I'm in my last semester (4th) and my clinical instructor has been bullying me and making fun of me (even cussed at me) in front of my clinical group during post conference.
I've had positive clinical evaluations from all my past clinical instructors. But now, I'm feeling discouraged...She favors some students even though they don't give good SBAR or can't answer critical thinking questions about their patients or even do assessment on time. I still get chewed out even when I answered questions about my patient or give my SBAR or during my med administration she will ask me total random question or something to throw me off. She makes me feel nervous. When I go to her and update her on my patient (like any new reports) she will angrily say You're bugging me or You're hovering over me. And then later she will yell at me and say why do i never communicate with her. I'm so confused. I'm lost and feeling depressed because no matter what i do, she is never satisfied. I have only 3 weeks left and almost ready for graduation and she told me there is no hope for me in passing her clinical.
I'm gonna have clinical this coming Tuesday and she said she will be with me and if she isn't satisfied, I will be dropped.
Few of the students from my clinical group noticed how I am being treated unfairly. Two of em came up to me and said that they feel bad for me that I have to go through this. They were witnesses and saw how our teacher brushed me off when I told her I'm ready to pass my meds and I have everything with me. That night, she looked at me and said ehhhhh okay..and walked away. She went to see other students first even though my meds were due at 9 pm. I ended up passing them to my patient one hour late.
Your instructor has major personal issues she/he needs to address. She is attacking you for no reason.
That is abuse and she of all people should know that is unacceptable behavior.
Instead of feeling depressed you need to find a solution and toughen up. You will have nurse managers and docs and fellow nurses who will at times be hard on you. You need to learn how to succeed when things are not going well. LISTEN to her. What does she want you to do..then DO IT.
If you truly believe you have quantifiable evidence of her treating you in a way not based on your performance, but because she doesn't like you..then you need to bring evidence to the head of your nursing program. You cannot go in and say "she is mean and doesn't like me". You need evidence. "on Feb 20 I was at a clinical X and I was assigned 3 patients when we were told we would be assigned 1" Leave out the drama and leave out the "I am sad" stuff. When you say "she favors some students" You dang well better have actual evidence. Just because you are doing poorly does not mean an instructor favors someone.
True windurfer8, there will be times this student nurse has to toughen up but this is unacceptable behavior from this instructor. It is not okay to treat anyone this way for any reason. They are not above the law. Nurses are supposed to stick together and not stab each other in the back. There is enough of this foolishness going around. This instructor is behaving like someone from high school.
Quick and easy solution: Go get one of those little buttonhole cameras. They are like $30 now and they record hours and hours of video and audio. Now, don't record anywhere on the floor or anywhere you can break HIPAA, but get her on the record as being abusive. Then play it for the director of the program.
Two years ago I had a female coworker accuse me of sexually harassing her when I refused her repeated advances. Thank God I'd had the foresight to do just what I told you. I had multiple instances of her harassing me on tape to show our boss - and she kicked it up to HR. Plus my wife was only to happy to testify that I had told her about it and that she knew I was recording. The girl got fired and a few months later I left that job with a letter of recommendation and a clean record. I keep that camera handy in case anything like you describe ever happens again.
It's a sad, scary world. As the incidents last summer with the police shootings proved, when it comes down to your word against theirs, video is always better.
Good idea- did not know such an thing existed. Thank heavens you recorded the incident. It's a shame a person can't go to work without be hassled You are there to do your job and not deal with unnecessary obstacles.
My LPN CI actually laid her hands on me. An alarm of some sort was ringing (NOT my patient and it was our first day at the facility.) I was heading toward the room, I guess I wasn't going quickly enough for her and she physically shoved me forward (I didn't know she was behind me). This caused me to trip over the electrical cord to the floor buffer the custodian was using. I then lost my balance and slammed head first into the wall.
Im surpised I didn't launch into a rant of 4 letter words at her and punch her in the face. (I'm not a violent person) but as the blood was running from my nose..I saw red and wanted to strangle her.
The floor nurses, other students and myself just stood there in silence, not believing what had just happened. In hindsite I should have reported her, but I knew I was already her target and didn't want to give her any more ammunition against me.
That would have been an opportune time to get statements from your witnesses (floor nurses and other students) and present that to the dean at school. Nip the problem in the butt before it escalates.
Oh, I did say something to her..it was during graduation AFTER they sent my paperwork to the State for clearence to take the NCLEX and I had my NCLEX test date...
After I had accepted my diploma, I stopped right in front of her leaned in and I hissed in a hushed tone ..she had better hope and pray I never ran into her in the community because I could not promise her I would not lay her out. Her face was priceless. This was a woman of close to my age (I was 39 and she was only a couple years older than I). I did see her out in the community (we lived in the same general area) looked her dead in the eye. She saw me, spun on her heels and went in the other direction. :)
Of course, now thinking about it I really should have reported it. Why I didn't, I'm not sure.
I've been in your shoes, and at my school the advisor, dean, or even the principal of the college does not care if you bring your problems to them, you still loose. I'm going to tell you exactly what to do, and you must begin today. Go to the secret website and use all their free tools. Most importantly, get the book the magic, and start reading it immediately today. I know this sounds totally whacko, but it was THE only thing that saved me when I was in the same predicament as you are now, and with no time to spare. Within 3 wks. I had totally changed the situation, and I thankfully passed. If you dwell on failing, even if it is not your fault, you will bring failure to your life, but if you dwell on positive energy, everything will change to good, I promise. Thank you for listening.
