Forgive me, but I've noticed on these boards when a student is afraid of a overly harsh clinical instructor, there seems to be a running theme: angry clinical instructors that embarrass students, intimidate them, and make them afraid of them are the clinical instructors you want, because they make you work hard?
Huh?
This is grossly incorrect, in my humble opinion. I had a clinical instructor who picked on only me in a class of eight people. She would actually chart for other students, was kind to them. When it came to me, she embarrassed me in front of patients, their families, and other staff. She talked down to me, she consistently made me feel that I was not going to be a good nurse.
Absolutely EVERYTHING I did was wrong, and nothing I did was right. Even when there were no mistakes on my charting, she made it a point NOT to tell me how well I was doing, yet did it with other students.
It had a horrible effect on me: I lost 25 pounds, I was stressed out beyond belief. I was not sleeping, and it took a toll on other classes I was taking. I am an A student, and I began to get grades that were below that. It was then that I took control of my life.
I realized that when there is a person, instructor, boss, manager, who you can NEVER, EVER PLEASE, despite how hard you work, and how correct your work may be, there may be a personality disorder there, and you may need to simply talk to other faculty who may be able to talk to the instructor. You may just need to realize that IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S THEM. And that's ok. It's ok to realize that you are doing your best, and there are people who you cannot please. But lateral violence, nurses being mean and cruel to each other, and younger nurses accepting this attitude and even praising it is baffling to me.
This harshness and uncaring attitude that some clinical instructors show to students is what fuels lateral violence in the nursing profession, and it makes being a nurse more about personality conflicts than taking care of patients. In nursing school, I have seen more times than I care to remember other nurses who are mean and cruel to new nurses, or me as a nursing student. I don't cower in a corner like many nursing students, I stand up to nurses like that, and demand to be treated with respect.
I can understand that nursing students may be afraid to cross these clinical instructors, but what kind of nurse will you be, and how can you advocate for patients, if you cannot advocate for yourself? You need courage to be a nurse, and it seems that the message on many boards is: "do what you can with mean clinical instructors, be silent, accept the abuse, and move on". This just seems strange to me since as nurses, we need to be strong for our patients.
There is a nursing shortage going on, and we don't need students dropping out of programs because they have clinical instructors stuck in the past who think it's acceptable to embarrass and intimidate students and create a hostile class environment. It's unnecessary, and we as nurses need to acknowledge it.
I think it's high time that abusive instructors and nurses who practice lateral violence to other nurses and CNA's realize just how they are making this nursing shortage worse, by discouraging bright and talented nurses who don't need the cruelty. For those of you who are reading this who practice this behavior and you know who you are: Stop It.
And we wonder why so many nurses leave the profession.
i couldn't agree with you more! my clinical teachers are horrible! the verbal and emotional abuse is just unnecessary added stress to the stressful program. its to the point where i'm learning how to be a caring nurse because i know how not to behave towards human beings. "you don't lead by hitting people over the head-that's assault, not leadership" president eisenhower.
Thanks very much, I mean it like you are talking to me, I get it now. I really take yelling personal, but i have printed this out and it will go with me to clinical everyday. I do not take critics personal but the yelling and name calling is very painful. Again thanks i mean i really needed to hear this from someone else, it really feels personal. Nursing is hard, but i love the act and dedication of nursing, you have to love it to be a good nurse. I know i love this proffession and i will do my best to contribute positively towards the proffession everyday.
2 things that should never happen... Never, ever should a student be yelled at in front of a patient or staff, conversations should be taken off the unit, and 2, name calling is never ok. If those things are happening, I wouldn't hesitate to take it up with your advisor or dean... But if its just that your being challenged to be better, as long as its appropriate and not derogatory, then by all means carry that article with you and drive to be better. I push my students mentally constantly, but I also give them compliments when they do well.. Good luck, keep your head up and get out here and start working!!!
