You learn by experience

[darren_callcareer18]

Hello fellow nurses! There is a saying that we gets better and learn new things by experience (wether mistakes were committed by yourself or your fellow nurse). So my question is can you share us your experience that helped you to be a better nurse? Specially in the clinical. Thank you! muah!

[Crush]

I think if one is needing help with anything specific then not hesitating to ask questions of your instructor would certainly help. I think in nursing school one of the most underutilized resources is the clinical instructor. Was there something specific you are not getting in your clinicals?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

It's not only mistakes that make you learn but triumphs and every day run of the mill experience. I always tell the parents of my patients when I am teaching them to administer tube feedings or IV antibiotics "the more you do it, the easier it will be."

Sometimes you don't know how much you are learning until it hits the fan and you really have to put all your knowledge and skills to the test. For me, it was a night 18 months into my career when my infant patient had an acute hydrocephalus emergency and clearly needed immediate surgical intervention but the on-call Attending didn't want to come in and felt that it could wait until the morning because the baby had an open fontanelle.