I flunked out of clinical today..

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I`m devastated.. This was my last semester.. 3 weeks away from graduation. What happened is I didn`t have my watch for clinical and that was a break in dress code.. and when I went to take a vital sign i was confronted with the problem that there was no clock anywhere around and I had no watch.. I went and took out my cell phone and used the timer to get the exact 30 second count. I had my back to the door at that point because i wasnt really sure my instructor wanted to see my phone out .. I couldn't feel the radial pulse so well.. I was nervous and recorded the wrong number. I handed them my vitals and it was way off.. the HR.. I looked at it and thought to myself that`s not right .. my instructor said go do it over again .. I did with another student and had a number that was way different but I used the apical pulse which I could hear much better. Now I get sent to the office and told that I falsified medical records to try to cover up my mistake of not having a watch. I am kicked out of the program .. my instructor said that she did not see my cell phone and that she was watching me the whole time.. that i was facing her and looking at the door to see if there was clock hanging.. This did not happen. I don`t know how I can prove it. Its basically my word against hers and i`m like devastated.. She keeps saying that my story changed.. that the second time i got the HR i got 117 and then told someone else it was 170.. which was completely false I even wrote down 170, with another student watching me right there (its a child, that`s why so high), and I`m not entirely sure why she would be so insistent to say this.. I was like flabbergasted at all of this.. shell shocked and maybe I didn`t express myself properly but I didn`t change my story .. I might have misspoke .. i mean hell when she took me to the waiting room to talk to me about this and I told her I listened to the HR for 30 MINUTES.. when obviously I meant seconds.. I`m just very upset right now.. 3 years of my life and it ends like THIS!!? Now I don`t know if i will ever go back into the program .. I need to write a letter in my defense for when the teachers have their meeting about this where they decide whether to take me back for next semester.. or any semester. It`s devastating.. I`m taking 1 day off to clear my mind and then start writing this tomorrow.. anyone have any idea what I can write.. I don`t know if theres anything I can do to get them to change their minds. This is so awful

That is an awesome idea.. I sent an email to the admin that I would be willing to do that .. anyone know any other ideas? I`m really nervous because that decision is coming soon.. can`t believe 3 years of my life could potentially have been a waste... It still hasn`t really sunk in

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I'm really sorry for you!!! I would forget my watch for clinicals too but there were physical old school clocks on the wall and the digital thermometers had a timer option. The major problem was that you pulled out your cellphone. There were other options that you could have taken and make sure to apologize a ton about your mistakes. I think you should do to the best of your ability to get accepted again for another semester. Hopefully you'll take it as a second chance and ace your nursing program!

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

I failed out of clinical too. I'm still working on a plan for re-entry to the RN program. I have some options available, but I want to end up with my ADN/RN. Tough road, to be sure. I failed out because of a lot of little things, that while none affected patient care in the least, added up to me failing the clinical. I was supposed to graduate in May. Now I won't. It's at least a year or two off now. I just hope that I can get things back up and moving quickly.

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i didn`t make it back in.. my re-admission was denied because 1- didn`t handle the situation properly, and 2- tried to hide my use of cell phone .. and because i hid the phone which would have been OK to have in our clinical the teacher was able to effectively prove that she was watching me the whole time from the other end of the hall and did not see me with a watch or cell phone timer while checking the vital sign so i was committing dishonesty since there was no other way to time the vital sign.

well.. i`m stumped and not sure what else to do. anyone know of a program that i can get into that is accredited that will still have me and is valid for PA?.. and won`t take forever to get? .. this is such a disappointment

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

Best of luck in overcoming this obstacle.

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i didn`t make it back in.. my re-admission was denied because 1- didn`t handle the situation properly, and 2- tried to hide my use of cell phone .. and because i hid the phone which would have been OK to have in our clinical the teacher was able to effectively prove that she was watching me the whole time from the other end of the hall and did not see me with a watch or cell phone timer while checking the vital sign so i was committing dishonesty since there was no other way to time the vital sign.

well.. i`m stumped and not sure what else to do. anyone know of a program that i can get into that is accredited that will still have me and is valid for PA?.. and won`t take forever to get? .. this is such a disappointment

Student2001 you still around? Know this thread old just wondering if everything worked out...

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