Nursing Lyfe 101

Clinicals: The Unfiltered Start of Every Nurse’s Story

• Nursing Lyfe 101 • Season 2 • Episode 4

Share episode

Remember walking onto the unit as a student nurse, heart racing, praying your patient wouldn’t code while you were in the room? Yeah… same.In this episode of Nursing Lyfe 101, Christopher and Colby head back to their clinical days — the rotations that built their confidence, broke their nerves, and taught them what kind of nurses they wanted to be.

We’re talking:

  • Christopher’s first real code in cardiac surgery ICU (and where his love of chest compressions began)
  • A med student who actually diagnosed scurvy in the 2010s (yes… like pirates 🏴‍☠️)
  • Psych rotation chaos, locked units, and the patient who made Christopher rethink his life choices
  • Awkward and gross moments (looking at you, Foley catheter commentary 👀)
  • Clinical instructors and preceptors who either lifted us up or scarred us for a decade
  • The moment it finally clicked: “Oh wait… I can actually do this nursing thing.”

We also share Scrub Hacks on:

  • How to work with nursing students without making them cry
  • How to correct gently, praise loudly, and involve them in real care
  • What students should actually focus on in clinicals (hint: it’s not a perfect head-to-toe)
  • How students can interact with techs, nurses, and management like professionals — and maybe even land a future job

Whether you’re still rocking student scrubs, precepting for the first time, or reliving your trauma from that one clinical instructor, this episode will make you feel seen, laugh a little, and remember where you started.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio & more — just search “Nursing Lyfe 101.”

Stay curious. Stay kind. And never forget: clinicals are just the beginning.


Send us a text

Support the show

✨ Follow & Support Us ✨

Stay connected and never miss an episode:

• Twitter: @NurseLyfe101

• Facebook: Nursing Lyfe 101

• Patreon: NL 101: Office Hours


💬 Join the Conversation:

We want to hear from YOU! Share your thoughts, questions, and nursing stories on social media using #NursingLyfe101.


🎧 Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share Nursing Lyfe 101 with your friends in scrubs. Your support keeps us going! 🩺

Christopher:

Hello, and welcome back to Nursing Lyfe 101. We're so excited to have you here as we dive into the world of nursing, the real stories, the challenges, and of course, the fun moments along the way. I'm Christopher.

Colby:

And I'm Colby. Together we're here to bring you practical tips, honest conversations, and a little laughter about all things nursing. Whether you're a fellow nurse or still rocking those student scrubs, we're thrilled you're here.

Christopher:

Today we're taking it way back for some of us. Not so much for me, uh, to those unforgettable days of clinical rotations.

Colby:

You know, when you spent half your time praying your patient wouldn't code and the other half trying to look like you knew what you were doing.

Christopher:

Whether you're a student, a new grad, or a nurse who now precepts other students, this episode's for you. Let's start with the fun stuff, our favorite clinical stories.

Colby:

Because let's be honest, we all have that one memory that lives rent-free in our heads.

Christopher:

So that there is always a fun clinical or favorite clinical story, I'm sure, for any nurse. And we're gonna start with that. Do you want me to start?

Colby:

Yeah, you go first.

Christopher:

So I wouldn't say my favorite is my funniest clinical story. My favorite one was when I was in surgical cardiac surgery ICU. There it was, it wasn't surgical trauma. Cardiac surgery ICU and it was my like cap quote unquote capstone. And I'm sitting and doing ICU stuff and helping out my ICU nurse, who, by the way, was amazing, was a travel nurse, but had been at that particular health system for a span of, I guess they were ending their full contract, so the a whole year, I guess, it really depends on the health system.

Colby:

Some people have a this is a sidebar, but there's warped um So there's some warped thoughts around uh ta tax evasion um and traveling. Oh. So who knows? She could have been there for two years and just doing some tax evasion, but he was me. Yep, I made an assumption there. Um but yeah, who who knows how long? But it felt like they were there for a long time. Got it.

Christopher:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh so it he was there for a long time, I guess. And we were I I that was the first time I had like learned and practiced on an A-line. So I was doing stuff on an A-line with a safe set, which I'm a huge fan you don't I don't know what a safe set is. I'm a huge fan of safe sets, and I think that our health system should use them more often. We have them, but we just don't use them very much.

Colby:

What is it?

Christopher:

It's essentially a syringe.

Colby:

Oh no.

Christopher:

No, it's a syringe that you pull up the blood and then you can give the blood back without wasting blood.

Colby:

Is it a special kind of syringe? Because I've seen people do that.

Christopher:

Yeah, it I mean it's like a whole it's a still a whole closed system. And so you just like pull the syringe up a little bit and it like pulls the blood out. And then you just give the blood back.

Colby:

I feel like I've seen them just use stopcocks here.

Christopher:

I mean we which you can do.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

Um this one is supposed to save some more blood than like w without wasting as much. Because you pull essentially you pull the waist through the line and then you give the waist back.

Colby:

Oh, okay.

Christopher:

Yeah. So I mean this it's really neat, but that is not the reason why it's my favorite story. I was doing that, and next thing I know, I hear these alarms go off and in the room of the patient that you were zeroing out.

Colby:

Praise the lamb. I was like, what did you do?

Christopher:

I I killed him. I killed him. That's why it's my favorite story. I killed a patient. Um, I was listening to the sounds go off, and my my instructor, or I mean, he was just he wasn't like my instructor. Your preceptor. Yeah, preceptor. Goes running toward the sounds, and he's like, Christopher, get in here. And I'm like, okay. And so I walk over nonchalantly because I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. And the person did, there was another person that had arrested. Oh, and they were doing chest compression. And he was like, You're next. Get on the chest. And I'm like, and ever since that's where my love of pressing on the chest came from.

Colby:

If you guys could see my face.

Christopher:

I was like, yes, this is it. This is why I I hate that.

Colby:

I hate cracking ribs.

Christopher:

Well, I I hadn't, I wasn't the one that cracked the rib.

Colby:

Oh, they were pre-cracked for you.

Christopher:

But we got the person back.

Colby:

Oh, nice. Yeah.

Christopher:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was funny because I was like, he was like, You're next, you're next. Go over on the other side. So I went ahead and gone over to the other side and like stood on the couch slash whatever, you know, where they put the family to sit. And I'm like watching, and I'm like, you're adrenaline. Like, I'm like ready to go. And they hop off and I'm like, on. And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Colby:

Pulse check. It's like we gotta do a post first. And I was like, you told me to go. I was I was ready.

Christopher:

Um, it was a lot of fun. Yeah, that was a that was definitely my funnest, or like it was fun and my favorite.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

It wasn't a good one.

Colby:

Yeah, you saved a life, so that was exciting.

Christopher:

Yeah.

Colby:

And that that's like a high pressure environment for sure. Oh, yeah. Definitely would be, yeah. That's a of course that's a fave. I this is a sidebar, but not the last time, but one of the more recent times that I've been in a code. Um, I usually do jump on the chest first. Just right place, right time, I guess. Um, I sprained my wrist last year.

