cherryblossom21

I know that you posted this years ago but can I ask you how the rest of your semester went? And how you got through it? I'm in this exact position. I'm in my first semester and I made a med error and I'm also battling with anxiety during clinicals. I'm good at book work and I'm so scared I'm going to fail clinical.

I was thinking of making flashcards of each med that has the elaborate mechanism of action on one side (what I would tell my instructor) and my patient teaching on the other side that includes a brief and easy to understand description of it with 1 or 2 precautions like "don't get up too fast it can make you dizzy" what do you think? I'm trying to keep my chin up when I'm actually freaking out so much on the inside ):

You're right that in some way I do overprepare. I write down every single thing about that med that I was not able to individualize it for my patient. I want to learn how to individualize the meds to my patient, communicate patient teachings in a clear and concise way, and also I want to not black out when my instructor asks me questions. My instructor advised me to practice saying these things out loud prior to clinical. She also said she can go over it with me and we can do a bit of role playing. I only have 3 clinicals left to show her that I'm competent with my basic skills and I really want to prove to her that I have what it takes. Thank you so much for the video I'm currently watching it and I'm learning a bunch about communication!

Thank you for your tips! My clinical instructor did encourage me to practice explaining my meds and do my patient teachings at home prior to clinical. I'm hoping that would lessen my anxiety. I only have 3 more clinicals till the final evaluation to show her that I'm competent with my basic skills. Wish me luck!

I'm a first semester nursing student. It was always my dream to become a nurse and I finally got in the nursing program in my university! I was so motivated in the beginning of the semester. Most of the time I would get the highest grades in my theory classes and I was so excited for clinical. I made one big slip up in clinical that caused me to be on probation though. I administered meds with my nurse without my clinical instructor. Everything went downhill from there. Going in to clinical made me really scared of messing up. I would go pick up my patient's information, make the most thoughtful careplan I could and still make common sense mistakes. I prepared for my meds and even wrote them down in flashcards for a guide but I still looked unprepared and unorganized when I was administering them in front of my clinical instructor. My clinical instructor pulled me off to the side and said that I needed to "step my game up". She said I do really well in exams but I need to work on therapeutic communication. She also said that I need to be more assertive and confident when I speak to my patients. I asked her for any tips or suggestions she could give me so I could be successful and she agreed to coach me after class next week. I received my midterm evaluation and it was not so glowing. Although she still gave me a satisfactory mark with the condition that I improve my medication administration and communication. I really want to improve but the nerves and anxiety are very paralyzing. I can't even focus on studying for theory anymore because I'm so worried about failing clinical. Has anyone gone through the same thing? Or have any tips for me to survive?