Nursing Clinicals

Return to: College Tips--Becoming a Nurse

The clinical component of nursing school is one of its distinguishing characteristics. Previously, you have done home work, attended class and taken exams. Unless you have been in a medical training program before it is unlikely you have had any clinical experience. Your clinical experience will vary greatly depending on your instructor and facility. Clinicals are not hard, it is basically on-the- job training with extra paperwork. But, be warned, making a mistake or not following instructions is the quickest way to get kicked out of nursing school.

One student at clincals was allowed to pass oral medication but was not allowed by his clinical instructor to hang IV meds. The Patient Nurse (a hospital employee) told him he could hang the normal saline and she would supervise and instruct the student. The student told his fellow classmates and his instructor about hanging the bag. He was kicked out of clinicals and had to repeat the entire semester.

The clinical instructor may seem unnecessarily paranoid or picky, but try and look at it from their perspective. The instructor knows you can kill people as a nurse, and that the students are her responsibility. How you act, dress, and practice, reflects on the instructor.

Nursing School Clincals

• Come prepared - drug book, care plan, stethoscope and black pen
• Be on time
• Follow dress code EXACTLY from head to toe
• Read up on expected skills
• Have a friend you can count on

• Trust people - verify EVERYTHING from meds to what you are allowed to do.
• Go beyond your scope of practice or limits the instructor has set. It does not matter if you have been an LPN for 15 years and have been passing meds during that time. If the instructor says you can not give meds without her supervision then do not do it!
• Look unprofessional

Nursing Care Plans

Part of the clinical experience is care plans.
Care plans well, <insert explicative> and will cause you much pain and misery. If you are not familiar with care plans, they are formal documents that outline the nursing diagnosis. They also list what interventions you will implement for thoughts and diagnoses. In nursing school you will also need scientific rationales for the interventions with documented sources.

What your clinical instructors require for their care plans will vary wildly. You may have an instructor that wants to make sure you know what you are going to do that day. Other instructors will want you to verbally explain each drug the patients are on. Then they will grade for spelling, grammar and style, as well as wanting a page or two on the the patient's diagnoses. Some instructors use care plans as a tool and others use them as a weapon.

Time is a big issue for care plans, you will go to the hospital one day and pick your patient. Then you will assess and gather data. The next morning at clinicals the care plan will be due. This leads many student nurses to exhaustion as they stay up all night working on the care plan before showing up for clinicals. No one ever said nursing school is fun or easy.

Care Plan Tips

• Own several care plan books - find one with a CD
• Have set time limits for each part of the care plan.
• Keep things in perspective, care plans in school are a rite of passage
• Remember a passing grade is good enough-- it is better to get a “C” on a care plan that to make a med error because of exhaustion
• Keep all your care plans and medication write-ups on your computer for future reference. You will see the same problems over and over again

Nursing Clipboards

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