Christopher:

Did you really?

Colby:

Yeah. Yeah. It came up in my Snapchat memories recently. I sprained my wrist doing compressions. Um, I was like, ow, I'm like doing compressions and I'm like, I got a couple in, I felt the ribs crack. I'm like going, going, going. And then I was like, I need someone to tap in because my arm hurts.

Christopher:

Oh my gosh.

Colby:

Yeah. Okay. My favorite memory. Um okay, clinicals was a long time ago for me. Like almost. I mean, if I've been a nurse, if I'm if I've done 11 complete years and I'm heading to my 12th year of being an RN, you know, add on like another three years from like when I started doing clinicals. So almost 15 years ago, like that's a very long time ago to remember something so traumatic.

Christopher:

Um but dig in the recess of your brain.

Colby:

I have dug deep and I've I think also mine was I think what I can remember more clearly was my time in my senior capstone um clinic, like that last clinical. What did you call yours?

Christopher:

I said capstone.

Colby:

Okay, yeah. Like some some schools call them a different something else, but I was in my practicum practicum, yeah. Maybe that's what my school called it. And I'm just used to calling it a capstone down here.

Christopher:

I think actually, I think I called it a practicum too.

Colby:

But yeah, I yeah, and I think the jargon that our health system uses capstone. Um but yeah, my senior practicum was in uh the children's hospital um in the state that I worked at. And uh at the time when I was in nursing school, I thought that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to work with pediatric patients. Um, and I don't remember all of the details. I wish I could remember more, but basically we had this like pre-tain kid who was probably on the spectrum. Um, he was very introverted, didn't really have much of a social life, was on game, like on PlayStation Xbox, whatever his gaming console was all the time, and only ate like very specific foods um that had a lot of food aversions and just like did not eat well balanced, came in sick with a litany of symptoms in this like weird rash, almost like patikii. Um, as far as I can remember. Um, and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with them. He was there for you know multiple weeks while they were trying to like dig deep and figure out like what's up.

Christopher:

Wow, for weeks. Okay. Yeah.

Colby:

And his lab work was, you know, off, but like nothing, no signs pointing very clear about what could be going on. And they teaching hospitals, they had residents and they had med students. And I remember the day that they figured out what was going on, what this patient's diagnosis was. A med student was actually the one to diagnose the patient. And he said, This is crazy, but has anyone thought of scurvy? Like pirate scurvy. Um, and if there's one thing that I remember from scurvy, pirates would get it because they didn't have any like citric acid or citrus or vitamin C, something like that in their diets. But if they had oranges on the boat, then you know, that would kind of like help prevent it. Yeah. And so they ended up doing more testing to see if it could be scurvy, but like it was like a pretty far-fetched as far as like the attendings were like, pfft, nobody gets scurvy anymore. And it turns out like the kid's diet was so limited and so specific that he actually had scurvy.

Christopher:

So that is wild.

Colby:

Yeah, I I will never forget that just because like it one runs me of pirates. Like we were in the we're very much so in the 21st century. This was 2013 or 2014. So like scurvy in 2013, 2014. Like we're thinking of like squash buckling pirates getting scurvy. Like what even decade or you know, not decade, what century was that? Like crazy. Yeah, so that's probably like my favorite, like fun fact one to share. I I definitely come back to that often. And I swear that I might have already talked about this maybe in season one. So sorry if it is a repeat and you've heard it before. But it's just such a random, funny, random thing to like see in this day and age.

Christopher:

No, it it's very I mean, that was still in the 2000s, right? Like it's it's now yeah, you you you just I just wouldn't have never thought um scurvy was a thing. I I did look it up. So I looked it up on Cleveland Clinic.

Colby:

Okay.

Christopher:

And just to kind of like let people know what scurvy is, if you don't know. Uh scurvy is a disease caused by a serious vitamin C deficiency.

Colby:

Ah, vitamin C, yes.

Christopher:

Not eating enough fruits and vegetables is the main cause of the disease. Uh left untreated, scurvy can lead to bleeding gums, loosened teeth, and bleeding under your skin. Treatment for the conditions include getting plenty of vitamin C in your diet, and dietary supplements are also available.

Colby:

Yeah. So hats off to that medical student who's had like literally probably just gone over it in c in school then, because n the attendings had not a clue. The residents were like, I don't know. And this med student spoke up and said, This is wild, but what about scurvy?

Christopher:

Yeah, that's wild. Like, and you said the reason why that he probably had known was because he had like just learned about it.

Colby:

Yeah, yeah. In school. Yeah, they were just covering it.

Christopher:

Which is which is wild.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

That's that's insane.

Colby:

I'm looking to see if like Can you see if there's like any prevalence of like any stats of scurvy, like what the prevalence is these days.

Christopher:

Yeah. So it says in the United States, about 7.1% of people may develop a deficiency.

Colby:

Higher than I thought.

Christopher:

Also true. Um, in North India, the rate is like 73.9%.

Colby:

Oh. Interesting. Not enough citrus fruit there.

Christopher:

Well, uh vitamin C deficiency, not necessarily scurvy, but vitamin C deficiency.

Colby:

Interesting.

Christopher:

But you know, you can always hop at the drip bar and um get you a little vacuum. Well, no, you don't want it a shot.

Colby:

Oh. Drip.

Christopher:

Yeah. It hurts.

Colby:

Okay.

Christopher:

Just just FYI.

Colby:

Good to know.

Christopher:

And it apparently for depending on your range, depends on the amount of vitamin C that you should recommend it for daily amounts.

Colby:

Um depending on your age, is that what you said?

Christopher:

Yeah.

Colby:

Oh, okay.

Christopher:

And so men 19 years and up, daily recommended is 90 milligrams of vitamin C. And for women, it's 75 milligrams.

Colby:

What it what is like um, I mean, outside of oranges, I guess like a multivitamin, that would cover it.

Christopher:

Yep. Citrus fruits, uh, is like you said, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, strawberries, and sweet potatoes or excuse me, sweet peppers.

Colby:

Oh, I had sweet potatoes today. Yeah, it's funny. Like the I think one of the things the kid ate was like spaghettios out of the can, which technically would have tomato sauce in it, but maybe because of all like the preservatives that spaghettios are, like, it just didn't.

Christopher:

Is it really tomato sauce?

Colby:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Who knows? I don't know. I just remember him eating like three things and just not like having full-on food aversion. Um a little bit of an odd kid.

Christopher:

I mean, that goes along with kind of just in the clinical phase. You see so many different things in clinicals. Like you you need to learn that when you're giving care, there are going to be people that are special needs and have a mental delay or you know, anything. Speak Spanish, totally different, um, but like speak any type of different language, are just stubborn. Like, you know, like there's all these different people that are going to be around you, and you are needing to take that time at clinicals to really find your flow in being able to not diagnose, but like interact with those different perspectives and different personalities. Like it's it's you as a nurse learning to be a nurse. So exactly.

