Im going into my third yr of nursing school and was wondering one thing...i keep reading that alot of nursing students have to go to the hospital the night before clinical and get all their pt information and their drug info, etc then read up on it and be informed the night before going to clinical.
We have never had to do this at my School...basically we get our pt at the start of clinical and have to read their chart / MAR medication sheet and then note all their pertinent info in a very short period of time and read up on anything we dont know during clinical or ask our instructor if we dont understand something.
I was just wondering if anyone else's NS does the same thing or is it just mine?
The advantage of doing it the night before i guess is you are more acquainted with your pt and their medical conditions...can look up drugs, etc. Isn't it a pain in the behind lol though to commute all the way their to find this out. Doesnt it take up a huge part of your day to travel then find all this info then go home and review it? Its probably better though than what my school does...
We are required to go to the facility the day prior to clinical to get our pt information. This is helpful not only in the fact that you get a little bit of a heads up, but if the disease process is one you're not familar with how are you going to assess and know what is or is not normal for that pt. There are a lot of times that your pt isn't there in the morning and it is more "real world", but then again, we are learning. How can we be expected to know everything when we are just learning the disease processes and all? Yes, it is a pain in the butt to have to go to the facility on a day that there is no clinical, but I do prefer to know WHY things are being done to my pt before hand. And to be quite frank with you, we don't have time to look things up during clinical. We are required to know it before clinical. We actually have to write out a detailed description of the pt's dx and hx, have med sheets done, and have a game plan for the clinical day or we are sent home!
That's how it was in our program. We sure knew our stuff by the time we graduated. But that was back in the Dark Ages, though.
Specializes in Addictions, Corrections, QA/Education.
I fail to see how this is considered lucky? Sure, you get out of doing a little work; however, you only have 2-4 years to bake, then you roll out of the oven a newly minted RN ready to hit the floor. Any chance to review all of the material spewed out at you in class is time well spent. I continue to advocate this practice and give kudos to instructors who are this involved in their students educational process.
Don't get me wrong. I consider MYSELF lucky and am thankful for the education I received. Our school was strict but they put out great nurses. Yes, it was a lot of work but it definitely paid off. I am continually learning every day and will always continue to learn.
I actually thought that you had to do it this way. But I guess its up to the college?
Specializes in Addictions, Corrections, QA/Education.
That is pretty much the system I am on, but I really enjoy this process except for making up med sheets. Does anyone else have to do med sheets?
We didnt have to do med sheets but had to use index cards for our meds. We had to have one card per medication. We had to put what the patient's diagnosis' were, why they were on the med and if it was effective. We had to put how we knew that it was effective... for example... Tylenol 650mg for a temp of >101. We give the Tylenol and recheck the temp and it came down. But sometimes it got tricky depending on the med. Tylenol was just an example. We would have to dig sometimes and look at lab values etc.
Some instructors would have us calculate drips for our IV's... (i.e., heparin drips). This came in handy for me because one of the places I work does not have IV pumps. (I work in a prison infirmary prn). I work in a hospital too (but they have pumps of course!)
I actually thought that you had to do it this way. But I guess its up to the college?
Yes it does depend on the school, and the institution. Students need to be accompanied by instructors, which means the instructors need to be payed to be there. At my school, I asked why the the students don't get the assignments beforehand, and i was told that the adjuncts complained that they didn't get paid to drive to the sites, pay to park and spend the time there, only to reassign some of the students the next morning.
the adjuncts complained that they didn't get paid to drive to the sites, pay to park and spend the time there, only to reassign some of the students the next morning.
The adjuncts helped choose the patients? We chose our own last semester. That system pretty much sucked until I found an RN who was willing to assign me to his patients week after week. After that, I pretty much became his assistant, and he saved all his "good stuff" for me and another one of my fellow students. I wish I could work for him every semester.
Madison's mom - we pretty much have to copy everything that appears in the med books (in our own words, of course) for every medication the patient is taking, including method of action, dosage ranges, side effects, incompatibilities, and then figurerout why the patient was taking it and whether or not it was working based on lab values and other objective data. I actually wouldn't mind the work if we had more time do it, but some of these patients are on 12-15 meds, and each med sheet may take 40 minutes to do. Plus, we still have to work out care plans and the rest of the paperwork for clinicals the next morning.
