Why the Quality of Nursing Clinicals Has a Direct Impact on Patient Outcomes

Nursing clinicals are an aspiring healthcare worker’s first exposure to the pressures of a nursing position. Not only do they help weed out candidates who might not be a good fit for the profession, but they set the tone for the future nurses’ expectations and possibly even inform the way they respond to on-the-job pressures.

Quality is important but also abstract. What does a good clinical experience really look like for a nurse? This article will take a look at why quality rotations are important and what factors separate good from excellent.

Why Rotations Are Important

Clinical rotations are important for the simple reason that it’s through this framework that nurses develop their earliest skill exposure. By the time they reach the clinical setting, they’ve already gotten in lots of academic reps, taking tests, listening to lectures, and reading books. Now it’s time for them to apply the skills in a more tangible and dynamic environment.

Through this exposure, they’ll find out what the pressures of healthcare work really feel like. They’ll also see how experienced nurses apply their skills when the pressure is on. Many aspiring nurses will learn strategies that follow them for the rest of their career. They may even develop mentoring relationships that they can lean on for years to come.

Most clinical rotations will be good. They’re regulated so that the experiences are as standardized as possible, but really excellent training environments can make a significant difference in a nurse’s life.

How These Factors Influence Patient Experience

Sometimes the impact is very direct. The more experienced a nurse is, the better equipped they will be to meet the challenges of the job. In certain cases, there will be situations that a nurse simply hasn’t encountered before. And while there are always resources within the hospital to ensure that new nurses aren’t out of their depth, it’s still beneficial to have people who are ready to rise to the challenges of the job immediately.

It’s also just better in a general sense to have nurses who are very ready for whatever comes their way. The nurse is personally going to enter all of their experiences feeling more confident than they otherwise would. That confidence is admittedly a little difficult to quantify, but it can make a difference in response time and simply the way that the nurse handles patient interactions.

It’s also worth noting, simply, that nurses who feel more prepared will likely also be less exposed to stress. Stress is another consideration that’s a little difficult to quantify in a way that is externally comprehensible. Nevertheless, it does significantly influence patient experiences. High levels of cortisol production, which is the chemical responsible for stress, are strongly associated with delayed decision-making or higher levels of mistakes. Patients, obviously, do better when their nurses are feeling prepared. That’s what you get through a clinical environment.

None of this is to say that clinical rotations are the only resource that shape the quality of next-generation healthcare workers. There are so many factors that come into play, and much of the most relevant learning will actually take place on the job. Nevertheless, clinicals are an invaluable resource that can help get nurses off to an outstanding start.

Qualities That Contribute to World-Class Clinical Environments

There are a few factors that can significantly influence the quality of a clinical experience. In the next few headings, we’ll take a look at considerations that move the needle in the right direction.

Variety of Experience

Arguably the most important and elusive consideration, providing nurses in training with a variety of clinical experiences is important for preparing them for the pressures of the job. It’s naturally elusive in that no hospital can control what sort of medical scenarios the nursing trainees will be exposed to.

Many nursing schools now use simulation environments as a way of supplementing clinical exposure. Simulation labs can be vividly realistic and are a great tool for exposing nurses to rarer situations or high-pressure scenarios that might not come up during their actual clinical rotations.

There are a variety of regulatory considerations that contribute to how much time a nurse will spend on clinicals. These are enforced by both the state and federal government. Some schools are known for requiring more reps than are legally mandatory. This is often an attractive opportunity for aspiring nurses who recognize the importance of getting as much front-end experience as possible.

Mentorship Options

Mentorship programs can be an effective way to not only help answer questions that new nurses might have, but also to develop relationships that may actively keep young people in the profession. It’s not a secret that nursing has a significant turnover problem. Unfortunately, many of the people who leave are new to the profession. Approximately 50% of nurses change careers entirely within the first five years of the job.

Mentorship relationships can significantly lower the likelihood of a nurse seeking a new profession. Workplace relationships in general are an effective way to retain employees, but particularly when there is an educational context, the nurse needn’t necessarily even go on to work alongside their clinical mentor. Just having someone on their phone they can contact with questions, concerns, or the simple desire to vent can be extremely impactful.

Making Clinicals Your Own

Are you an aspiring nurse? If you haven’t entered a nursing program yet, now is a great time to start reviewing options that are noted for their clinical experience. If you’re not finding enough information through an online search, feel free to reach out to the nursing department head for more information. They should be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

You may also find luck by doing an online search. Forum sites like Reddit should always be taken with a grain of salt, of course, but they can be a reliable source for firsthand accounts of what a program is really like.

If you’re already enrolled in a program and have found the clinical environment to be less than what you were hoping for, understand that there are still ways to enjoy a rewarding experience. Look for additional shadowing opportunities or even consider simulation software—your school may have resources like that available. The more reps you can get in, the better.