Tommorow is the first real day of clinical! Confused!

loriangel14, RN · Mar 16, 2014

Sounds like you will be doing patient care. bathing, dressing,feeding, toileting, ambulating. Probably anything you have learned to do so far.

cate3624 · Mar 16, 2014

Sounds like you will be doing patient care. bathing dressing,feeding, toileting, ambulating. Probably anything you have learned to do so far.[/quote']
We only learned to do bp, meds (which i wont be doing), and starting an IV.

loriangel14, RN · Mar 16, 2014

You haven't covered ADLs and personal care? Maybe you are getting a crash course. Interesting.

kcataldo31 · Mar 16, 2014

I know for our first clinical we are doing personal care, ADL's and a head-to-toe assessment, incl. vital signs. We've practiced med passes and dressing changes but I know for the first few weeks its sticking to fundamentals. Have fun though! We start ours after spring break, I can't wait!

soxley · Mar 16, 2014

My first day of clinical we did patient care stuff like baths, bed changes, vs, etc. We also sort of tagged onto a CNA and assisted them (passing out food trays, feeding, that kind of stuff). Have fun!

kaydensmom01 · Mar 17, 2014

My first clinical was in a nursing home and we did vitals, a head-to-toe assessment, treatments, and patient care (shower, personal hygiene, bathroom, ROM, walking, turning). We took turns with med passes and it was my turn on the first day, so I did that also. My patient was a full assist so I had an intense first day because she had about 20 meds as well. We started clinicals after being in the lab for five weeks so we had been checked off on the assessment, giving meds, bathing, and transferring patients before we actually performed it.

Malorymug · Mar 17, 2014

I've seen some folks disappointed in just doing vitals, patient care, and assessments for their clinicals. My first clinical was last week and Whoa Boy! was I exhausted and overwhelmed. Not only did I get lost on my floor, but I didn't know where anything was and, Hello!, respirations are super hard to count on sick people!! And, I need a ton more practice with people, like talking and touching them. This sounds silly and I totally thought I was prepared, but it was hard work following my PCT around for a day.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to go back and learn/do more but that first clinical was just about all I could handle to do vitals and patient care.

Have fun! don't get lost

smf0903 · Mar 17, 2014

I've seen some folks disappointed in just doing vitals, patient care, and assessments for their clinicals. My first clinical was last week and Whoa Boy! was I exhausted and overwhelmed. Not only did I get lost on my floor, but I didn't know where anything was and, Hello!, respirations are super hard to count on sick people!! And, I need a ton more practice with people, like talking and touching them. This sounds silly and I totally thought I was prepared, but it was hard work following my PCT around for a day.
Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to go back and learn/do more but that first clinical was just about all I could handle to do vitals and patient care.
Have fun! don't get lost

I don't know if this will help, but I always do respirations with my steth...I get an apical and then I leave my steth somewhere on the chest where I can hear their respirations and can even flatten my hand out to feel their chest/upper abdomen move...makes it WAY easier than trying to "see" the respirations! :)

ambitiousBSN · Mar 17, 2014

Hi! First clinical is exciting. :-) You'll probably do a lot of what you've been learning such as ADL's (feeding, bathing, toileting, etc.), vitals and a general assessment. I didn't give meds in the first semester, but I know schools differ. If you go in with an open mind and have a willingness to learn and help, you'll gain a lot from your first semester!

Good luck, and have fun!