What are clinicals all about????

Nursing Students General Students

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What do you do during your clinicals? and do you start clinicals in your first year of nursing school? :confused:

Specializes in ER, Pediatric Transplant, PICU.

Mostly, I find that as a student, you can play the "i dont know, I'm just a nursing student" card, but when you have your own patients, you are responsible for knowing about them and problem solving if anything comes up.

Also, in nursing school, you have like, 2 patients. As a nurse, you have a lot more, usually, depending on the unit. And you have to know meds, dx, treatments for the day, what to look for... just way more responsibility.

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Specializes in Critical Care. CVICU. Adult and Peds PACU..

I have been a nurse for 6 months and absolutely love bedside nursing. However, one thing I've noticed is that you don't have as much time with the patient. With all the meds you have to pass, the admissions, the discharges, your quality time with them is limited. With that being said, you have to really make the most of your time when you are with them.

Also, like A&O said, you are ultimately responsible for the patient, and you do have to know dx, meds, etc, on ALL of your patients and not just the one you were assigned (and looked up all their info the day before)

Good luck to you in your new career. You will love it.

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Im only a student too and like you I really enjoyed clinicals however we don't have nearly as much responsibility as a nurse and with that comes stress , worry , anxiety and frustration at times I'm sure. We can go to our lecturers, clinical instructors and even the RNs for support and we are generally given great support however being an actual nurse... Im sure there isn't the same type of support. We as students are supposed to ask loads of questions and everyone is usually understanding that we don't know everything however I'd say there isn't as much understanding for a qualified nurse.

Though theres other upsides to being a qualified nurse......you get a wage :) you feel like you are really making a difference, you have the chance to travel if you want and you have no more exams or essays!! lol

Of course Im only a student too just trying to put myself in the nurses shoes. Everything I said could be wrong but just my 2 cents worth :) good luck with ur new job :)

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Specializes in LTC.

In nursing school we have less patients and more time to spend with them, in real life nursing this is not true. We have more patients and less time with our patients.The responsibility is way greater and like someone else said we can't play the " I don't know card"

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I keep hearing from experienced nurses that when you actually get out on the floor to work, nursing is nothing like clinicals/nursing school. What do they mean?

I enjoyed my clinical experiences but I am just wondering...If you agree that your nursing school experience was very different from real life nursing, can you enlighten me?

In what way is it different? Do you enjoy it more...or less? I would just love to hear what some nurses with a little (or a lot!) of experience have to say...

I should add that I am starting my first job in 4 weeks, super excited but unsure of what to expect.

I've been an RN for 26 years- worked 19 years as an RN (1 1/2 as a CNA prior to graduating) and have had 7 years of being a frequent patient, that has taught me more about living with chronic illnesses than school or employment ever could... school is a lot different than working as a nurse. :)

First- there's no instructor or other nurse hanging over you (after orientation).:D

I liked it a LOT more- it took time to feel like I was settled in ( a couple of years to feel I was really putting things together- but I started in neuro-- highly recommend the standard 1-2 years in med-surg- you will always need those skills, no matter where you end up :) ):twocents:

Nobody asks you to drag in care plans for your patients- but you do have to update them via computer regularly/prn.:yeah:

You get to develop your own way of doing things within the policies and practices.:up:

No tests :D (except for CEUs, and if you do mail order, it's open book- which is more like real life, since reference books are available at work).

There are other things that are hard to describe.

Best of luck w/the new job :)

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Im only a student too and like you I really enjoyed clinicals however we don't have nearly as much responsibility as a nurse and with that comes stress , worry , anxiety and frustration at times I'm sure. We can go to our lecturers, clinical instructors and even the RNs for support and we are generally given great support however being an actual nurse... Im sure there isn't the same type of support. We as students are supposed to ask loads of questions and everyone is usually understanding that we don't know everything however I'd say there isn't as much understanding for a qualified nurse.

Though theres other upsides to being a qualified nurse......you get a wage :) you feel like you are really making a difference, you have the chance to travel if you want and you have no more exams or essays!! lol

Of course Im only a student too just trying to put myself in the nurses shoes. Everything I said could be wrong but just my 2 cents worth :) good luck with ur new job :)

A lot of places do have good support among co-workers (some don't but you can find something else). And, as new grads, if you DON"T as questions, the 'older' nurses will think you're not bright enough to know you don't know something :D.... ASK QUESTIONS, even if you're 89 years old :D Nurses always have questions about things- and you never know what combination of diseases a patient is going to show up with- it's seldom 'simple' :D

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Specializes in MS, ED.

