Nursing Student Coach
Join Lauren Chapnick, RN, as she takes you through the journey of becoming a nurse! On Nursing Student Coach, Lauren, who is a new nursing professional, along with her knowledgeable guests will give you the tools to succeed in your nursing career. They will discuss ways to reduce anxiety and stress, share tips on studying and preparing for your NCLEX, and so much more - you won't be alone in this adventure! New episodes air every Thursday.
Nursing Student Coach
Mastering Your Clinical Rotations: Nurse Lauren's Top 10 Tips for Nursing Student Success
Are you ready to level up your clinical skills with Nurse Lauren's exclusive top 10 tips? I'm here to guide you through the crucial steps to ensure you shine during your rotations. First impressions last, so be the early bird in scrubs, setting a professional vibe from the get-go. But it's not just about clock-watching; it's about seizing every opportunity to network and volunteer, which can unlock invaluable hands-on experiences. Let's talk about presenting yourself with confidence and mastering your emotional well-being to handle the intense world of patient care.
Wave goodbye to phone distractions and hello to strategic study sessions using tools like Level Up RN flashcards during your downtime. In this episode, I share pearls of wisdom on professional conduct, including smart phone usage—reserve your screen time for clinical resources, not social media scrolls. I want you to say 'yes' to every procedure that comes your way, from injections to catheter insertions. Embrace the supportive learning environment and remember, perfection isn't the goal—growth is. So tune in, get inspired, and join us on a mission to put more exceptional nurses into the world with the Nursing Student Coach podcast. 🩺📚
Links:
Level up RN flashcards: https://leveluprn.com/pages/nursing-flashcards
Is the nursing student coach giving you the strategies you need the most. Hello everybody, and welcome on in. This is Nurse Lauren, and today I have a special episode for you. I promised to deliver, by the end of season two, my top 10 tips for success in clinical. So instead of dividing them up over different episodes, as I have been doing, I decided to do one episode with all 10 top clinical tips for success, because you spend about half of your time in nursing school in clinical and I've been through it and I understand that sometimes you just want clinical to end, you want to get back to studying because it doesn't feel as immediately important as your exams. I fully understand that. But let me tell you, as somebody who has crossed to the other side and is now working as a nurse, those clinical hours are so important. Any opportunity that you can take to practice your skills, to get comfortable interacting with patients is so crucial to your success. So here we go. I'm going to roll them out, my top 10 tips for success in clinical. Some of these you've heard before, but never altogether.
Speaker 1:Number one is to arrive early. I've talked about this before. You are setting the tone. This is the beginning of your professional career. You may be working in this same hospital, on the same unit, with these same people. Your clinical instructor may be your coworker or your boss in the future. They may be a gateway to your first job, or a job 10 years down the line, you have no idea. So start now with good habits, and that means arriving early. If you have to be there at seven and you're meeting your instructor at a certain spot at seven or 645, plan to be there at least 15 minutes early. And if you're there really early, great. Have your coffee, go find the cafeteria, sit and study for a little bit. You want to be there and you want to be the one that's reliable that your professor says well, we all know Jack is going to be on time, or whoever. So get into the habit now. Arrive early. Do not be the one that everybody is waiting for. It is incredibly frustrating when you're just standing around always waiting for the same person. We all have to deal with the same traffic. We all have to deal with these morning things and of course, there will be exceptions. But arrive early. Number two talk to everyone that you possibly can Introduce yourself.
Speaker 1:I think there's a problem with clinical that I hear a lot is that the nurses were just annoyed that we were there. They didn't really want to help us, they didn't really care that we were there. And, yes, there will be nurses who are annoyed by your presence, right. But I can tell you now as a nurse and we don't have students in my unit because we're in an emergency room and the students just don't really come in there for clinical but, as somebody who's been through clinical and has worked with some of those grumpy nurses, what they really want is to know that you are there to help them. So if you just say, hi, I'm Lauren, I'm here with clinical today and I just wanted to let you know I'm here if you need anything and let me tell you, they will really appreciate that. Even if it's something as small as you know getting a blanket for a patient or something like that that is an opportunity, because if they see that you're willing to help them, they're going to be more likely to call you into a room and say, hey, would you like to help me put in this Foley? Or have you ever given a heparin injection, or something like that the opportunities will open themselves if you make yourself available. But if you're sitting in the corner texting on your phone, just bored, because you don't want to be there, then you're not going to get those opportunities. So introduce yourself to everybody. Any opportunity you pass another nurse in the hallway, just say Hi, I'm Lauren, I'm here for a few hours. If you need anything, I'm a student, and that will go a long way.
