Please help me!!!

[Km41566]

I am in my second semester of my junior year of a BSN program and I am taking Med-surg right now. We are going to the hospital twice a week now. I had a little experience with clinical last semester but basically Med-surg is the beginning of my clinical experience and it hasn't gone too well. I am so disorganized, which suprises me because I am a very organized person. I always forget to assess certain things even though I have the sheet with me. I feel like I don't know what I am supposed to be doing at all, and I know some of that is normal because I am just starting out, but the others seem to have a better idea of what they are supposed to do than me. Also, I get nervous about meeting my patients for the first time because I am shy and I don't know what to say. I guess I just think too much about what I am supposed to say or do and I should probably just do it. I could prepare for clinical until I was blue in the face but by the time I get to clinical I will freeze up and forget. This really concerns me because I am a good student ( I got all A's in my nursing classes last semester) but I just can't seem to get it together for clinical. Some days I just wonder if I will ever be able to become a nurse and if I made the wrong decision to go to nursing school. I really want to do well in clinical because I want to be a good nurse, but I guess I don't know how to do that. Any suggestions you may have to help me would be greatly appreciated.

[zacarias, ASN, RN]

Wow!

I've enjoyed this thread so much. Seeing that other people have felt the way I do is so comforting!

Km, I'm very much like you. I get good grades in the theory of nursing but in clinical, I often feel like a fish out of water. I get so nervous that during pre-conference (I see people laughing and the teacher talking but I have no idea what's going on because I realize in a few moments I will go meet my new patients and have to care for them! Me who doesn't know anything will have to care for someone who just had surgery! LOL) Anyway, I know I will get better at it as I notice little things about myself as times goes on.

It's so easy to miss part of an assessment only to remember it later when it's too late. I think a flow sheet is a great idea. I think I'll make one up someday when I have time! LOL

It will get easier I swear. I'm so shy too, but I just be myself when I walk into the room and most people respond to it. I make jokes about being a student (for instance: now let's see why isn't this working? referring to the Dynamap) just to get the humor going and the relationship to develop. Of course I assess the patient's cognition and perception of the whole healthcare experience before I instigate such humor.

Do you have a clinical "buddy"? A fellow student that you can ask questions to or have help you any time during your day helps dramatically.

Good luck, and remember you are so not alone in these feelings!

Z