New clinical instructor for ob/peds advice

scribblerpnp · Feb 4, 2008

I'm a peds clinical instructor too! Welcome! The first day of clinical I always do a couple of things.

1. I give a hand-out to the students that has peds drug calculations, to make sure they can pass meds safely.

2. I give them a handout that has normal vital signs/ lab values for each of the age groups, so they know when to worry!

3. We talk about how to do a successful physical assessment on each of the different age groups (since a toddler is completely different than an adolescent).

4. We discuss common illnesses they will see (RSV, asthma, gastro) and how to write good careplans for these

5. And we go through the paperwork they will need to do. I explain what I'm looking for and give examples.

We also tour the unit where we will have clinical. Writing it down, it doesn't seem like a lot, but it usually takes me about 2-3 hours to do all of this! But as a result they know what to expect and give me great paperwork the first week!

Quickbeam, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2008

Many students enter their "specialty" rotations with pre-conceived ideas. You may have students who don't think they'd work in Peds in a million years. Remember that anyone of your students could make a career out of your field. If you had asked me when I had enrolled what I'd focus on in my career, I'd have said anything but Peds. Yet because of a great instructor I spent 10 years in Peds!

You just never know.

Smn123 · Feb 5, 2008

To Scribblerpnp, Great info. Do you have any handouts you could email me?

scribblerpnp · Feb 5, 2008

I don't have the handouts saved in a word document. They are old, so I just have origional photocopies! You should be able to find something in the appendix of a medical peds book (I think that is where my origional came from)

I also forgot to say that I give them a print out of the vaccine schedule as well as current growth charts (which they are required to plot on their pts). These can be found here (CDC website):

Growth Charts: http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/

Vaccines: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/

I agree with the above poster, some students swear they will NEVER go into peds, so why do they need to work hard in clinical? I always take time to explain to them that now with better treatment options a lot of chronically ill kids are living into adulthood, so they may still see some of these illnesses (CP, CF, peds heart problems, etc) in adult pts. And as a peds nurse, you take care of the FAMILY- providing education and healthy life style teaching to the parents and caregivers as well as the kids. I also make a point to say that if they aren't peds people, that is OK, but the pt/family shouldn't be able to see it. Taking some of the pressure off that I expect the student to love it as much as I do, seems to help them.

I love it when I see the self-proclaimed "child-haters" blowing bubbles for their pts or coloring during clinical time. It makes my day! I try to be as upbeat as possible to the students and make peds nursing seem like the best kind of nursing out there-which I think it is!

sunnysideup09 · Feb 7, 2008

Hi! I teach both OB and Peds clinicals for first year students. One of the things I found to be helpful is giving the students study guides with questions relating to the PP, newborn, and L&D areas. They have to look up the answers prior to the first clinical to give them some sort of awareness. The students have really commented on how much it helped them. I had students in previous semesters that would walk in the 1st day of clinical and be totally clueless, not having read anything.

I also use Mosby's/Elsevier Cd-Rom of maternity clinical skills to prepare students. I've used it in class and during pre/postconference. There also is one for Pediatrics. The Elsevier representative sent them free to the instructors when we asked.

We put together handouts on the first clinical day with examples of FHR tracings, OB terminology. For Peds, we give handouts on Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg since we have them apply these concepts in clinical. We also give normal lab values.

One of the most important things to do is to work with the theory instructor on what topics are being discussed that week in lecture. I assign patients based on the lecture topic. I also do case studies based on the lecture topic that way there is a good theoretical integration into clinical. It really helps students to do well on exams. Ask the theory instructor for a course outline/objectives. The students will really appreciate it.

Hope this tidbit helps!

beckinben, CNM · Feb 7, 2008

When I was an OB instructor, I usually had an orientation day with my students to go over a lot of information before I had to set them free on the unit. I really recommend this. Taking even a couple of hours the first day to just go over basics in a small group setting where they feel they can ask all their "stupid questions" (their term, not mine) before starting patient care makes for more confident, more successful students. Some of the things that I felt students really benefited from going over in the clinical group setting:

- assessment items specific to the postpartum mom, i.e. fundal checks, normal vs. abnormal bleeding

- newborn physical exams - including how to swaddle and change a diaper

- basic breastfeeding - how to position the baby, how to get the baby to open their mouth, how often is normal

- unit tour - let them see and touch the monitors so they know which is the toco and which is the doppler, I also had FSEs and IUPCs for them to look at and play with, we would also talk about how to read the labor board (G4P2, 1/75/-2, what does that mean)

For clinical conferences, we did lots of different things. I have a set of DVDs from AWHONN on nursing care in labor that we watched and discussed. I have the maternity skills CD, too. We toured the Mother's Milk Bank at one hospital I had students at. We usually spent a conference talking about VBAC. Guest speakers are good - lactation, or one hospital had a doula program, and the doulas talked about labor support. Looking at fetal monitoring strips was usually popular.

I have a couple handouts that I would give out, listing the most common meds used in OB and common OB abbreviations. Students were required to have worksheets done with answers to basic clinical scenarios so I had some idea they had been paying attention in class - since they can't "prep their patient" in advance like in med-surg.

Good luck - I miss it a little. They have so much energy and enthusiasm.

Smn123 · Feb 7, 2008

Hi beckinben, Great info do you have any handouts that you could pass on to me? or websites? Anything would be helpful. PM Thanks

When I was an OB instructor, I usually had an orientation day with my students to go over a lot of information before I had to set them free on the unit. I really recommend this. Taking even a couple of hours the first day to just go over basics in a small group setting where they feel they can ask all their "stupid questions" (their term, not mine) before starting patient care makes for more confident, more successful students. Some of the things that I felt students really benefited from going over in the clinical group setting:
- assessment items specific to the postpartum mom, i.e. fundal checks, normal vs. abnormal bleeding
- newborn physical exams - including how to swaddle and change a diaper
- basic breastfeeding - how to position the baby, how to get the baby to open their mouth, how often is normal
- unit tour - let them see and touch the monitors so they know which is the toco and which is the doppler, I also had FSEs and IUPCs for them to look at and play with, we would also talk about how to read the labor board (G4P2, 1/75/-2, what does that mean)
For clinical conferences, we did lots of different things. I have a set of DVDs from AWHONN on nursing care in labor that we watched and discussed. I have the maternity skills CD, too. We toured the Mother's Milk Bank at one hospital I had students at. We usually spent a conference talking about VBAC. Guest speakers are good - lactation, or one hospital had a doula program, and the doulas talked about labor support. Looking at fetal monitoring strips was usually popular.
I have a couple handouts that I would give out, listing the most common meds used in OB and common OB abbreviations. Students were required to have worksheets done with answers to basic clinical scenarios so I had some idea they had been paying attention in class - since they can't "prep their patient" in advance like in med-surg.
Good luck - I miss it a little. They have so much energy and enthusiasm.