Colby:

Perfect time to practice.

Christopher:

Yep, take that time to practice. So what made you say, what moment in clinicals made you say, yeah, this is it. I'm going to be a nurse. I I can I can do this.

Colby:

I think it was a lot of little things thinking about that. For me, I had, and I know that I've discussed this a little bit in season one, but I had a lot of issues with passing out at the hospital. And it took me a long time to kind of get over that. I had to go through like therapy for it. And I remember like the first clinical that I went to after therapy, and I didn't instantly feel sick or that I was gonna like completely pass out when I walked into the hospital. And I was like, oh, maybe I can do this. Like that's the very baseline. But I think like as far as like a nursing skill, I could bring it back again to my senior practicum or capstone, whatever you want to call it. And my clinical instructor, she was kind of a hard ass, but like in the best way. Um, like I remember being kind of scared of her in the beginning. I was like, oh Lord, I got the mean, the mean one on the floor. But I actually learned so much from her and she really like pushed me to be as independent as I could be. And I had um, I had an uh he was an infant that his parents were first cousins. They were Somalian and in their their culture, it just, you know, it just is that. And they had multiple kids that were totally fine, but he ended up uh in a failure to thrive situation and had like a collapsed trachea and GI issues, and it was all related to their genetics being too close together. And he, this patient, he was trached and he had a G tube. And I remember like I had him and my patient assignment, and I think maybe two other patients. And I remember like being so intimidated about having more than, you know, you have an infant and then like a 13-year-old, and then you know, like a 10-year-old or a five-year-old or something, I can't remember exactly, but I just always felt in the beginning of that clinical so intimidated when I would have more than just him as a patient. Because we started off with just one, you know, and then you add on, okay, you're getting your you're getting the flow, okay, have another one. And I remember the first day I came in and she was like, Okay, you have all three today. And I was like, Because, you know, when you have someone with a GI uh or sorry, a G tube, peg tube, whatever, like you have to crush all their meds. This is also an infant, so you're also giving formula or tube feeds through the through the peg tube, and then you know, a trach and a in a small baby. You're gonna have a deep suction. And I learned how to do all these things. And I remember like the day I finally felt confident walking in, and I the first time I deep suctioned an infant and didn't even like break a sweat I was and kept sterile technique. I was like, oh, I can do this. Like, I know what I'm doing. This is sick. Like, I'm I'm a bad. I remember leaving clinical and being like, I'm a badass.

Christopher:

That's funny. I never I actually felt never felt that way at all in clinicals.

Colby:

You never felt like, oh, I can do this? When did it click for you?

Christopher:

It honestly wasn't until May. This is this is not to discourage anyone. It was probably like three or four months after my orientation.

Colby:

Into your new job. Yeah, some people just feel that way. I'm feeling that a little bit right now. Talk about imposter syndrome again.

Christopher:

Yeah, no, I yeah, I it's I I there were definitely moments where people one, I also am absolutely terrible at uh accepting compliments.

Colby:

So it it's when I I just don't like them.

Christopher:

I I think I think I have previous trauma that allows compliments to be something as a a weapon more of. Like it was just it's trying to trying to get a an upper edge or some some type of thing. So I when I hear compliments, I literally just let them roll off and just keep going. But the reason why I say all of that is because there were some compliments made uh about how like I'm very personable, blah blah blah, but I never actually felt the point where I was like, oh yeah, this is this is me as a a nurse. Like I'm I'm good to do that. I don't know why.

Colby:

I just never never got an end at till about after three or four months after. Orientation. Yeah. Sometimes it sometimes there's a delay. That's normal.

Christopher:

I have a delay.

Colby:

You have a delay and feel uncomfortable. That's totally normal. I feel like a lot of people can relate to that. I think I definitely have that like I don't think it lasts that long for me. I think I kind of adjust quicker. I'm I'm used to that kind of thing. But like I can relate to that like first day feeling. We had a patient that had their first day of cardiac rehab the other day. And of course, when you're in cardiac rehab, you're hooked up to the telemetry monitor and we're getting your vital signs. So like we can see that you're tacky. And like he was just sitting there and he got started and he was like, I'm nervous. I was like, Don't be nervous. You're gonna have so much fun today. Just walking down a treadmill and we're just chatting. I'm nervous. Yeah, he was nervous. You know, that's like a grown adult male who has children, like he's in his mid to late 60s, has adult children, like has lived a full life, and he went came to cardiac rehab and he was like, I'm nervous. Like, and and and this is not like someone that like looks like sickly, like you would have never known they had a cardiac event. They look in shape, they're golfers, like they haven't golfed since the event that they had. But like the healthy looking individual, you saw him on the road, you would be like, Wow, he looks great for his age. And he was, I'm nervous. And I was like, my heart broke. I was like, I just want to give you a hug. Don't be nervous. But yeah.

Christopher:

Did you give him a hug?

Colby:

No, I feel like there's a boundary there. You know, I don't want people to touch me, so I'm not gonna touch others. Don't give me a hug. I can feel like I want to give you a hug, but I'm not gonna touch you.

Christopher:

That's all the that's all it starts with. It's just the filling.

Colby:

And speaking of boundaries and breaking them, what was your most awkward or challenging patient encounter during your clinicals?

Christopher:

I think honestly, well, okay. One and we talked about this before. I I I cannot be a psych nurse.

Colby:

I can't. Oh my god, I forgot about psych rotation.

Christopher:

I can't be a psych nurse. I mm-mm. One is I don't have claustrophobia, but I don't like to be in close to spaces where I can't easily get out. At my clinical rotation for psych, they had multiple doors that were.

Colby:

Yeah, like a locked unit.

Christopher:

Yeah, like multiple. Like you you had to go through multiple locked doors to get out of the that. That alone. That alone, yes. And then the rotation that I went to, like it was a psych hospital. So I mean it like it's it's a well-known one here in our our state. And I went in and I was like, okay, breathe, Christopher. I was nervous. I so like my heart rate, I'm sure, was in the 130s at like rest.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

And just to let you know for comparison's sake, my resting heart rate is usually in the low 50s. Um so I was nervous, and the whole system had a patient that they had brought from like had been incarcerated. And so he came onto the unit and I mean he he was not no little man.

Colby:

Not no little man.

Christopher:

And I was a little man. I I mean I still am a little man. My muscles are toned, they're not defined. And so he had gone off the like off the rails. He was yelling, throwing chairs, and I was like, I'm going to die today. This is this is it. You know, if I die, I die, and today's gonna be the day. And they like corraled all of the students, including me. And I was like, praise the lamb. Um, they're protecting me. And we like quickly exited out of the the actual unit. But like that's crazy. I could see he his his eyes were angry, and I'm like, he's going after somebody. I don't know who it is.

Colby:

Do you know what ended up happening?

Christopher:

I don't care.

Colby:

Never asked. Turned my ears off when the rumors started flying.

Christopher:

I was like, it's time for me to go.

Colby:

I feel like everyone would have been talking. Was that like your last day too? Like, did you have to go back? I feel like I would have gotten the details if I was going back.

