onewill

That is a true statement.

Absolutely! I would appreciate that very much.

You have been very helpful. I have not quite landed on ideal brain sheets. I am definitely grateful to see what you are using. I'm not good at remembering the patient specifics without them - I'm stretched too thin for where I'm at in my development. Thanks again!

Hi, I am going into my second year of my ADN program and hope to get an RN position at my local hospital so I want to now get a position as a CNA there. It makes sense that I highlight that I am a nursing student who has done my clinical rotations at this hospital. However, I am wondering if it would be a good thing or a not-so-good thing to list my student RN skills like IV starts, medication administration, NG tube insertions, Foleys, etc.. I know as a CNA that I won't be applying these skills and I don't want to make it appear as if I might inadvertently have some role confusion if I am hired and overstep my scope. What do you think? Thanks so much!

Thanks for posting that. I am in nursing school and as a former social worker, I am drawn to the hospice field where a nurse can establish relationships. However, I understand that the pay is significantly less than other areas of nursing, yes?

I believe you have been honest as well as very respectful. Thank you for advocating for new nurses...it enhances patient care in the long run.

Oh gosh do I feel your pain!

Amen.

Apparently some nurses think it's ok to eat their own young. Mentor and support the new ones for the very reason that it IS a tough profession! Someday they will be taking care of YOU - why make them bitter!

I think it sets up a student for errors and patients for harm to expect a novice to manage such a load safely.

Wow. I must say there is some definite wisdom there thought I'm sure not all would agree with the length of time it takes to get up to speed. I think your situation suits a student like myself better. I was having a challenging time maintaining safety in my third semester going from 2 to 3 patients. For our last semester, it will be a preceptorship with the expectation that you can get up to 5 patients.

That actually sounds like a great idea! If you are immersed day after day in that environment you keep taking steps forward without the loss of momentum in having several days off. I'm just hoping to make it to my final semester..I'm repeating my third semester due to my inability to advance to more patients efficiently and safely (I was going from 2 to 3).

Again, your post was extremely helpful and I plan on using it as a template to plan my clinical day. I hope you are mentoring up and coming nursing students in your program - you seem to have a handle on how to tackle the sometimes not-so-reasonable expectations.

Hi. This is like my clinical expectations. My ADN program has a good reputation; however we are in the same town as a magnet hospital and it IS difficult to get a job there unless you have a BSN. You sound like a bright and talented individual well suited for a rigorous nursing position. Do you feel well supported by your nurse or instructor or more stressed by one or the other?

Hopefully this thread is helpful for other instructors to read. It's certainly helpful for me to write about it. I'm grateful for the honest feedback I am getting. Yes, the night before, we have one patient that we do our prep work and thorough research on as you've described and present a short written clinical worksheet that takes a few hours to prepare. The next morning, one and then two more patients are added on the fly during report. Your point is well taken about standing up for myself. I did try that tactfully yet there were some instances that weren't worth standing up for myself - sometimes it is just better to accept the criticism whether or not it feels fair if you have an instructor that seems to be triggered by you. The pinnacle of my demise in my third semester was when I was flushing a saline lock to prepare to switch it to a pump infusion. It leaked clear saline under the clear tagederm - I simply couldn't identify it like I would if it had a blockage or if it infiltrated. But it leaked under the arm and gravity caused it to drip under the elbow where I couldn't see it for what it was. I thought it was a good teaching and learning moment as it was a tricky thing to identify for a novice like me who has only read about such a complication rather than see it with my own eyes. My instructor pulled me off patient care immediately and to my shock, told me she would need to send me home rather than let me finish my shift. This is when I did look my instructor directly in the eye and I firmly stated, "I don't want to go home, I want to learn - you are my teacher, please teach me. I've been improving, I know I can be successful - why aren't you invested in my success??" It was a pretty intense exchange but it saved me from going home; instead, she pulled me off patient care and allowed me to shadow her as she supervised and helped other students (during which time, I saw that one of my peers was about to give a deltoid IM injection into the subcutaneous tissue under the arm - my instructor verbally guided her to the proper anatomy without ill repercussions). That's when I realized that my instructor had a negative personal bias towards me and that my semester was going to be futile - she did not treat the other student like me. I was written up and within two weeks of that I withdrew because her scrutiny became more relentless and it ultimately broke me. I believe I earned her respect...but it was more important for her to be "right". She happened to be adjunct faculty and maybe she was trying to prove herself to the nursing department. To be fair to her judgment, it is true that as I was "breaking", I began making mistakes when she came to supervise me (contaminating tubing and having to replace, contaminating my sterile gloves and having to replace, having a sealed baggie of labeled pt meds drop out of the pt binder I was carrying and get picked up by another nurse, it made me look like a total bobble head that had no business being in nursing, I just sunk). Instructor case was made and I withdrew rather than risk imminent failure. I was an A- student prior to this. I want to learn to be a good nurse. I'm willing to remediate, put in extra hours outside of clinical practicing skills, but it is so much better for handling pressure when you sense that an instructor really wants you to succeed and recognizes what you're doing well or acknowledges your continued improvement. I am grateful for having a forum to help me make sense of my educational experience.