dismissed from my ADN program HELP

[Laura77598]

Hello allnurses,

I'm still in a state of SHOCK right now...

I was just recently told that I should withdraw from the program because I would not pass clinical. I (at the time ) was told that I could reapply to the school and perhaps be readmitted. So I dropped. I have been having CONTINUOUS issues with this program and its instructors, and I had many complaints from hospital staff, but I have tried to address the issues. I have received complaints of unsafe clinical behavior, but it has been something like a one time incident of forgetting to remove my gloves before stepping out of a pt's room. I also was told I am not performing an acceptable physical health assessment when I examine my patient. I took Health Assessment in the fall of 2006, and haven't had any of it since. I reapplied to the program and took the tests and everything and submitted my application to re-enter the program the next year. My plans were to retake health assessment since my instructors have pointed out deficiencies in my physical assessment while in clinical, then I would go back and retake common concepts of adult health (med-surge 1) and be delayed for a year. It sounds like a good plan on paper so far, huh?

Skip ahead another couple of weeks to a week after my reapplication... I got a letter in the mail from the director of our nursing program stating that I would not be readmitted to the program due to "unsafe clinical behavior". Now I don't know what to do... Personally, I don't see my clinical behavior any different than the majority of the students in the program, I seem to get more difficult patients with more critical issues such as morbid obesity, inability to move, and such. I now have to apply to another program. However, one of the problems I face with that is previous program dismissal.

I can apply to another program, and I will more than likely get in, but so many of the other programs around here want you to be able to return to your previous program. What to do...

I really don't want to go to the Nursing Department and rehash all of this again, as the staff there (all 4 of them) are of the opinion that I shouldn't ever BE a NURSE! I am mad, tired, discouraged, and doubtful at this point. FORGET all the accolades I have had previous to this program, but now, the Nursing Department doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with me. They don't even want to entertain the idea of me being back in their program. Our director is a REAL BIGWIG she is the former president of the Texas Nursing Association, and she is like a nursing God or something.

My current plan of action is to apply to another nearby program that is in a separate college nearby. I just feel like I should have had a second chance with this first program. And What about the Clinically unsafe opinions? That frightens me b/c I haven't been any different than any of the other students I have been on the unit with. I sort of feel like I have been hung out to twist in the wind by my instructors. I don't feel supported or taught or encouraged by any of them. I feel that I was judged harshly, and I am HUGELY DISSAPOINTED by my nursing instructors. I feel that I have only been criticized for my errors, and NOT shown a better way of anything. I am undecided about how to handle this dismissal.

Now I am actually close personal friends with the Dean of Students at this school. Should I involve her? Should I complain to the Dean of Students about this dismissal/denial of readmission, or should I just move on and reapply to this next program?

Currently I am just so let down by my level of instruction and I am really disheartened by the whole experience.

Here are my courses and grades so far:

Fall 2004: Lifespan Growth and Dev. 2314- A

Sp 2005: A&P1 - A

Summer 2005: Psych 2301 (intro) - A

Spring 2006: A & P 2 - B

Summer2006: English 1301 - A

Fall 2006: Health Assessment - A

Spring 2007: Microbiology - A

Fall 2007: Dosage Calculation - A

Spring 2008: Medical Spanish - A

Fall 2008: Foundations of Nursing - B

Fall 2008: Clinical for Foundations - B

Spring 2009: Med Surge 1 (Common Concepts of Adult Health) Withdrew - W

Spring 2009: Clinical for Med Surge 1 - Withdrew - W

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Laura

[fiveofpeep]

Im sorry you are going through this. I do feel that in nursing school sometimes students get weeded out injustly. I am going through the chain of command right now due to an unrelated matter and it just seems so annoying how because we chose a major that is in high demand, the administrators often feel that you are a dime a dozen as a student and arent helpful towards you.

The only bright side on this is that this obstacle for you will allow you to join a better program and the time delay is probably beneficial because hopefully you will wind up graduating in a more nuturing economy.

Good luck to you and I am sorry.

