Advice Please: severe hit in confidence department

lilybean · Jan 16, 2009

Don't get down on yourself! I'm sure most students make mistakes, you are learning after all. I have found personally that if I am scared I am going to do a poor job, I usually do. You just have to take a deep breath, tell yourself you can do it and nobody is going to hold you back, especially not yourself!

APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP · Jan 16, 2009

Nursing Diagnosis - Ineffective coping - situational crisis r/t inadequate confidence in coping ability as evidenced by "I have a sick feeling in my stomach all the time, I've lost my appetite and food goes right through me. I just want to cry".

Goal - nursing student will have increased confidence in student role as evidenced by: self report of increased confidence.

Nursing interventions: Provide nursing student with moral support and let student know that while you are in a learning-role-format - your clinical instructor is obliged to bring things to your attention. While you don't mention what "minor" mistake you made, you do use the word "mistake". Actions speak much louder than words. If you can show your instructor progress, your "minor mistake" will fade in time.

K os · Jan 16, 2009

During OB rotation, (last day was yesterday). On my first day, I put a diaper on an infant backwards, noticed my mistake and fixed it. I don't have children and havent changed a diaper since babysitting in the 60's. During assessment of mother, spent "too much time" - wanted to show the instructor that I gave a thourough evaluation. A list of 8 problems were written up and forwarded to school. These issues will be passed along to my next clinical instructor. Class starts Tuesday.

back2thebooks · Jan 16, 2009

It stinks to mess up. All you can do is take it as an opportunity to work hard and improve. Even if you mess up and it's made known, listen to the criticism with dignity and don't become defensive. Make sure you are not being treated poorly, of course, but take it as an opportunity to fix something and show your CI that you have improved. There's a reason you are doing this, now remember that and keep your head held high. Professionalism is a great quality to have even as a student, I think. Much of professionalism starts with your own confidence level. Hang in there!!! ((HUGS))

NightOwl0624 · Jan 16, 2009

During OB rotation, (last day was yesterday). On my first day, I put a diaper on an infant backwards, noticed my mistake and fixed it. I don't have children and havent changed a diaper since babysitting in the 60's. During assessment of mother, spent "too much time" - wanted to show the instructor that I gave a thourough evaluation. A list of 8 problems were written up and forwarded to school. These issues will be passed along to my next clinical instructor. Class starts Tuesday.

Hey - if putting on a diaper backwards and doing a slow assessment were the worst of your 8 issues, I wouldn't worry all that much. Sounds like nit-picking to me, and will be much improved with a little practice. Don't let it get you down!

blessedx2 · Jan 16, 2009

Nursing Diagnosis - Ineffective coping - situational crisis r/t inadequate confidence in coping ability as evidenced by "I have a sick feeling in my stomach all the time, I've lost my appetite and food goes right through me. I just want to cry".
Goal - nursing student will have increased confidence in student role as evidenced by: self report of increased confidence.
Nursing interventions: Provide nursing student with moral support and let student know that while you are in a learning-role-format - your clinical instructor is obliged to bring things to your attention. While you don't mention what "minor" mistake you made, you do use the word "mistake". Actions speak much louder than words. If you can show your instructor progress, your "minor mistake" will fade in time.

OMG FANTASTIC!!!! :yeah:

jjjoy, LPN · Jan 16, 2009

It's frustrating when someone nitpicks so much that it comes across as if you are constantly wobbling on the brink of failure... as opposed to it being that you are doing so well that they can't come up with anything worse to criticize! It's even worse if the supervisor/instructor actually threatens dismissal for what would otherwise seem to be easily remediated critiques. It makes it difficult to evaluate one's progress and competence as a learner and difficult to learn the relative priority of various skills and tasks when the feedback for a minor mistake comes across with what seems to be the same degree of warning as a major mistake.

But what can you do? Assuming that take you valid criticism seriously and are constantly working to improve... how to deal with the nitpicking? On the one hand, play the game. Graciously and humbly accept the feedback and make efforts to show that you have learned and improved your practice. On the other hand, you need to allow yourself some confidence and to let unhelpful nitpicking roll off your back. So if you get written up for putting a diaper on backwards even after you immediately caught and corrected it yourself, I think it's reasonable to dismiss it as unnecessary criticism in your own mind. You know that you're not going to make that mistake again even without it being pointed out. If you get written up for taking too much time in the process of doing an otherwise thorough assessment for the first time, take it as direction for a future goal and try to let go of the implication that you should've somehow been able to magically get it ALL right (thorough AND timely) even though it's all new to you.

I think the trick is to take criticisms as feedback about "what can I do BETTER in the future" as opposed to "what I SHOULD'VE already been doing perfectly". If you were doing something REALLY wrong, you'll probably get something different than a nitpicky critique. You might get shoved to the side, for example. Or get sent home immediately. Or even be talked to more gently than if you make a small mistake (either because they think you're kind of slow or because they think you're devasted about it). A snarky, short criticism can be interpretted as a good thing. That it can't be THAT bad.

Whether you put a diaper on backwards or give a patient the wrong medication, mistakes happen. How you deal with the mistake, how you continue to strive to improve your practice and to put patient safety first will hopefully be what you are ultimately judged on.

NurseJeanB · Jan 17, 2009

Oh I feel for you. Clinicals are nerve wracking enough without getting beat up over every little thing. You are a student and I would bet that you will never make those mistakes again. Don't let it shake your confidence. You can do it.

K os · Jan 17, 2009

Thank you all for responding. Your kind words, thoughtfullness and humor are just what I needed.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 17, 2009

During OB rotation, (last day was yesterday). On my first day, I put a diaper on an infant backwards, noticed my mistake and fixed it. I don't have children and havent changed a diaper since babysitting in the 60's. During assessment of mother, spent "too much time" - wanted to show the instructor that I gave a thourough evaluation. A list of 8 problems were written up and forwarded to school. These issues will be passed along to my next clinical instructor. Class starts Tuesday.

If that's the worst of what you did, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. Who knows, another CI might have had no issue with you taking extra time with a patient or that you diapered backwards (which at the worst would probably have been on the kid 2 hours max before it needed changing anyway).

Like others have said, be gracious about the feedback and see what you can take from it to improve yourself. I get dinged on something at least once every clinical and while it's frustrating (especially when it seems like a minor thing I'm being dinged on), I can assure you that because of that, I don't make those mistakes again.

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2009

Anyone ever been dinged by clinical instructor for minor mistakes while on clinical rotation? I have been written up and it has effected my confidence about going onto next rotation. I have a sick feeling in my stomach all the time, I've lost my appetite and food goes right through me. I just want to cry!

What you think is minor, may not be...just remember that.

I thought the same thing when I started my clinical rotations in my first semester....and now I look back, as I am currently in my last semester...and I wonder why I wasn't yelled at.