Say Yes to All Opportunities (LPN)

00:01 You are going to be asked to do things in clinical by your nurse or other staff members.

00:07 You should be saying yes.

00:09 You may be scared, it is okay.

00:11 But you should be saying yes. And here's why.

00:15 Let's say that you're assigned to me as a nurse.

00:17 If you're a student who is following me for the day, I will ask you, if you would like to do an injection for example, for the patient.

00:25 And maybe you hesitate or like just say, "Nah. Well, I get the impression then as a nurse that you don't really want to do anything else.

00:35 If you see I'm not interested or not willing, I really don't want to take the extra energy to allow you to do other skills, or go out of my way to make sure you get other opportunities to learn, frankly.

00:48 I really won't spend much more time trying to teach you.

00:52 The other thing while you're in clinical, be very helpful to the nurse you're following for the day.

00:59 Let them know immediately at the start of your shift, what your objective is for the day, and what level of student you are.

01:06 For example, maybe say, "Hi, I'm Samantha. I'm going to be with you for the day.

01:11 And I'm a first semester student.

01:14 Also let them know of your objective.

01:16 An example of an objective may be, maybe you're going to perform a head to toe assessment, or patient teaching, and you need to manage care for one patient that day.

01:27 And nurses respond to your level of engagement.

01:31 If you seem interested and you're helpful to me as a nurse, I will more than likely spend more time educating you and let you do skills and so much more.

01:41 However, you've got to be proactive and you've got to advocate for yourself.

01:46 You may want to ask the nurses questions like "Hey, do you mind if I do that I would love to get this experience." You must stay within your scope of practice as a student.

01:58 I repeat, you must stay within your scope of practice.

02:03 A general rule of thumb is that if you've been checked off in the lab on this skill, it's typically safe to perform it in clinical under the supervision of a licensed nurse.

02:15 You will have a skills list of do's or don'ts.

02:19 This usually comes from your clinical faculty or even the facility.

02:24 You must abide by these.

02:26 It's just like nurses working within their own scope of practice.

02:31 And as nurses, we are busy managing patients loads.

02:35 And, this may sting a bit, but you are not our priority as a student.

02:40 I'm sorry, you just aren't. Our patients are.

02:44 So, unless you intentionally engage with me and ask thoughtful questions, you really won't get as fulfilling of a clinical experience.

02:54 Remember, your attitude, your level of engagement and your willingness to work hard at patient care are the biggest factors in creating the most effective clinical experience.