Driving too far to simply avoid a clinical instructor?

[Saved_by_Grace]

My nursing school orientation for this fall is this coming Monday May 16th. Hard to believe this year I've been waiting for has quickly come and gone, and now I have my chance to redeem myself....*sighs relief*

However, I have a big decision to make before Monday. And that is to which hospital I should sign up to do my clinicals. The most logical choice is hopital #1 which is only 45 min from here. It's closer than the college is, which is 80 miles. Hospital #2 is 125 miles from here.

I know it should be a no brainer-but it's not, and here's why:

At the closer hospital, #1 the clinical instructor is drill sergeant or something. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. This past school year she had to be reprimanded for berating a student so bad that a doctor complained to the school. The student was crying so hard that they said the whole floor of the hospital could hear her, The year before that this instructor flunked the entire ob rotation and another instructor had to be brought in to re-teach the ob class. There are a million horror stories about her. And I've tried to be realistic, gossip may be a big part of it, that surely she can;t be that bad, but after being in one of her pre-req's for only a month last year I tend to believe they are true. Everyone was hoping she would retire, or if enough complaints were brought forth that she would be gone after last year's incidences, but today I found out she is set to come back..ugh

So if I go to the hospital #2 it will be a 2 and a half hour drive two days a week for clinicals. My friend who will be my study buddy got in this year and she lives about 10 min from the school. She wants us to do our clinicals together so she also is afraid to come to #1 because of the clinical instructor and wants us to got to #2. It's only about an hour for her to either hospital. She says If I drive to her house which is an hour and a half for me that I can ride the rest of the way with her to #2 And this hopital is more state of the art, has computerized charting, etc.

So I'm torn..lol logically I should go to the closer hospital I know, It'll be ok either way, just another decision to make. I just want to learn as much as I can and learn to be a great nurse. Anybody have any opinions? Suggestions?

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

I am the type that refuses to be bullied..there is no way in HECK I would drive ten hours a week, JUST to get to clinical, to avoid an instructor. School is time consuming enough without adding that kind of drive time.

I also only believe about .02 percent of what I hear from other students. I have had plenty of instructors I dreaded having because they are so "horrible", only to have them turn out to be one of my favorites.

Whatever you decide, have a great year! Good luck! :)

I dunno about that, Leesie. Flunking an entire class is pretty darned serious, if you ask me. It's pretty hard to believe that every single student could be that bad, know what I mean?

I always figured that if more than a couple of students flunk out of a class, it's because they have a poor teacher.

So I'd choose to take the longer drive and pray that she'd retire before the Add/Drop date.

Best wishes for a great semester.

[LeesieBug]

I would imagine the info about arbitrarily flunking an entire clinical rotation rotation is gossip, unless it was actually confirmed by the school. Those kind of horror stories abound at most schools and usually turn out to be untrue, or have some kind of circumstances behind them that make the situation more understandable.

We have one instructor who supposedly can't teach clinical because she "lost her clinical liscense" . We also were told by other students we had to do actual breast exams on each other in health assessment (male partners included), or else flunk....turns out those of us who felt uncomfortable with it had the option of using fake strap-on boobies :chuckle .

I don't know, maybe I have just been lucky in that most of the horror stories I've heard turn out to be gossip.

I just would hate to drive that far twice a week because of the usual nonsense stories. You know, every school has an instructor that (allegedly) flunks EVERYBODY.

[Saved_by_Grace]

I've considered the fact that a lot of this could be chalked to the rumor mill, you know how that goes, but I did have this teacher for cpr pre-req. I tried my best to just stay under the radar and never ruffle any feathers because of the stuff I had heard before taking her class. She is very intimidating to say the least. So I'm just debating the pros/cons of just trying to avoid her altogether since I know first hand there are some truths to the gossip and not all just horror stories. I will have her anyway for a theory class, no getting around that. And everyone syas she is ok in theory but kind of goes "commando" in clinicals. True it is her license on the line. So I'm not saying she is bad or that every thing I've heard is free from the grapevine gossip, I'm just wondering if it's better to avoid the situation to be safer than sorry..lol:)

I would imagine the info about arbitrarily flunking an entire clinical rotation rotation is gossip, unless it was actually confirmed by the school. Those kind of horror stories abound at most schools and usually turn out to be untrue, or have some kind of circumstances behind them that make the situation more understandable.

