Well, this is my 2nd quarter in a LPN to RN transition program (one quarter left thank goodness) and again clinicals are a complete BORE!  I've been an LPN for 12 years and going to clinical has just seemed like a huge waste of time.  I get one maybe two patients!!  WOW -- TWO WHOLE PATIENTS TO MYSELF!  For those of us who have been in nursing for a while, it's hard to find things to keep ourselves busy for an entire clinical day even with two patients.

I have expressed to the nursing faculty, my advisor and even my clinical instructors (in the best diplomatic way I can) that I'm bored and would like to be able to figure out something to do to make my clinical time more productive and a better learning experience - their advice was to read my text book, study for an upcoming exam, review the charts, shadow an RN and ask him/her questions why they did this or that (um, yeah don't think so! - that RN would consider me a huge pest or a complete moron - I even asked some of the RNs on the floors where we've done clinicals and told them what the instructors suggested and NONE of them thought that was a good idea for the same reasons I thought it was stupid). 

I have been able to help the "traditional" RN students who are still struggling with some skills or by assisting them with their charting that kind of thing, but 8 hours is a very long time to be there and feel like I don't have much to do.  Granted we take a 30 - 45 minute lunch and then typically leave the floor an hour before our clinical day is up to have our "post-conference" but I'm still trying to find things to keep myself looking busy.  Even worse, we have 2 clinical days this quarter so it's doubly boring!!

I'll admit I have had serious doubts about this program since I got into it and haven't really found any redeeming qualities about it other than it will only take a total of 3 quarters to complete for me to have the ADN.  I wish (hindsight being 20/20) that I had done a little more investigating before I chose the program I did but it's a little late for that now considering I'm very close to finishing and decided to stick it out.  But how do you try to improve a program for yourself?  Make it better for yourself?  Make your own learning experiences?  Aren't THEY the ones supposed to be teaching US?  I feel like I'm paying all this money to teach myself - it's really frustrating and really disappointing.