Southeastern LA University School of Nursing
Nursing 489 Clinical Guidelines
Melissa Wafer, RN, MSN, CEN
Our clinical site is Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. Units utilized are critical
care, respiratory step-down and emergency care.
I. General Guidelines:
1. Pre-Clinical:
No formal pre-clinical. Students must do independent readings and preparation that allows
competency in student role. No clinical time is given for this preparation time. Students not
prepared for clinical care can be sent home and will need to complete make-up for the missed time.
2. Clinical hours: See Clinical Schedule to confirm exact times & dates.
3. All weekly paperwork is due to my office or e-mail by 12:00 pm on the day specified each
semester.
II. Blackboard Course Area:
1. All course materials can be accessed online at the Blackboard course area.
2. Orientation materials can be accessed on the Blackboard course site. It is the student's
responsibility to complete the online orientation modules and submit the post-test for their clinical
records.
III. Health Records:
1. Health records will be checked the first week of clinical during orientation. Each student must
have up-to-date records of CPR, TB testing, BR hospital Area orientation competencies, and other as
assigned. If records not received by the 2nd week of clinical the student WILL NOT be allowed to
attend clinical and make-up days will be assigned.
III. DUE WEEKLY:
1. Clinical Patient Summary
2. Journal Article Summary
3. Weekly Clinical Evaluation
4. Any clinical assignments assigned for the week.
IV. POST CONFERENCES:
Sometimes we will meet in person and hold post-conferences to share and discuss mutual
experiences. Student will be notified in advance the time and place for conferences. Journal articles
and may also be presented at these times.
V. Student Expectations:
See the document FAQs
VI. Medications:
a. I don't expect you to miraculously know all the drugs by heart, but prior to giving a medication,
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS LOOK IT UP.
b. Students are expected to know the following about a drug before administering it: general
information about the drug like drug classification, Normal dosage and if patient dosage is safe,
Compatibility and contraindications. Specifics about how to give drug, i.e. IVP (Rate of
administration/need for dilution), WHY patient is receiving this drug
c. There are numerous drug references on the units and on the computers. There is no excuse for
not knowing critical drug information.
d. Perhaps one of the most important things to know about a medication is WHY the patient is
getting it. How does it fit into his/her medical treatment plan?
VII. Patient Load:
Students are expected to strive to take a full nurse/patient load normal for the demands of the unit
by the end of the rotation. Students should be autonomous in their assignments and progression in
number of patients.
VIII. Absences:
In the event of illness or the inability to attend clinical, please notify the unit between 6:30 &
7:00am. I would prefer you not to call me at home that early. After notifying the unit of your
absence, contact me during clinical later that MORNING. Remember that a clinical absence form is to
be filled out and turned in that week. You are expected to be on time to your unit--- DO NOT BE
TARDY.
IX. Other:
Bring as few items to clinical as possible; no purses please. You may bring your lunch if desired, and
a few reference books. Be aware that there are multiple reference books on the unit that you will
find helpful.
Cell phones are not permitted while in clinical, unless a special circumstance warrants it. Cell
phones may be kept in the nurse lounge for use on breaks.
I want to emphasize the need for you to assert yourself in meeting your clinical learning needs. I
expect my clinical students to readily volunteer for new & unfamiliar procedures that I WILL
GLADLY ASSIST WITH. Please do not use the excuse that I was unavailable to help you. Use my
beeper to locate me wherever I may be and we can figure out a way for you to accomplish new tasks
if I cannot come right away.
Southeastern LA University School of Nursing
Nursing 489: Melissa Wafer, RN, MSN, CEN
FAQs
This fact sheet answers some frequently asked questions regarding clinical activities of
senior nursing students.
1. What is expected of senior nursing students at Southeastern?
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. What can students expect of course faculty?
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. What can nursing staff expect of course faculty?
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 the entire 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 nurse feels that a student needs faculty supervision, the student or
staff nurse should call the faculty. 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. What can students do in clinical areas?
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. How do students demonstrate accountability and responsibility?
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. What is included in clinical preparation?
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. What is the correct procedure should the student make an error?
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. Do students need to be in clinical areas for report?
Absolutely REQUIRED. Communication skills gained from active participation in report are
indispensable to the training of nurses. SBAR format or BSAP format will be practiced.
9. What is the correct procedure when a student will be late or will miss clinical?
Both the faculty and clinical agency must be notified if a student will not be in clinical at assigned
times. Generally, the student is advised to contact the clinical agency first, leaving a message for the
clinical faculty to contact them when arriving to the floor.
10. Are students allowed to participate in observational experiences? Are they allowed to
attend in-service programs in their clinical areas?
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. Whom should agency staff or students contact for complaints or concerns?
The immediate clinical faculty supervising the student should be consulted first for most concerns.
If the student or agency staff feels 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.