Christopher:

Yeah, but the thing is, I don't care. I I do not want to know the details.

Colby:

I love all the juicy comms.

Christopher:

Not not enough. Not enough. Not when it's literally be this huge, this massive dude, like kind of green mile guy, like massive dude.

Colby:

That's scary. Angry, that's it.

Christopher:

And then angry, yeah. Like Green Mile dude was never angry.

Colby:

He was a gentle giant.

Christopher:

He was a gentle giant. But this guy was not.

Colby:

Oof.

Christopher:

He was not a teddy bear.

Colby:

Oof.

Christopher:

He was he he was a grizzly.

Colby:

Grizzly bear in action. Yeah, that's freaky. Yeah. I think I don't know. I think my I was also having a hard time thinking of like most awkward or challenging patient encounter during clinicals. I can think of many outside of out of outside of clinicals. I think my school or preceptors uh either did a really good job of protecting us, or I just didn't have anything eventful, or that I was so traumatic, I don't remember.

Christopher:

I do remember like a very good way of blacking out things that are traumatic.

Colby:

Yeah, I do.

Christopher:

I hold on to them.

Colby:

I just, you know, tuck them away and put them in the back of the brain and never think about them again. But I mean, I do remember, I do remember like one offhand gross comment by a male patient, the first like foley in a male patient I ever, I ever did. The guy was like, Oh, I've never I haven't been touched like this in years. And I was like, Ew. And then I was like, okay, it's going in. And I just, you know, the only the only saving grace with that comment was that I was about to put a foley up his urethra. And I know that that's probably one of the most unpleasant things a man can go through. So for some, for some, yeah, some people enjoy that. But um, I didn't think that it was gonna be this guy's enjoyment. So, and it it and it didn't. He was like, Oh good. Um, but I mean, and I wasn't doing it aggressively, I was following procedure, but um, I just feel like I needed to put that out there. But yeah, that'll that'll show you, sir, making some perverted comment to an innocent 20-year-old girl, 19, 20-year-old girl.

Christopher:

Of course you were innocent.

Colby:

Of course I was innocent.

Christopher:

An angel.

Colby:

Only ever. But yeah, just like gross. Like people are so gross. Yeah, no. I don't and I also don't think I think the I would say in class we didn't really get pre we don't really get prepared in that sense. I think one thing we might have covered like in clinicals or sim lab was like if a patient gets an erection while you're doing care, like that's a natural thing. Don't address it. You can you can say you'll come back and finish care later. And I was like, and I was like, okay, whatever. But then like they didn't really warn you for like what a perverted patient might say. And it's not just men, like outside of clinicals, I've heard women say it to male nurses, like just the most off out of pocket shit.

Christopher:

But beware everyone. Out of pocket. I literally had I literally had a patient, actually that patient just came to the clinic recently, but they had a daughter, and that daughter was like hellbent on having me date one of their children. Oh, but did they also bring the child, the child there was a show pictures, did the whole shebang, and I was like, I'm okay, I'm fine. No, thank you. I appreciate that you think I'm that attractive that you want your child to dictate me.

Colby:

But you know in America we don't premarry people.

Christopher:

She says But I mean, you know, that's that's that's health care.

Colby:

That's that's showbiz, baby.

Christopher:

It's like wow.

Colby:

Yeah, I I definitely have had weird experiences and I think it goes back to like male, female, it it it does not matter. No. Those old ladies can be just as well.

Christopher:

Oh my gosh, it's wild.

Colby:

It is a culture thing, but it's a little bit funnier when an old lady says something than when an old man says something. We were talking about this at work today. Like when an old lady hits on like a a young male nurse, it's it usually will make people laugh. But then as soon as the opposite happens on an old man says something to old a young, young like nurse, everyone's like, What? Yeah, he said what?

Christopher:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the tall one gets hit on by older people, but I mean I do too.

Colby:

Yeah. Like people love your eyes. Oh my god. They always comment on the eyes.

Christopher:

It is it's the eyes, and then you know, I'm just a sweet man.

Colby:

She's she's just such a sweet young man.

Christopher:

She's a sweet boy. That's a sweet boy. Oh god, I can hear it. Oh yeah. Have you so did you ever have a patient tell you that they don't want a student? And then you're just like standing in full panic mode, like, that's fine. I actually didn't want to be here.

Colby:

Oh, yeah. No, I think that's like the best thing ever. I'm like, all right. Well, I will say probably in clinicals, the thing about that happening to you in clinicals is if usually your preceptor the day before like clears it with the patients that they're okay with having a student, right? So also the day before, we would have to like go in and see what patient you were gonna be assigned and then go find a computer. This is what we used to do. I don't the clip the students don't do that anymore, but we used to have to write like a did you have to do this? Write a full report the night before on your patient, like do a full HP like search history. We would have to go in, we'd go to the floor the day the night before clinicals, see who our patient was gonna be, write a full write-up on them. And like when we got there, our instructor would ask us questions about the patient. Like we'd have to come prepared. Um, so there was nothing worse than doing all of that pre-work and then getting there in the morning and that patient deciding they don't want a student. Oh no. And you'd be like, Mother effer. Like I did all of that work. And your nursing instructor would be like, okay. And then you'd just be like, oh my God, now I'm gonna have to sit here and like I spent an hour last night looking up this stuff, and now I'm gonna have like 10 minutes to look it up for this new patient I'm getting assigned. That sucked. Those days sucked. And it did happen like a handful of times throughout clinical.

Christopher:

I'm curious. So the reason why people did that was what?

Colby:

It was just how my clinicals were set up back then. They wanted us to know all of the past medical history. They would ask us about like what their past medical history diagnoses are, what the medications they're on were. So we'd go and like look at their MAR and like look up all the medications that they were on so we knew what we were giving and why we were giving it before we went to clinical. Now I feel like we do all of that, or not we, but I feel like the students do all of that more in like real time. Like you're like, okay, let's look at like you're giving, I don't know, it's run at least the clinicals that I've seen in our health system, they run them a little bit differently.

Christopher:

Yeah. I mean, but like there's nothing really beneficial for you, Martin.

Colby:

No, it was just like a nurses eating their young situation. Like making you go in doing all that research for no reason.

Christopher:

Like and we've mentioned before, like there's a high possibility you will never go into a clinical that you're actually going to stay in for like your career.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

Like I never I never had one transplant clinical.

Colby:

No. Yeah, I didn't have anything. It was like med surge.

Christopher:

Right.

Colby:

Women and women's uh like women labor delivery peds. And what other one was specific? It was a bunch of med surge clinicals, to be honest. Yeah.

Christopher:

It's in it's very interesting. So, okay. I mean mine was I honestly thought I wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse.

Colby:

Oh, I had a minute where I thought that too.

Christopher:

But women do not like a man looking at their during that moment.

Colby:

Yeah, mm-hmm. Fair enough. Outside of their husbands or partners. And even then, I yeah, and even then.