What book is that-it could help alot of people going thru bullying and similar situations.
Thank you everyone for your advice and encouragement.
Unfortunately, I'm going to be dropped. After talking to her in her office today, she told me that I am not going to pass her clinical. She said I have 9 "Needs Improvement" including I don't have empty towards the patients. That is completely false and my patients have told me I'm a sweetheart and going to be a great nurse. She said my SBAR is horrible even though I give the same SBAR as other students in my group and I'm the only that gets yelled at. She asked me how old am i? after i started tearing up. She said she doesn't know how my previous clinical instructors passed me and said I was their strong student. She can't believes it. Of course, i started crying after she said i don't communicate her at all. i told her that after she yelled at me in the hallway saying that i keep hovering over. I was just waiting to update her on my patients. Of course, my 2 classmates witnessed this and were shocked and in disbelief. Two weeks ago, I remember I told her that I feel like she doesn't like me and what can I do to change that? and all she said was, "ehhhhh to be honest you bug me" (with a disgusted annoyed face)
so today, i said it again. I really still think you don't like me. and she shot up from her chair and yelled really loud that outside ppl heard. She screamed "you know what?! let's go to the director and let's drop you right now!" i freaked out and got nervous and i told her i apologize for saying that. the only reason i said that is because i feel guilty and i want her to like me.
btw she is also my faculty advisor so i told her that and she just looked down and said okay...i asked her if she could give me any advise and she said there's nothing she can give with her arms shaking and just said THERE IS NOTHING I CAN TELL YOU. so that is my end of my stay at this program. I was 3 weeks away from finishing my 4th semester.
OMG she is just an cold heartless person. I am so sorry. You have alot of people behind supporting you. The fact she was your adviser gave her plenty of ammunition to drop you. She was manipulating and controlling you. She knew you were going to graduate and succeed. Perhaps she didn't so as well at school so she didn't want you to succeed either. Perhaps she was seeking revenge.
I'm going to start by clarifying that I in NO WAY condone inappropriate or unprofessional behavior by any instructor in a clinical setting. Going to make it crystal clear that examples of that would NOT be ok by me.
Now. Having said that, I do wonder what the other side to the story is (I remember learning that there are always three sides to an issue: his side, her side, and the truth that's somewhere in the middle).
Putting it out there for consideration, that MAYBE it isn't as harsh or as unfair as the OP is saying. NOT saying he/she isn't being truthful, but MAYBE his/her interpretation isn't exactly what is playing out. If it's accurate it shouldn't be tolerated, but.....is it completely?
Reading this thread reminded me of experiences in nursing school when I was a student. There was one CI who was known for being very tough, very demanding, very strict...just very difficult to get by, in general. Most students did anything they could to get around having this instructor, including me at first! After all, why deliberately set yourself up for a tough time?
Why indeed. Well, in hindsight I can say that this CI was also one of the very best I have ever had. Tough, demanding, difficult, hard-to-please, pick your adjective (including a few colorful ones) and you'd be describing her well. BUT she also made some really outstanding nurses by the time she was done.
I had the good fortune of being with nearly all the CIs by the time I graduated; I can honestly say that the students who spent the most time with the "Mean CI" probably got the best education of the lot. Did she fail some? You bet. Maybe even failed ones that other CIs would have passed. But while I had doubts about the quality of some of my classmates, I had NO doubts about the ones who I knew were primarily with that CI, even CHOOSING that CI because of her standards.
At the time I was in school, I have no doubt my opinion of her was much harsher than today. Let's call a spade a spade: couldn't stand her, LOL! BUT....she knew her nursing, knew her clinicals, and turned out some really good new grads.
It's never ok to abuse anyone. But would we be willing to put up with a tougher time of it if we knew we were going to be better off in the end? That when we began work as a nurse we could handle the pressure better because of it?
Just food for thought.
A tough CI that turns out good nurses is one thing but the nonsense the CI pulled on the OP is unacceptable and uncalled for. She should be written up and terminated.
I just checked my quiz score online and she lowered my grade. We have two lecture teachers in our class. Unfortunately, my clinical instructor teaches lecture as well. Anyways, my other lecture teacher made a mistake on our quiz and gave the people who got this one question right. And my evil instructor gave us another point for her mistake as well. I just checked now and she took away the point I received from the other lecture teacher and didn't even give me the point that she made a mistake on..Isn't that crazy? She is really bullying me non-stop. Tomorrow night, I have clinicals and I have to face her. She made it seem like I'm not going to pass with her mean, cold-hearted attitude last Wednesday after I asked her if there is any hope for me to improve and passing her clinical.
Also, I talked to my previous clinical instructor and told her everything (every little detail with exact dates that it happened on) and she was very upset and disappointed. She told me that previous students have complained about my clinical instructor to her many times before. She advised me to go see the Director of Nursing (i'm scared to talk to her as well, because she doesn't seem like she will listen to me and she will be on my clinical teacher's side). If that doesn't work, she told me to take this serious matter to the DEAN. I have left my phone number at the front desk to make appointment with Director and she hasn't called me since Thursday.
After what my clinical teacher did today with my quiz score by lowering it by intention. I have proof and I screenshoted the quiz score result. I have extra proof that she is ultimately bullying me.
EwaAnn
282 Posts
Your instructor has major personal issues she/he needs to address. She is attacking you for no reason.
That is abuse and she of all people should know that is unacceptable behavior.