Nursing Clinicals: What to Expect
Nursing is a very rewarding profession for millions of people all over the world. Nurses can help the neediest members of society and help to alleviate their patient’s discomfort. Let's take a look at an important part of the training process that goes into creating competent nurses.
Clinical Nursing Experience
A nurse's education is not limited to the classroom, but also requires actual experience in the medical field. Near the end of the nursing course, student nurses participate in learning sessions in various health care environments under supervision. This is important for many reasons:
Practice
Students get to practice what they have learned in classes with real patients without having to worry about what happens if they do a procedure wrong, since there is a supervisor on hand watching their every move.
Real-World Experience
They are able to understand just how unpredictable a nurse’s job can be. It's easy to look at textbook procedures and feel as if you know the material, but performing those procedures in a crowded hospital in front of the hospital staff is an entirely different experience that takes some getting used to.
Large Variety of Options
Students are exposed to a variety of settings across the health care continuum, giving them a wide perspective on the health care industry and the many possible facilities they may find themselves working in.
Teaching Supervisors
Your supervisors will be experienced nurses and teachers. They are there to clear up any doubts or questions in the student's mind. After nursing school is over, you will never again be in a situation where you get to ask questions to your heart's content. Instead, you will be expected to be the one providing answers to the doctor, other nurses, and the patient.
Rapport with Patients
Students are allowed to interact with patients and perfect their bedside manner. Students can put their study of human psychology to practice, while the hospital staff informs you of the proper protocols which must be observed while talking to patients.
A clinical nursing experience can be participated in for varying lengths of time, depending on the specific policies of your nursing school. Some of the country's best healthcare facilities carry student programs to accommodate nursing students, from community outreach patient facilities, rehabilitation centers, long-term care facilities, to psychiatric institutes.
Benefits of the Experience
There are many ways in which the clinical nursing experience provides a valuable advantage to nurses both in their personal lives and professional lives, such as:
It Helps you Decide your Future
A nurse's life can often be hectic. Sometimes, students who get into nursing find themselves overwhelmed by the reality of nursing. This can lead them to drop out of nursing school and seek another field more suited to their preferences. Your clinical nursing experience will be the first time you are exposed to the life of a nurse. This is the period in which you need to take stock of the realities of nursing and decide whether you have the passion for the job that will be needed to sustain a long-term role in healthcare.
You Get to Find your Rhythm
The first day of your clinical nursing experience will introduce you to many firsts. You'll get an official nursing uniform. Being on time is now a requirement, not a preference. You will be working alongside health care professionals, rather than teachers and students.
As the training period goes on, it will allow you to find your own rhythm for work. Every person operates in a unique manner in the workplace, in a way that suits their style of work. Are you a quick learner, or do you need to have instructions repeated? Are you alert, or do you need reminders for picking a lab test or medicating a patient? When do you go to sleep and when do you wake up? Answering these questions will help you determine what kind of nurse you’re going to be.
You're allowed to make Mistakes
The clinical nursing experience provides you with a safety net to catch your mistakes, and that is an invaluable advantage when you're just starting out as a nurse and have no practical experience to fall back on.
You can create a Network
You will come into contact with health care professionals who have been working in the field for a long time. Forming friendships with these professionals will allow you to ask for help when you need it and also to create a network of contacts within the healthcare market.
Do you imagine yourself in a nurse’s shoes?
If you are interested in earning an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing, consider ECPI University for the practical, hands-on education you’ll need. For more information, contact a friendly admissions advisor.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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