What Do You do During Clinicals

Nursing Students Student Assist

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When nursing students start their clinicals do you know what to do?? Do your instuctor or nurse tell you what needs to be done, or do they just tell you to go for it?? What kind of task to they have you to perform?? Are they supervised or assisted??:confused:

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

Your instructor should tell you what the expectations are and what to expect. For med passing, procedures, etc you should always be supervised. Don't worry, they know you're just a student aren't going to turn you loose too soon.

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Depending on the school, you will be doing different things.

You are normally in charge of only one patient. In most cases you will get report from the nurse, perform a physical assessment, take vitals, pass meds, and help assist with ADL's. Sometimes the opportunity presents itself to do a procedure such as taking out a foley cath or IV. Your instructors will be with you when you do any prodecure and when you pass meds. Do not worry, it is actually really fun once you get into the groove of things. Everyone in clinical knows that you are there to learn. Some great advice that my professor gave me was that clinical is a learning experience, not a testing experience! Its okay if you do not know something!

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During my clinicals I found that besides the things prescribed from the chart (like turning a pt every 2 hours or performing ROM exercises), if I just kept checking in with each pt once an hour or so, I had plenty to do just to keep them company or make them comfortable. You'll be surprised how fast the day goes once you get the hang of it. Each clinical site takes a little getting used to and you can always ask the nurse your pt is assigned to if he/she needs help with blood sugars or procedures. They usually like that. Good luck!

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Medsurg.

This was my first semester in ns and our clinical objective was to see and do as much as possible. With that in mind, we didn't have just one pt per se. If something cool or interesting needed to be done, our instructor would collect us all and one of us would do it or watch it be done. We would kinda take turns doing things amoung the 7 of us, but if no one spoke up we had the 3,2,1, mine rule. (You have 321 count and if you don't raise your hand by then I'm doing it LOL, we are all kind of aggressive LOL). When nothing particular was going on we would pass meal trays, pass meds, pass ice, change beds or follow an RN around.

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This was my first semester in ns and our clinical objective was to see and do as much as possible. With that in mind, we didn't have just one pt per se. If something cool or interesting needed to be done, our instructor would collect us all and one of us would do it or watch it be done. We would kinda take turns doing things amoung the 7 of us, but if no one spoke up we had the 3,2,1, mine rule. (You have 321 count and if you don't raise your hand by then I'm doing it LOL, we are all kind of aggressive LOL). When nothing particular was going on we would pass meal trays, pass meds, pass ice, change beds or follow an RN around.

Those are the best instructors!

We had one patient each day for the first semester, then we picked up two patients (a primary and secondary) for the following semesters. I'm in semester three now, and I hear next semester, we'll have four patients....we'll see.

In addition to everything that has been said....remember that each nursing instructor is VERY different in what they expect from paperwork, how much you're to know about meds, how they want your day to go while you're with them, etc. During our orientation clinical, just ask them all the questions you have!

My typical day now is to wait around for an hour and half to get report on my two patients--the hospital has gone to bedside reporting, so...it's not as easy to get report as it used to be. The first thing I do is get vitals, talking to the patient to assess LOC and orientation, emotional state and overall attitude (cause that will help you know how to work together during the day!) Then, it's usually time to give 0900 meds. If I have not gotten my assessments done by that time (usually, I can do them when I first go in to do vitals, sometimes not--goes back to that wait for report!), I finish those and make the patient has a plan for hygiene care, whether it's me, familiy assist or self.

Once I've been buggin them for awhile, I do my charting and make sure to check in on them at least every 30 minutes.

My biggest advice once you start passing meds....when you go into get vitals...check all IVs, PCAs and EPI caths to see what fluids you'll need to replace during your shift so that you can get them all out at once and save your sanity when machines start beeping.

Good luck! You'll learn alot!

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I'm still in my first semester of my BSN program and right now I'm in a LTC. For the first time I did meds, I was supervised because she has to watch us take them out of the pack and we had to tell our instructor why we are giving that med. My patient also happens to be on a PEG tube and is NPO d/t a coma, so I have to crush up her meds and give them via her PEG tube. she is also diabetic and recieves insulin, and she is always there to watch me draw it up and give it to her. But now I pass her other meds on my own. I'm also responsible for her AM care which is a bed bath, then I change her bed and her brief. This usually takes me awhile to do because she is heavy and I'm tiny and I need at least 3-4 people to help me roll her around, and everyone isn't always available when you need them :)

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