What is a typical clinical day?

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Just wondering if some of you who are in clinicals can describe what an average day was like. I know that it varies depending on the preceptor, facility, etc but just curious what you may be expected to do. Are you are supervised all the time or if you have time you are expected to utilize in ways that you think may expand in areas you know you need more info. on, are you in a group of students or assigned to 1:1 (nurse/student)? Are you expected to work on any assignments (care plans etc) or research during a clinical or is that strictly homework? What supplies do you provide and what does the hospital provide? I am not in nursing school yet, just doing prereqs but I know the schools I am applying to have clinicals from 6 to 3:30. Is that typical for most schools? Do you get a lunch hour, 30 mins, is it scheduled? How long do you usually stay on a particular floor? Basically just any info. you can provide I am interested in. Just trying to get a feel for it.

Also, this really doesn't relate to clinicals entirely but how many sets of scrubs do you normally get in n/s? Are expected to wear them on lecture/lab days also?

Thanks!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
Just wondering if some of you who are in clinicals can describe what an average day was like. I know that it varies depending on the preceptor, facility, etc but just curious what you may be expected to do. Are you are supervised all the time or if you have time you are expected to utilize in ways that you think may expand in areas you know you need more info. on, are you in a group of students or assigned to 1:1 (nurse/student)? Are you expected to work on any assignments (care plans etc) or research during a clinical or is that strictly homework? What supplies do you provide and what does the hospital provide? I am not in nursing school yet, just doing prereqs but I know the schools I am applying to have clinicals from 6 to 3:30. Is that typical for most schools? Do you get a lunch hour, 30 mins, is it scheduled? How long do you usually stay on a particular floor? Basically just any info. you can provide I am interested in. Just trying to get a feel for it.

Also, this really doesn't relate to clinicals entirely but how many sets of scrubs do you normally get in n/s? Are expected to wear them on lecture/lab days also?

Thanks!

Depends on which clinical it is. My psych rotation was 8-4, and we weren't allowed to wear scrubs. It was an outpatient facility and we were paired with a nurse.

For most of the other hospital-based clinicals (Peds, Maternity, Med/Surg) we started at 6:30 and left between 3 and 3:30.

We get a patient the night before (not in Maternity or Psych, though) and do a full work up - care plans, labs, etc.

Pre-conference happens around 6:15 as a quick discussion of everyone's patients, and your plan for the day.

When you get on the floor in the morning, you look to see who your nurse and CNA is so that you can get a report. Then, AM care begine (vital signs, bed bath/shower, changing linens, etc.). If the patient has a procedure scheduled (xray, MRI, echo) we were allowed to follow them to those things. We also give meds (IV push, injection, oral), enemas if necessary (though I've only done this once, as it's usually a last resort), change IV bags, take out IV's, and do lots of charting and pt teaching.

My clinical instructors don't usually supervise us 1:1 unless we are giving meds or have a specific question/need help.

Some nurses are very interested in teaching; last semester I was able to draw blood off of a PICC line and some other cool stuff. :nurse:

We can work on care plans, etc., toward the end of the day when afternoon vitals are finished, and things have slowed down.

We usually got a 10 minute break in the morning, and somewhere around 30 mins for lunch.

Post conference is held toward the end of the day to discuss patients, get back assignments, etc.

Students do not wear scrubs on lecture days. Most of us have 2 sets of scrubs and that has worked out well. On days that we have simulations (maybe 1 or 2 of these per semester), we are expected to wear scrubs to school. Simulation days are in place of a clinical day, and provide a specific learning experience on a SIM man (basically a computerized patient) along with some lectures, etc. For example, we had a sim day for cardiac, orthopedic, respiratory, and others. It's a way to sharpen your skills and learn hands on to help you in the hospital setting.

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For us, clinicals started the evening prior to the actual clinical day. We would be given our assignment, then we would need to go to the facility where we would look up all their information (why they were there, current treatments, meds, psych history, spiritual history, family history, etc). Then I would come home and write up all of the drugs my patients were on - to include: times given, trade/generic name, action, dose, interactions, side effects, pt. notes and labs we would need to watch for. We also had to complete a three page paper for the pathophysiology of the main disease they had as well as five goals that we needed to accomplish the day we were working with them.

