SLU School of Nursing 
Nursing 489
FAQs
This fact sheet answers some frequently asked questions regarding clinical activities of senior nursing students.

1.     Q. What is expected of senior nursing students at Southeastern?
            A  The following behaviors are expected of all senior students in clinical settings:

• Meet all clinical course objectives.
• Give safe care to their assigned clients.
• Maintain good interpersonal relationships with staff.
• Demonstrate professionalism and dependability.
• Abide by agency policies and procedures regarding professional conduct and nursing care.

2.     Q. What can students expect of course faculty?

A.  Students can expect that faculty will be available to assist them as facilitators, teachers, and resource persons. Most importantly, clinical instructors assist and advise students faced with the decision-making of professional nursing practice. Decision-making is the most significant and substantial skill that students need to practice, more difficult to perfect than psychomotor skills such as IM injections, dressing changes, or IV therapy. Faculty provide feedback to students so that they know their status throughout courses.

3.   Q.  What can nursing staff expect of course faculty?

 A.  Nurses can expect that faculty are foremost concerned with patient safety and secondly with a rich clinical experience for the student nurse.  Senior student nurses need independence, so faculty will not supervise all the student's implementation of care.  However, faculty will supervise students closely at the beginning of the semester and through-out the experience to assure clinical competency.  At any time the nurses feels that a student needs faculty supervision, the student or staff nurse should call the faculty immediately.  Students should not be a burden to the staff nurse's time.  Ultimately, the client plan of care is the responsibility of the staff nurse.  Staff nurses are expected to round on patients and do assessments even if a student is assigned. If a breach in patient safety occurs, first attend to client immediate needs and then immediately contact the nursing faculty.

4.     Q. What can students do in clinical areas?

A.  Patient Safety and comfort is ALWAYS first and foremost in considering student nursing care.  Students may do anything in the realm of nursing for which they have been prepared. It is important to remember that they are responsible for keeping themselves safe; they are professionally responsible and accountable for all their own actions. Students have clear guidelines set forth by Southeastern University and their faculty.  They must first inform faculty when they plan to perform new, first time skills or procedures at which they are not proficient. If faculty is unavailable to monitor student, the intervention may be performed with the staff nurse's supervision. 

5.     Q. How do students demonstrate accountability and responsibility?

1. Students demonstrate accountability and responsibility by being self-directive in seeking out learning opportunities and by being adequately prepared to participate in patient care. They demonstrate safe practice by requesting help and supervision when needed. Students are expected to be punctual, dependable, and accountable for all their actions. As soon to be professionals they continually evaluate their own strengths and areas needing improvement, and seek help appropriately.

6.     Q. What is included in clinical preparation?

1. Not all clinical experiences afford students with traditional "Pre-clinical". Students must do any preparation/review for unfamiliar procedures, administering medications and IV fluids, begin a plan of care, review standards of care, and review necessary hospital/agency policy and procedures as time permits. Students must realize priorities of patient care may not allow them enough time to adequately prepare for unfamiliar procedures and thus the primary nurse must be ultimately responsible for "stat" interventions.

7.     Q. What is the correct procedure should the student make an error?

        A. Should the student be involved in a clinical error she/he should first notify the primary nurse and charge nurse so that immediate action can be initiated as appropriate. The clinical instructor should be contacted as soon as possible. Agency policy regarding reporting of errors as well as any other action to be taken must be followed. Southeastern Louisiana University has incident reporting policies and internal documentation to be followed for clinical errors and misjudgments. Students are strongly cautioned that ALL errors and omissions must be reported. Covering up or misreporting errors can result in imminent clinical failure more assuredly than an error itself.

8.     Q. Do students need to be in clinical areas for report?

1. Absolutely. Communication skills gained from active participation in report are indispensable to the training of nurses.

 9.     Q. What is the correct procedure when a student will be late or will miss clinical?

10.     Q. Are students allowed to participate in observational experiences? Are they allowed to attend inservice programs in their clinical clinical areas?

1. Students are allowed to observe interesting procedures and participate in educational activities in their clinical areas if they relate to course objectives. These experiences may be part of contracted clinical assignments. These experiences must be scheduled through the proper channels.

11.     Q. Whom should agency staff or students contact for complaints or concerns?

1. The immediate clinical faculty supervising the student should be consulted first for most concerns. If the student or agency staff feel that further channels are needed, the Southeastern School of Nursing Baton Rouge Campus director may be contacted by contacting the School of Nursing @ 765-2324.

updates 08/22/2007 msw