Bad Clinical Instructor

[delrionurse]

What do you do when you have a clinical instructor who lies? These clinical instructors are something else. They think it's appropriate to put on an evaluation that's posted online everything the student does wrong, making it appear that the student is morally or professionally unfit, even when you explained what occurred such as the charge nurse was not involved with teaching the student - but the student gets all their work done and make sure the patient was taken care of more than the actual nurse. 

This to me warrants disciplinary action on the instructor. They end up teaching even though they have unsatisfactory evaluations from students. You don't get to choose your clinical instructor and, by all means, you'll never choose some of these instructors, not to mention you pay the  school for instruction.  The instructors will throw you under the bus, so it makes sense to,  in two seconds,  send them to the board of nursing for a complaint for unsatisfactory and immoral behavior. The reason why this is necessary is because you can't tell a nursing instructor your concerns or else you'll get a target on  your back (due to bullying). This is not tolerating bad behavior by clinical instructors. 

Thoughts?

[vintagegal, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Take this with a grain of salt… 

your clinical instructor, just like your future co-worker and future charge, has experience, expertise, and knowledge.

sometimes it’s not easy getting negative feedback but this is going to happen your whole career. If you did something wrong nobody is going to pat you on the back, give you a cookie, and send you on your way. 
I don’t know the situation because I wasn’t there but If you are concerned with your evaluation then pull your instructor aside and have a private conversation.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

On 2/19/2022 at 9:02 PM, faithjohn said:

I'm surprised at how 'off' these responses are. The truth is you both have no answers. And, I don't care if I have a clinical site, so me being thankful has nothing to do with it. I don't care if the nurse teaches me anything. I'm simply don't care anything about a clinical site. That has nothing to do with me. This is why nursing gets worse. Know it all students like yourself, Firemedic, have nothing else to say, so say negative things. Please respond with less deranged comments. 

quit and find another line of work.

We are not  mind readers.  Just tell what the devil is bothering you and see if anyone understands it, gets as mad as you are, and can figure out what you should do.

We are not deranged.  You Are unreasonable.

 

Best wishes

 

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

11 hours ago, FiremedicMike said:

Side note, my clinical would be a million times more efficient if I didn't need to wait for my clinical instructor to hold my hand while I pop the blister packs into the medicine cup and hand them to the patient.. 

 

and make sure it's the 56 or 6 or however many Rights, make sure the pt actually takes it.  There is more to meds than the stinking blister packs.  And those wrappers really do stink.  Whoever invented them should have to spend eternity opening them.  Dante's lowest circle of hell.

[FiremedicMike, RN, EMT-P]

3 hours ago, Kooky Korky said:

and make sure it's the 56 or 6 or however many Rights, make sure the pt actually takes it.  There is more to meds than the stinking blister packs.  And those wrappers really do stink.  Whoever invented them should have to spend eternity opening them.  Dante's lowest circle of hell.

It’s 10 now.. I swear it was 6 as recent as last semester,  but it’s definitely 10 as of right now.. LOL

[Closed Account 12345]

1.  Paying tuition and fees to an institute of higher education doesn't mean that *you* become the faculty's employer.

2.  Paying tuition and fees doesn't mean you get to make policies or determine what clinicals should look like.

3.  You absolutely can, politely, respectfully, and professionally, share concerns with your clinical instructor.  Instructors can't be physically present with all students at once, so good communication is key.  It doesn't mean there will be a target on your back.  I'd recommend finding a better way to voice your concerns than accusations of lying though. 

4.  The purpose of evaluations is to evaluate. I think students prefer explanations of *why* they lost points on their evaluations to simply receiving low scores without feedback.  Your instructor has every right to record why he or she assigned the grade provided.  I've never once retaliated against a student who had questions about a grade or comment, and I imagine the vast majority of instructors are willing to have these discussions without retaliation.  

5.  Your posts in this thread appear argumentative, aggressive, defensive, etc. while lacking self reflection.  That attitude/approach isn't ideal for school nor working as a nurse. 

