omg I hate clinicals!!!!

puresass · Nov 21, 2007

so far i have LOVED my clinicals. i love the patient care & trying to piece together what i can learn about the patient & come up with nursing dxs. most of my patients have been really pleasant, but the couple that weren't were fun too because it was even more of a challenge. the majority of the RNs on our floor have been really helpful & interested in helping us learn... & i love our clinical instructor. i don't feel like i'm stuck doing "busy work" because i feel like everything that we're given to do is teaching me A LOT about nursing & the nursing process & critical thinking.

i know it sounds cheesy, but i guess i got lucky. i couldn't imagine HATING going to clinicals.

MB37 · Nov 21, 2007

I think everyone's clinicals must be really different - except for the fact that my body doesn't normally wake up until noon, even with coffee, I really enjoyed my first semester of them. Ours are preceptored, so instead of all going to a floor with our instructor, we're split up and assigned to a nurse. As long as we're on that floor, they try to keep us with the same nurse or few nurses. We select our patient with our nurse that morning - no instructor involved, no paperwork the night before - and start giving care. Depending on my preceptor, I might also choose to follow him/her around in the morning and meet all his/her patients, especially if a few of them need skills done that day that I need practice on - maybe one needs a straight cath, another needs a dressing changed, etc.

One of my instructors usually passes through the floor by around 10, I let her know who my patient is, who my nurse is, and give report on my patient. We talk about what I would plan for care, I ask my instructor if she has any suggestions, and we go over my care plan from the previous week. After clinical, we have a week to write up our entire ROS, head to toe assessment, and care plan. We do the same paperwork as everyone who does it the night before, but it's after the fact on the care that we actually provided.

I think our system works really well. Our preceptors all seem to like us a lot better than the students whose whole class descends on their floor at once, and we get to self-direct what we want to learn each day. My CI isn't my favorite person in the world, but my interaction with her is pretty limited. She trusts me to be safe, and my preceptors have given me good reviews each week. Our program is a little non-traditional, but I really like how we do it here.

S.N. Visit, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2007

I got stuck with 2 mean spirited instructors that made my clinical experiences in Med/Surg unbearable. They mentally raped me on a daily basis. So, yes I did hate at least a couple clinical rotations. I did not let them make me cry or quit like they did so many others. (However, I did develop a strong aversion to wanting to ever work on those med/surg floors because of those two nasty women...PTSD I guess :lol2: ).

I sucked it up and got through it knowing they weren't going to break me. The best thing about graduating and becoming an RN is that I'm finally treated like a human being! I won!

For those of you who are experiencing clinical hell, stay strong; don't let them beat you down! When you graduate, go where you want to be and don't look back!

ps.......smock burning ( ns uniform) was a popular & therapeutic thing last summer for many in my graduating class!

S.N. Visit, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2007

I agree with Kevin. Clinicals are what you make of make of them.
To those who "hate" clinicals, how would you propose learning the hands on skills?

By being paired with an instructor that is caring, kind, patient, tolerant, helpful and one that really wants to teach you! I don't think anyone is complaining of hating hands on skills. It's the disrespect that so many instructors and nurses lavish on to students.

sistasoul · Nov 21, 2007

By being paired with an instructor that is caring, kind, patient, tolerant, helpful and one that really wants to teach you! I don't think anyone is complaining of hating hands on skills. It's the disrespect that so many instructors and nurses lavish on to students.

I totally agree. I have had two amazing clinicals with two great instructors. These instructors were adjunct (just did clinical rotations and did not lecture) and stressed real life skills "vs" useless clinical objectives (e.g., promoting the image of nursing) and treated us like people who were there to learn. We were not expected to be perfect and already know things- we are students. My other 3 clinicals were terrible. I cried in two of them and have almost cried this rotation. These instructors were the regular staff and they are all on power trips. It is not that i have anything against these instructors personally, I just think they should be a lot more tolerant of the learning curve. Just my 2Cents.

futurecnm · Nov 21, 2007

It's the passing out food trays, answering call lights to listen to a patient tell me something really stupid, and stuff like that.

Nice..........

atrice, BSN, RN · Nov 22, 2007

"They mentally raped me on a daily basis. So, yes I did hate at least a couple clinical rotations."

ps.......smock burning ( ns uniform) was a popular & therapeutic thing last summer for many in my graduating class!"

That is so funny.:chuckle "Mentally raped" is exactly how I have felt this semester and had no words to describe my feelings. I finish in May and it can not come soon enough. I love the clinicals and the clients....but i hate the drama, 2 hr questioning/quizzing on the floor, and oh let's not forget the hours of paperwork. I can't wait to be a REAL nurse and not have to take home 8-12 hrs min of paperwork home with me EVERY WEEK.

Smock burning sounds very therapeutic at this point.

Cosper123 · Nov 22, 2007

By being paired with an instructor that is caring, kind, patient, tolerant, helpful and one that really wants to teach you! I don't think anyone is complaining of hating hands on skills. It's the disrespect that so many instructors and nurses lavish on to students.

