Struggling with Clinical

[cherryblossom21]

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?

[Ambiguphobia]

You sound like you have some pretty bad anxiety and you seem like a perfectionist.

It's okay to make mistakes during clinicals.

Your professor is there to guide you and make sure you make no mistakes. And if you do, I'm sure it's not going to be life threatening. It'll just be a great learning experience.

The best way to stop making small mistakes (like forgetting the name of a drug even though you just looked it up, or accidentally dropping the pill in it's packaging 3 times while trying to open it up, or forgetting to get water for your patient to take their pills with -- trust me. I've done all of these and things are are even more arbitrary. Then I break into a cold sweat and freak out over it) is to think it through beforehand, and go in with a sense of calm. Know that your professor wants to help you become the best nurse possible. Make a mental checklist of the things you need to have on hand. If you forget something, don't make a big deal out of it - fix the small snag, and move on with helping your patient.

I promise: you will not look silly or stupid to your patient or instructor!

I find that talking and genuinely listening to my patients helps me communicate better. Ask questions specific to them. I always make it a point to ask my patient if there's anything that I can attend to for them before I start doing an assessment/administering medications. This helps them feel more at ease with you and starts to build rapport quicker and right from the beginning!

Your ultimate goal for each day is to come out with more knowledge than you started with.

I wish you the best of luck through nursing school.

[RNnewbie2014]

Gosh I remember how nervous I used to be as a student.. Best tip is to be confident in yourself.. Maybe before you pass medications, go talk to the patient and tell them you are about to give them medications.. Maybe tell them then what you will be giving them and say you will be back with the instructor.. Kind of give you a warm up maybe.. You will get the hang of it I promise! I was the same way in school, now I am a nurse and more assertive than I ever was before nursing school.. Good luck you got this!! Be confident!!

[PapaBearRN, BSN]

I always told my patients beforehand that I would be administering medications with my instructor and I said if they raved about me when she was present that I would hook them up with a juice lol. Doing that was kind of an ice breaker and relieved any anxiety I had about looking bad in front of my patients if I didn't have the correct answer to a question asked by my professor. Also, I might catch some flak for this but "fake it till you make it," I'm talking confidence wise. You sound like you go above and beyond when researching your meds so trust in yourself. Don't let that one mistake ruin you.