Christopher:

There might not. So there was one time where I I just remember, I can't say I I won't say her my clinical instructor's name, but I do remember her name. She was like, Christopher, you gotta go in. I was like, okay, I'm going in. She was like, She doesn't want you here, but you gotta go in.

Colby:

And I'm like, Interesting that they that she said that she doesn't want you there, but you have to go in.

Christopher:

Yeah, because she's like, as a nurse, you have to like you've gotta navigate some of those things.

Colby:

Like, yeah, I d I feel like it's interesting from the student aspect.

Christopher:

Well, and she just wanted me to have an experience of a natural birth. I had had an experience of a c-section, and she was like, No, you need to see natural birth. And I was like, Well, if I pass out, then it's on you.

Colby:

That's on you. You know, I've actually never seen a natural birth.

Christopher:

No.

Colby:

No. Oh well, I did. Outside of like a video, a YouTube video, like in school, but I've never seen one in real life. I saw a C-section. I was supposed to see a natural birth, and then I um in high school when I was volunteering at the high at the hospital and I passed out, so I didn't get to see that one. Yeah, never seen, never seen the real deal. Oh, well, you got one up on me.

Christopher:

That's rare, very rare. And I don't know if I really am gonna lord that over you.

Colby:

You're like, I'm scarred from life.

Christopher:

I mean, no, you want to I I my dad's gonna laugh at this. My br my my younger brother and I were going over and looking at different home videos. And as we were watching some of the home videos, we you know, we saw my like my younger brother's birthday, my birthday, some Christmas videos. We even saw my dad holding me up like a potato sack and saying baby for sale as he walks down the hallway. I I just remember that vividly. Um because my dad was trying to sell me off immediately after birth? Yep, yeah. He failed. Um, but anyways, the the main reason why I'm talking about this is because we popped in a video, and lo and behold, is my father recording my mom giving birth to my brother.

Colby:

Oh no. Did you see the whole thing?

Christopher:

Oh my god, it was so bad.

Colby:

Scarling scarred from the left.

Christopher:

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Colby:

Yeah, that one would have put me over the edge.

Christopher:

That did it. And that was before I even was in nursing school. So this was this was no if I'm not mistaken, I was still in high school. No, yeah, so that was really bad.

Colby:

Holy moly.

Christopher:

Really, really bad. But it was, you know.

Colby:

Educational.

Christopher:

Educational. It's also talk about birth control.

Colby:

Oh my gosh. I don't know if it was as if I mean clearly it was effective, but I don't know if it was like as effective for a guy as it would be for a girl. But like if I saw that, yeah, I would have been like, uh-uh.

Christopher:

I don't know. That along with my mom saying every woman's conniving, I think has really just trust no one. No, yeah. I I've I've been scarred for the rest of my life. I will be single. Anyways, interestingly enough though, my mom had helped me really get used to medicine a lot because when she first was diagnosed with breast cancer, she went through radiation chemo and she had a mastectomy, a left-sided mastectomy. And um she during that time it was it was a like right during Christmas. It was like a week before or whatever. But anyways, like the follow-up shot she needed, it would was falling on like Christmas Day, so she wouldn't have been able to go into the actual clinic to get it done. So she had me do it. Oh. And this once again, I was in still in high school.

Colby:

I I was not Wasn't even working on your biology degree and then your bachelor's degree.

Christopher:

I was still in high school and I was a sophomore in high school because that's when my mom was first diagnosed.

Colby:

And I remember Wow, you were so brave.

Christopher:

Well, it was when I I still knew I wanted to be in medicine by that time. And so I was like, well, this is me learning. Here we go. This is clinicals before clinicals. Yeah. Um, so I learned about giving my mom a shot. I also learned about uh JP drains because she had a JP drain.

Colby:

Nice.

Christopher:

But also she had um implants. She had breast implants.

Colby:

Oh afterwards? Yeah.

Christopher:

So like I I learned how to like honestly, I learned the difference between a breast implant and a non-breast implant.

Colby:

Yeah, yeah.

Christopher:

Like, though my mom was clever. Uh she she she went a size up on the left side and then helped the right side up too. So it's just like she just she did a two for one.

Colby:

That's funny.

Christopher:

Yeah.

Colby:

She's like, well, if I'm gonna do one, I might as well do both.

Christopher:

I don't want to look lopsided.

Colby:

Good for her.

Christopher:

She did. So I I did learn a lot during that time, and it was it was interesting. And I mean, I appreciate my mom for one believing that I could do it, and two, not worried uh worrying about like her child seeing her in a state that could be looked at as anything.

Colby:

Yeah. So yeah, that was crazy but cool that she she like knew that that was what your path was gonna be.

Christopher:

Yeah.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

I was determined.

Colby:

You were bound to determine. So moving on from that, what was your favorite clinical rotation and why do you why d why is it was it your favorite?

Christopher:

My favorite I I think you probably can tell my favorite clinical rotation was definitely my capstone.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

Or practicum, however you want to call talk about it. But it it wasn't it I think it it's really because it wasn't because I like had to wait on my instructor for all my other like uh rotations. I really feel like the nurse that I was paired with was a teacher. Like he he was just very good at not getting flustered if I didn't know or not getting flustered if I asked questions. He and he took time. I remember he I used to have the he drew a picture of He drew a picture of something. I can't remember exactly what it was, but I had that picture for a while because it was just like cool. Like I was like, the dude took time to like draw me a picture and to help me understand, and I did, and I I really am sad that I can't remember what it was, but it it was just really foundational and honestly also how I handle a lot of things on the floor when I was like teaching or anything, like it's just people going back to what you briefly mentioned, we cannot be nursing if we are nurses that eat our young. We we just can't. And that's that's definitely how I've really been mindful. Like I'll let people flounder and I'll a little bit, but like I'm I'm there as your support to like not allow you to completely sink and drown underwater. Um but in order for you to be a nurse by yourself, there are times where I have to have my hands off and you've got to just figure it out.

Colby:

Yeah, there's a difference between like hazing someone and letting them figure things out for themselves.

Christopher:

For sure.

