Out of nursing program cause i am smoker!!!

[misstaz25]

Help, I am at risk of being out of the nursing program because I am a smoker.

I really could use some advise on how to deal with a very unfair instructor. I am a first year PN student and we just started clinicals in Nov. I have an instructor that is absloutely against smoking. Of 18 students in the class only about 6 are not smokers. We were informed that if we as much as smelled of smoke during clinicals we would be docked in our grade.

One day another student and I got busted for smoking. Please no lectures on smoking and how bad it is. I really would like to quit. Anyway, our grade for the day was docked in every area it could. I would be fine with that. What I dont feel is fair is the way the instructor handled it after that.

A few days after the incident the instructor pulled me into her office when no one was around. She flat out asked me if I had smoked, and I said I will not lie, I did. She asked why after knowing her clear views on smoking I would do that, was I just that addicted? I told her yes, it is an addiction. This teacher than asked me about the other student and if she had smoked also. I felt uncomfortable about her asking me about another student, but I admitted she did also. I told her that I was sorry and would make sure it didnt happen again during clinicals. In fact I had just done another clinical the day before and told her in no way did I smoke before or during that clinical. This lovely woman told me that I need to think about what my punishment should be for disobeying her rules. Now remember my grade got docked for smelling of smoke. She also threatened to tell my mother about the incident. My mom works at the college but in a totally unrelated department.

A few days later she pulled me and the other student aside in a public hallway to lecture us and give us our punishment. She stated that we would write a 2 page paper with 2 references on how to quit smoking. Also we would write a 2 page paper on lying. Now I never did lie to her, she asked me if I smoked and I told her yes I did. If I wouldnt have confessed she wouldnt be able to punish us at all. Then to top it off she wants a 3 page paper on patient abandonment. She informed us, this is on the very last day of class before Christmas break, that we will have an incomplete in her class until she recieves these. I feel she is out of line and that she did this in a public hallway is just aweful. She wanted to make an example of us in front of the other students and I feel she handled this poorly.

I am furious. I have read the policies and procedures for the program I am in and nowhere does it say anything about smoking. In fact I dont think she can even assign extra papers because of it. My grade was docked as we were warned would happen. How can she make up extra punishment when I was punished by my grade? How can she make up extra assignments when we were told our grade would be docked. I earned a very hard A in her class. I got a 98% on her final.

Also this woman is a constant overeater and is constantly snacking on candy and other fattening treats. She flat out admits she cant live without candy. Yet she has the balls to judge anyone that smokes. She actually will pick out little things to dock grades on just because someone is a smoker when a nonsmoker can do clearly worse and recieve a better grade. I wrote in a letter to her that her behavior toward me and the other student was rude. In public to degrade us and ask us to write about effects of smoking and lying. How would she like it if she was asked to write about her eating habits and lack of exercise and how her fat butt is bad for her health? She can walk around with a jelly donut in her fat hand, but god forbid she smells smoke on a student.

She called me at home tonight to inform me that if she does not have these papers in hand by Weds of this week she will not let me continue in the program. I am considering taking her actions to her superiors and filing a greivance with the college regarding my grade.

Is it fair for a teacher to withhold your grade because of something like this? I have wrote her a letter pointing out how unfair it is and that I will not write extra papers for being a smoker. I admited to her I was wrong to smoke during a clinical, and said it will not happen again. My grade for that day was lowered because of it. I expect the grade I earned for the semester. I completed her course and than on the last day she throws 3 papers at me as a punishment!!!

I wrote her a letter that I expect the grade I earned and will not be treated like a child and will go to the board if she follows through on her threat. I feel I should add I am a president and deans list student. I have a print out of the points in her class and have earned a 96% fair and square. The class is over and I have an incomplete at the time deans and presidents list are being made, so she has taken that from me.

Please no lectures about smoking, if i could just quit I would. I want to know if her behavior is even justifiable? What are my legal options in this?

[Ohmygosh]

Misstaz25...I am not sure what area of the country you are in but I just wanted to offer a bit of help. Please dont take this as a put-down or anything negative. I come from a family of smokers and I know first hand the addictive power of nicotine. This program in Birmingham Alabama --(and other locations) has helped many people. Welplex Stop Smoking Clinics - Birmingham, AL Home Page One of them was my brother in law who was a 2 pack a day smoker for 35 years. He did this one time detox and says he hasnt had even the first craving for a cigarette since. I know in your OP you were not asking of assistance with quitting smoking -however I thought I would just offer something positive to this somewhat controversial subject.

