Bad Clinical Rotation

lesleyjo · Apr 11, 2006

I had a different situation where the nurses at the clinical site were horrible. Our instructor helped us make the best of a bad time but it really makes you think about the kind of nurse you would want to be.

For some instructors it is just a power trip and they really don't care if you learn or not. Hopefully your next instructor will be better. Good Luck!!

jillyk*rn · Apr 11, 2006

first off, hugs to you!!:icon_hug:

i am sorry that this rotation has gone so bad. i remember having one of those. the instructor was hell personified:devil: . just kinda trudge through it, and remember that it will end soon enough.

good luck to you!!!

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Apr 11, 2006

I am half way through my clinical rotation and am ready to just write it off as a bad experience and not expect to learn anything there. The instructor is rude to us and the patients, has ripped every nursing diagnosis to shreds that any of us has written, fudges on charting so things "fit" and is lacking in knowledge that I think even lay people know.
I decided not to go to her with questions and to just ask the floor nurses so as to not stir any pots. I brought some issues that my entire group agreed on to the faculty, and now it seems like things will get worse. I should have put my head down and run through the maze from the beginning, but I was really hoping to learn a lot this rotation.
Just needed to vent. ::Putting head down and ready to navigate the maze::
Smile and nod.
Only 4 more clinical days. Wish me luck!

Hehehe. Your post makes me laugh, because I looks like I wrote it. Mine was the 2nd half of 2nd semester. My CI was so terrible-she had only been a nurse for 4 years, and would pull things out of our hands when we asked for help (like IV meds that we were activly drawing up). I just decided that I wasn't going to gain anything from that rotation. I remember watching another student start an IV in front of our CI. She would grab your hand and then say, well, you blew it. Go tell the nurse she has to start it now. I passed up many opportunities to start IV's because of those kind of things. Just keep thinking 4 more clinical days! 4 more days!

HHW2006 · Apr 12, 2006

If your instructor is "fudging" on charts, lacking knowledge, and being rude to students and patients she should be fired. Instructors are supposed to be PROFESSIONALS and that is anything but professional behavior. You need to make sure that the director of your program is aware of the situation. If you can, document specific incidents. I know that it won't make any difference to you at this point, but it might make a world of difference for future students. I am speaking from experience on this subject... I had an instructor who was straight from the depths of hell. We were able to put together enough information for our program director that she really had no choice but to fire him.

veggiegarden · Apr 12, 2006

I'm sorry :icon_hug: That is irritating.

student_girl · Apr 12, 2006

I feel your pain dear! My CI (OB/GYN) is the devil personated! She makes me awfully nervous, which makes me forget things, and she doesn't stop being on my case. For exemple, there was something that no sudent knew (we're a group of 5). Yet, I'm the one getting yelled at! She even told me that if I dont get 100% better, I'm gonna fail! It sucks that she can't understand that I'm not cut out for OB/GYN. It doesn't mean that I wouldn't be a good nurse. I was good in med-surg...Oh well...I have 5 more days of hell, including 4 with her... Thanks for letting me vent...

DaFreak71 · Apr 12, 2006

It's amazing how there's so much talk about professionalism in the nursing programs, and how little of it is demonstrated by the instructors. A friend of mine went to the program director to explain an absence and when she told the director that she had to meet with her priest in order to have her marriage blessed, instead of a "congratualations" or anything of that nature, she was told "Don't you know that catholics worship Mary?"

Does it get any more unprofessional than that? Sheesh!

fotografe · Apr 12, 2006

Thanks to you guys. I think the thing that bothers me most is the charting. I won't sign anything that isn't true, so I am likely to end up in a big argument with her before my 4 days end. I have seen it with other students, so I know it is only a matter of time before it lands on my doorstep. We did go to the faculty once already (as did the previous clinical group), but the wagons are circled when we are talking about one of their own. Whether they deal with it when we are gone, well, it remains to be seen.

4 more days and I hope to god I dont' fail! I just got a huge paper back from her that I did fail, so now I am a bit worried. (as perspective, everything she ripped apart in my paper I was praised up and down in by my last 3 clinical instructors. I am beginning to wonder if I had brain damage over spring break) I guess I'd better pucker up.