/synthesize information in report and from the chart, prioritize, and plan your day.
So...go in there and meet the patient. Introduce yourself, but keep it simple.
And be prepared for the possibility that s/he will have been discharged by the time you get in the next day! It happens.
^^Our school is attached to the hospital, so we're fortunate to be able to pop in and then go straight to the school to access the charts (strict security and policies). I think that makes a huge difference as I think I would also feel awkward taking up the computer on the unit.
So far I've had two clinicals where I've gone in and introduced myself to the patient. I found it nice because it gave me a little confidence for the next day. This week though my patient was discharged by the next morning, which I think was also a good experience since that's more like how it'll be on the job. I just quickly jumped on the computer to get her baseline vitals before I did her morning vitals. Otherwise I found it helpful as I think it encouraged more communication with the patient. I still went through her chart after the morning vitals to see what kind of active orders she had (other than what I needed to know for vitals) so that I could decide on what I needed to really focus on for the day with her or anything I needed to watch out for.
But it was nice to get to know her in the moment instead of getting to "know her" through her chart. I felt like it encouraged me more to talk with her. I felt like it was my best clinical experience (out of all three that I've done lol). I even think I provided better care for her - partially because I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable in clinical, but I felt like it changed the dynamic a bit (in a good way).
jena5111, ASN, RN
1 Article; 186 Posts
I agree with you, because first and part of second semester I had to meet my patients the night before without supervision from a clinical instructor. I felt super-awkward in my business casual clothes and white nurse coat digging through charts and hogging computers potentially needed by the actual nurses.
I never did anything beyond introduce myself and make sure the patient was comfortable receiving care from a student nurse (program requirement). No questions about the next day's plan, discharge, etc.
Second half of second semester, it was JOYOUS to receive report the morning of like a real nurse instead of coming in the prior afternoon...then coming in at 0600 the following morning despite report not happening until 0645 or 0700. Some students in my class bemoaned the lack of "extra time" to prepare for the clinical shift, but we needed to be able to take report on two patients and provide safe care.
To the OP: Now that I'm preparing to graduate, I can't even imagine the need to go in the night before! As you go through your program, you'll be happy at the progression you see in your ability to glean/synthesize information in report and from the chart, prioritize, and plan your day.
So...go in there and meet the patient. Introduce yourself, but keep it simple.
And be prepared for the possibility that s/he will have been discharged by the time you get in the next day! It happens.