Speaker 1:Number three and this kind of goes hand in hand with number two ask what you can do to help. Let's pretend for a minute you're paired with a nurse, because each clinical experience is going to be different. Sometimes you're paired with a nurse and sometimes you're only with your clinical instructor. It just it depends on your program, it depends on the unit. But let's say you're with a nurse and maybe they are not so happy that they have a student. Well, ask what you can do to help. Don't just stand there and just watch them. You're not going to get much from that. But if you say, hey, is there anything that I can do to help you? Anything I can do to help make your job easier, I'm here to help you. I don't want to be in your way. I would love to learn as much as possible. But is there anything I can do to help. That will go a long way, and with patience too. Is there anything I can get for you? And you're going to be limited. There's certain things that you can't do yet or that you don't know where things are. But figure it out. If they want a toothbrush, can't be that hard. Go into the supply room, ask to be let in. Go with your instructor, find a toothbrush. These things will give you more opportunities in the future.
Speaker 1:Number four have your emotional coping mechanisms. Let me tell you what I mean. You're going to see some difficult things. You're going to see some difficult cases. Inevitably You're going to interact with patients who remind you of certain people in your lives, maybe who have passed. It's going to hit you out of nowhere. You're going to see difficult things. That's part of this job, that's part of this career, and you cannot let it impact you to the point where you're going to break down and not be able to perform and do your job. You have to find your own ways to cope with the difficult things that you're going to see.
Speaker 1:So, whatever that means for you, if you can somehow just compartmentalize it when you're there and then maybe later when it hits you on your drive home, have your cry and write in your journal about it. Talk to somebody. If it's really difficult for you, maybe find your instructor, find a friend and just find a private place and just talk it out for a few minutes, deal with it, cope and then go back to work. You cannot bring that, I guess, emotional breakdown into the room with you. You got to just do it somewhere else, cope and find your way. Sometimes things are just too much to deal with and I have a technique, I have a hack. It's going to sound really silly, but if there was something that I just couldn't deal with, at least in that moment I pretended I was somebody else. I literally would just pretend I was in a movie and I was playing the nurse and I would go through all the actions, do all the things and I would just remove myself from it and process it later. I'm not saying push it away forever, but you have to find your ways now because those things will build up and get to you and it will impact your work at some point. So this work can be difficult and you have to find your ways to cope.
Speaker 1:Okay, number five I've said this before do not take any unnecessary absences. Your clinical is an opportunity for you to step into your future self as a nurse and see what it will be like. Do not take an unnecessary absence because you don't feel like going, because I promise you what will happen is when you need that absence, when something actually happens, when you get sick or some sort of life circumstance causes you not to be able to go. You will wish that you had gotten out of bed that day and went. And let me tell you something else when you really really don't wanna go, that's when the magic can happen. Part of this is just showing up and being there, and once you're there you'll be so glad. I remember there was one day and I've shared this story before there was one day I really just didn't feel like it. I was burned out. I just didn't feel like going to my maternity clinical, and that was the day I got to see an emergency C-section of twins and as an experience I will never forget. So go to clinical. Don't take unnecessary absences.
Speaker 1:Six this is kind of a silly one have lots of pockets. If you're shopping for scrub pants and you're in doubt, look for the most pockets you possibly can have, because you will need to put things in your pockets all day long. You're gonna need your phone in there, you're going to need pens, you're going to need tissues, snacks. Get as many pockets as you can, both in your scrub pants and your scrub top. That's an easy one.
Speaker 1:Okay, number seven medications, pharmacology. Whenever in your journey you're taking pharmacology, it is one of, if not the most important class, because it is with you all the time. You're going to see it in other classes and you're going to see it every day. As a nurse, how many medications do I give every day? So, so many. And in clinical, this is your time, this is your play time and your learning time. And when it comes to medications, you're going to see a lot of medications being given.
