Poor nursing students. On top of everything they’re trying to cram through their heads for class, they also have to go to clinicals… where they’re expected to learn everything and hurt no one.
Table of Contents
1. What time is it?
Seriously, it can be HARD finding hospitals that are willing to let nursing schools bring their students in to do clinicals. On top of that, day shift can’t have a ton of nursing students from different schools, so the solution is to have clinicals at very weird hours.
When I was a nursing student, I literally had to do clinicals from 3am-3pm. And the hospital was an hour away. So sometimes, nursing students have to wake up very very early to get where they need to be.
2. Where am I going?
Speaking of getting where you need to be, hospitals are completely foreign to new nursing students. So sometimes they don’t really know where they’re going and the only information they’ve been given is the name of the hospital and the generic meeting location for the class.
3. Are my scrubs ironed?
On top of having to get up early, and getting up early enough to find where you’re supposed to be, nursing students also have to make sure they’re scrubs are ironed crisp and clean. They have to look like the epitome of a nurse.
4. How many books am I supposed to carry?
Nursing students are supposed to be prepared for whatever their clinical day may bring, but remember – these aren’t actually nurses and the hospital, and every patient/diagnosis inside, is still very foreign to them. To be prepared, they will download a ton of apps and buy any book that claims to give them an upper hand.
5. But I had to read 186 pages before I got here…
Clinicals are typically 12 hour days or longer, and even though they are expected to go to every clinical (and show up dressed to impress, and on time), their classroom assignments are still waiting for them. Monday they may be given an assignment to read 186 pages before Wednesday’s class, but no one takes into account that Tuesday is committed to clinicals!
6. How can I study for this exam the next day?
What’s worse is when there’s an exam the day after clinicals! So the entire clinical they’re trying to act like a real nurse and not hurt anyone, do as many “clinical” stuff as possible to get the experience, but in their heads they’re thinking about not failing the next test. And they’re probably wondering how late they’ll be able to stay up to study for it after being at clinicals all day…
Getting to work at the wee hours of the night can be weird, frustrating and down right hysterical (well at some point you’ll find it funny). However, at the end of the day (or morning) nursing wouldn’t miss this experience for the world.