My clinical experiences thus far have provided me with plentiful educational opportunities. I feel like I am able to apply the things that I learn from class into real-life situation. Therefore, most concepts that were fuzzy in class become very clear after clinicals. On an educational side, I have been making huge progress but I have come across communication problems during my clinicals that I am currently addressing to fix.

My first communication challenge that I faced is being hesitant when I am uncomfortable or unsure with what my next steps are when caring for my patient. Often times when we were buddy up, it was common for me to let my partner overtake with talking. Yet, I believe that when I get my own patient, then I will not have the tendency to let others take over. Since I will be responsible for my own patient this week, I have to take responsibility because I do not have a buddy to rely on. As well, to further combat my hesitation, I have been running through my assessment with friends. I know when I am with a patient, I get a bit scared since I do not want to look like I do not know what I am doing. Thus, to combat this, I have been practicing outside of class on my nursing skills such as a head to toe assessment.

My second communication challenge that I have is forgetting to elaborate when I find an abnormal finding. For example, my patient would rate their pain and I have the tendency to forget to ask them to describe how their pain felt (dull, sharp, consistent, painful with activity, etc.). I am overcoming this challenge by using the STAR method. Before I enter my patient’s room to complete a task, I always stop, think, act, and review. For example, I would stand outside for a minute thinking what I want to complete and reviewing my notes. In my notes, I have added to make sure to elaborate. Also, conducting this STAR method has helped me from forgetting certain tasks such as forgetting to asking my patient to rate pain level when taking vitals.

Overall, I love clinical. They are a time for me to really be engaged with my learning. Even though it has been challenging adjusting to this type of role of being the healthcare provider in the patient-provider relationship, I feel like I have been making small strides. I am super excited to keep learning and overcoming other challenges.