Colby:

There's there's definitely a technique and there's a balance in doing that, but it's a necessary part of learning how to be a nurse when you're on orientation and when you're precepting, like or when you're on your clinical rotations as well. I think to your point, I think it's a lot about for me as well, one about my favorite clinical experience. What it goes back to the instructor that I had, the instructors that I had. Like my my best ones were always when I was with an instructor that I really enjoyed. I think they really they that will make it or break it for you. Like you could have really cool patients, but you have an instructor that sucks. Like that's what you're gonna remember. Right. Or you could have a really cool instructor, and even though the patients sucked, you were like, Oh, I love this instructor though, and like we made the best of it. Yeah. I definitely, I think my favorite clinical rotation that I did when I was in my undergrad years was most definitely my peds, which is what led me to do my senior practicum on the on the in the children's hospital as well. But I think if I had to pick like a runner up, it would be my clinical with one of my, he was a professor that also taught some of our classes. He also did was a clinical instructor. And um his his first name was Stuart, and we love Stuart. Stuart was awesome. He was a, he'd been there for like he's I don't know if he's still he's oh god, I hope he's retired by now. But he was just like such a uh awesome human being, hilarious, was like took things serious, obviously, but everything was also lighthearted at the same time. Like there was it was not super deep. Like he was not the the instructor that was gonna send you home for wearing brown sneakers instead of white. Like he was he was definitely still in touch with reality, didn't have that power trip that some people get when they're clinical instructors. Like he was just he was just awesome. And it was a med surge rotation, like I think it was like ortho meds or vascular. I don't know. I remember I had a lot of patients with amputation, so it must have been like a vascular orthofloor, and it was just really relaxed. Like I I went, I think that was like probably my first clinical orientation where I wasn't going the night before to look up all these patients. Because it's stupid. Because it really is, it really is so stupid. But I remember that clinical like being so chill, and I was like, Thank God I got stew, like this is awesome. Because people would have him throughout like you know, our our nerd like nursing clinical years, and I never had him in my senior year. I did, and I was like, sick. I was like, this is gonna be awesome. And it and it really was. So yeah, I really think it comes down to to the people to who's instructing you, your clinical instructor will really make or break your clinical rotation.

Christopher:

Yeah, for sure. Uh going along the lines, uh, even like preceptors and preceptees, I think that is also important. And you know, obviously that's the step up after your clinicals, but I remember the other female in our hiking gang group was in pre was being precepted by me, and I get a uh Vocera call, and she's like, Christopher, can you come here? The patient's bleeding, and I'm like, Oh, okay. And I go like walkie in, and she's like, and she was freaking out, obviously. So, like, all all training goes out the window.

Colby:

Uh-huh.

Christopher:

So she didn't have gloves on, but is like trying to keep this blood contained. And I'm sitting here and I'm I walk in and I honestly I bust out laughing. I'm like, this is hilarious. Because I'm looking and it's the patient's IV. And I'm like, okay. I was like, well, and I I I literally said it in this tone.

Colby:

I was like, So what's going on?

Christopher:

And she was like, he's bleeding. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, he is. Um why is he bleeding? And she was like, I don't know. I was like, well, let's let's look here. Because immediately when I saw in, I I could see what had happened. And she was like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I was like, well, where's he bleeding from? And I was like, she was like, it's it's from his IV. I was like, yeah. So what can you do to help stop this bleeding? She was like, uh, I was like, you just need another extension set. Like, that's that's all you need. And she was like, Oh yeah, yeah. I was like, Yeah, so you're okay. You're okay. Let me go get the extension set, I'll be back.

Colby:

Panic, panic, panic.

Christopher:

But but also that was I mean, years after I had been putting in IVs. So like I can and that becomes experience, right? You just see the things often and you just tend to realize that if an extension set and an IV is a good IV, you're gonna get blood return if you unhook that extension set on accident.

Colby:

Oh, I see what happened. Yeah, instead of an unhooking from the the needless connector port. She unscrewed the extension. Um what would you say what rotation surprised you the most? My psycho rotation.

Christopher:

I hated it.

Colby:

But uh Did you go into it thinking like this is gonna be really cool?

Christopher:

No. Oh so it wasn't surprising in the fact that like mental health I'm gonna say this and it's gonna sound like I was an idiot and I probably was. I thought mental health was just sitting on the couch and and just talking to a therapist, essentially. I mean you know, like group activities, AA, you know, like stuff like that.

Colby:

It is not that is not Yeah, no, that's one category of meant of psych nursing.

Christopher:

Right. And so that that is what shocked me and surprised me the most was really and truly like all all the things that psych nurses can do is pretty astounding. And sometimes I mean, like I said, you you have to dodge and weave, do some boxing training. So I don't know.

Colby:

Yeah, no. I would definitely agree that psych nursing. I don't know and you're you did an accelerated like ADN, right? Did you have to take abnormal psych at any point? No. So I don't know if that is what kind of helped prepare me for my psych nerd, like my psych nursing class and then actually doing a psych rotation in the like psych ward. But we took for a four-year bachelor's degree, abnormal psych was part of my curriculum. And we went over like all the different diagnoses and treatments and stuff like that. And the my the abnormal psych. It was like a, you know, like a 250 plus person lecture class. But she was really cool, the the professor, and I took a lot away from that. So like it was a great foundation point leading into psych nurse and then the clinical as well. So I didn't feel like that had brought me very much surprise. But I think what surprised what rotation surprised me the most was probably thinking back on it was probably that ortho-vascular unit. I didn't I didn't know if that kind of thing would bother me and like just kind of like being grossed or like creeped out about seeing like limbs being gone, like fresh wounds and stuff.

Christopher:

But I was sorry, did your rotation, your clinical rotation, was it at that teaching hospital?

Colby:

Uh-huh.

Christopher:

I think that's what different too, because mine was not at a teaching hospital. Oh yeah.

Colby:

All of all of my clinicals were at the teaching hospital that I did school at with the exception of like for PEDs, we did like a a day at the one of the local elementary schools, one clinical day there.

Christopher:

Yeah, yeah.

Colby:

But yeah, so like at on that floor with my professor who was doing was also my clinical instructor that semester, I had patients that had like fresh amputations in wound care. I I was surprised by like how intrigued by wound care I was. And like I was like, oh yeah, let me wrap this stump and like figure out the best way to get the gauze to stay and all this stuff. Like I that was, I did not see that for me in my future. Like going into going into nursing, I was like, had no awareness that I'd be like, oh yeah, let me see that wound. I want to see how nasty it is. Like, let me, let me figure out what the best dressing is for it. I think wound wound care nurse would be something I would have pursued if it wasn't for ostomy being part of what most wound care nurse things, because the ostomy portion is not for me. I don't really care for dealing with getting those bags to stick and like trying to figure out that real difficult game because it's like a common problem. And the the nurses that do it are they know every trick in the book and they're so good at it, but like that part of it not interested in.

Christopher:

It is wild because it ostomies are not they're not universal.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

They're not universal.

Colby:

Yep. Do you think there is a like a clinical that you were like, okay, nursing school didn't prepare me for this? For me personally, no, but I've said this before where I feel like my program specifically was just really good. Like I when I when I left nursing school and like I started my first nursing job, like I felt prepared. I definitely didn't have like a uh dangerous confidence at all. It wasn't like, oh, I know everything, but I felt prepared. Like I felt adequately prepared. I took my boards pretty quickly. I was ready to roll. And like I had, I think they did a really good job of the types of clinicals that we that we experienced and the amount of time. And when we started doing clinicals and SimLab and that kind of stuff, and the the focus and the the time, the small clinical groups, the the a lot of attention. Oh most, I think almost every clinical instructor I had was I had great experiences with. I felt really good when it came down to it. So I don't I don't know that there was like anything, or I can't remember at least, if you asked me this maybe 13 years ago, I probably would have had a different response. But as far as like anything big that would have shocked me, I don't think I had any big shockers from like what they were talking about in class and then applying it at in clinical.