Yeah, because all your co-workers and nurse management will always be caring, kind, patient, tokerant, and helpful....

Nearly through my 3rd semester, I've had some VERY interesting instructors. I've also had some very horrible nurses to work with. But at the end of the day I always learned something and it benifited who I will be when I finally graduate.

The hands on skills that they were talking about come with different senarios. You will never have ideal circumstances to work out your entire shift. There will always be wrenches thrown into the cogs and nursing school is designed to teach you to work around those issues.

The true measure of a person is not what they have accompished or where they are, but what they have overcome to get there. I'd rather have my limits tested and reshaped now than over some dead patient's bed.

Just hang in there people and stay strong. I can't tell you that things will get better or that you won't have yet MORE hoops to jump through...but it is worth it. If you doubt that, then I would consider other options. Either try your hand at getting in another program, suck it up, or find another path. I'm willing to bet (hope) that a majority of the people in this thread have what it takes to get through it.

I've seen more people cry this semester then in my entire life, including the first two semesters. I know it's not easy, but it really is worth it if you can make the most of what you have.

APBT mom, LPN, RN · Nov 22, 2007

I went to another floor where other students were doing clinical for another school. They were just hanging out, kicked back at the nurses station with the instructor, joking, talking about the weekend. We came back about an hour and a half later and they were still there! The wound care nurse I was working with was livid, and I got an ear full, not directed at me but that program. It's those students who make it hard for the rest of us.

Our instructor does this with us. Our group thinks it's nice that she talks to us like equals. However when it's time to do something we do it. Our priority is not to hang out with the instrutor it's to practice our skills but the hospitals we go to are not very "active." One hospital was 120 beds and for three weeks they had 20 pts in the entire hospital. The one now is 327 but mostly OB.

I don't hate clinicals just where we do them. The first rotation was at a LTC facility and I have a hatred for them for another reason but this place was the icing on the cake. During orientation the DON gave us the lovely story about how the staff loved nursing students and would let us do whatever we could to the pts. LIAR the whole time we were their we filled the linen carts, gave the pts water, took out the trash, and anything else they didn't want to do. When our instructor would come to check on us all of the sudden there was all sorts of stuff to do and we constantly got yelled at for not doing anyting. It got so that the instructor gave us a sheet of paper to write down everything we did. My partner in I towards the end started hiding in the closets and cleaning them out with the door closed so no one could bother us.

Nikki The Great · Nov 22, 2007

I don't find my clinical experience like working in the hospital at all. For the most part I find clinicals to be very tedious and boring. I have worked in the hospital for the last couple of years so I feel like I am going to work for free. I know that just because I hate clinicals does not mean that I will hate being a nurse. I love working in the hospital. I love working with patients. I love learning new things. Some nurses feel that their clinical experience is or was "just like the real hospital experience" but there are many others who do not. Some of the nurses that I know including my mother and most of friends tell me to grit my teeth and bare it and try and make the most of my clinical experience. To the OP, evaulate what it is that you really hate about clinicals, is it the patients, clinical instructor, care plans or is it nursing in general. I have not enjoyed my clinical experience so far. Even though I have learned alot, I really hate the tedious, haphazard way that my clinical instructor guides my group. I still plan on being a nurse, I still enjoy taking care of patients. OP don't let suckey clinical experiences keep you from your goal.

CrystalClear75, BSN, RN · Nov 22, 2007

You better find out a way to like clinicals because when you're in the real world, it's like clinicals except with more patients.

Actually I think when you start to develop more confidence(if you haven't already) you'll more than likely become more motivated or perhaps even like it, and the process of developing it comes from learning and applying it which is what clinicals are obviously for as we all know, lol. Learning anything new that is as stressful as this can be very daunting at times, and that is never fun. You may be just a bit overwhelmed right now and what your feeling is very normal, at least by what your saying in your post is very similar to the remarks I've heard from other students along the way. And in the "real world" you'll be making money which is MUCH better, in my opinion, you'll be more confident since you'll be more knowledgeable so don't let clinicals discourage you. I hated it too! If you have any questions throughout the day, write it down and look it up on your own. I also felt like I wasn't taught well enough in the clinical setting, I had so many questions but the teacher was usually busy with the other students passing out meds or something, I mean the teacher was hardly ever around unless I had meds to pass so I was like "uhhhh okay" sometimes. My advice is to observe as much as you can and if you feel comfortable, ask the instructor the questions you may have or like I said, look it up on your own. I always felt uncomfortable asking the instructor any questions, it seems like I would get a response like "you should know this" if you know what I mean. Don't let clinicals discourage you, you are still learning. Good luck.:)

colleennurse, ASN, RN · Nov 23, 2007

I hated clinicals when I was in school. The real world is nothing like clinicals in my opinion. When you are on your own it is different. Just get through school, do what you have too to get to your goal :)