[meluhn]

If you are getting complaints about your clinical performance by instructors and staff, maybe you should evaluate your behavior and see if there was anything you could have done better. I think there must be something to it if everyone is saying it. You said you are doing just as well as any other student, does that mean they are complaining about all the students or just you? I doubt that they are out to get you. Think about what you are doing instead of getting mad at them. Not everyone can/should be a nurse.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I am sorry for this disappointment. However, I think you need to first examine how your reactions to this situation have impacted the ultimate decision. Since there was more than one complaint, you need to realize that there may be some validity to their complaints. We have all been in a situation where we didn't realize errors we were making. Its a tough lesson. Before you apply to another program, I would do a self-examination and find out what you need to do to change your own behavior. I would think a second program is going to want to know what you will do differently.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

but they need to tell her what she did, or she cant fix it.....

[lovehospital]

I think that nursing instructors should be more helpful and willing to work with the students and you just have to remember that it is their "subjective opinions" and if you really think you "CAN" be a nurse you should try to improve your weakness.We dont know the whole story,you havent described why the instructors thought you were unsafe,have you made some medical errors? Its hard to judge if we dont know fully what happend.As far as nurses in hospitals,hmmmm they can be mean,judgmental,jeolus,evil,eating the young,I could go on and go on,you know...I had a complain from at least one nurses saying I bother her to much with asking questions,as well as some of my friends received complain that they ask too many questions,I had nurses who told me I will be a decent nurse,more importantly I had several patients told I will a good nurse (non said I was going to bad),so you know like I said it is all subjective but I dont care what those evil nurses thought of me:),I had instructors who were mean and evil and obviously tried to discourage me from nursing profession,I had nursing instructors tell me I'm brilliant (I dont want to come of as conceided),so my conlusion is"Take criticizm and learn from it and continue to pursue your nursing career)

[RochesterRN-BSN, BSN, RN]

Yeah I have to agree that I doubt it was wearing your soiled gloves into the hall that would have them kicking you out of the program......sounds like maybe you are not even aware of what you are doing that is so dangerous.......My suggestion would be to go to the instructor and tell her that you respect the opinion of her and the others that were part of the decision to excuse you from from the program and that you are not there to plead your case or try to pursuade them into changing thier minds......but that you just need some answers. That you need to know what it was that you did, specifically, as you want to try to learn from this expereince and grow from it. To do that you need to be able to understand and make some changes in your practice. They owe you an explaination.

Good luck!!

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Yeah I have to agree that I doubt it was wearing your soiled gloves into the hall that would have them kicking you out of the program......sounds like maybe you are not even aware of what you are doing that is so dangerous.......My suggestion would be to go to the instructor and tell her that you respect the opinion of her and the others that were part of the decision to excuse you from from the program and that you are not there to plead your case or try to pursuade them into changing thier minds......but that you just need some answers. That you need to know what it was that you did, specifically, as you want to try to learn from this expereince and grow from it. To do that you need to be able to understand and make some changes in your practice. They owe you an explaination.

Good luck!!

my point, exactly......and when you (the op) gets that opinion, you have to be able/willing to hear it.....good luck

[Esther2007]

I am sorry to hear about your situation.

The important thing to do at this time, is to evaluate yourself to see where you can improve in the future. You can only grow, when you can learn from your mistakes. I am troubled by the fact you said, you always get tough patients.

In the last two years of nursing, my instructors always gave me challenged patients. Last semester, I had two patients on isolations, obese, diabetic, IV meds, NGT, dressings and on bed rest. I used the experience as a great opportunity to learn and increase my skills. I was not upset with my instructor, infact; I thanked her for believing that I can take care of the two most difficult patients on the floor.

