Studying Clinical Skills

guest042302019, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2011

Definitely. If your book came with the CD, go over that. Try to notice the "systematic" way the nurse goes through the physical assessment. Start to develop a pattern or series of steps that's meaningful to you for your memory. Hence, the "head to toe" assessment is laid out in that fashion for that reason. As far as skills, such as; vital signs, or bed change, you can practice these at home. If you have friends, parents, or even close aquaintances at school, recruit a person(s) to help you practice. Simply ask, "As you know, I'm in the nursing program right now but I'm in alittle bit of a dilemma. I haven't had the opportunity to practice these skills I've been reading about and we are going to be tested soon on them. Would happen to have some spare time I could practice some of these skills with you?" Some people might be alittle weirded out, because they may not want to know something you may come across (such as an abnormality) or they are trying to hide something and don't go to the doctor. If someone is in that frame of mind, they likely won't feel comfortable and pass. In that case, thank them and move on to someone else. A majority of people, though, will be more than willing to help out. Explain to them what you'll be doing, before and during your procedures. State what you are looking (assessing) for. Explain the amount of time it will take. Remember, they are taking time out of their day to help you, it's more or less curtious. Plus, this is what one does as a nurse. Constantly explaining what you are doing, where-when-why-how it's going. An overall explanation of your practice session may ease some of the anxiety that could be associated with the close-in-your-face position you'll be in with them. Try to find someone that you are comfortable with and vice versa. Try to avoid someone that'll constantly giggle and laugh, and not take what your doing seriously. This could inhibit your development in your skills and generally, you could waste your time. Time is something we nursing students don't have alot of. Practice with different body sizes, sexes, races, ethnicities if you can. This will show you the wide array of variation in what you'll come acrossed once you start clinicals. Overall, your teachers know your level 1, they know the classess are behind, they know you are starting out, and you are green around the edges. There isn't a huge expectation that you have everything down to the T. There is an expectation that you've read the material and have the ability to "apply" it in a real situation. Hence, getting a several practice sessions under belt. Trying something and failing is better than not trying at all. You will fail at some of it or least be very akward, unorganized, unsystematic, and generally, in a hit-and-miss fashion until the process is committed to memory and you start to "feel" it coming together. I hope this helps. Good Luck.