New Teacher For Lvn Theory And Clinical Any Advise?

cholli · Mar 10, 2007

Good Luck!

I have been teaching PN clinicals for 8 years now. I am now at the point where I have given lots of direction in class and the lab and when we get to clinical I want to see how they process. It continues to amaze me how in a group of 10 students, there are 10 different interpretaions of directions I have given!!

Anyway, when I started teaching, it was really hard for me to stand back and watch, I practically had to sit on my hands to keep from grabbing equipment from student hands as they fumbled around....

The other thing I have learned is to give immediate, clear feedback if you are seeing problems- and write it down on a counseling form.

As the students learn each quarter, I learn a ton as well, still lots of self-evaluation etc....

caliotter3 · Mar 10, 2007

This advice is from the standpoint of a former student. Feedback, feedback, feedback. Both oral and written. Nobody deserves to reach the end of the course (in particular clinical rotation) and then be told they have failed, when they were not given valid feedback at the first sign of below standard performance.

tkhayman · Mar 10, 2007

Thanks to those who replied. I am grateful. I am also running out of things to keep them busy in the theory class. I am lacking in case studies and handouts for these. i am able to put them in groups and show videos. Any suggestions as to where i can get a book for LPN case studies?

caliotter3 · Mar 10, 2007

I noticed in you last post that you mentioned LPN case studies. I would not be limiting your efforts. You can probably find more info if you look under RN. Anything that needs to be modified can be easily done. It is also a good opportunity to point out the differences and similarities in practice roles. Are you located near a large, metropolitan area where you can access a large nursing school for assistance? I'll bet you could find a lot of assistance from some of the faculty at one of these schools.

cholli · Mar 11, 2007

Don't forget your textbook instructor guides, I have found the textbook reps to be quite helpful in sharing the instructor guides to textbooks we aren't using (if they can).

And yes I always use the RN resources and modify the questions about the case studies to meet course objectives. You are teaching the first year of RN, so lots more is the same than different.

spydercadet · Mar 21, 2007

hi tkhayman,

first congratulations on making the decision to teach. and as any "good" nurse i do have an opinion. go figure a nurse with an opinion who wants to share it with everyone! i guess i'm just an odd ball. :rolleyes: anyway, on a more serious note, i think a lot of what we do as nurse educators is to give the students confidence and direction. even when i think back to when i was in nursing school, just so you know, it was a long time ago, and as one of my students so elegantly put it, "wow, you're older than the sears tower!" :rolleyes: anyway, when i graduated i know i didn't even come close to knowing everything i really needed to know to be a nurse. however, my instructors gave me the confidence to ask for help and the professionalism that is required to ask for that help. they often spoke about their own need to still ask questions and/or have other nurses check what they have done. it was then i figured that if they were smart enough to teach nursing school and still needed to ask for help, that there would be no way in hell i would be able to be a nurse right out of school and not ask for help. even now, 25 years after graduating i still have other nurses check my findings or check a medication i am not sure about. the best nursing instructors and the ones i remember to this day are the one's who taught me this. so, i believe that in order to be a really great nursing instructor you need to teach them the theory, make them competent in their skills and allow them to practice in the clinical setting. however, the difference between a good instructor and a great one is that a great instructor will teach the student how to think and how to ask for the help they may need once they are out and practicing on their own. we can be extremely influential here but unfortunately we rarely take the opportunity to pass this kind of information on to our students; and each other for that matter.

as far as your clinical setting with the 8 students, it can be really overwhelming at times. here in

what nursing books do you currently use and where do you get them from? we currently use christensen/kockrow, elkin/perry/potter, dewit, leifer, nix and clayton/stock. the books are provided to us through elsevier evolve and they have an awesome program support system. with each book the student will get a dvd that provides almost everything they might need to practice and/or to understand some of the skills they may use in the clinical setting. as far as instructor support, they have support tools such as case studies, virtual clinical settings and various ways to keep your student records all together. if you go their web site you may get an idea of what's available. our sales consultant from there will even send an instructors book without the promise to purchase their books or their support systems. they believe that if they provide you with one instructor's manual for a specific class, you will be so impressed that you will try to convince everyone in the nursing education department to change over to them. while i don't necessarily believe that, they will send you an instructor's book. their web site is;

http://evolve.elsevier.com/staticpages/index.html

tkhayman · Mar 21, 2007

Thank you for your reply to my post Spyder Cadet. I know as nurses we are always educating our patients. I have my moments where i want to throw in the towel. Luckily i have another instructor to vent to. I am goint to give it my best and stick it out for the duration of this group of students and re-eval. Because if i do not like teaching i should not stay in it as it would be a diservice to the students.

Yes we do use evolve and have signed up via their website and do have the instructor cd, those powerpoints were a lifestyle. The school i am with is small and not very organized at times, so i appreciate everyone's input here.