What are your clinicals like?

[megpeg]

I am just about through with my last semester of my LVN program. Every Tuesday we have 2 hours of Pt prep. This consists of filling out a "melon" form (all pt info, labs, possible NANDAs, explanation of diagnosis), two individual care plans, two teaching cards, drug cards on each of our patients. Maximum 3 patients. Obviously all of this is not possible in two hours, we are to finish our prep by the next morning. Wednesday and Thursday are 8 hour clinical days. We have TOTAL Pt care. Everything from bed bath to med passes. We are not allowed to have CNA help. We are penalized with a reduction in points if we miss even the smallest of things. During our final semester we also have six twelve hour shifts. I am curious about the standards at other nursing schools, and what your prep is like. Thanks!

M:nurse:

[bluerthnu]

Hi megpeg,

My LPN program was pretty different but we also did total pt care. We started clinicals in our 2nd of 5 quarters, so at that point we didn't pass meds yet until 3rd quarter. We were always allowed to ask for help from CNA's but advised to try everything on our own first. Sometimes it was just a matter of needing a second pair of hands because of a pt's mobility or weight though. Once we started giving meds, we had to bring all the meds to our nursing instructor and have her go over them with us first. It took a while so we always had to be ready to start early and push to be first if we had something really time-specific like insulin or Reglan that needed to be given a half-hour before meals. Otherwise, we waited our turn and could end up giving them up to an hour past the due time. I don't think a day went by when we weren't all a little bit scared, but there was also down time, like when the pts were napping. As long as you pay attention to your 2 patients, you'll do fine. And hopefully if you can't have CNA help, you can pick pts near other students and help eachother out. We did that a lot. GOOD LUCK, you'll do great!