Care plan/Clinical grading?

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I have a question about how your schools do grading with care plans and other required clinical work such as filling out assessment forms and journal entries.

In my previous classes, the assessment forms and journal entries were included as part of the Pass/Fail clinical grade, but care plans actually got a number grade.

However, this semester I am frustrated because we have several care plans to write and they are simply included as part of Pass/Fail- it seems like they are a lot of work just for that type of evaluation!

So, I guess I was wondering how your schools do with care plan and other clinical stuff grades, but especially care plans? Just to get some feedback and see if our school is maybe typical and I just don't know any better, and thus shouldn't complain! :D

Thanks a lot!

Ours are pass/fail.

....and I'm VERY pleased with that!!!!! :)

Specializes in Adult Med-Surg, Rehab, and Ambulatory Care.

Ours are Pass/Fail as well. I know, it is frustrating to put in so many hours of work for a lousy check plus.:rolleyes:

Specializes in L&D.

Ours is Pass/Fail also. I know...I a lot of work for that kind of grade.

Ours have been pass/fail. We complained about it. This semester we are getting letter grades on our clinical papers, but only if we maintain a 75 test average.

kim

Specializes in OB.

Ours were al ittle different. Each week you had a care plan to turn in, that one was pass/fail. Then on the last week of each clinical rotation you had a care plan that was graded with a number grade along with you performance evaluation. This gave you time to correct anything that you were doing wrong up until the last week then it really counted. It made the last week very stressful. There was a minimum score you had to get in orer to pass. I guess each school deos it the way they see fit.

Pass/fail here too and yes, it does seem like a lot of work just for that kind of grade. I spent all day yesterday on care plans and almost have my term paper done (which is only worth 10% of our grade). They place more emphasis on exams than anything else. Ugh!!!!

Specializes in PCU, Critical Care, Observation.

Each one of ours are graded & counted in as part of our class grade. Clinicals are still pass/fail, but the care plans are not a part of it. I wish it were pass/fail......it's frustrating to put all that hard work in & wind up with a 90 or 95......when you know there isn't anything more you can do to improve the grade. Most instructors will not give you a high grade, even if you deserve it.

Specializes in Cardiothoracic Transplant Telemetry.

I have found that not only does every school do it differently, but every professor. During first semester there was a large discrepancy over due dates between the two clinical instructors. One instructor wanted the care plan by the end of the week, and the other one wanted it the following Tuesday. That we did have to take one of our care plans and fine tune it for a grade in the lecture portion of the class.

During second semester, not only were the care plans part of the pass/fail clinical, but they were due at the end of each clinical day!! That meant that we had two of them to do each week, along with written reports on all of the drugs that had to be done, all while still managing two patients and searching out opportunities to do proceedures. Believe me, we learned how to manage our time

The best thing that I can reccommend is that you go out and buy yourself a good care plan book. I know that it saved my life. The 40.00 that I spent on mine was a god send. It would take each nursing diagnosis and give lists of rationales and nursing interventions. This can cut the time that you spend doing your care plan in half, because you aren't wasting time trying to think of things that you can do to help the patient. If you read all of the interventions each time you are also learning about other things that you can do to help your patients.

The more care plans you write, the better you will become at them. You will also find that a lot of medical diagnosis are really similar, and will be able to cut and paste some information from past care plans, if you are doing them at home. After all, pneumonia is pneumonia, cellulitis is cellulitis, and CHF is CHF.

Good luck

Specializes in Rehab, Step-down,Tele,Hospice.

Ours are pas/fail. Definitely A LOT of work and we don't even get a grade for it!!!

Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU,.

pass or fail at my school, too.

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