HSRN

I am glad you've found my suggestions helpful. My major is nursing education in grad school, learned some principles from there. Your success in teaching depends on you and your innovative efforts to collaborate. You need to have a good rapport with the staff and most of all use the manager's help when you have problems with her staff because she's the one that evaluates them. Don't feel that you are a tattle tale, our goal is to have intelligent nurses join our profession and retain them. HSRN

Dear Nurseebol, It is necessary to have a good rapport with the nursing staff and the nurse manager where you teach because these impact the student's learning experience. The students perception of the nursing staff's attitude toward their presence in the clinical area also affects their learning. Therefore, I feel it is the instructor's responsibilty to make their experience a positive one by making these two ends meet in a collegial way. I meet with the manager of the unit at least a month before the assignment starts, to give her a background of what type of students are coming and the skills they have learned/learning in the classroom. I also give her a list of the students a couple of weeks before. If I have been there before, I share with her feedback I get from the students. On the first day of clinicals, which is usually for orientation, I invite the manger to speak to the students, a welcome talk and also to tell students her expectations while they are there. For example, care of equipments. I visit the floor a day before the clinical rotation to pick the student's assignments. I read each patient's chart quickly, taking notes on what type of skills my student's can learn from. This summer, we are in the clinical are 3 days in a row, so when patient's are discharged. I coordinate with the charge nurse to find new patients for my students. Every week, I gather feedback from the staff and the manger about the students and also announce to them that my students are looking for certain skills to practice on. This way, my students can benefit to the fullest. To facilitate communication to staff, I make an assignment sheet that has the day's objective, what skills the students can do, who are giving medications and their room assignments. If their patients get discharged, I update the list. The assignment sheet is posted the day before the students get there. I update the list with the students at the end of the shift I also keep a log of what skills the students have done, what type of patients/diagnoses and who still lacks certain skills...so that when I make the assignments, I take tose needs into consideration. I hope my ideas help. HSRN

Are there nurses out there that do not use filter needles because it is not available in their practice setting, other reasons?