It's all very interesting, but time consuming. I am exhausted just *thinking* about it.
Specializes in Addictions, Corrections, QA/Education.
I am exhausted just *thinking* about it.
I know exactly what you mean.
When we went to pre assignment... it was always pretty close by. Our instructors would see what patients the unit had and would pick our patients for us. We were there about 2 hours total.
Specializes in Addictions, Corrections, QA/Education.
Yes it does depend on the school, and the institution. Students need to be accompanied by instructors, which means the instructors need to be payed to be there. At my school, I asked why the the students don't get the assignments beforehand, and i was told that the adjuncts complained that they didn't get paid to drive to the sites, pay to park and spend the time there, only to reassign some of the students the next morning.
Ok, I see. Do your students do care plans on their patients?
The adjuncts helped choose the patients? We chose our own last semester. That system pretty much sucked until I found an RN who was willing to assign me to his patients week after week. After that, I pretty much became his assistant, and he saved all his "good stuff" for me and one of my fellow students. I wish I could work for him every semester.
Damn, i wish that the staff on my units were as willing to help the students.
And yes, everywhere I have worked, the adjuncts chose their patients for the students
I get pinned in 2 weeks. We always get our pt. assignments the day of clinical. We are expected to be there half hour before shift change report to get our pt. info. The instructor is there ahead of us picking our assignments. After we get them, we log on to the computer, skim their chart, check for latest labs, review IV compatibilities, how to give (push, pump, piggyback) etc.
We then sit by the RN and listen to report together. Then go to our instructor and give her report (while she asks a few trivia q's).
This entire process takes no more than 1/2 hour to 45 mins. We are expected to be quick and flow along in a very busy med-surg floor.
This semester we have several pt's and it's been challenging but feel very prepared for the 'real world'
P.S. Reason why we don't go look up info ahead of time is because our school wants us to prepare us as close as the 'real world' as possible. Having said that, I feel we are getting there.....2 more weeks!!
Damn, i wish that the staff on my units were as willing to help the students.
I wish I could say all my fellow classmates fared as well, but they didn't. One nurse actually *pushed* one of my classmates one day. Word got around pretty fast about who to avoid.
Anyway, I might have appreciated more direction from my clinical instructor about which patient to take early on in the semester, but by the end, I was happy with my self-chosen patients.
I wish I could say all my fellow classmates fared as well, but they didn't. One nurse actually *pushed* one of my classmates one day. Word got around pretty fast about who to avoid.
Anyway, I might have appreciated more direction from my clinical instructor about which patient to take early on in the semester, but by the end, I was happy with my self-chosen patients.
Reminds me......
Back in my first semester of nrsg school, I had an instructor who had not an ounce of patience. She was always rush, rush and just plain weird. Anyhow, I was putting in a foley cath (with here there of course) and for some reason she thought I was going to pull it back out. Well, without missing a beat, she slapped the back of my hand to the point is swelled up. To make a long story short, my classmates were quite angy and reported her. I was called in and questioned with a purple hand.....they asked if I wanted to press charges on her. I didn't of course but it taught her a lesson.
Apparantly she did this quite often and never reported. Unfortunately, I have very delicate skin-plus I was 110lbs at the time and she was around 350......
Back in my first semester of nrsg school, I had an instructor who had not an ounce of patience. She was always rush, rush and just plain weird. Anyhow, I was putting in a foley cath (with here there of course) and for some reason she thought I was going to pull it back out. Well, without missing a beat, she slapped the back of my hand to the point is swelled up. To make a long story short, my classmates were quite angy and reported her. I was called in and questioned with a purple hand.....they asked if I wanted to press charges on her. I didn't of course but it taught her a lesson.
Apparantly she did this quite often and never reported. Unfortunately, I have very delicate skin-plus I was 110lbs at the time and she was around 350......
Oh my god! That is unbelievable!
I really feel I am spared a lot of this sort of behavior because I am an older student, and also I am rather tall. (At least, I have been so far.)Some of the younger girls are really targets.
reesern63, RN
267 Posts
That's how it was in our program. We sure knew our stuff by the time we graduated. But that was back in the Dark Ages, though.