Thoughts on post-conferences

[lansgrl123]

I posted my comments on the student site and wanted to get some thoughts on clinical post-conferences from other faculty members. I hate them. I hated them as a student 25 years ago and, as a faculty member, I still hate them. Our students are exhausted after putting in 8 or 10 hours of direct care, they are brain-dead (for the most part) by the time they get to post-conference. I do not care how well the activities are planned or how excited the faculty member is, the students want to go home. I understand one faculty member is going to require 2 hours of post-conference from the students. She has the best intentions but fails to recognize the nursing student in todays world. Many work full-time, have children and are single parents. I believe with all my being that post-conferences should go away. In the sim-lab, debriefing is a great idea, in the clinical setting forget it. I am completing my dissertation and want to do a study on this soon. What are your thoughts?

[showbizrn]

Hi

I am doing my first clinical instructing in a cardiac unit step-down. I am a orthopedic pacu RN.

This is completely new for me. certain procedures and medication I am really unaware of and I am struggling.

Do you have any tips for me To get through the day without looking like an a**?

thanks

Sounds like you're NOT

Skills-matched

in a Clinical setting of your expertise.

Try to contact other

veteran/seasoned

Clinical Faculty for tips.

Avoid assigning students

to patients whose meds and procedures

are beyond your scope of knowledge

and practice.

Request to be re-assigned

To another clinical setting

to avoid liability issues.

[AOx1]

In part it depends on what level you teach (ex- intro, 1st year, 2nd year) and the clinical site. I vary my approach. Here are two alternative I have found useful.

Preconference- I find this particularly useful when students are very frightened about a new area (ex- 1st semester). The first day, I give them their orientation on where to find things, answer FAQs, etc. Then the second day, we have a preclinical conference. I arrive early, select the patients, then the students arrive. Here are some examples. The first full day, I have them go down to the room, meet the patient, and have a look around. I tell them nothing else. They then return to the room. I then tell them that most life/death decisions the nurse must make are made in seconds and based on experience and observation. I ask them things like: Did your patient have a foley? any IVs? Describe their mental state? Are they oriented? Of course, they don't know, as they are brand new. I then tell them about how to perform a quick evaluation of the patient prior to their full physical assessment. Another good one: are their any safety hazards in the patient's room (ex- small caps around a peds patient? Objects in the path to the bathroom if patient is ambulatory? Etc). We may have a pre-conference about many things, such as pain control, oxygenation, lab work, etc. I often base it on what they are doing that week in lecture. Ex- discussing oxygenation? I want to know the entire nursing process related to use of/need for O2. What assessments should you perform? What meds are likely? How do you determine the correct delivery device? How do you evaluate effectiveness? What is the worst-case scenario?

Another option- online postconference. My students love this option, and even the less talkative ones participate more. I also base this off topics we study in lecture.