16 months

Clinicals… many love them, some hate them. They are the right of passage we all must go through as student nurses. Here is what I have learned, as a nursing student, in a world that can be both intimidating and exhilarating all at once….

1. Volunteer to do everything! 

(with your nurse supervision of course) the more hands on experience you get the more confidence you acquire. Taking the initiative will also expose you to potential experiences you might not have had otherwise. If your nurse feels like you are helping them, then they might help you get to do some really cool things like get into a surgical procedures. 

2. Ask questions: 

especially if you don’t know what a drug, procedure, etc. is. It shows that you are interested in learning. 

3. Talk with your patients as much as possible. 

They are the ones that have the disease process and are good resources especially if it is a chronic illness. They will know how certain drugs are affecting them, any procedures, symptoms they experience, etc. It also helps build good patient/nurse rapport.

4. Right off the bat… ask your patients, “What are your goals for today/ your total stay?” and “What do you expect from your care?” 

these kinds of questions will help you with care planning and making your “nursing diagnoses and patient outcomes” patient centered. It will also give you a direction to begin your care. 

5. Not everyone you work with is pleasant and that is ok. 

Many times nurses, doctors, surgeons, etc might be having a bad day (remember they work long hours, day in and day out) and don’t realize how it might affect a “baby/ student nurse” or it is just they way they are. Don’t get me wrong, by any means this does not excuse any mistreatment. The best thing you can do is brush off any comments and thank them for the opportunity to work with them regardless of your experience. One day you may work with them again. 

6. Always say goodbye and thank your nurse and patients for the day when you leave. 

For your patients, It is the final step in the nurse/ patient relationship and shows that you really care and appreciate working with them. For your nurse, it shows the same (and remember that you may end up working with them later in life, make as many good and strong connections as you can now). 

7. Finally, any experience whether “good or bad” is a learning experience. 

“America is great because we have this fantastic system set up in order to deal with emergencies. We tell people to call if they have an emergency, and they do. The problem is, we never explained what a true emergency is.”

And you’re like:

I’m actually amazed that in the US it seems to be a decision placed on the family alone, not on the clinicians, given that it’s a truly difficult situation to be put in when your relative is very very sick. I think most people would find it morally hard not to say ‘do everything’ especially given how inaccurately CPR comes across in the media.

In the UK, it is technically up to the clinicians to decide the ceiling of care, as long as it’s discussed with the family. In practice, people usually go along with what the family want, because clinicians don’t go into medicine to make the relatives of frail payoents sad, but it does open up discussions about people who really shouldn’t go through CPR and does mean that some unnecccessary codes aren’t called.