When it came time for my first clinical rotation, I remember being absolutely TERRIFIED! I was afraid of the unknown mainly. Was my instructor going to be nice? Were my patients going to like me? How many patients would I have? What the heck happens if I mess up?! And don't get me started on my fear of passing meds for the first time! The night before our first clinical day I remember being in a group text with my girls talking about how we all felt the same way, excited but scared! To say I was relieved that I was not alone in my feelings would have been an understatement.
Day one started and we all felt like we were in the way no matter where we were. When we got on the floor we tried to stay as a group, out of the way, in the nurses station, wrong! So we tried to stay out of the way in an empty part of the hall, also wrong! Eventually, our instructor nicely guided us to a separate room and handed us the charts of our patient to look through. Yup, our one single patient, that we were going to have for this experience (phew!). We were all so relieved to have an instructor that was going to guide us through our first day, learning to read charts, how to not be so awkward with asking questions, and how to not be in the way!
I remember her sitting us down at the table and handing us little pocket notebooks. She instructed us that we were going to write down our thoughts, feelings, and experiences about clinical over the next several weeks in these books. She told us that in a few years we will look back at these notebooks and chuckle about the things we were so nervous about and be amazed at how truly far we will have come. Well... she was right! I looked at my notebook recently and was laughing that at one point I was afraid to talk to someone or pass an oral medication. It was such a good reminder that we ALL start somewhere.
So in light of my reflection and realizing that someone, somewhere out there, is likely having the same freak out I did before my first day. I wanted to share some tips to help you get through clinical!
1. PACK THE NIGHT BEFORE - Get a bag together that includes all your supplies that you will need for the day. Such as your stethoscope, pen light, watch (with a second hand), a small clipboard, paper, black pens, highlighter, and your badge. If you instructor wants to bring any reference notes or you have reference notes you would like to bring pack those as well! Don't let anyone tell you that it's "not good" to come off as too much of a student. What is actually not good is not being well prepared with your supplies! You do what's best for your education future nurse!
Pro tip: Pack your lunch ahead of time and lay out your uniform so it's ready. I can't tell you the number of times I was running around in the morning looking for my stray compression sock which then caused me to not have enough time to make my lunch before I had to leave!
My favs: Steth, bag, bag insert organizer, pen light, best freakin' pens ever, folding clipboard with nursing info (labs, values, ECG, injection locations, etc)
2. EAT & HYDRATE - Even if you aren't hungry in the mornings or think you can make it until lunch break. ALWAYS try to eat something whether it's toast, banana, granola bar, or a shake. Just make sure you fill yourself up so that you have energy and can focus during the day! Hydration is important always! It is especially important when you will be spending time in the dry-aired hospital. Be sure to hydrate the night before, morning of, and all through out if you can! This will help you from being sore or fatigued.
My favs: Granola bars, shakes, vanilla peach overnight oats, PB & Banana overnight oats
3. PREP - If your instructor sends you pre-work to do or resources to review. DO THEM! I cannot stress this enough! It will help you and make your life much easier during clinical. If your instructor doesn't send you anything, prepare for what you might expect on the unit will be on. i.e. psych medications in a psych unit, cardiac medications if you are on cardiac unit or ICU, etc. I know it seems like extra work and you must be thinking "I don't have any more time!!" but believe me this step will only BENEFIT you not hurt you!
4. SHOW UP EARLY - Always anticipate that your commute will without a doubt have something go wrong when you are running late or have timed everything out perfectly to make you late. Leave early and take the extra time when you get there to head to the on site coffee shop, study, or just relax and breathe to reduce your stress.
My favs: Meditation app (iPhone or Android), Starbucks medium roast with almond milk and caramel, Caribou Northern Lite Latte
5. BE READY TO LEARN - You are a student, the whole purpose of clinical is to learn! Don't worry about what you do as a CNA or a tech for your job. Don't worry about what the staff think of you. Don't EVER think you are asking a stupid question. ASK. ASK. ASK. The more you show you ready and willing to learn the more ready and willing the nurses will teach you! Most of them actually enjoy teaching students but are unsure of where to begin if the student doesn't say what they want to know or have questions on. Just remember NO ONE is expecting you to know everything!
6. BE CONFIDENT BUT NOT ARROGANT - Confidence is VERY different than arrogance. Be confident that your instructors believe you are ready to be on the floor working with patients. Be confident that your classes have prepared for this moment and the questions you may have. Just be aware to not cross the line into arrogance where you think you know everything there is to know because your sister's, best friend's, cousin's, uncle, works on the same unit and told you how things operate. Someone could have read all of the nursing textbooks cover to cover multiple times and you know what? They don't know everything! There are nurses who have worked 20, 30, 40+ years that do not claim to know everything AND continue to learn every day!
7. PATIENT FIRST - Always consider the patient first. From the moment you walk onto the unit and into their room. Introduce yourself, your title, and what you will be doing throughout your day. The hospitals in my area were big fans of "AIDET", acknowledge [the patient], introduce [yourself with title], duration [how long task will take], explanation [of the task], and thank [the patient for their cooperation and time]. Remember treat your patients like you would like yourself or your family to be treated.
8. REFLECT - I mentioned earlier that my first instructor gave us notebooks to write our thoughts down in post clinical. Every clinical thereafter most of my instructors wanted us to take 10 minutes to reflect on our day by talking about things we did well AND things we should work on. If your clinical instructors do not do this as a group post-clinical day then take the time to reflect on your own! Pick 1-3 things that you think you did awesome on during the day and 1-3 things you think you should practice, study, and work on for the next week. Write these down and keep them somewhere, it will be good to look to back on each rotation and each year thereafter! Finally, reflect on the fact that you are one day closer to being a nurse! High five yourself for showing up and working your booty off!
You and your nursing crew will make it through! (ha... you see what I did there?) No but really... support each other, lift each other up when one of you is down, use each other as resources (you all are strong in different areas I'm sure!), and most of all take a break outside of nursing with each other! Celebrate even the smallest of victories after clinical!
We all start off feeling scared and small. But look... look at all the nurses among you that survived! You will too! You can do this! You deserve this!
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