[londonflo]

21 hours ago, FiremedicMike said:

didn't need to wait for my clinical instructor to hold my hand while I pop the blister packs into the medicine cup and hand them to the patient.. 

Don't you think your clinical instructor felt the same way? I did. At one hospital I could check their meds after they took them out of the patient's med drawer into putting them a cup. Later when I checked them, there would be mistakes... although in a few  cases. Easily discussed and rectified. That hospital had an easier med administration of their computer system but every semester I got reports on students who handed them to the patient without scanning the name band through the hospital's computer records. We all know there is a way to override the name band scan, even inadvertently. I was required by the hospital to do remediation with those students...semester after semester (different students). 

The main hospital I went to had a "Meditech" computer system. In addition I had to pull the medications from the Pyxis. We had no med carts to store the meds in until actual delivery. I pulled them. the student checked them and then we went to the patient room. Meditech has a 'thousand' screens you encounter when giving a med. I was with second semester students new to Meditech.  The Meditech system was so complex in terms of screens one pill could take 10 minutes. There could be 6 screens involved.  The few times I left a student alone I learned they bypassed the system checks and just clicked 'administer' with out any scanning of meds or patient. 

But I am totally support of the systems "double check". Can we just make it easier to use the the systems? 

[0.9%NormalSarah, BSN, RN]

You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. Flick it off before politely going to discuss your concerns with your instructor. Nursing schools are run with stringent requirements from the licensing state, so yes the fact that you have a clinical site where you can complete your required hours should be important to you. I always give nursing students this advice: they are trying to make safe and stable nurses and don’t really care whether you’re happy or agree with the process, so keep your head down and do what you’re told and choose your battles. If your instructor is truly lying about you, please of course take this where you need to in order to fix it, but you won’t get anywhere with them or administration with an aggressive approach. 

[robinasq]

Absolutely you are not too old . I became a nurse  at 52, I love it. I do med/surg and it is exhausting, but  I have no regrets. You do not necessarily need hospital experience if you really want to be a school nurse. School systems pay 1/3 less than hospitals typically, but the schedule is great. I also sub in the school system. Larger schools may have 2 -3 nurses. Often you have an admin team on call anytime you need them. Try subbing in a school systems and see what you think. 

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

I'm not going to lie, I saw a lot of underhanded things happening with nursing school instructors that I felt at the time (and still do) in order to 'weed' out people they didn't like.  Mostly students who would question things a little too much or with strong personalities. I literally kept my mouth shut and sat in the back to stay off their radar. 

It was frustrating how the student body in general was treated and I feel like many nursing programs are quite toxic. 

Having said that, I have also found a lot of students with an inability to take constructive  criticism, or any critical feedback at all. I've also noticed a lack of responsibility among students for their own education. The "I'm paying you!" mentality and the sense of entitlement is tiresome.   

 

[iNurs5, CNA]

1 hour ago, lifelearningrn said:

I felt at the time (and still do) in order to 'weed' out people they didn't like. 

I hope you're wrong with your observation. People don't drop gold when they take a dump. 

32 minutes ago, Honyebee said:

I hope you're wrong with your observation. People don't drop gold when they take a dump. 

There are petty people in all walks of life.  Our culture seems to value titles and degrees over ethics sometimes and those people often populate low to mid level positions of authority over some group...like nursing students. IMV

[Rnis, BSN, DNP, APRN, NP]

I am hoping this a troll.  The audacity to waste resources and time (an also come off looking like a fool ) to report something like this to the BON.   We all get feedback in our life that we don't think is fair.  Sometimes the smart thing to do is to thank them for the feedback and move on, at most writing a professional response and copying in the nursing instructor as well as dean  would be all that should be done.   

I have students that don't agree with feedback  I give.  Sometimes it is hard to have a good self -perspective of your performance in clinical   how students handle feedback says a lot about them and also tells me a lot about how they will do as nurses.