The Key to Success in Clinical

Hello. Hello, my friend. In this video, we are talking about the key to success at clinical in nursing school. So we have a special treat for you today. I brought Nicole on. She is the lead nurse on our team, and she is fantastic. So we just really wanted to have a conversation about clinical. And we know it can be scary. We know it can be a lot, especially if, you know you're in your first or second term or even if you're just in a new clinical site. It can be kind of unnerving. So we wanted to just have a conversation about this, help you have more confidence for your clinical. Clinical days as you go and do that in nursing school. So, Nicole, welcome. I'm so glad you're here.

Yay. I'm so happy to be here.

Nicole, what was your favorite clinical in nursing school? And, like, what was your worst one? Let's start with that.

Okay. All right. My favorite one. So I'm a PD nurse. So, like, little kids, babies. So my favorite one was all the kids. My least favorite one was, like, everything adult. Everything adult. I was that person that I was like, nope, I only want kids. That's it. And it was just like, you have to get through it. But I did learn a lot, and I did go out of my comfort zone in the adult world, which was good.

You learn a lot. And we're going to talk about that. Like, getting outside your comfort zone. Right. Is a huge thing for clinical nursing school, really, in general, to be honest. You got to stretch yourself. Right. And do things that you're uncomfortable with and do things that are new because, well, really, everything is new. Everything. Yeah, everything. And it's like feet to the fire when you. I mean, fundamentals, right? Okay. Like, thinking back to your fundamentals. Clinical man. The first day I went home with the biggest migraine just because it was just so. I just think it was so unnerving. It was just so much and scary, and I just. I wasn't mentally prepared for it, I guess. I don't know.

No. And it's so different from what you've. Like, you usually have never done something like that before unless you've been in healthcare before. And it's totally new. It's like a totally different side from what you're used to experiencing. And I mean that just in and of itself. And then you're expected to, like, know all these things and do all this stuff. That is very unnerving.

Yeah, everything. It's like. Yeah. It just seems in nursing school, you know, you get to nursing school and it seems that everyone's like, oh, you have to know this and this and this all, all from the start. Which really, I mean, at clinical it just kind of gets blown up, I suppose, because you do feel like you have to know everything. My first clinical was long term care. I think that's what not long term care. It was skilled nursing. I think that's where a lot of nursing schools start, is in like the skills skilled nursing setting. That was really scary for me. My least favorite clinical was wound care. Anytime I had to do. I mean, I just, I am not you guys. I am just. I am not. That's not me. Sorry. Like, I just, I could not handle that. I couldn't. I just couldn't. But it's funny. Yeah, it's funny because as you go through clinical, you're going to figure, you figure out your strengths and your weaknesses and where you fit and what your good at, what you really don't want to do, what you really want to do. And it's just, it's a lot thrown at you. But there's also a lot of good that comes with that as well.

There is. And I feel like it's such like, we're going to nursing school to become nurses. So most of us have this idea of going and doing something at the bedside of some sort. So that clinical is like your first real taste of, I'm going to go do this, and this is what I'm learning how to do, and this is what I'm going to do for my career. So that is where it starts to get really real. And you're like, wow, okay, I have a lot to learn. I'm going to do all this. And you just, you feel this sense of being really nervous, but also being like, really amazed at how far you've already come. Like, you're already in that step where you get to like, learn how to do it, but you also are then able to go and do it as a student, but still go and do it. Like, that's awesome.

Yes. And you can actually do it. Like, I think so many students, me included, when you see something happening at clinical, whether it's, you know, a nurse giving insulin to a patient or starting an IV or you know, doing a blood transfusion, all of these things can be very, very scary. But then if you just are that person that says, okay, yes, I'm gonna do that, like, I'm gonna ask that nurse to help. And then the more that you just see those things in real life, the more that you participate in it, the more you do it, then your confidence really grows. Right? I mean, Nicole, do you remember your first, like, blood transfusion, your first iv? I don't think anyone forgets their first IV start, you know?

Nope. Yes. Those are those things that I think they'll, like, never leave you because they're so. You're. It's just like, everything all at once. You're like, okay, I have to do it. I have to do it right now. And this is a real person, and it matters.

It matters.

Yeah.

This is not like an arm plastic thing, like a real life person.

You really have to, but you have to. That's what you have to do. Like, you have to be okay with doing that and with going ahead and saying, yep, this is uncomfortable. I am not in a spot where I feel like I know what I'm doing or I'm capable of. But you have to get there first. You have to take that first step so that you start feeling more capable.

