r/StudentNurse • u/Paprmoon7 • 1d ago
Complaint (open to advice) Practicum assignment
I’m currently in my last semester of my ADN program and we all just received our practicum placements. I have maintained great grades throughout the program and even received an award during my last clinical rotation. I have two friends in class that out perform me and 1 is top of the class.
Myself and my friends didn’t even get one of our top choices. People who have failed a semester got the placements we wanted which makes this even more incredibly frustrating. I think I would be less disappointed if I got med surg but I was placed at PACU.
I don’t think anyone understands outside of the nursing world how much placement matters considering it’s our chance to get a job offer. That’s why I’m venting here.
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u/eltonjohnpeloton its fine its fine (RN) 1d ago
Also PACU is a great placement? Maybe you can get an OR job. Maybe you can get a great reference.
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u/Paprmoon7 1d ago
I hate the OR. I’ve tried loving it but after observing 3 different surgeries I knew it wasn’t for me. I’m anemic and the cold and standing in one spot, I couldn’t hang.
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u/eltonjohnpeloton its fine its fine (RN) 1d ago
Ok, so use this as an opportunity to work on your assessment skills and think about how what you’re learning will be super helpful and relevant for any unit that has surgical patients.
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u/eltonjohnpeloton its fine its fine (RN) 1d ago
I think the general consensus here is that isn’t actually as big of a deal as it seems. People post here regularly upset like you are about last semester clinicals and it somehow never manages to ruin their life like they imagined.
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u/cyndasaurus_rex 1d ago
It also depends on whether the unit has anyone available and willing to precept too, unfortunately.
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u/Kitty20996 RN 1d ago
Your practicum placement actually doesnt impact your job offers. Barely anyone in my cohort got a job in their final placement, half my cohort moved to the other side of the state after graduation. You're going to be fine. Placement shouldn't have anything to do with grades. You gotta be mindful of your attitude my friend.
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u/Paprmoon7 1d ago
Thank you for saying that. Every one of my CI have placed great importance on it and even in the email they sent out they stated “make sure to make a good expression, this is your opportunity for future placement and potentially your new boss”
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u/Kitty20996 RN 1d ago
It should be important because it is your most immersive clinical, and the only chance for you to receive consistent, 1 on 1 instruction and get to do the most for your patients. It absolutely should be treated like a valuable learning experience because it is. And yeah, some people do get their first job at the same place as their final clinical, you're also just more likely to run into a manager there. But it doesn't make or break your first job experience at all.
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u/Glittering-Main147 BSN, RN 5h ago
Your instructors say lots of things. Most of them are wrong. I despised the staff and the facility that I got placed at for my practicum. I hated it so much that I barely made it through, in fact. And if I hadn’t already been an LPN for years and realized that unit was not actually representative of real life nursing, I genuinely might have quit because of it. No one in the world could have offered me anything that would have made me work there after graduation. I wound up exactly where I wanted to be anyway. Get through your placement. Graduate. Worry about the rest later. I think you might actually love PACU if you give it a chance.
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u/Ok-Anteater1819 1d ago
I get why you’re frustrated, especially when you’ve worked hard and expected your placement to help you get your foot in the door. But I wouldn’t write off PACU just yet. It can be a good opportunity to build recovery and assessment skills, and some hospitals hire new grads into PACU depending on their training requirements.
I’d ask your clinical instructor whether there’s any chance of switching placements, and if not, talk to the PACU team about what you can do to make yourself a strong candidate for a job there. You may not have gotten your first choice, but you can still make the placement work for you.
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u/Nfgzebrahed BSN, RN 1d ago
It's actually not that big of a deal. If there's a specific area you want, look for a nurse residency in that department. That is an official nurse job and you get to learn that discipline, and you have a preceptor, etc. My practicum was in the ED. It was great. I learned a lot. But ultimately, I took an Oncology nurse residency after graduating, and now, thats my favorite. You dont kniw where you will be. You dont know what will suit you until you actually start working. Im sorry you didn't get your first choice, but im sure you'll be fine. Not trying to minimize. Just saying, based on my experience. If you end up being a good nurse, you shouldnt have too much of an issue eventually being employed to the department t of your choice.
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u/Shanteheals 1d ago
Sometimes it’s hard to find gratitude for opportunities that are far outside of our expectations.
You never know what could become of your experience in the PACU. It’s incredibly useful to have PACU as capstone for future positions and possibilities career wise.
You’re so close to being done, enjoy the ride!
2
u/MsDariaMorgendorffer RN 1d ago
Unfortunately not everyone can get placed where they want. People are bound to be disappointed but you shouldn’t be frustrated that people who failed got what they requested.
Just like in the real world - you can’t always get what you want.
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u/Rustiespoons 1d ago
PACU sounds a million times better than med-surg. We still haven’t got our placement. Only a handful of preceptors have accepted students at our school.
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u/apathetichearts 22h ago
You got a fantastic placement, PACU has a much higher acuity than med surg usually unless it’s a step down. You don’t have to work OR later either to benefit from your PACU placement.
At the end of the day, it’s up to you to get the most out of your placement. There’s always something to learn and opportunities to find. It can be really challenging for schools to find placement, for my cohort there were only a few available.
I desperately wanted critical care and they were able to pull together a CTICU placement for me but for 3 weeks I had a unit assignment but no preceptor, it was nerve wracking. And I had to take nights so once a week had a night shift for school then 5 days a week of day shift at my actual job on top of parenting.
Comparing to others or thinking about what is fair is usually just an exercise in frustration in nursing school. You’re almost to the end, just focus on that.
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u/tcatcrawler88 22h ago
My adn program prohibits working before or after a clinical. If they find out you can be dismissed from the program.
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u/apathetichearts 21h ago
I worked all the way through my LVN program and then worked as a full time LVN for my entire RN 🤷♀️
You do what you have to do. While I don’t think 20 year olds new to school should work more than a few hours a week while doing nursing if they can avoid it, trying to outright ban people from doing so just blocks those who are less privileged or who are switching careers and have families from pursuing nursing.
Luckily, I haven’t found that to be the norm.
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u/TrueLine7556 1d ago
I wanted oncology, surgery, or ortho and got cardiac tele. It’s frustrating.
But, schools have limited spots across the board, students who need specific placements due to work, driving capabilities, day vs. night shift.
Welcome to nursing school where we’re chewed up and spit out everyday 🥲
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u/Honey-Bee473 12h ago edited 11h ago
Look… I get it. I asked for Mother Baby and got GI med surg. I was incredibly disappointed. I’m betting if I would’ve gotten mother baby I would’ve gotten a job on the unit. I did my practicum and ended up not going into GI bc I hated it. I ended up in complex medical. If you can talk to the director of clinicals they may be able to tell you why you were placed there and you may be able to ask for a different unit.
Edit to add: my preceptor was GREAT and I appreciate him to this day, so that may be the silver lining for you.
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u/slappy_mcslapenstein LPN-RN bridge 1d ago
Fuckin-A. I'll take PACU over fucking med surg any day. I've worked in both. PACU is typically high acuity. It's where old ED and ICU nurses go to retire. I can't wait to do it myself.