Smoothing the Ride from Classroom to Bedside

[Georgia Reiner]

Nursing students are faced with many challenges when acclimating to the clinical environment – apply what they have learned in a hands-on setting, interact with patients, assume some responsibility for patient care. However, while exciting, with this transition comes new challenges and potential mistakes that can make this next step risky for nursing students’ future careers.

Failure to Speak Up

For practicing nurses, insecurity or hesitancy to speak up can have extreme repercussions – failure to report a patient’s condition change or not asking a question could result in a negative patient outcome or even an allegation of malpractice, according to the Nurses Service Organization (NSO) 2015 Professional Liability Claim Report. Nursing students and new nurses must understand that they are their patients’ advocate – they must ensure their patients receive safe and appropriate care when needed. Advocacy means that nurses have a duty to utilize the nursing and medical staff chains of command in cases where a practitioner is not responding to calls for assistance, or fails to appreciate or respond to the seriousness of a situation. New nurses may feel hesitant to speak up and ask questions, especially to older and more experienced providers. However, hesitation and insecurity can lead to legal trouble, medical errors, or professional misconduct, asserts the NSO Claim Report. It is imperative that nurses proactively address communication issues, speak up confidently, and use their voice and their power to do their job effectively.

Don't Cross the Line on Social Media

A misstep (or even the allegation of misdoing) on social media – such as sharing patient information or posting inappropriate photos – can be damaging to a nursing student’s budding career and future prospects. As a nursing student enters the clinical world, part of their new responsibilities is maintaining patient confidentiality and conducting themselves in a professional manner. Social media is ridden with people posting photos of their day-to-day activities, complaining about their jobs, and telling funny stories about work. However, nurses have legal obligations of confidentiality as mandated by the Department of Health & Human Services’ HIPAA provisions and have more liabilities that accompany their profession than most, such as facing severe disciplinary action from their Board of Nursing. Nurses need to be increasingly aware of the risks associated with disclosing too much information on their social media platforms.

Get Enough ZZZs

Sleep deprivation is common ground for students across all disciplines; they bond about “pulling an all-nighter” or “running on energy drinks.” However, for a nursing student working in a clinical environment, sleep deprivation can impair their care for patients. New data from Ball State University and Western Governors University researchers proves it: their data shows that 83 percent of nursing students aren’t getting an adequate amount of sleep, resulting in a negative impact for quality and safety. And numerous additional studies have shown that cognitive abilities, reaction time, and decision-making are all negatively impacted by lack of sleep and 12-hour shifts. As a result of sleep deprivation, students combat their fatigue with caffeine and stimulants to stay alert, then use sleeping aids at night to help them go to bed. This repeated cycle is not a sustainable, healthy lifestyle and can have negative impacts on the student’s health far beyond when student clinicals end.

Building awareness of these common mistakes can help nursing students succeed in the clinical environment. Unlike a typical desk-job, the nursing profession has an extra level of responsibility and liability; therefore, nursing inherently has risk. To navigate these risks, students must seek out educational resources, be aware of the ways they can advocate for themselves and avoid these mistakes as they make the transition from classroom to bedside.