Christopher:

I mean even with the accelerated, like I guess the psych rotation I wasn't prepared for if I was to say like that.

Colby:

But I think overall like it was something that definitely was rather like decent in terms of preparation.

Christopher:

I I think I think overall clinicals are not necessarily something to give you every aspect of every medication and every pathophysiology pathway that you have to like learn and know. But I think it gives you a good basis of finding your workflow and finding your way of literally communicating with patients. Like this is the time for you to learn how to communicate with patients and find a a decent workflow. It's actually where I actually started to build my own nursing report sheet.

Colby:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure.

Christopher:

So like I think that's important too. So yeah.

Colby:

It's wild to think back then we were just trying to pass. Now we're the ones guiding the next generation.

Christopher:

Yeah.

Colby:

All right. It's time for scrub hacks. Those quick practical tips that make surviving your shift just a little easier.

Christopher:

Because let's be honest, anything that saves time or sanity on the floor deserves a round of applause or at least a caffeine break.

Colby:

How do you actually work with nursing students during clinicals and not make them cry?

Christopher:

Great question. Let's break it down.

Colby:

Okay. So some practical scrub hacks for that is to one, be approachable. Remember how terrifying it was to talk to staff as a student.

Christopher:

Right. Like there's no way that you as a nurse now. I mean, if you have already forgotten how you were as a nursing student, hot take, you need to just leave the bedside.

Colby:

Hot take. Yeah. No, I agree with you. I think there's nothing worse than hearing like a group of clinical students talking about like your coworkers and being like, yeah, I was with this person last week and they did not want me around. And I'm like, I like my ears perk up. I'm like, who? Who's treating you like that?

Christopher:

Two, set expectations early. Let them know what they can do and what's off limits.

Colby:

And I think that's goes back to boundaries, but I think that's really important. A lot of times they know what they're allowed to do and what they aren't do. They know that almost better than what you do as a nurse on the floor, more often than not. But if there's like a specific, like a lot of times they'll be assigned one patient, but you'll have four and they'll want to shadow you around a little bit. But if you have like one patient that you know is not about to have a student, be like, okay, you can go into these two patients' rooms, but do not go into this one. This is not going to end well for either one of us if you do. Like just be straight up.

Christopher:

Yeah, because you know the patients better than they do.

Colby:

Yes, exactly. Number three, correct gently, praise loudly. Mistakes are learning moments, not gotchas.

Christopher:

Interesting. I mean, yeah, the I I Here comes cutthroat Christopher.

Colby:

Well, no, I do think you need to correct gently. You don't one, you don't want to embarrass them. Right. Leave them with that, with that experience. It's, you know, it getting making a mistake is embarrassing enough, but uh regardless of whatever mistake was made, they do need to be corrected because that mistake could lead to, you know, a patient dying, worst case scenario, some untoward outcome. But yeah, you need to correct you need to correct them. For sure. And definitely praise loudly. There's nothing better than like here, and Christopher doesn't give compliments, but like when you're in that that learning atmosphere, knowing I don't like compliments.

Christopher:

I give compliments.

Colby:

Okay.

Christopher:

Oh, d okay. I'm just gonna let that look go.

Colby:

Um, this is the guy who said, I don't think people need to be celebrated when they we don't need to throw a party for you.

Christopher:

I say I don't I say I don't need to be celebrated.

Colby:

Okay.

Christopher:

I don't. I don't need to be celebrated and I don't need to be complimented because that's trauma.

Colby:

I think we need to rewind it to a couple episodes ago. But, anyways, um, but yeah, no, uh let them know that they did a good job. Don't keep that to yourself because there's nothing better than that than hearing like, oh, he did awesome on that. Especially when it's like your first time doing it or you're just learning it. It's that that reinforcement is really helpful.

Christopher:

Number four, involve them. Let them see why you're doing something, not just what. And it's interesting. I, well, uh maybe maybe I have said something about it this season. Maybe I haven't. I was a clinical instructor the beginning of the semester for ADN nurses. And that was one thing they were like, we just want to be able to see X, Y, and Z, X, Y, and Z, X, Y, and Z. And I'm like, okay, you know, that's that's easy. And so if there was a fistula, I showed them a fistula. If there was a chest tube, I showed them a chest tube. If there's an A line, I show them an A line. And yes, you know, there's one of those things where I definitely was like, you can do this, you can't do that. You're, you know, like you can possibly do this. I have to like check to make sure. Um, and you know, it's important. And this is a a Christopher belief, and it does not have any basis of factual, like, I don't have any research back statements for this, but I believe that even the most um like auditory um or like written learners still need the solidification of kinetic learning. They need to actually do things.

Colby:

Yeah, no, I definitely I definitely agree because they're gonna do it. Eventually. So you know, this is your time to practice in a safe environment. I think I also whenever I've precepted anybody in the past, whether it be a student or a n a new grad nurse, I I talk out loud. I'm gonna just tell you every move that I'm doing because and because it's so easy to get into the habit of just doing when you've been doing it for a long time. So whenever I have somebody with me, like I'm talking the entire time. And I'm like, if you have a question, just stop me. I'm gonna just kind of talk you exactly talk you through exactly what I'm doing. And if I talk the whole time, and then I'll pause and be like, okay, questions, comments, concerns, that kind of thing. So talk them through what's going on in your mind, let them get some hands-on experience, is all good things. The last one we have is model the kind nurse you wish you had during your clinicals. And that goes back to kind of tidying up the four previous statements. So yeah, if all fails, just hand them vitals machine and say, go forth and conquer. They can all get vitals.

Christopher:

That's a nursing version of a side quest.

Colby:

All right, and that's your scrub hack for the week because work smarter, not harder, right?

Christopher:

Exactly. If it saves you five minutes or five headaches, it's a win in our book. Let's flip the script. What's it really like to be a student in clinicals today?

Colby:

And what should students actually focus on besides not getting lost on the unit?

Christopher:

Mindset. What what should be your goal? Uh yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like what should be your goal as a student in clinicals?

Colby:

Your goal when you're at clinicals is to absorb as much as you can. Okay. That's my that's my key to you. Absorb as much as you can. Don't stress too much on getting everything done because this is your time to take time. This is your safe environment. A lot of things are really broken down for you as far as like what you'll do that day, as as far as the clinicals that I've observed in our health system. So it's they're never giving you too much at once. I think you start getting more independent and like learning things more in your senior practicum or capstone. But I think this is your opportunity to practice building a rapport with your patients. This is uh your opportunity to practice just taking in as much as you can. This is your time to ask nurses questions, anything that pops up into your mind about the career, where like the nurse that you're following, like what their path was to where they are now. Um, just be a sponge. Your goals should just should be to just be a sponge in that environment, in my opinion.

