How to Practice for Skills Lab (LPN)

00:01 So, a Skills Lab.

00:02 An excellent place for you to practice how to safely give medications, administer injections, hang IV fluids, start IV, and the list goes on and on.

00:14 As an LPN, this is where you shine.

00:18 Here's one of my favorite things that I like about LPN school.

00:23 LPN schools wants you to get good at skills, really good.

00:28 This is a strength about this particular certification.

00:31 And that technical skills for the LPN is a strong area of their nursing practice.

00:38 This is an area where I 100% feel that LPN new graduates usually excel over RNs.

00:46 I can personally say that when I had LPN students, they were not afraid to go start an IV and perform clinical skills in clinical on real patients, because their training in school had emphasized it.

01:00 As a new LPN in my unit, I was frequently asked to go start an IV because some of the RN colleagues didn't want to do it.

01:08 They felt uncomfortable with the skill or just didn't have as much exposure to it.

01:14 And I've always told my students that the only way to get good at IV starts is to continue to attempt the skill.

01:23 Now, before clinical or real time with patients, you should practice it, right.

01:29 Practice makes perfect or at least safely competent.

01:33 The best part about the skills lab is that you're learning skills where it is safe to make mistakes.

01:40 And a faculty will watch you at the end of the lab to make sure you are accurately performing the skill and first and foremost are being safe.

01:50 We call this a check off.

01:53 Now, why is this important that you are safe? Because at some point, you're going to be doing this to a real patient.

02:00 And yes, you can harm them.

02:02 So you check off, but then maybe the next lab, you move on to another skill.

02:07 This doesn't mean you have mastered that previous skill.

02:10 You still have to practice.

02:13 You really want to invest in your ability to perform this skill almost is like muscle memory like shooting a basketball.

02:22 If you sat down, I have equipment in front of me for example, I should be able to use this equipment accurately to start an IV.

02:30 So again, practice. This is important.

02:34 There will not be enough time in skills lab for you to have ample practice.

02:40 So do it at home.

02:41 Practice on anything, you can get your hands on a stuffed animal, a willing victim, I mean...

02:47 a friend, a partner, spouse, really whoever will let you.

02:52 Blood pressure measurements are a great thing to do with actual people.

02:57 And you can practice that on a lot of wheeling family members or friends.

03:02 Just use whatever makes sense for the skill you're practicing.

03:07 Also, remember, we've got lots of Lecturio videos showing you step by step guides on how to perform these skills.

03:16 But mainly, repetition is key.

03:19 Having time to think through what you're doing? Why you're doing it? And what order you got to do it in, is a must.

03:27 So at home or outside of your designated lab time is vital.

03:32 Practice so much that it almost becomes automatic like riding a bike.

03:38 This is a goal.

03:40 A few other ideas if you're trying to master a skill.

03:44 One thought is to number the steps in a stepwise fashion to complete the skill.

03:50 Practice it with looking at the steps.

03:53 Then take away the reference and see if you can do it by memory.

03:58 Then repeat.

04:00 It's okay if you don't remember it via memory the first time around.

04:05 Keep practicing.