So, I made it through my first quarter of nursing school with straight A's and just finished week 1 of quarter 2 (woohoo!)
Clinicals are just a few short weeks away and I'll be starting off on a Cardiology floor in a hospital right nearby, so I feel pretty stoked about this first assignment.
One thing that I'm not 100% sure about, though, is how it all works on the floor? Do we get assigned to a nurse (or multiple nurses) or is our clinical instructor the one who is supposed to be doing all of the teaching with us?
From what I've read, it seems like most of the time, it's the actual nurses working the floor who are teaching the students and then the clinical instructor has a conference afterwards and sometimes observes throughout the day. Also, the final checkout at the end.
Is this accurate or does it all depend on the school and the clinical site? It seems to me like it should really be the clinical instructor doing the teaching and then if some of the nurses want to take us around, then that would be wonderful.
I am just worried about a nurse feeling "saddled" with me and feeling resentful b/c now I'm going to slow him/her down all day.
My plan is just to go in completely humble, ready, and willing to do whatever is asked of me that I'm technically allowed to do and to seek out those opportunities, but not be annoying or needy about it.
Are students practicing under the faculty member's license during clinical learning experiences?A nursing student enrolled in a Texas approved nursing program is not required to have a license because of the exemption in the Nursing Practice Act §301.004(6), but can practice in a student nurse role under the supervision of a qualified member of the nursing faculty for the purposes of meeting educational requirements for clinical practice. Since the nursing student is exempt, he/she is not practicing under the faculty member's license.†(my emphasis)
Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.
It's not in the NPA; or if it is, I couldn't find it. It's in the Texas Administrative Code in a different section, which NPA refers to. 301.004 exempts students under the NPA, stating that it doesn't apply (IE, they are an exemption).
I made the mistake of reading your original post on a phone while having a conversation in person with someone about something unrelated, and was kind of half paying attention to both. I am not as good at multi-tasking as I think I am. I should have also specified what was not true, since you would have then said, "Uh, I didn't say that," and it would have been clear to you that I was mis-reading your post. I mistakenly read part of your post to imply that the instructor isn't responsible for the student, which is different than a discussion about license application/delegation/etc, which is another worm can. Now that I'm on an actual computer, I read through the string again and said, "Oh, oops."
The link I was trying to post previously establishes that the preceptor and/or instructor is responsible for the student's actions. It obviously doesn't absolve the student of their actions if they try to intubate because, "Dr. Kitty said it was okay!"
I myself am still a student and started clinicals last semester.
We had a clinical instructor present on the unit who monitored the students and observed passing meds/performing skills (which, depending on the situation, could also be done with a nurse). We were given patient assignment and worked mostly with the nurse who was taking care of said patient.
In the hospital I was at, most of the nurses were very helpful, friendly, and understanding of students. :)
Oh also - it's VERY important to know what skills you are and are not allowed to perform, and under which circumstances.
In my program and at the hospital I did (majority) of my clinicals at, for most experiences we were assigned a patient and our instructor was our "go-to" for any questions, skills needing supervision, etc. However if the patient's RN was willing to observe us perform certain skills requiring supervision and we were approved to do those skills with the RN by our instructor, that was fine. Also if the RN/other staff members on the floor were willing to take to us observe/do other things that was okay as long as we had approval and it was within the scope of our practice as a student. We did have clinical experiences where we specifically followed a RN (mostly critical care units) and the RN was always selected by the charge nurse and/or nurse educator on the unit.
As others have mentioned every school/hospital is different, but either way I'm sure things will go great :) you've done well so far, keep up the good work and good luck to you!
I'm reading thrpugh posts to get info on Drexel's 24 month Accelerated BSN program. I see that you attended this program. Can you tell me if it's possible to work full time while in this program. What times during the week are your classes. I recently found out they canceled the evening/weekend option and will now only have the weekday/every other weekend option. I need to work as I have a family to support.
LessValuableNinja
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http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=22&pt=11&ch=215&rl=10