On the morning of clinical - we needed to be at the facility and ready to work at 10 minutes to 6 in the morning. This is when we had pre-conference which is where the instructor would go over who was giving what meds that day, who was going to a different floor to observe, etc. When we were dismissed, the first thing that I would do was listen to the out-going nurse's report about that patient, such as, are they complaining of pain, did they sleep through the night, etc. Once my patient was ready to wake up (we were there really early), I would go and introduce myself and let my patient know that I would be completing a head-to-toe assessment of them, be ready to help them with anything they needed, etc. I would let the CNA know that I would be helping with my patients that day, which meant getting them OOB, ADLs completed, vitals, etc. Then I would try to accomplish the five goals that I set for my client. When we had a lag in our day, such as when our client was resting/napping, I would help the CNA on our floor, try and shadow a nurse giving meds, etc. Sometimes, the nurses would pull all the students into a room to watch something cool. I also had a nurse let me do a really cool procedure on one of her patients (while my instructor was there of course). All in all, it really is quite the learning experience!!!

Let's see. To answer some of your other questions...we are not supervised all day in a 1:1. Our instructor had 7 students to our group and, unless we were doing something big, like suctioning an NG tube, we were pretty much left alone. I will say that the instructor would sometimes pop their head into my patient's room or come and find me to watch something, so they are around, but we are expected to do what we need to get done, during the day.

The paperwork that we had during the day included our full head-to-toe assessment sheet, we had a place on our care plan to write in if we accomplished our goals, we had the opportunity to write new goals, to write new nursing diagnosis, etc. but we had to make sure that we had the majority of our work done the evening before.

Your school will let you know what you need to bring with you. We needed to bring, our steth, gait belt, name tags, flashlight, pen, paper, paperwork, etc. Nothing was really provided although we did get to use the facility's BP cuff. And I would bring a pair of small scissors with you, even if it's not required!

The hours for clinical are typical. They want to make sure you are there for the report from the out-going shift. The lunches were not scheduled but you will figure out when you will need to go when you are in the program.

We stayed on our floor all semester with a couple of floats (going to another floor to observe) scattered throughout. But we pretty much stayed together as a group, although I was so busy with my patients, I barely talked to the other students. We also ended each day with a post-conference where we would go over questions regarding paperwork, questions in regards to what we observed each day with patients, etc.

We were expected to wear our scrubs (white!) on clinical days but we wore our regular clothes to class. We did wear our scrubs to school when we would have our major check-offs though.

OBPlease - I hope this answered your questions! I, too, was really excited to find out about clinicals before I started the program and they are what you make of them. If I can give you the best advice of all about clinicals, jump in to every procedure you can get your hands on. Volunteer as much as possible. No one expects you to do perfectly, but the more you practice, the better you will get!!! In fact, during my first big procedure in front of the instructor (who was MEAN), I broke my gloves and had to leave the room to get another pair!!! Although, I did tell her I should've brought in another pair to begin with!!! Anyway, good luck with finishing your pre-reqs and in your nursing program!

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Specializes in Telemetry.

I'm starting NS in September so I have nothing helpful to add... but I like this post!

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Why do students have to wear scrubs in school when they are working on manequins? I recently visited a NS and saw lots of students walking around in scrubs and was wondering what the purpose of wearing them is if they are in school and not a hospital.

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1st semester...7am we started. Went into our pts. room to introduce ourselves. Within an hour, I was giving her meds, hanging her bag of antibiotics....don't remember if I gave an injection the 1st day, probably. Within a few weeks, my instructor trusted me enough to give meds and injection by myself.

2nd semester...did the afternoon clinical starting at 3pm. Hated maternity, won't get into that. Psych, same time....was interesting but not very medical so it was boring for me. As far as uniforms go....we had to buy ours, I bought one set, don't feel the need to buy more. We only wear them for clinical, regular clothes for lecture. Good luck!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
Why do students have to wear scrubs in school when they are working on manequins? I recently visited a NS and saw lots of students walking around in scrubs and was wondering what the purpose of wearing them is if they are in school and not a hospital.

To get yourself into the "role" of a nurse and promote a professional image. Professors set up scenarios for us and we are expected to react and think "like a nurse." I guess they think wearing our uniforms will help us to feel like it's the real thing.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
Why do students have to wear scrubs in school when they are working on manequins? I recently visited a NS and saw lots of students walking around in scrubs and was wondering what the purpose of wearing them is if they are in school and not a hospital.

