Advice: Peds clinical

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Mar 25, 2014

Take a calculator with you as you will want to calculate doses based on weight or body surface. Bone up on therapeutic ommunication. Your "other" patient is the family. Ask where the preferred IV sites are and why. Depends on age and anatomy. You may not get to work with the child much, unless they are older. Pedi nurses are very territorial and afraid you will harm the patient. However, you can assist and ask questions and learn how to separate heart sounds from lung sounds. Good luck!

motay68 · Mar 25, 2014

I'm just finishing my peds clinical... Best advice I was given was try to get the vitals while they are sleeping. Hearing crying while listening for breath sounds is difficult.

And yes the family is the other patient. Sometimes you'll end up spending more time with them then the sick patient.

Pink Magnolia, BSN, RN · Mar 26, 2014

Thanks y'all! I appreciate the advice.

Nolli · Mar 26, 2014

Make a developmental cheat sheet. Include Erikson's stage what the main concerns are and what kind of play and toys are age appropriate. Finish it off with a table of normal vital ranges. It is awesome for studying for the exams as well as knowing the norms for whatever age child you are assigned for the day.

bribreeze87 · Mar 28, 2014

Just finished my pedi rotation today!! :-) advice make a little cheat sheet for normal vitals tape on back of your id. Always verify vitals with primary nurse before documenting! Say you get some crazy reading of 50 resps you wanna recheck and verify with rn. Always say in documentation verified vitals with primary nurse! This covers your butt. When doing bp on small children legs work better and make sure you hold leg straight otherwise you get error. Cluster care, always calculate max dose range for every med given based on mg/kg/day dont go to professor until you have wrote this out and question anything that is over max dose. Try to find another source via hospital intranet to prove safe dose otherwise call pharm. Hope this helps. Good luck and enjoy the learning experience.