Nursing School Clinical Tips

Get There Early

Always get there EARLY! if you haven't already done so, you must scope the scene.

If it is your first time at a facility, you may need to learn your way around and get familiar. Take this time to figure out where to park and how to enter the facility. Many facilities have parking decks that are not attached to the hospital and that may require you to walk a distance to get there or they may even require you to take a shuttle to get there. Also, some hospitals do have parking attached to the facility, however you may have to park on a certain floor to enter. It gets tricky, that's why it is best to get there early. Also finding your unit can be difficult depending on how big your facility is. By getting there early you will be able to take the time to find the unit to ensure you are on time for clinical. (Side note; if you can visit the facility before clinical this will help you tremendously. It can help reduce any concerns or anxieties that may occur on the first day of clinical)

Volunteer

This includes volunteering to help nurses, techs, and other students. By volunteering, you're showing your classmates or the unit staff that they can count on you to help. During clinical, a lot may be happening at the same time (depending on the unit) and people are not always quick to ask for help because they are caught up in trying to finish their task at hand. If you step up and volunteer to take on certain tasks (that are within your scope), this helps to build rapport with unit staff and nurses may be more inclined to ask you to join them in other activities.

Try new things

Take advantage of this clinical experience! This is your chance to get real hands-on experience with patient care. This can be scary for some but remember it's okay to make mistakes! This is how you learn and get better. So don't be hard on yourself.

Do not take anything personally!

If your facility is not a learning facility, some nurses may not have the experience with precepting students and some may not want to precept students and this has nothing to do with you. Some nurses do not know how to balance educating a student while caring for their patients. So, do not take it personally. If you are paired with a nurse that seems if they do not want a student, let your clinical instructor know immediately. Sometimes nurses may be having a bad day or upset about their assignment, again this has nothing to do with you. This should not affect how they treat you but unfortunately, everyone doesn't know how to regulate their emotion or leave problems from home at home. Again this is not your fault. Don't let this affect or ruin your clinical experience

Utilize Clinical Reference Cards

Of course, I must include our nursing reference cards that help you tackle clinical with confidence. With our reference card bundle, you get 1 EKG reference card, 1 lab value reference card, and 1 assessment reference card. Get them today at a discounted price with the code: NSJRF

What helped you tackle clinical with confidence? Let me know below !

-Debo!