do you have good clinical instructors?

Biol20fan · Mar 8, 2009

Some you will click better with than others, but for the most part, my instructors have been outstanding. :yeah: Just prepare, prepare, prepare, take initiative, show interest, and that will count for a lot. :twocents:

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 8, 2009

While there certainly are some bad instructors out there (just as there are bad students, bad patients, bad bosses, bad spouses, etc.) ....

You have to remember that a lot of people come here to vent. Peopls don't post much when they had an uneventful day and/or an instructor who was competent and fair. They post when they are upset about something. That gives us a collection of posts that present a skewed picture of the world.

Also remember that students who are doing poorly, receive a bad grade (deserved or not), or who are having some sort of problem -- are likely to become defensive and blame the instructor whose job it was to make the judgment, give the grade, give the student the student bad news, etc. So, instructors are on the receiving end of a lot of unjustified criticism from students who deserve the poor grades that were given. Once again, that skews the posts here towards the negative.

Thank you for providing a positive view of instructors. As you continue your schooling, you'll probably run into a few that you do not like as much. You may even run into a couple of really bad ones. But that's to be expected of life in general.

CrazedStudent · Mar 8, 2009

I'm in my 3rd level of the RN program. I haven't had a "bad" clinical instructor yet. I've had two that I didn't mesh well with and thought them to be very wishy-washy, but they were good people. I recently completed my OB rotation and had a FANTASTIC clinical instructor. She was very good at pulling us into learning situations and creating some of her own for us.

You just have to take the good with the bad. Luckily, for me, there's been more good than bad so far.

AZO49008 · Mar 8, 2009

I've had great clinical instructors. They've made us work, they expect a lot out of us, but I've also learned a great deal from them.

I've found the key to keeping them on your side. I NEVER, EVER go to them with a question that I haven't first thought through a potential answer.

For instance, a typical question from me might go like: "Hey, I have a question about XYZ. The client as ABC going on, and his DEF levels are .0123. Based on that, I think this that and the other thing needs to be done based on what I looked up in our clinical handbook. Am I on the right track?"

I found that a lot of times I am on the right track and I've correctly thought through the question myself. This not only increases my own confidence level, this develops my instructors' confidence levels in me as well. Plus, they really like that I haven't come to them expecting them to give me the answer.

I can't tell you how many times I see my clinical instructors saying to my fellow students "Did you look it up?" or "Did you check his lab levels?" and then they have to backtrack and look this stuff up on their own anyway and then go back to the instructor.

It's really not that difficult to be a good clinical student.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 8, 2009

All of my CIs have been pretty good, actually. A few of them had personalities that were challenges to deal with in the clinical setting, but they weren't bad instructors. You just had to know how to deal with the quirks, that's all.

MrazFan · Mar 9, 2009

I am in my first semester and at the very beginning I was worried that my clinical instructor was going to be "one of those" instructors who are drill sargeants and are horrible. I could not have been more wrong. She holds us to a high standard, to be sure, but she is always there to help us, and she is always willing to use a situation as a TEACHING opportunity rather than a trash-the-student's-self-esteem session. She's been absolutely great. I agree with the pp who said that people come here to vent- most people don't post on message boards about how great their instructor is or what a fantastic day they had...

JanineD23 · Mar 9, 2009

I have some wonderful instructors and some I'd like to pack back to wherever they came from. For instance, my Med-Surg instructor has because so much more than just an instructor for me. I feel completely at ease calling her just to talk about anything that is going on. She's much more a mentor than an instructor.

I do, however, have others that seem to like to remind us we are nothing but students and don't have the knowledge they do. They take pleasure in asking us questions they think (or sometimes KNOW) we don't know. It's very frustrating.

futrnrs2010 · Mar 9, 2009

my only advice is to simply remember why you chose this profession...because at times it my be all you have to hold on to-to get you through the tough instructors and the far too many allnighters...

saint nic · Mar 9, 2009

I can say that most of my clinical instructors were bipolar. i thought the same thing they are here to help not belittle us. i never felt that much stress than i did while being at our clinical site with the instructor.

9livesRN, BSN, RN · Mar 11, 2009

I love my Clinincal Instructor, whe is just Awesome, she will stand by you and watch over you to protect you and fight for you like an EAGLE, she wont let nurses, or those mean charge nurses step on us at all!!!

although she is very straight forward if you upset her, or give her a bit of attitude, she will not tolerate that!!!

she also teaches on Seminole CC!