My First Week of Clinical Experience, Essay Example

My first week of clinical experience at the Oncology/Med-surge floor was quite different from what I expected. On the first day, we immediately had six patients, with two being post-ups and the other four being surgeries. We were told that the activity was typical for a busy floor, so we braced ourselves for the remainder of the week. However, what surprised me most was that my preceptor seemed to have a hard time having a student around. He would sometimes disappear and perform tasks without me, which made me feel like he thought that I was slowing him down. At times, he would ask me to stay at the nursing station while he made rounds, telling me to wait for a doctor to call back, or he would ask me to wait for the tubing system to deliver patient’s labels. At one time, I reasoned that the tubing system was really loud and that when it delivered something we would clearly be able to hear it inside a patient’s room. I offered to go with him so that I can set up the IV pump for an ordered antibiotic for the patient.

In another incident, he did not want me to start an IV even though the patient was not hard to stick and I could easily spot a good vein. For some reason I could not understand, he asked me to stay out of the room. I stayed out of his way after I realized that he could be really nervous about a student being around while he was going about his work. When he was done and away from his patients, I felt that it was important for me to understand what just happened, and so I asked him politely about it. To my relief, he started being honest with me and admitted that he really was just nervous because he felt that it was not a good idea for a student to watch him in case he was not successful. He followed up his explanation with a joke and that smoothened out the awkwardness. I reassured him that it was alright, and that we all have our moments. I told him that nobody was perfect, not even the swat nurses and that I needed to see everything he does whenever possible because that was how I would learn. Although it was my first night and could just play observant, I preferred to grab every learning opportunity that I could get. All the time, I made sure to protect the safety of the patients and was very careful not to step out of my scope of practice. I just thought that it is better if I stepped up and acted as an extra resource for my preceptor and our patients. He kept apologizing for not meeting his duties as a preceptor and explained that it was an extremely busy night. I tried to reassure him that we have plenty of time to catch up and that I was not just some greenhorn student. I explained that I was almost graduating and that he could trust me and give me more tasks. That way, I could help him take care of our patients and not just follow his actions on every single task. The second night was also busy but he still just assigned me to simple tasks. I was really confused; I remember thinking that he seemed like a very knowledgeable nurse, and wondering why he did not feel comfortable sharing what he knows to a student who is in her last rotation! I really wanted to go over things with him. Instead he would tell me to look at the charts. He would not mind me sitting on the computer for hours reading charts if I agreed to it! I could literally say it took 2 days and half for this guy to start warming up to me. Finally on my third day, he gave me more autonomy.  I took care of two patients completely, performing head to toe assessment, administering medications, and setting up IV pumps with primary and secondary lines. I helped him with other patients by answering call lights, following up with orders and reminding him what meds were due throughout the night for our patients. He double checked everything I did which is good because I just needed the opportunity but I knew that I must have him there to make sure that I was doing things right especially in administering meds. So the next morning, I left the floor with my head up and felt like I was already a nurse who could really take care of my patients independently, as long as I was given the opportunity and trust to do so by my preceptor. I even felt great because I honestly thought that he purposely put me through this test to see if I would suck it up and deal with his challenges! However, I wonder how another student with less hospital experience than me would fare if he or she was put in my position for the first 2 and a half days that I narrated. I guess this is an example of the common saying that “old nurses eat their young”.