hopefulstudent223

Thank you so much for your advice and kindness. I sincerely appreciate you.

Thank you, you have really eased my mind. On a personal level, I work through severe anxiety. Obviously, it comes through in this post. It helps to hear that the expectation for our preceptor in the last semester is not to have the ability to immediately apply everything that we are taught in lecture and immediately replicate everything that we try our hand at in skills lab. I have had to continue to lay down the need to feel perfect at it all and it has clearly taken a toll on my experience. I try to seek out opportunities in clinical as well and am always offering help to everyone on the floor. I don't care if it's something menial like taking a patient's blood sugar. I just want to participate. Do you have any suggestions or resources for assessment practice? Also, I'm assuming that identifying adventitious breath sounds and heart sounds is another thing that just comes with exposure and time? Sometimes I feel like I still struggle to identify these things. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. Seriously, thank you so much.

I hear you. Thank you for taking the time to read the post and reply. It's just so hard not to feel disheartened. I want to do well. Not only that but due to a low census on our floor, I've not had the opportunity to take care of more than 1 patient (except for the 2 days that I have had 2 patients - which felt completely overwhelming). Although, several other students have had a couple of days with 2 pts and even a day to two with 3 pts. Am I expected to be able to just jump into last semester with a preceptor and take care of 5+ patients and know how to prioritize patients/tasks?

Hey there! I wanted to reach out on this forum in hopes of obtaining some advice/feedback/encouragement. I am in semester 3 and getting ready to enter semester 4 of nursing school in January. Last semester (semester 2) we had to complete the second half of our clinical experience online due to COVID and this year we have shorter hours on the floor than normal for the same reason. I have spent A LOT of time talking with my other classmates about skills that they've had the opportunity to perform and what they feel comfortable with. At this point, I have only be assigned to up to 2 patients and this was only for 2 clinical days. Therefore, I have not really had the opportunity to practice multitasking or prioritizing patients and tasks. I have not inserted an IV, started a foley, given an IM injection, placed an NG tube, amongst other skills. I HAVE initiated one continuous tube feeding, given subcut/oral medications, and hung IV medications twice although I don't feel that I would be able to fly solo on this if I had to do it again. Meaning, I still feel like I would need some prompting or small reminders. The pump itself I feel may take some time to get comfortable operating. I've been advised by seasoned nurses to seek out a PCT or CNA position while in school but due to taking care of my family and ill mother, I cannot add that to my plate. I know my capacity for stress and I still need time for self-care as I deal with my own mental health issues. I am continually told that the experience and comfort with skills will come when I am actually working on the floor and not to worry about it. HOWEVER, yesterday on the floor I asked a nurse if she needed help with anything and she offered to let me flush a dophoff ngt. I was excited to help as I am eager to learn. When we went to perform the task she states "You should be familiar with this at this point, right?". The answer was no. I was not familiar with this because I had only flushed one ngt prior and that nurse had me remove the plunger and do it by gravity. PLUS, that dophoff did not have a lewis valve on it (side note: can anyone explain why one would have a lewis valve versus not???). Anyways - I went to flush with the large syringe using the plunger as she had instructed and I was meeting resistance, so I looked at the nurse and she simply stated: "it's okay". I proceeded to try to flush and due to the buildup of pressure within the lewis valve (clearly due to a clog) the water sprayed everywhere. All over me, the nurse, and the patient's bed. I was mortified and apologized profusely and even though she said it was okay, I could tell by her face that it was not. She did not make any eye contact and instead, the nurse left me at the bedside and sent another nurse in to help me troubleshoot the issue. Meanwhile, I felt like I was unraveling or like I had done something terribly wrong. I came home and searched videos on ngt flushing and did see that it could be done either by gravity or the way that we had tried it but it did not make me feel any better. At the same time, I am faced with questions on basic procedures. If a patient has a continuous tube feeding, how often and I flushing? How often am I replenishing? Do these protocols become second nature with time? Just looking to know that how I am feeling is normal(??). I want to be the best nurse that I can be and I want to take care of these patients the best that I can (and I would like to stop feeling so incompetent). Everyone keeps telling me to worry about passing the boards and the other stuff will come later but that just doesn't feel right. Anyways, I know this post was long-winded but hearing from people who understand where I am coming from would help me the most. If you are inclined to be passive-aggressive (or plainly aggressive) or discouraging I would kindly ask you to refrain from commenting. I promise you, I beat myself up enough for the both of us. Signed, Disheartened but hopeful

Hey there! I wanted to reach out on this forum in hopes of obtaining some advice/feedback/encouragement. I am in semester 3 and getting ready to enter semester 4 of nursing school in January. Last semester (semester 2) we had to complete the second half of our clinical experience online due to COVID and this year we have shorter hours on the floor than normal for the same reason. I have spent A LOT of time talking with my other classmates about skills that they've had the opportunity to perform and what they feel comfortable with. At this point, I have only be assigned to up to 2 patient and this was only for 2 clinical days. I have not inserted an and IV, started a foley, placed an NG tube. I HAVE initiated one continuous tube feeding and hung IV medications twice however I don't feel that I would be able to fly solo on this if I had to do it again. Meaning, I still feel like I would need some prompting or small reminders. The pump itself I feel may take some time to get comfortable operating. I've been advised to seek out a PCT or CNA position but due to taking care of my family and ill mother, I cannot add that to my plate. I know my capacity for stress and I still need time for self-care as I deal with my own mental health issues. I am continually told that this experience will come when I am on the floor and not to worry about it. HOWEVER, yesterday on the floor I asked a nurse if she needed help with anything and she offered to let me flush a dophoff ngt. I was excited to help as I am eager to learn. I went to flush with the large syringe and I was meeting resistance so I looked at the nurse and she simply stated: "it's okay". I proceeded to try to flush and the water sprayed everywhere. All over me, the nurse, and the patient's bed. I was mortified and apologized profusely and even though she said it was okay, I could tell by her face that it was not. The nurse left me at the bedside and sent another nurse in to help me troubleshoot the issue. Meanwhile, I felt like I was unraveling or like I had done something terribly wrong. I came home and searched videos on ngt flushing and did see that it could be done either by gravity or the way that we had tried it but it did not make me feel any better. At the same time, I am faced with questions on basic procedures. If a patient has a continuous tube feeding, how often and I flushing? How often and am I replenishing? Do these protocols become second nature with time? Just looking to know that how I am feeling is normal. I want to be the best nurse that I can be and I want to take care of these patients the best that I can (and I would like to stop feeling so incompetent). Everyone keeps telling me to worry about passing the boards and the other stuff will come later but that just doesn't feel right. Anyways, I know this post was long-winded but hearing from people who understand where I am coming from would help me the most. If you are inclined to be passive-aggressive (or plainly aggressive) or discouraging I would kindly ask you to refrain from commenting. I promise you, I beat myself up enough for the both of us. Signed, Disheartened but hopeful