frusterated and annoyed with clinical instructor (long sorry)

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HI,

I have not written much on these boards but i love reading them so i thought i would post what happened to me today in hopes that it would make me feel better. my peds clinical instructor is very hard to deal with, so that being said, i had a baby for my patient and she had to be fed every 3-4 hrs, so she was to be fed between 11:30 and 12, well my nurse had told me it would be fine for me to go eat my lunch real fast it was 11:10 and that she would check on my baby but the baby could be fed when i get back. when i got back 15min later my instructor was in the room feeding the baby, i walked in and she told me i was so busted because i went to lunch. she assumed that i had just walked off the floor without telling anybody and left the baby to cry (which is not true, i checked on her before i left and she was sound asleep, and my nurse said she would look in on the baby) well, my clinical instructor made this huge deal about how i wasn't there to feed the baby even though it wasn't time for the baby to be fed and the nurse told me she was fine. so my instructor actually wrote me up for that, i know there was a communication problem but she made me out to be this horrible person who abandons her patients which is completely not true. i know that i am beating myself up ( i have never had any problems at clinicals). i am the kind of person that cares too much so i keep worrying about this. i was hoping writing it on here would make me feel better. also this clinical instructor has had numerous problems. I know this was long thanks for letting me vent.

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I swear, I think half of all nursing instructors are just washed out, frustrated, post-menopausal women who need to have their psyche meds reevaluated. :rolleyes: I've read so many stories here of emotionally unbalanced nursing instructors who have definate sadistic propensities. I also experienced this way back when with some of my own instructors.

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I wish I had this witch's email so I could tell her a thing or two. Don't worry, my dear, it's good practice for some of the shrewish, backstabbing women that you'll face down the road during your career.

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Just imagine all the drugs that you would like this person to be on... just got to remember this in a few years time when you're in charge of a student..

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Maybe she'll end up being your patient down the road, and you can find out just what she's on. She's probably threatened by you because you are an adorable, attractive 22 year who has a wonderful life ahead of her. Not a washed out old biddy with sagging boobs...

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Sorry about my vivid imagery, but these mean nursing instructors really irk me. This woman set you up, she's a vicious old witch, just like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz. I can see her, holding an hour glass, waiting for your return!

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

Are you required to notify your instructor when you leave for lunch? In addition to the nurse, and the aide (if we have had any interaction), we also let our instructor know where we're at and ask if we can take our lunch....avoids a LOT of misunderstandings!!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
I swear, I think half of all nursing instructors are just washed out, frustrated, post-menopausal women who need to have their psyche meds reevaluated. :rolleyes: I've read so many stories here of emotionally unbalanced nursing instructors who have definate sadistic propensities. I also experienced this way back when with some of my own instructors.

I have to laugh. Last semester it wasn't uncommon to hear a student say "we have 5 instructors but 8 personalities". The extra personalities were given to just 1 instructor who you never knew how she was going to be.

Then a few weeks ago a student commented to me about an instructor needing her bi-polar meds. I was kind of shocked because I like this instructor. Apparently some say things about her like "guess she didn't take her meds today".

Funny thing is that I told her about the first instructor and she laughed but had not heard that one.

So we do say that about some of our instructors so seeing it in writing was slightly amusing...though it's a shame that it seems true sometimes.

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Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

Just take this as a lesson learned. Always fill your instructor in on what your plans are so seh will know ahead of time what to expect and what you are doing.

Swtooth

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the frusterating part is that she knew i was going to lunch, everybody did, she was standing there when we were talking about it. but i appreciate the responses, fortunatley i have been pretty lucky with instructors. but boy was this a slap in the face. thanks everybody for the support. i did find out that i am not the only person she has done this too so i feel better about that.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Since this incident resulted in a write-up, I suggest that you respond in writing, and insist that your response be placed in your clinical file. Write in objective detail the events as you remember them, including your conversations with your instructor and precepting nurse. The nurse may even be willing to sign your response or write one of her own if she feels that you were unfairly disciplined by your clinical instructor.

While this incident is probably not a big deal on its own, and most other clinical instructors probably know that this teacher is "a little off", it is best not to let a write-up go unaddressed. Some programs have policies that prevent a student from advancing to the next level if they have more than 1 or 2 write-ups in a grading period. God forbid this silly incident should prevent you from advancing thru your program. If the need should ever arise, you would have thorough documentation to justify an appeal.

Good luck!

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Since this incident resulted in a write-up, I suggest that you respond in writing, and insist that your response be placed in your clinical file. Write in objective detail the events as you remember them, including your conversations with your instructor and precepting nurse. The nurse may even be willing to sign your response or write one of her own if she feels that you were unfairly disciplined by your clinical instructor.

While this incident is probably not a big deal on its own, and most other clinical instructors probably know that this teacher is "a little off", it is best not to let a write-up go unaddressed. Some programs have policies that prevent a student from advancing to the next level if they have more than 1 or 2 write-ups in a grading period. God forbid this silly incident should prevent you from advancing thru your program. If the need should ever arise, you would have thorough documentation to justify an appeal.

Good luck!

I love this idea. I would follow Jolie's advice.

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