Christopher:

No, I I mean I think that's I agree. I think as a clinical instructor, I think the fact that we had to give grades about certain things was a bit um I'll use the word ludicrous. I mean, I think it was I think it was ludicrous. And oh no, this is a fun word. Asinite. I thought it was asinite. And so I I yes, you obviously have to do the clinical part. Like you have to do the instruction and the grade part. But to Colby's point, you should really just be trying to find your like rhythm, trying to find out how you take report. If you need to find your own little like nursing report sheet, like go ahead and start figuring out how you want to do your nursing report sheet. How do you do like your flow for an assessment? For for me, for some reason, I was able to remember every single organ system if I started from the foot.

Colby:

Oh, so you did bottom to top.

Christopher:

I did bottom to top.

Colby:

I'm a top to bottom girl.

Christopher:

I'm now a top to bottom, but you started at the I started from the feet, and now I'm here. No, I'm kidding.

Colby:

Started from the bottom down. Yeah.

Christopher:

Yeah.

Colby:

Your goal isn't to impress everyone, it's to learn safely, ask questions, and grow. Exactly. Here's a secret No one expects you to know everything.

Christopher:

That's right. You'll make awkward mistakes, just own them, learn and move on.

Colby:

What's something nursing students worry about that doesn't matter as much as they think? That's a great question to ask you after just finishing your clinical instructor role.

Christopher:

Yeah, I think and you know, you're you're trying to learn the flow of being a nurse. So the the small, like, oh, this patient has one fingernail that's longer than the other. Like when your assessment, your assessment is going to be specialized to your specialty. Yes, you need to know neuroassessment. Yes, you're gonna need to know uh respiratory assessment. There are going to be things you need to know, but those things can be limited if it's not in your specialty. So just make sure that when you're you're doing an assessment, sometimes you might not need a pin light to do shining.

Colby:

You don't need to check Perla on a patient who's here for a heart attack.

Christopher:

No.

Colby:

You can just do like a very basic neuro assessment.

Christopher:

Are they following you as you move in the room? Good.

Colby:

Yeah. No, that's true. I think, yeah, I think I agree with that. I remember being so concerned about doing like the most thorough head-to-toe and like hitting every single thing and then like not taking it too hard or too personally, but being like, oh my god, I forgot to check their pupils. Darn. Like, and just being like so not so upset, but like being upset that I forgot and being like, oh no, I'm gonna get in trouble. But my clinical instructor didn't care about that either.

Christopher:

Yeah, no, we don't care. I and I remember I remember during their reports, I was like, if they're if it's not for some reason they're here, I don't want to know about it. Yeah. I really don't. And and it's funny because I during reports was not that way until I started hearing reports from other nursing students. And I'm like, okay, yeah, this is this is why I don't need to hear about this. I don't need to know about that. It's fine. I'm glad. I'm glad you I'm glad you did the work, but that I do not need to hear about it.

Colby:

It all started clicking. Like, oh god, no.

Christopher:

Yeah. Anyways, your your instructor isn't out to get you. They just had too much coffee and not enough patience. Luckily, I don't drink coffee.

Colby:

I was gonna say, but you don't drink coffee.

Christopher:

Hey. How should students interact with like the floor techs and the floor nurses?

Colby:

I think respect and teamwork do go a long way. Um the a lot of times when the students are there, they're doing a lot of the work that the techs are normally delegated to do. I would say, and and that really needs to go both ways. Sometimes the techs are like, oh, I've got students, I'm not doing anything today. So, you know, there's some collaborative collaboration that really needs to happen. And also, like if it's your first clinical rotation, the techs, a lot of the techs that are working have been doing it a long time and they can teach you just as much as like a nurse could at that level. Right. You you know, um, there's a lot of things that they could show you from experience that you won't necessarily learn in school.

Christopher:

Yeah, and I I think no matter what, in in for nurses, you as long as you're offering help and asking questions, I I think that overall you're gonna find out that you will be very well received. And even in being well received, know that nurses want to help you, so they're gonna give you feedback, and that feedback may not rub you the right way. And it's not necessarily because they're like, you're terrible. They just want to they want to have a nursing student become a nurse that is going to be their teammate and is going to be able to carry their part of their work. And so just know that in those moments where you get feedback, don't take it personally, just look at become introspective and take the time to be like, oh, how can I possibly improve later on?

Colby:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. And when it comes to engaging with management or leadership, I will say one, you probably won't see them. But if you do, I think this is just baseline. Don't forget that you are in a professional setting. So like you may be in a clinical with a bunch of your friends, but this is not the opportunity to be hanging out at the nurse's station and chit-chatting and gossiping. Be professional, remain professional. If you see them and you have questions about um, you know, what their pathway was to management or leadership, it's a great opportunity if they're there engaging with you guys to ask those questions because a lot of times um once you get to that level, people have gone gone and come through so many different um pathways to to that level of of leadership and nursing. Um it's just, you know, a great person just get information on.

Christopher:

Yeah. And I really and truly, I think if leadership or management, leadership aside, you probably won't see leadership. But if you do see management and I think you might have a higher chance of seeing management, this is also a good time to shine. Like you never know. You might want to come back to this floor. And if you're doing the things and are setting a good example for what your work ethic is, then well, yeah. If you it doesn't matter.

Colby:

If you're setting a good example of your work ethic, is if it's bad or good, yeah, management can pay attention to that and say yes or no, yeah, depending on they don't know if you're at like a a level in your schooling where you're considering like a nursing extern situation, like if you, you know, put your face in front of the management and you take that opportunity to have a conversation with them and it's positive or they observed you positively, you know, your work ethic, like Christopher was saying, um, it's something to think about and it uh it goes back to me saying maintain professionalism while you're on the floor. Um it's not it's not hangout hour and you're downtime because they do notice those things. Like, you know, if they they remember faces when for positive and they'll remember faces for negative things. So if you try, you really liked your clinical rotation on that floor and you want to apply to be a nurse extern, you know, this coming summer, and they you come in for an interview and they are like, oh no, I remember this person. They made a whole scene at nurse's station.

Christopher:

Or they were just sitting on the phone doing Twitter or doing Twitter.

Colby:

Well, just showed your age right there. They're out there doing the Twitter, not doing the care.

Christopher:

There it is. Yeah. Anyways, every person on that floor can really teach you something.

Colby:

From the tech who's been there for 20 years to the new grad still figuring it out.

Christopher:

It's true. All right, class dismissed. That's a wrap for today's session of Nursing Lyfe 101.

Colby:

We hope this episode brought back some memories and maybe gave some of your current students, you current students, a little reassurance.

Christopher:

Remember, nursing is a lifelong learning journey from clinicals to charge nurse to management. It's all part of the same story.

Colby:

You can find us on Twitter slash X at Nurse Lyfe101. Lyfe is spelt with a Y, not an I, Facebook at nursing lyfe101, or Instagram at nursing underscore Lyfe underscore 01.

Christopher:

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review. It helps more nurses find our show.

Colby:

Until next time, stay curious, stay kind, and never forget where you started.

Contributor

Christopher Henderson

Co-host
Contributor

Colby Daniel

Co-host