:angryfire I'm in the clinical experience from Hell! :angryfire
I'm in my last semester of an ADN program. Until this point, I feel I've actually been ENCOURAGED to become a nurse--to ask questions and to take the time to learn to do a skill right the first time. This semester, my clinical experience has me just about convinced that I've made a terrible mistake.
We are on a very hectic telemetry unit. Our instructor has decided it's best for us to "find out now how stressful nursing really is", so she has directed the nurse's aides to refuse any help we might need. Each day we get three patients, at least one of which is total care, and frequently one of which is in strict isolation for one infection or another. In addition to basic care, we are also responsible for researching and administering all of their medications and completing the associated paperwork. The paperwork is always a challenge because the nurses refuse to let us HAVE the paperwork, so we must hunt down the nurse in charge of our patient every time we need to make an entry. Our instructor wants us to be able to "handle pressure", so she belittles us and yells at us in front of staff and patients if we make the tiniest error or omission. The nurses on the floor are also her "eyes and ears", as we have all discovered the hard way when we have asked seasoned nurses in confidence for advice, then gotten reprimanded by our instructor for not knowing the answer ourselves. We are also getting little "mind games" played on us, like nurses offering to get med's, needles or tubing for us, then getting the wrong thing so our instructor can see if we pick up on the mistake before we walk into the room. I'm in a constant state of dread of each clinical day, and my only goal when I walk in the hospital each morning is that I will be able to avoid notice, either good or bad. I can't sleep and my stomach hurts all the time. Soon we will get 4 patients each. I hate to think I've wasted all this time and effort, but if this is what nursing is like, I want no part of it. I wish I had never started nursing school. Yuck. How do I get through the next three months and get some of my confidence back? Is this what I can expect when I start working?