Good Luck

[Jelli_Belli]

ok i thought i would add some clarification. this incident was not at a hospital, it was a a ltf. 90% of the staff that works there are smokers including the nurses. until 2 yrs ago this place had a smoking room, indoors, for staff.

there is not a policy on clinicals and smoking in the written rules. she verbally told us if we smell like smoke we will be docked. i agree smelling like smoke around patients is unprofessional in a hospital setting. however most of the staff at this ltf smoke and there is a smoking area. i already told her it would not happen again after she pulled me aside and asked me if i had smoked. this was a first incident and i feel she has gone overboard because of her personal bias..

okay i have to say something about this passage and i hope i am just misunderstanding what the op is trying to say here. are you really trying to imply that only hospital patients deserve the common decency of respecting their right to breathe clean air? are ltf patients any more deserving of having to breathe in the consequences of your bad habit?

just because the staff at this facility do not respect their patient's rights does not exclude you from acting in a way that keeps your patient's best intrest at heart.

i know the op doesn't want to "discuss" her smoking habit anymore...but still i think she is missing the point of the rule in the first place.

[misstaz25]

No that was not what I was trying to say. Smelling like smoke in healthcare is unprofessional. This incident happened to be at a LTF. Both the hospital and LTF we do clinicals at have smoking areas for staff. I was not trying to say only hospital patients deserve to not smell smoke. However I could see more of possibility of it being a bigger issue at a hospital due to the more critical patients. I am not saying in anyway was LT patients are less important or anything to the likes.

I am not missing the point of the rule. I have stated over and over LESSON LEARNED. Does anyone out there think lecturing/punishment works to get someone to quit smoking? It is a very difficult addiction, it has been compared to heroine and cocaine in additiveness. I am going to check out the link above about quiting. If you people out there really knew how many ways and times I have tried to quit. Also it is not advisable to try to quit when under stress and if anyone can say the nursing programs are not stressful, let me know where so i can transfer.

As Mark Twain said "quitting smoking is easy I have done it thousands of times."

[jimthorp]

I simply stated that my school had a rule where smoke was concerned under our dress code. I wasn't comparing apples to oranges, so please don't take my words and run with them.

I apologize. I didn't realize that's what you were refering to.

[jimthorp]

What is there to debate if this is an infraction?

Is it an infraction of a written rule? That has not yet been established by the OP. In school I was provided with a set of rules (WRITTEN) for conduct during clinicals. Interestingly, smelling like smoke was not mentioned.

If rules are not written, what is to prevent an unscrupulous instructor from railroading a student who they do not like? There are unscrupulous instructors out there.

[jimthorp]

So I suppose that you didn't have to wear uniforms to clinical, and could go wearing shorts.

I guess that y'all were not drug/alcohol tested and could not be prosecuted if you came to clinicals and giving care, impaired from going on a bender the night before.

And no one gets kicked out over a domestic violence or DUI conviction.

Yep, had to wear a uniform, do a pee test, criminal background check, and child abuse background check.

[jimthorp]

originally posted by jimthorp

my school also has a smoking policy but it is not more restrictive for nursing students than for the rest of the student body and rightly so.

there is a campus-wide policy for all students about when and where they can smoke. there are smoking areas.

this all changes for nursing students at clinical sites. and that is fair in my opinion.

however, the instructor was still off the wall about some of this.

steph

i agree.

[jimthorp]

In school, my fellow classmates and I got marked off for getting spots of betadine on our uniform and scuffs on the heels of our shoes...and yes, the instructor checked. People wore their slippers while driving to clinical, and put on their shoes when they got to site, so not to scuff shoes.

This is absurd and not representative of the real world.

Garlic breath, don't get me started with that too!

[nursesaideBen]

At our school we're not allowed to smoke during clinicals either, and that's fine, I just suck it up and keep going. I'm trying to quit smoking simply because I'm tired of not being able to breathe lol Honestly, it's not worth getting kicked out because of a cigarrette just appease your instructor and trudge on.

[Memerson2000]

I'm a non-smoker and have a real problem with smoking odors on other people--instant headache.

I think you should speak to a lawyer. I can't stand smoking but I'll defend your right to do it; I think this educational facility is violating your civil rights. I'm especially weirded out by your instructors use of the word "punishment"--maybe she'll spank you? BIH-zarre.

[lashes]

I always felt like I was being treated like I was in high school when I was getting my BSN; you should be able to smoke if you want to. Perhaps smoking during the clinicals is pushing it and can be considered unprofessional if your school has a policy against it however, being told to refrain from smoking while on the way to school or afterwards-- not cool.. Unprofessional of your instructor to threaten to kick you out. I smoke and I can understand pt's not wanting a " smoky" nurse but, I make sure I don't smell like it and have never had anyone say that I do.. It's a free country. Hang in there.

[PANurseRN1]

I had to leave town at 5:30 meaning I had to be up by 4am to shuffle kids around.

People please I have admitted I mess up. Please quit throwing it in my face and focus on the issues at hand.

Your childcare issues are not the school's problem. And you've taken the focus off the "real" issues by making very personal comments about the instructor.