We have one instructor who supposedly can't teach clinical because she "lost her clinical liscense" . We also were told by other students we had to do actual breast exams on each other in health assessment (male partners included), or else flunk....turns out those of us who felt uncomfortable with it had the option of using fake strap-on boobies :chuckle .

I don't know, maybe I have just been lucky in that most of the horror stories I've heard turn out to be gossip.

I just would hate to drive that far twice a week because of the usual nonsense stories. You know, every school has an instructor that (allegedly) flunks EVERYBODY.

[raynefall]

I would drive to hospital #2 it's just not worth the extra stress. During nursing school, I had tried to avoid a certain instructor throughout the program and what do ya know? I ended up getting her in my final rotation. This lady wrote up 6 out of 7 students in our group...she loved it, you should've seen her chubby face. Going to clinicals was torture, I was so obsessed with making sure everything was signed and my values were written on the MAR that I didn't enjoy that rotation at all, because of her!

When I used to see her come up on the floor, I would stress out so bad, it was ridiculous. During the last couple of weeks, things really cooled down, we would talk about non-nursing and nursing things and I finally understood the reason for her "madness" (as she called it). Honestly though, the stress of not knowing if this lady would fail me or not is enough for me to tell students who are left to avoid her. I will never forget the stress that lady put me through.

Go to #2 your sanity will thank you later.

[mariedoreen]

A year ago (prior to starting nursing school) I would have said take the closer drive and win over the instructor with your competent and intelligent ways. Now having seen and experienced much I would say:

There is no distance too far to go to avoid the clinical instructor from hell.

Run far and run fast my friend.

[Saved_by_Grace]

Thank you for your honest response..

A year ago (prior to starting nursing school) I would have said take the closer drive and win over the instructor with your competent and intelligent ways. Now having seen and experienced much I would say:

There is no distance too far to go to avoid the clinical instructor from hell.

Run far and run fast my friend.

[Saved_by_Grace]

Thanks Raynefall, I don't feel as bad about considering the longer drive now...:)

I would drive to hospital #2 it's just not worth the extra stress. During nursing school, I had tried to avoid a certain instructor throughout the program and what do ya know? I ended up getting her in my final rotation. This lady wrote up 6 out of 7 students in our group...she loved it, you should've seen her chubby face. Going to clinicals was torture, I was so obsessed with making sure everything was signed and my values were written on the MAR that I didn't enjoy that rotation at all, because of her!

When I used to see her come up on the floor, I would stress out so bad, it was ridiculous. During the last couple of weeks, things really cooled down, we would talk about non-nursing and nursing things and I finally understood the reason for her "madness" (as she called it). Honestly though, the stress of not knowing if this lady would fail me or not is enough for me to tell students who are left to avoid her. I will never forget the stress that lady put me through.

Go to #2 your sanity will thank you later.

[RedSox33RN]

I have a long drive, and while it does get rrrreeeealllllyyyyy long sometimes, especially in the cold winter months, I find a way to occupy my time with new CD's or lecture's on CD or whatever. I've come to think of it as my own "private time" (since I have 4 kids, and rarely get that at home).

I would be wary of all the rumors surrounding this instructor (would a college really keep an instructor when all of her students fail? Why would an instructor want that? I think they want GOOD pass ratios, not horrible ones, otherwise they've failed at THEIR job!). But even if you take to heart 1/2 of what you hear, it's a good enough reason to avoid her.

I've also heard all the rumors about doing breast exams in class, giving actual injections on each other, etc., and none have ever turned out to be true. Sometimes upperclassmen say this to freshmen nursing students, mostly in jest, but sometimes to freak them out a bit, and the rumor mill starts turning from there. Not that all of it is untrue, but they do spread like wildfire, and grow in proportion. I've also heard that those in the MSN portion of our school's program have to do PAP smears on each other. Fortunately, another rumor!

You need to do what is best for you, but even just knowing it will cause you unneeded stress, it's best to go for the least stressful environment to be able to concentrate on learning, not avoiding your instructor's wrath!

Good luck!