2 things that should never happen... Never, ever should a student be yelled at in front of a patient or staff, conversations should be taken off the unit, and 2, name calling is never ok. If those things are happening, I wouldn't hesitate to take it up with your advisor or dean... But if its just that your being challenged to be better, as long as its appropriate and not derogatory, then by all means carry that article with you and drive to be better. I push my students mentally constantly, but I also give them compliments when they do well.. Good luck, keep your head up and get out here and start working!!!
I agree completely. I remember all too well when I have been on the receiving end of criticism that was not delivered with much tact or discretion and I have always tried hard not to be unfair or unkind when I have had to deliver constructive criticism.
An instructor can be as tough and strict as they want as long as their interactions with students are conducted with respect. They shoud NOT be mutually exclusive.
An instructor can be as tough and strict as they want as long as their interactions with students are conducted with respect. They shoud NOT be mutually exclusive.
How true.....the ONLY instructor i came away with ANY respect for was the toughest (w)itch of the bunch! She was also the only honest, straight forward one there. The rest of them can (and hopefully will) go straight to hell.
and we need to take out the part of "not for the money"....that and caring is not mutually exclusive, either. A person who perceives that they will be self supporting needs to consider that in making a career decision.
Selflessness if best left to the religious vocations.
My daughter is attending nursing school in Oakland and appears to be the target of abusive behavior of the director of the RN program. She has received A's in her courses but has been blocked by the director from rotating in the the ER during her last semester before licensing. She found this out indirectly through one of the nurses in the ER, who initially said she had an openning but then withdrew the offer after the director spoke to her. The director never spoke to my daughter beforehand about any problems.
My daughter is a strong woman but it is incredibly stressful for her to have somone in a position of power pursuing a vendetta of some kind.
How can she possibly deal with the situation when her future career is on the line? She still has another year and a half to complete the Nurse Practictioner semesters after this one.
I just want to strangle the woman or sue the school or take it to the newspapers.
My daughter is attending nursing school in Oakland and appears to be the target of abusive behavior of the director of the RN program. She has received A's in her courses but has been blocked by the director from rotating in the the ER during her last semester before licensing. She found this out indirectly through one of the nurses in the ER, who initially said she had an openning but then withdrew the offer after the director spoke to her. The director never spoke to my daughter beforehand about any problems.
My daughter is a strong woman but it is incredibly stressful for her to have somone in a position of power pursuing a vendetta of some kind.
How can she possibly deal with the situation when her future career is on the line? She still has another year and a half to complete the Nurse Practictioner semesters after this one.
I just want to strangle the woman or sue the school or take it to the newspapers.
I wouldn't necessarily assume that there was abuse. I'm sure your daughter is a great student. However, I know that my school is very careful about who they will place in the ED as a Senior Practicum. Someone could be a 4.0 student and still not be a great fit for the ED.
Additionally, the Director might have been speaking for the school (ie the decision that faculty made) which is why, even though she hasn't worked with your daughter, she was the one to speak to the hospital.
As a nursing instructor, I can say that I find students have the best retention and success when I ask a LOT from them, but am open about all my expectations up front. I expect the best from all of my students, and will push them to excel. However, this does NOT mean being rude, abusive, unfair, or harsh. The students respond best when they know I will never let them off easy, but that they will never be abused. They feel safe to learn and grow, knowing I am not trying to fail them, but also that I am not just "letting them loose" unsupervised with no expectations or rules.
You can "make" someone bend to your will by being nasty, but that type of "learning" only extends to the end of the class in most cases. My goal is to get students to a point where they recognize all that they are capable of. Many have had people tell them they aren't smart enough or capable enough their entire lives. When they realize how much potential they have, I don't need to motivate them anymore! They want to be their best for the personal satisfaction of doing so, and my goal is to give them the tools and knowledge to succeed.
You are the type of instructor I LOVE to have (and they're rare). I enjoy being pushed to expand myself, without the threats and fear of punitive actions for petty reasons. Tough instructors are the ones who create the best RNs because they make you think. They simply cannot be cruel or harsh because of their own power trip or it will backfire.