Our skills lab is set up like a hospital wing. We've got a bunch of "wards", a lab, and pharmacy. They want us dressed for lab days as if we were in the hospital. Indoor voices, no eating/drinking in the rooms, etc.

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Why do students have to wear scrubs in school when they are working on manequins?

For the same reason business students dress up to give presentations/practice interviews...

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I got two pairs of scrubs because we had clinicals back-to-back and it was easier, instead of doing the wash, when I had so much to prepare. Plus, I had a back-up in case my one pair got ruined. I would always suggest to have two pairs of scrubs!

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

Typical clinical days depend on what type of clinical you're in as well as you're instructor.

Foundations 1: this was our first basic nursing class. We were in an assisted living facility for 3 weeks then we transitioned to a LTC for the rest of the semester. For assisted living, we just worked on our therapeutic communication skills and patient companionship. At the LTC, we were expected to pass meds and do basic patient care. There wasn't a whole lot of emphasis on assessment at this point because only some of our entire class were taking our Health Assessment class and everyone else was taking it the second semester.

Foundations 2: I was on a basic med-surg floor. Again, we passed meds - PO/IM/SQ but none IV - and did basic patient care. We did I/O's. We actually spent some of our day looking up medications and doing our care plans.

OB/L&D: For this clinical we were on postpartum for a few weeks and then L&D for the remainder for the rotation. On postpartum, we started off getting vital signs on both mom & baby (just HR & RR) and did assessments on both mom & baby. We were there from 7:30-5ish so we did 0800, 1200 and 1600 assessments. Medications were mostly on a PRN basis. There were times where we gave hepatitis B shots to the babies. Postpartum is a lot of teaching for new moms - you need to teach them how to care for the baby, etc etc etc but some days I had moms who already have children so teaching isn't really necessary. On days like those I would hang out in the nursery :) For L&D, a lot of it was observation, such as looking at the fetal monitors. We also made sure mom was comfortable. For lady partsl births we pretty much just observed and once the baby was out we would get APGARs and administer the erythromycin ophthalmic ointment and vitamin K injection. We also got to see C-sections in this rotation.

Psych: this was all about therapeutic communication - no assessments, no vital signs, no "technical skills." We were there from 8-3ish, some days we got out even earlier.

Gero: Assessments/vital signs, meds (PO/IM/SQ/IV stuff)...we were finally allowed to start IV's and do blood draws for this rotation. We did basic patient care. The floor I was on was pretty big and once all of my patient's needs were met, I would go around and help the staff answer call lights. I actually really enjoyed this rotation.

Adult med-surg: For this rotation I was on a women's health floor. Basically the same as my gero rotation. We also got to do stuff with PICCs/central lines and pretty much anything you can think of. This rotation also gave us an OR day where we saw a procedure of our choice for the whole day. I got to see a redo left femoral-popliteal bypass. It was pretty cool :) This was my second favorite rotation.

Critical care: After getting report, we had to print of a telemetry strip and mount it in the chart. We then started off with morning assessments and I/O's. We also checked all of our monitor alarms and made sure they were on. Afterwards, we had to chart I/O's and "mini assessments" every two hours and chart vital signs every hour. Medications were usually due every two hours (0800, 1000, 1200...etc). Critical care was a lotttt of patient monitoring, but it was by far my favorite rotation!!

Public health: This was the rotation I just completed (about a week ago). It was by far my least favorite lol. The actual class was a joke and clinical is pretty pointless depending on who and where you are. Some students did a lotttt of teaching because they were placed in a school environment. I was with a hospice nurse twice/week and an IV infusion home health nurse once/week. For hospice, we just went around to patients' homes and I did vital signs (you will get a lot of practice doing manual BP's in this rotation!) and I assessed heart/lung/bowel sounds. If the patient was death-imminent, you would stay with them as well as care for the family. Visits could range from 20 minutes to an hour or more depending if a death has occurred. Teaching includes signs of impending death as well as medication teaching. On my home health days, I lucked out because I got to do a lot of technical stuff - start IV therapy, do dressing changes, draw labs off PICC lines and do PICC line dressing changes. Teaching generally occurs with a new admit who is learning how to set up IV therapy.

I think one of the things I didn't like about public health was 1) for the most part it was very boring to me - don't get me wrong, hospice and home health are WONDERFUL things but not something that an almost new grad wants to go into and 2) you are entering people's homes and you don't know what to expect. People have animals, people smoke, people live in dingy, dirty places...yet you have to respect that. They enter your world in the hospital where everything is structured but in public health, you enter theirs.