First thing: congratulations on the new job! :yeah::D

I'm also a newer grad; I have a little over a year on a (crazy) surgical floor. I think most of us can agree that transition to 'working nurse' from 'student nurse' is overwhelming and yes, that clinical did not adequately represent the demands on your time, pressure and work overload of a typically busy floor. Learning skills, coordinating care, grasping the responsibility you now possess, delegating and (trying to) work as a team while fitting into a new environment only make things harder. It's a steep learning curve to tack down in just a few months.

The biggest things for me: I, like many others, had a somewhat shoddy orientation. My preceptor was constantly pulled to do other things (even off the floor!) I was left alone to make decisions while, say, OR holding is on the phone awaiting an answer whether pt can come down without repeat EKG or a doc is trying to clarify orders and is asking input about pt's condition. I was promised additional training in things like wound care and order entry that I never received, (manager actually said "we already pay enough to train you. No additional time, sorry.") I found myself thrown into things with little help and before I knew it, I had a full patient load (6+) and was going off orientation. There were days I was in way over my head while others charted at the station and watched me drown, despite me asking for help. That's hard to take; these are your coworkers and you want to think that you all can/will help each other. Not always. People can bark in your face, insult you, ignore you and even set you up to fail, all while the well-being of your patients hangs in the balance. Poor environments are out there, and worse, they're common.

In clinical, if you had multiple things going on, your teacher was aware and the patient still always had their RN to fall back on to make sure care was done. As the RN yourself, if you don't do it, it will not get done. You have a full team of patients, all relying on you at the same time, with no one to step in when things become overwhelming. There aren't acceptable excuses to miss something - everything needs to be handled or it needs to be escalated to the charge or house sup to step in, (who may or may not help, depending.)

Lastly - I don't want to make this too involved - is that you're expected to *know*, as the RN. As the student, it's okay to not know and try to find out. You aren't making decisions for the patient, after all, and don't hold the ultimate responsibility. As the RN, you will be expected to know, even if you've never heard of that surgery, given that drug or hung that tubing before. The patient needs to be able to look to you for support and knowledgeable care; that's an awesome responsibility, there. Scary, sometimes. Patients won't always be understanding and the happiness of our 'customers' will unfortunately impact the status of your job on a regular basis. Our patient's comments are posted publicly and we are also put on a 'wall of shame' for complaints for all employees to see. :rolleyes:

The workload, the environment, your coworkers. Lots. JME of course.

amarilla

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Students = Fewer patients, More patience.

Real Life = More patients, Less patience? :D

Seriously though, I disagree about not being able to say, "I don't know" as a "real" nurse. As long as you follow up with "but I will find out", I don't see why you can't admit you don't know everything. After all, you're not a doctor are you? ;)

In nursing school we have less patients and more time to spend with them, in real life nursing this is not true. We have more patients and less time with our patients.The responsibility is way greater and like someone else said we can't play the " I don't know card"
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Yeah- always better to say you'll find out that tell someone you know something you really don't... patients don't expect you to know everything :D You're human... nursing doesn't change that:)

As a frequent patient, I have a LOT more respect for a nurse who can tell me they don't know something, but do what he/she can to find out- and if they can't find out, I ask someone else on a different shift, and don't think the first one is a 'bad' nurse :)

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In my nursing programme, we had to be able to manage a full patient load on our final placements. So we pretty much hit the floor running.

The biggest learning curve was new procedures and treatments. A lot of my first years were spent learning what the procedures were. Change units and it can begin all over again.

I've admitted I don't know to a patient BUT alway followed with "but I'm going to go find out!". That settles most people.

But yup, you really don't get to spend time getting to know your patient.

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Specializes in hospice, HH, LTC, ER,OR.

Yes it was for me. During my clinical's all my patients were great, vitals and all. my first job in real life. Noone was helpful and they knew i was a new nurse. They all laughed said oh you should have learned this already. I found out the hard way the statement of nurses eat their young. Anywhoo, I am still learning and I always have reference materials in my nurse bag at work. And I read up when I am not working :). GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!

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Yes it was for me. During my clinical's all my patients were great, vitals and all. my first job in real life. Noone was helpful and they knew i was a new nurse. They all laughed said oh you should have learned this already. I found out the hard way the statement of nurses eat their young. Anywhoo, I am still learning and I always have reference materials in my nurse bag at work. And I read up when I am not working :). GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!

I'm so sorry- to you and the others who had lousy first time co-workers as nurses. :( You deserved better...

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