I had a very harsh clinical instructor last semester who happened to like me very much (thank goodness), but she would still demean me in front of patients for the smallest infraction. If I didn't administer medications quickly enough, she would scold me at the bedside for having "poor time management." I viewed it as being safe...I preferred to look at the medication package, take my time and be careful, etc. She was always full of complaints about every student. One of the other students had a patient comment after the instructor left the room that she felt sorry for us. Now, if the patient is made to feel uncomfortable and is commenting on it, it's gone too far. She gave an "unsatisfactory" to one student because she didn't have gloves in her pocket and had to go back to the wall to get some before administering an injection...."unsafe patient care." None of us wanted to attempt new experiences with her, and spent much of our time avoiding her. For the most part, the only time we tried anything new was if our RN was wonderful enough to let us try with her/him at our side. That said, I did learn a lot about being efficient and charting, etc. because she had very high standards for us.
Too bad the woman often addressed patients (and students) by the wrong names after being corrected. It made her look like a hypocrit because she couldn't even get a name right.
I'm 40, have a lot of life experience to bring to the table, and am smart and capable. Many of my friends in the program are the same way. We've learned that when someone holds your grade or even your passing the class in their hands, it's best just to pick your battles and let them have their jollies if that's how they tend to be. If an instructor gets too out of line I wouldn't hesitate to say something but fortunately it's never come to that. I have the rest of my nursing career to stand up to lateral hostility from other RNs, and I'm not afraid to do it if I have to. But for now, I try to be tolerant of nutty instructors and just get through it.
My daughter is attending nursing school in Oakland and appears to be the target of abusive behavior of the director of the RN program. She has received A's in her courses but has been blocked by the director from rotating in the the ER during her last semester before licensing. She found this out indirectly through one of the nurses in the ER, who initially said she had an openning but then withdrew the offer after the director spoke to her. The director never spoke to my daughter beforehand about any problems.
My daughter is a strong woman but it is incredibly stressful for her to have somone in a position of power pursuing a vendetta of some kind.
How can she possibly deal with the situation when her future career is on the line? She still has another year and a half to complete the Nurse Practictioner semesters after this one.
I just want to strangle the woman or sue the school or take it to the newspapers.
What makes your daughter think the Director's decision was personal? A lot of students make that mistake -- thinking that everything is "about them" when it may have nothing to do with her. They think "personal vendetta" when it was just a policy decision. The Director may simply have decided that ED placements would be inappropriate for any student as the experiences there would not be a good match with the course objectives or your daughter's current learning needs.
Just because you get A's in your courses, doesn't mean you still don't have learning needs -- and that your clinical experiences don't need to match up well with what those needs are. There may be any number of good legitimate reasons as to why your daughter didn't get her first choice of a clinical placement. Does she have a bad history with this Director that you haven't told us about? If not, then there is no reason to think that your daughter is anything other than "another student" to this Director and no reason to think the Director is "out to get her" in some way.
If there is nothing more to the story ... it would best for your daughter if you didn't feed her paranoia fantasy about being the victim of an abuser. She'll be much more successful in the workplace (and in school) if she learns to tell the difference been "real abuse" and "not getting her way."
It totally throws you off when an instructor is like this. You're there to LEARN!! Being stern is part of it but being down right DISRESPECTFUL, rude and condescending is terrible. And don't even THINK of standing up for yourself, they'll put you down and even write you up for it!
I had an instructor, not in clinical just in class, that seemed nice. When it was time to be checked off for certain skills, she was a wench. She would hurry you and do some of the things for you if you were "too slow"!!!! how is this any way to learn?? and then when she'd go over everything (say bed making) and look at the folds- she'd say how bad they were and make you do it over EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS THE ONE THAT DID THE FOLDS because i was "taking too long"!!!! AAAAH!!!! I'm with you on this one honey!
wiggi22
5 Posts
i couldn't agree with you more! my clinical teachers are horrible! the verbal and emotional abuse is just unnecessary added stress to the stressful program. its to the point where i'm learning how to be a caring nurse because i know how not to behave towards human beings. "you don't lead by hitting people over the head-that's assault, not leadership" president eisenhower.