Speaker 1:Right down the names of all the medications that you see being administered. Right down both the brand name and the generic name, because in nursing school you're only learning the generic because that's what's on NCLEX, right. But when you're in real life and I'm sure you've seen it in clinical in practice already those two names the brand and the generic, are interchangeable. Providers and patients will tell you the brand name, probably more often than not, and if you can get just a little bit ahead now and just say, oh okay, a Torvastatin is Lipitor and just start putting that together a few at a time. You'll be that much further ahead when you are in real life. I mean you're in clinical, you're in real life. But you know what I mean when you are a licensed organ nurse. Knowing the brand and the generic, it puts you so much further ahead and you have an opportunity. Every time you're at clinical you see real life medications being given. Okay, what did that patient get? What's the brand? What's the generic? Why are you giving this medication? What's it for? Why are they taking it? Because it can have many different purposes and what are the potential side effects. Just start drilling those medications and you'll start. When you see something on an exam, you'll say, oh, I actually gave that on Tuesday. I can tell you all about it. It's your opportunity and take it.
Speaker 1:Okay, number eight your phone. We all need our phones. We all have our phones. You know, all the time During clinical, do not pull out your phone to do anything other than lookup medications or clinical related things. Now, of course, you're gonna have a text here and there Go off somewhere privately. Don't be the one. Don't be the student that's sitting on your phone scrolling through TikTok looking bored. It's not a good look and, like I said, this could be your future place of employment and, if not, all some of those nurses, some of those supervisors, your clinical instructor. They are all watching and you want to be engaged. You want to be taking this seriously because this is the beginning. This is the beginning of your professional career and if you're not taking it seriously now, what are you doing? So use that phone very, very strategically. It doesn't look good to pull it out at all, even if you're looking up meds, like I understand. Try not to Don't use it for personal reasons, unless it's super quick and you're like off in a break room or something. I know we all have things that we got to do. Don't overuse your phone. It's not a good look. You want to take this seriously.
Speaker 1:Take every opportunity that you can Number nine flashcards. Take this opportunity if there is downtime because of course, there will be downtime at clinical sometimes and what you can do instead of scrolling through TikTok on your phone is keep flashcards in your pocket. I would always bring like a short stack of flashcards and if there was time in between, especially like if you take a break. Sometimes you get really long breaks at clinical and instead of, you know, talking to your friends and that's important too you got to. You know, have your nursing school friends, but take this opportunity to study, and having flashcards in your pocket makes it so easy. Like, let's say, you have a med surge exam coming up and it's on GI. Get some flashcards. Either make them that's the cheapest way to do it. Make some flashcards. Or there's a great set of flashcards from Level Up RN that I highly recommend. I'll put the link in the description of the show. Put some of those in your pocket.
Speaker 1:I can't tell you how much further ahead you will be if you take that opportunity to study and study flashcards that can fit into your pocket. Okay, number 10, and I'd probably say this is the most important one Number 10 is to volunteer for everything. Put your hand up. If a nurse, if your instructor, says would anybody like to blah, blah, blah? You put your hand up. You do it.
Speaker 1:I don't care how scared you are, I don't care how nervous you are. I don't care if you've never done it. I don't care if you are afraid you're going to look silly, do it. The more hands-on skills that you can practice now, even if you forget all of the steps later. Like, let's say, you're going to put in a fully catheter, your instructor is going to be there walking you through it and to do it once, twice, three times at clinical. When you go to do it again when you're working, you're going to be that much further ahead because it's in your muscle memory.
Speaker 1:Do the things that scare you. Give that insulin, give that lovin ox shot, start that IV. Whatever opportunities are presented to you, you be the first one there to say, yes, I want to do it. And you will be so glad that you did. You'll be so proud that you said, screw this, I'm gonna put my hand up and I'm going to do this.
Speaker 1:You're a nurse. You have to learn how to do all these things and this is the best time to practice, because you're a student and you're under your instructor's license. Nobody's gonna let you fail and you're not gonna look silly and everybody feels the same way as you do. Everybody feels nervous to do it. So just do it and I promise you, even if you're shaking and you're scared, you're gonna do it and the next time you're gonna be even more confident and it's going to go even better. So, guys, that wraps it up. These are my top 10 tips for success in clinical, and I hope that it helps you. I hope that some of these resonated with you. It is my personal mission to help put more great nurses into the world. Next week we'll get back to exam strategies. I just wanted to finish up that list that I had promised to deliver of my top 10 and, until next time, have an amazing day. Bye, bye. Thanks for tuning in to the nursing student coach podcast.