I only have two rotations left - Peds & my preceptorship :yeah:

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Specializes in PICU/Pedi.
Just wondering if some of you who are in clinicals can describe what an average day was like. I know that it varies depending on the preceptor, facility, etc but just curious what you may be expected to do. Are you are supervised all the time or if you have time you are expected to utilize in ways that you think may expand in areas you know you need more info. on, are you in a group of students or assigned to 1:1 (nurse/student)? Are you expected to work on any assignments (care plans etc) or research during a clinical or is that strictly homework? What supplies do you provide and what does the hospital provide? I am not in nursing school yet, just doing prereqs but I know the schools I am applying to have clinicals from 6 to 3:30. Is that typical for most schools? Do you get a lunch hour, 30 mins, is it scheduled? How long do you usually stay on a particular floor? Basically just any info. you can provide I am interested in. Just trying to get a feel for it.

Also, this really doesn't relate to clinicals entirely but how many sets of scrubs do you normally get in n/s? Are expected to wear them on lecture/lab days also?

Thanks!

My clinical days start at 6:15 or 6:30, depending on the instructor. We meet in pre-conference for about 30 minutes and tell about our patients, and go over any other stuff that needs to be addressed. We always start patient care by taking vitals and then doing a full physical assessment. Just making sure the bed is in low position, I.V.s and insertion sites looking good, room is clean, etc. We help out with breakfast if necessary. We spend the rest of the day just helping out the patient, helping them shower or giving a bath, help with ambulating, get weights, give meds, do any other skills that we are allowed.

In our clinicals, the assignment is 1:1, so it can get boring. I always see if my friends or anyone else in my group needs help, and after that, I will ask my nurse and even the other nurses if they need help with anything. The nurses have been good about letting us know if they have a skill that needs to be performed so that we get a chance to do it. When we first perform a skill, we have to have the instructor present to watch and help out if needed. After the first time we don't usually need the instructor there, but I may ask her anyway just to make sure. Every semester there is some sort of skill that we have to perform and be checked off on with our instructor, like giving meds or performing a physical assessment.

We get a break for breakfast early in the morning, and we get a lunch break, and I think a small break in the afternoon. We go to postconference at the end of the day, which was at 12:00 in our first semester, and was at 2:00 in our second semester. That usually lasts an hour or two. We talk about the stuff we did or saw. Sometimes we have a guest speaker or we have an article presentation to give. Sometimes the instructor just teaches us something new. Oh, and at my school, part of clinicals includes two clinical simulations for each rotation, where we practice scenarios with dummies. They feel it is a way for us to experience things that we may not see during clinicals and gives us a chance to act on it without worrying about hurting someone.

As for your more specific questions, the breaks are not scheduled, we just take them when we get time, and try to see if others from our group want to join us. The only supplies I have ever had to provide are my pens and markers, bandage scissors, a pen light, and stethoscope (unless working in newborn nursery or NICU). I sometimes carry alcohol wipes with me just because you never know when you might need them, and then you don't have to stop what you're doing and go find them. I have heard of people working on care plans during clinical time, but you don't always have time for that, so don't plan on it. Some instructors take them in the morning and give them back in the afternoon for you to work on. Sometimes you have time to do stuff like study or work on an article presentation, and sometimes you're busy all day. You will probably also spend a lot of time just working on your charting, especially if you are just getting used to it.

Most rotations at my school are four weeks long, except mental health and I think community, which are two weeks each. But during those four weeks, you may go different places. In med Surg II, we spent a day in the OR. In OB, you spend two days each in L&D, newborn nursery, and postpartum.

On uniforms, I don't know how it is everywhere, but we buy as many uniforms as we want. I have three pairs of pants and two shirts because I don't want to go home and do laundry on clinical nights. I try to keep an extra pair of the pants in my car just in case I'm involved with a "code brown" or something horrible like that! On the days we pick up our patient assignment, which is usally a class day also, we can wear the uniform if we want, but most of us choose to wear nice business casual-type clothing instead. Either one works at my school, but we still have to wear our scrub jackets and ID badge if we do dress up. We also wear our uniforms to our clinical simulations, but we will not be wearing them in psych clinicals (dress clothes).

I hope that answered everything.

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