Yeah. And I think that's why maybe a lot of nursing students get stuck. Is that, like, you don't. It's scary. Like, I totally get it. It's scary. But then if you don't get past that, like, fear, if you never do it, if you never, like, raise your hand and give a blood transfusion as a student, if you are so scared to walk into a patient's room, that's never going to get better. You get better because you're practicing it over and over and over again and doing it, actually doing it. Getting your hands dirty, so to speak, and actually doing the thing. You know, man, that's really. That's. It's a scary place to be, though, when you've never done it before. Like, I totally understand that it is, but it also.

I don't know, I always try to think of it like, I would rather do it first as a student than do it first as a nurse. Right. Like, as a student, you're expected to not fully know and to not fully understand and to not have done it before. That's all expected. Like, we, as a nurse would know. Okay, this is a student. This might be their first one. But as a nurse, I'm not necessarily going to think that of another nurse. So it's.

Right.

It's good to get those experiences under your belt, even if it is just, like, watching what they're doing or asking the questions. Like, ask them as a student. Ask them as well as a nurse, but also as a student.

Yes. Lots of questions. All of the questions. I know, Nicole, you and I talked about this before. Like, we get so many students who ask us. Like, I. I feel like I'm asking questions all the time, like students say. And I know that we always say, yes, please do. Like, ask all of the questions. I know we've talked about it before on a previous YouTube video that we did, Nicole, but, like, we are much less concerned. Like, as nurses, we are much less concerned about the nursing student who asks all the questions than the student that's like, yeah, no, I got this.

You know, not at all. That is the student that I'm watching like a hawk and making sure that they do know what they're doing. Because it's. It's that, like, gravity of you're taking care of another person, and if you are feeling totally confident with it, then you're missing something.

Yes.

You just. You're missing something, and that's okay. You're not supposed to know it all.

Yeah, yeah. None of us know it all. Right. Like, even as nurses, you know, you could be a nurse for 25 years, and you're still not gonna know everything. You know, and as a nursing student, we just. Yeah, I just feel like we. You get to nursing school, and all of a sudden you're expected. You feel like you're expected to know everything. And in some ways, it does. You know, depending on what term you're in and, you know, your level of competency, it does. Like, it feels like your instructors, your clinical instructors, your co nurse that you're working with on the floor, it just feels like a lot is expected from you. But just know, I think it's just such a good reminder that you really don't need to. You are a student. You don't need to know everything. You are not expected to know everything. You are expected to learn. So raise your hand, do the stuff. Do that. IB do all the things. Do everything in skills lab, too. Skills lab and clinical, those go hand in hand. You know, the skills that you do in skills lab. Practice them, practice them, practice them. And then you go to clinical and you do it on a real life person. So cool. And you feel like a million bucks. You know, there's a lot of confidence that comes from that, you know, rhythm, that. That pattern, that sequence. That's the word I'm looking for, the sequence going from. Okay, I learned this in lecture. I did it in skills lab on a mannequin, and now I'm doing it at clinical. But you don't. You're. You're still not required. You're still not expected to know everything. In nursing school because you will just learn as you go. That's part of the process, part of the sequence, right?

Yes. Yeah. I mean, there's so much like you will get out of nursing school and still feel like you don't know what's going on. And that's totally, totally, totally normal. Like 100% normal. Because there's just. There's so much to learn. And so in nursing school, it's trying to keep everybody safe and give you the basics, but it's. You're going to learn so much more outside of nursing school as well. So don't be, like, terrified if you feel like you're right towards the end of nursing school and you're like, I still feel like I know. Much like, it's okay.

Yeah. That's how everyone is. Like, that's literally how all of us graduate is. I still don't know anything. I don't know if I should be here. Literally all of us. Yeah. So the key really. I mean, there are some really, really good strategies to, you know, prepare for clinical, to do well at clinical, and we've talked about some of them, but really the key being, like, ask questions, do the work, raise your hand. You know, I think all of it maybe can be encapsulated in just like, step outside your comfort zone. Would you. Would you agree with that, Nicole? Like, just. Just push yourself. Yeah.

Be okay with like, not being comfortable. Be okay with it. Yeah. And you'll. It will. It's like a muscle. You stretch it and it's gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger and easier and easier and easier to do these things that are uncomfortable. So it's. It takes practice. It takes time, but you can only get better with practice. And time.

