First Semester Clinicals

This semester we are permitted to 'practice' nursing eight days in the hospital. I am assigned to St. Mary's Hospital. Instead of the usual assignment for nurses of 5-6 patients in a 12 hour shift, we as students are given only one patient for eight hours. When not in our patient's room, we answer call lights for the other patients on the wing. This is very interesting and slightly frightening as we never know what the situation will entail when we enter the rooms.

I have found most of the patients amiable, but occasionally find them agitated with pain or frustration. It makes me sad when I cannot meet the need or help to calm, ease their discomfort or reassure them adequately. As students, we are very limited in the number and type of interventions that we can perform. We do find that lending an ear goes a long way toward providing comfort of a patient. It is wonderful to have time to do that as students. We are told that when fully trained, our time, by necessity, will be very limited with each patient due to the number of tasks that must be accomplished in a 12 hour shift.

My instructor for clinicals this semester is April Elsea. It is wonderful to learn from her and watch her with the patients. She is efficient but patient; compassionate and confident. I am grateful for her leadership.

This badge opens the way into the hospital each day. The combination of it and our scrub uniform apparently tell the public I know what I am doing. : ) Hopefully soon I'll be able to answer their questions correctly. With my poor sense of direction, I pretty much wander around trying to follow the arrowed signs until I find a classmate or patient staff person who point me in the correct direction.