Talking to patients

You'll get there, don't worry. I work as a waitress and like you, have no problem chatting away if people are friendly. The thing that made me nervous at first with clinicals is being so out of my element. You have no problem taking to people at your customer service job because you're probably good at your job and comfortable there. It's human nature.

Sometimes you'll have lovely, talkative patients that are amazing people to be around. Other times you'll have grouchy patients, or a patient with an overbearing family, or one with altered mental status. If you're polite, professional, caring, and relatively friendly, then you'll be fine. You don't have to get to know everything about your patient, particularly if they'd rather be left alone. We all handle illness differently. Even when I'm 100% healthy, it's a coin toss as to whether I'm going to talk your ear off or be silent. It's not something to take personally, just feel their vibe and give it a shot. :)

Practice makes perfect. It is hard to talk to people you don't know. Try not to make it so hard . I know they expect nursing school talk but you can do that without being formal. It will get easier and done patients won't talk but then there are some you might need to be saved!

It will get easier, I promise! I am in my last year, but I still remember that first day of clinicals. I was a fumbling, nervous mess. I can now handle most personality types as patients.

Ah, therapeutic conversation. I remember in one of my early clinical rotations I had had some pretty extensive dental work done at the front of my jaw and had some pretty nifty bruising there to show for it. My patient, as luck would have it, had had multiple extractions in the same area, and we looked like twins who had both been bopped by the same right cross. We blinked in amusement when we saw each other, mumbled a little bit to each other, decided not to talk unless we had to, smiled as best we could, and I started her bath. Unbeknownst to me that's when my instructor came to lurk outside the door to see how I spoke to patients, and she pinned me for being silent when I came out later. I explained, though, and invited her to speak to the patient. :)

However. One thing that's hard for nursing students to integrate into their patient relations early on is the idea that it's not about them, it's about their patients. I know what they teach you about therapeutic use of self, but that doesn't mean that you get to turn the conversation to you and your feelings and seek reassurance in their words. In the OP's example, what might have happened if she had said, "I'm guessing you must be pretty tired after four hours in therapy. Could you tell me just a little bit about how that's going, and then I'll just sit here quietly?"

Like GrnTea I usually try to make explanations for things. "I'm so sorry to wake you tonight but I have to ask you a few questions." "Paperwork, you know?" "I need to take your vital signs so I know you're okay and then I will let you get back to sleep."

When you work nights you have to wake people all the time so I try and put on a cheery face and speak softly. Moving quick helps too.

If someone isn't talkative note that in your assessment.