Yes, practice and. Well. And time. Yeah, I think that's actually. That's a really interesting one because I think so many of us talking about me, I just really want to know things right away. But that's not necessarily reality. Right. It takes time to. To learn these things. It takes a whole bunch of patients with the same thing to learn things. You know, as you are doing things in skills lab, as you are doing things at clinical, you are gonna. You know, when you see the medication once, that is different than once you've seen the medication 50 times. You know, it takes time. It takes time to learn these things. So, yeah, there's another one. Really give yourself that time. Give yourself that kind of space just to. Just to know. Just to realize that. Okay. You know, I've only seen this. Met a few times. Okay, then I'm not gonna, I'm not going to really realistically expect myself to know everything about it. You know, just off the top of my head, where you don't have to look it up anymore in a book, you know, that comes with time, that comes with experience. Would you say that's true, Nicole?

Definitely. I mean, definitely. And I think giving yourself, like just giving yourself the grace like you're saying to say it's okay, like I'm still learning, I'm not failing at this, I'm still moving forward, just not, I haven't done it enough times.

That's okay. Yeah, absolutely. We got an interesting question on Instagram. This is not interesting because it does happen. We get these questions a lot sometimes. And so we had a student who was at clinical and didn't do as well as she had wanted. So what would you say to a student who you where you're in that situation and you try your best and you really give it all that you've got, but it still didn't go how you wanted. Now I don't know the specifics of what happened in this particular situation, but in general, what would you say to a student who you get to clinical and you do your best and then it's like, shoot, like you either your co nurse, like something happens and you make a mistake or you know, you didn't know something that you thought you should have known, what would you say?

You just have to like give yourself that moment to be upset about it and then keep going forward. Like it's, oh, it's okay to learn, it's okay to make mistakes. They're there for us to learn from them and, and as long as you're taking responsibility for it and as long as you are kind of recognizing that like this is an opportunity for me to grow rather than just kind of sitting in that self pity and that I should have done this, I should have done this. When you do that, you're not able to grow and not able to move forward. So as long as you're in the right mindset of I'm going to do this better next time, this is what I can do and it's only going to get better, but you have to keep trying.

That's huge. And I love what you said, like, take responsibility of it. Right? Take ownership of it. Which I think for the most part, like, I just think like nursing students like us, like, we're just like kind of the type A personalities that like we want to be perfect at everything. So we do tend to, like, take responsibility, but sometimes we do overly take responsibility for things. So I. We don't want to bridge it to, like, beating ourselves up about it. Right. Like, Nicole, just what you just said is like, you know, you do your best take ownership of it, but also move on from it, you know, and learn from it, but don't, like, get stuck in this guilt and, you know, beating yourself up for, you know, for silly mistakes that we, you know, we make it clinical, but learning from it, you know, overcoming it, overcoming, you know, and, you know, obviously learning and moving on is so such a huge part of that.

Huge.

Yeah. So, Nicole, any last thoughts on clinical and clinical success and really what it takes to succeed? What would you say?

I mean, I feel like we've hit all those key ones, right? Asking the questions, being uncomfortable and being okay with it. But also you have to, like, remember to, like, have a little bit of fun. Like, this is, like, what you want to do. You want to go and you want to be a nurse. And yeah, that this is the. As close as you're going to get until you're a nurse. And that's.

That's fun.

That's exciting. So just kind of go back to your why and why you. Why you started here and kind of relate that back to clinical, even if it's your not ideal, like, situation. Just try.

Yeah, for sure. I. It's just, it's. I remember being the first med surg rotation that we did in nursing school, and I remember going to that floor and the call lights are going off, and it's just. They're so busy and there's so much happening. But as a student, you kind of have this moment of like, I'm here.

Yeah.

You know, like, so exciting. And I think as time goes on, you lose that, you know, as a nurse sometimes. And so it is. I love that you just mentioned that because, you know, just remembering how far you've come and that you've worked so hard to get here. Like, two years ago, five years ago, you wanted to be the person you are now. You wanted to be where you are now. And that can be a really huge blessing to remember. So, yeah, have those moments. Have fun at clinical where it's like, oh, wow, everything is so shiny and exciting. And, you know, that's okay. Have those moments at clinical because it can be really fun. I love that, Nicole, thank you for that. And Nicole, as you know, a huge thing with clinical, which we should have mentioned before, but we didn't yet, is critical thinking. Everything, like, everything about clinical is critical thinking. Right. So you guys make sure you click on this video right here. Do not forget this. Click on this video here. We're going to walk you through how to critically think step by step. You do not want to miss that video. We've also got a free cheat sheet for you with the link down below. Thank you, Nicole, for coming on on with us today. We hope to see you in a future video. Bye Bye.