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Hello!

So, I had my first actual nursing clinical a week ago. We went to the hospital and actually dealt with patients! My section of 8 students went to Edward hospital in Naperville. We are on the MedSurg unit. It is a very nice unti and actually does not look like a hospital at all. All of us wake up at 4:30 – 5 ish and get ready so that we can make it to the hospital by 6:30. When we get there we are assigned a patient that we will be working with that day, along with a RN and PCT. We start filling out care plans for our patient and listen to the shift reports. Once we introduce ourselves to our patient, it is our responsibilty to do anything the patient needs and work more on getting information to complete our care plans. We do this until about 10:30, and then we go into our post conference, where we can discuss our patient.

The first day is more of a scavenger hunt and introduction day. But most everyone is still very nervous. The next 5 clinicals are more intense, and you are actually doing jobs for the patient. At the end you will have to complete a care plan that will be about 15% of your grade. Clinicals are a great way to experience the ‘real thing’. Many schools do not start them until junior year. Lewis starts it sophomore year to give you that extra practice. Like I said most of us started out really nervous, but I am honestly excited to go back.