miss 2 clinicals & your kicked out!!

KC CHICK · Mar 27, 2003

Originally posted by caroladybelle
Basically that when you start working as a nurse - you will be entitled to "sick" time but never actually get to use it

Nurses are not permitted to be ill.

Can I get an "AMEN"?!!

At my hospital, three separate sick days used within 3 months time earn you a write up. 3 write ups and you're outta there. Not to mention, the ones that you do use count off on your annual eval. The powers that be in the hospital "recommend" that you not come in to work if you are ill or contagious. With policies like this, you can tell they're just blowin' smoke when they tell you these things....they don't REALLY mean it. You are truely expected to work among the sickest of the sick and not become sick yourself. Well, I guess, after enough years of nursing, you could build up immunity to almost everything....right?

I have only used 1 sick day in two years. :rolleyes:

Welcome to one of the realities of nursing!! Sometimes reality bites.

Anne

NurseDixie · Mar 27, 2003

We're allowed to miss 2 clinicals, but we have to make them up. Sometimes 2nd year students get to do a virtual clinical program on the computer to make up a missed clinical. We also have to make up any missed rotations.

dingofred · Mar 27, 2003

Originally posted by Shamrock
My clinical rotation was very strict too. I believe they are trying to teach a lesson here. Hmmmm, wonder what it could be?

:chuckle :roll :chuckle

javamom · Mar 27, 2003

We can miss one and have ONLY one make up day. Just b/c you missed the clinical doesn't mean you "get out of it". So our limit was one and then more than that, we repeat the semester.

Furball · Mar 27, 2003

I can't remember what the rules were, exactly, at my school but I do remember going to clinicals half dead, ill, and when my dad was in the hospital ,so it must have been strict...

susanmary · Mar 27, 2003

Originally posted by DGfuturenurse
We're allowed to miss 2 clinicals, but we have to make them up. Sometimes 2nd year students get to do a virtual clinical program on the computer to make up a missed clinical. We also have to make up any missed rotations.

For most nursing programs, the actual hours spent with patients is insufficient. Virtual clinical programs, observing clinics, etc. -- won't help you much in the long run. Nursing students need to get as much hand's on experience as possible. This is when you begin to learn to prioritize, multi-task, delegate, and start to apply all the theory that your've studied. I think it's important to have to make up clinicals. I missed one clinical & the research paper I had to write took far more than the 8 hours of missed clinical.

Rena RN 2003, RN · Mar 27, 2003

i'm not even sure how many we are allowed to miss before we don't pass the clinical. BUT a friend of mine missed one 6 hour clinical and the 40 page case study paper that she had to write took 2 weeks. needless to say that made a statement with the rest of us. we don't miss clinical even if we are deathly ill. we show up anyway and then the instructor has the ability to send us home. usually the make up work is way less that way.

NurseShell · Mar 27, 2003

Here's what my "Nursing Student Handbook" says:

"1. IF the student is able to meet the clinical objective, one clinical absence (hospital or campus laboratory) PER SEMESTER (not per course) is allowed without requiring makeup or incurring a penalty.

2. Any absence beyond one will be evaluated by the instructor and/or the teaching team. The decision to grant makeup will be based on the student's ability/opportunity to meet the objectives of the course. Makeup in excess of one is unlikely to be granted.

3. Excessive (translation more than one per semester) absences may result in the student not meeting the clinical objectives of the course which in turn constitutes failure of the nursing course. The student is then subject to the re-entry policy."

on #1 the word is "IF" as in if they don't feel you are "meeting clinical objectives" i.e. you "suck" then you don't get to miss any at all.

Also, if your instructor "feels you are not prepared" for your clinical assignment, they can send you home and that counts as an absence. So if you don't have your ducks in line and your meds researched you are SOL. Which means...do your homework!!

Edited to add: I haven't seen anyone "granted" a make up yet. They aren't very lenient when it comes to this. Especially since the clinicals are run simultaneously - it's nearly impossible to "make up" time.

howie122832 · Mar 27, 2003

NO make ups at the school I went to! We(myself and 2 other students) were in a car accident on day on the way to lunch, and the director of our program did come to the hospital ED and excuse us from clinicals the next day. She said that because we were doing OB and Nursery and would probably be sore, that we could take the day off, excused! But this was 2 weeks before graduation!

RN1263 · Mar 27, 2003

thanks for the comments so far . i didn't ask the question because i'm not a responsible person but because life happens ( deaths, car accidents, house fires , ect. ) & there isn't semesters at my school it's 9 mos. straight through . i just don't want to lose my $ 7,500 from missing clinicals because of something that may be out of my control. well, guess i'll have to risk it, i feel better knowing it's all schools & not just the one i want to go to.

maeyken · Mar 28, 2003

Wow! My school sounds pretty lenient compared to a lot! I think we're allowed to miss one day, and any more after that have to be made up (which is relatively easy, cuz our class is split into two different days, so you can go on the other day to make up your hours)

Also, one day my tutor had a family emergency, and so our clinical was cancelled. We didn't have to make it up, we just had to do an assignment (which was SOO boring! I think I would've rather made up the day!)

fab4fan · Mar 28, 2003

We were allowed to miss one day per semester without having to make it up, as long as we were passing clinical & classroom.