Attendance question

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I've heard a few people from different nursing schools comment that they can't miss any classes in nursing school or they will be kicked out of their program. I'm just curious if this is common in most nursing schools. Of course I plan to always be in class... but I also have a 3-year-old daughter and I can't control any emergencies that could come up with her. Just a couple of days ago I had to take her to the ER because she fell face first into a glass coffee table and was bleeding profusely! (She's okay, by the way! Apparently head injuries bleed a LOT and look worse than they are!) If I had been in school when that happened and had to miss class, would that have been the end of my nursing school program? That makes me nervous! I will be checking with my school to see what their policies are... but I'm just curious what it is like in other schools.

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Specializes in Geriatric, long-term, home health, ICU.

My school's policy is you can miss 18 hours per semester. This is cummulative between clinical rotations and lectures. I think most nursing schools have policies like this to curb unecessary absences. If you miss too many clinical experiences especially, you are not going to have the tools necessary to pass the class anyhow. It makes sense, but at the same time, it's very difficult for those of us who are parents :) I understand your dilemma. I think it will work out just fine. Just make sure you are familiar with the policies of the school you are attending and make preparations for a backup such as a grandparent, friend, or family member should something occur while you are in class. Most instructors are very understanding. My clinical instructor currently works part time in an ICU while working on her second Master's degree. She is married with kids, so she understands life still goes on. I think you will find that is many settings. Find a school that is "family friendly" :) Sorry for the long reply! I just meant to jot a quick note! Good luck!

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My school always had a strict policy regarding absences from clinical, but started to become more strict with the classroom attendance as time went on. The instructors stated that it was getting too obvious that people were "blowing off" school and only showing up when they wanted to (like for exams) and that individual performance was deteriorating. They also said that attendance was mandatory due to some state requirement regarding actual attendance in order to get state funds for education.

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Our school has been very accomodating. We had a student that had to start clinicals late because she had a baby, and one of the instructors let her come to work with her on the night shift to make up her time. I have heard, however, that not all schools are that generous. She also had her baby lady partslly on Friday and came to class on Monday..but I wondered if she had a C-section, how that would have affected her attendance.

I have twins, but we do have a trusted relative that I can leave them with in the event they are sick...I have 100% confidence in this person, and trust her judgement equal to mine. She had even taken them to the physician for me once, for a routine physical, when I couldn't get an appointment around my school schedule.

Everyone has different resources...now if either one of my kids had spiked a high fever (102.6 or above), I would have missed in a heartbeat...because I wouldn't want someone to have to deal with that b/c that is too much responsibility to put on someone, in case something serious happened...and you have to be realistic.

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Specializes in ER/Ortho.

I hear the school I am applying to has a three day policy as far as being absent. From what I am told its the same at all the schools around here so thats just something I will have to deal with. At first I was stressed about it, but what can you do. It's only for a little over a year so I will just make due. I don't have too many emergencies anymore as the kids are a little older, but they do get sick. My insurance is also not very easy to work with in regards to specialists they might need to see. Usually we have to wait a couple of months for a specialist appointment, and dont really get to choose the day. If we are unhappy with the day we must reschedule which will take another couple of months, and again who knows what day we will get. Otherwise I am good. From what I hear I will go to school two days a week, and do clinicals one day a week. I can plan routine visits around that.

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My school didn't require you to be there except for tests & skills testouts. Quizzes that were missed could not be made up. We received participation points for attendance & for a few of my classmates, their lack of attendance was what caused them to fail the class. Those extra points made the difference. We had several students who missed lots of class. However, most of them either failed classes or dropped out. The successful ones were in school most, if not all, the time.

However, attendance to clinicals was a different story. You could only miss 4 hours of clinical a term. Any more & it was impossible to get enough points to pass & we couldn't make them up unless we had a very good excuse.

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My husband just finished at the school where I'm starting. He got 2 misses per semester (includes clinicals). They added up the hours. If you missed 2 hours one day, four another, 2 more another, that equaled 1 day. They were pretty hard-nosed about it. Had a girl who'd missed 1 day sick and 1 day sick kid. Then she had a wreck and missed and they dropped her from program. They told us not to miss for being sick or anything else, because you never know what might come up (death, accident) that you must miss for. If you've used your time, it doesn't matter what the reason is. I've not heard of any other programs that are quite so strict but it may be because of the huge #'s who apply and small #'s of spaces. Spring semester had 700 applicants and 10 spots. I've even heard of people bringing a puke pan to class to keep from missing. I'm thinking that would probably distract me from learning!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN.

2 misses = probabation and then after that you are at the mercy of the director, more than 15 mins late counts as a miss as well, however she does look at the reasoning for the tardy & miss and weigh it against how you are doing in your classes and all, so far several made it to probabation but none have been dismissed

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

Something to keep in mind - clinical space and placements are precious and difficult for the nursing schools to obtain. Space is limited and schools compete with each other. That, combined with state board of nursing requirements that nursing students log so many hours in each clinical rotation, and you can see why schools are quite strict regarding attendance. They've got to get that clinical space and meet the state's requirements for clinical time for each student. That doesn't leave much room for missed time.

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We don't really have an attendance policy for lecture although if you miss class you will miss turning in something that is due so you will lose some points. You can miss exams, but it has to be a legitimate reason and you have to let the instructor know prior to the actual exam time. We have 1 make-up day of clinical for those that had to miss one for whatever reason. Not too bad, although the majority of people haven't missed at all because you will miss some assignment being turned in!

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