If nursing is your calling, it should not matter the conditions of the patients. You are there to care for the sick. I hope you will find a program that will create an good environment for you. Good luck to you

[MrazFan]

First of all, I want to say that I'm really sorry you're going through this. Your grades show that you are a good student, BUT that doesn't necessarily translate to being a good nurse. You have to have the knowledge AND apply it in real life. I agree with the pp who said that if multiple people are complaining, then maybe you're not realizing what you're doing wrong. What were people complaining about? Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to be mean, but I find it hard to believe that you would get EVERY hard clinical patient and EVERY difficult situation to deal with. That kind of sounds like passing the buck to me. While I also agree with the pp who said your instructors should at least tell you what the complaints were (if you honestly don't know) or what you did that was so wrong, I do think that you need to look at yourself and be honest with yourself about what's happened. If you don't, even if you do get into another school, it won't do you any good, because you'll likely make the same mistakes again and end up in the same place as you are now. I wish you the best of luck.

[lovehospital]

I am sorry to hear about your situation.

The important thing to do at this time, is to evaluate yourself to see where you can improve in the future. You can only grow, when you can learn from your mistakes. I am troubled by the fact you said, you always get tough patients.

In the last two years of nursing, my instructors always gave me challenged patients. Last semester, I had two patients on isolations, obese, diabetic, IV meds, NGT, dressings and on bed rest. I used the experience as a great opportunity to learn and increase my skills. I was not upset with my instructor, infact; I thanked her for believing that I can take care of the two most difficult patients on the floor.

If nursing is your calling, it should not matter the conditions of the patients. You are there to care for the sick. I hope you will find a program that will create an good environment for you. Good luck to you

I agree that by having patients on the bed rest and with unstable or serious condition you can learn much more than if you have had a relatively easy patient,however I also think that students lack experience in handling "tough" patients and it is unfair to expect "perfection" from them since most of them are terrified and under high level of stress.No students deserve to "get" only difficult patients while other students get an easy day at the clinical,with that said I dont believe that nursing instructors plan in advance to give hard patients to "some students (unless I guess the student perform poorly).Most of them randomly assign patients to the students and tries to find easy patients not the ones who require total care.Also nursing instructors should realize that when they assign a hard patient to a student that this particular student will need help somewhere down the line from other classmates,nursing instructors need to realize that it is not that we nursing students cannot take care of that patients efficiently,it is just we need help with turning and atually we should be given credit for our effort in recognizing our-self limitation and willingness to seek help.According to state Nursing practice act a safe nurse is that kind of nurse who is able to recognize the need for help,but I guess some nursing instructors fail to aknowledge that.

Anyway make a case,go to the Dean,I had a student who was threatened to be kicked out from the nursing program and she went to the higher power.She stayed and she is doing very well and will be good nurse,you only have one thing to loose.... your dreams

[RochesterRN-BSN, BSN, RN]

So true I hate working with "super nurses" that feel they never ever need help and are even offended if you offer to help. Reminds me of a male nurse (not that his gender was of any significance) I worked with on a medical floor.... he was running around like a chicken with his head cut off complaining about how behind he is and how stupid docs are (lol his usual M.O.) and what not....I was totally caught up and so I see he is getting a new patient.....the techs are all really busy and he doesn't even notice the patient he is so busy.......so I fugure I can help, I am not busy........ So I find him shortly after and tell him "your new admit arrived and I know you are slammed so I got him settled.....weighed him, checked his admit orders and it seems he is on 2L O2 so that on, his fluids are running and I hung a new bag of NS......he urinated 550cc and I started an I&O sheet for him and put it on there. His paperwork is in his nurse server (outside his room) He is all tucked in and I let him know you would be in as soon as you were able. Just wanted to let you know, can I help with anything else...I know it's been a rough day for you?"

Well here I thought I was being nice and doing for another nurse what I would love to have done for me when I am slammed.........

Nope! He turned to me and yelled at me!!! lol yes! lol "I am perfectly capable of taking care of my own patients. I don't need your help or anyone elses! So you just do your work and I'll do mine!! Okay?!?!?"

WOW! I was shocked! That's what I mean by super nurse! Funny thing is he is a very good nurse, when he feel like it! lol and can be very fun to work with ....very funny.......however he could turn on a dime! I swear he had dissociative Personality D/O! LOL

So long story nothing wrong with asking for help. Better to be safe then sorry. Especially when ambulating a possibly unstable patient, turning a patient...etc.