Nursing Student

[shelbychapman]

I am a Nursing Student going into my junior year of college. I had my first clinical rotation last semester and it was a cool experience. However, throughout the semester I got a lot of patients with similar conditions so I wasn't exposed to a wide variety of patients with different conditions like some of my peers and many were being discharged so not many wanted my help. I don't feel I got a lot of experience talking to patients and trying new things such as inserting my first catheter and things like that. Going into my next clinical rotation, I am just nervous I will be behind everyone else and although clinical is where you make mistakes, I am still nervous to make any. I am just looking for any advice to calm my nerves and to make the transition back into school and clinical a little easier. Thank you so much!!

[YoutubeTheNP]

You're going to have a lot of 'first time' scenarios at clinical. Don't worry what other students were exposed to because eventually you will catch up. Depending on pts every student experiences a slightly different clinical. If you're nervous about doing procedures; catheters, NG tubes, etc, just know how to do them on paper. Failure at these is very common in the beginning, and once you've done a few it becomes like riding a bike. Read your textbook and mentally prepare yourself.

[AceOfHearts<3]

Talk with your clinical instructor(s) about your concerns. I remember being scared to death going into my second clinical placement, as my first had allowed very little learning and patient care opportunities. My instructor I had heard was tough, and she was but she was also very fair. It turns out that pretty much everyone in my clinical was feeling like I was and didn't get much hands on experience the semester before. That was very important for my instructor to know and she told us she'd get us caught back up and she did. She was tough, had high expectations, but was very fair and I ended up loving that clinical and her (my classmates felt the same too). After having her my clinicals in later semesters were easy.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Focus on your assessment and communication skills. Most procedures are see one, do one, teach one anyway.

Be proactive. Make a list of the patient population and procedures you want experience with. Ask your instructor to consider this when making out assignments, also (check with your instructor first) let the floor nurses on duty know what procedures you are looking to perform.

Good luck, have a great semester!