clinical hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lpnhell]

hey!!!!!!!! i am about to lose it!! i have 5 mos. left in the lpn program and my clinical instructor came to me this morning and fussed at me!! i am discouraged now and want to give up, even though i have all my rn prerequisites and want to finish rn..

she called me into a patient's room and brought another student to watch me catheterize a female patient. i got so nervous that i contaminated the sterile gloves... she started hissing at me:o i put everything together and was ready to swab the pt with cotton balls and she yelled at me because i was taking too long. the fricking cotton balls were all stuck to the tongs because there was not enough betadine soln in those stupid kits!!!!!!!! i got flustered and said i was trying but she was making me nervous.... she counseled me and said that i was not up to par and that she sees me as a student that does enough to get by and that's it... and she sees more potential in me... what the hell does that mean?? i really respect this teacher, but i feel like she's picking on me.... help!! i want to quit!!!!!!!!!! :angryfire :angryfire

[shleynic]

lpnhell...don't worry so much about performing in front of other students. Just remember that everybody is there for the same reason you are....to learn. Learning to do things under pressure is what being a nurse is all about. One of these days you will have to act under pressure to save a life.

[WDWpixieRN, RN]

Just remember the next time you are observing a fellow student how this feels, lol...obviously the student won't be allowed to give permission! I know how stressful that can be, particularly if your CI is rather like a drill sergeant. I had something that I was going to be doing to a pt a few weeks and the busybody of the group asked me if she could come watch, I just replied as I rushed past her, "No".....I took another friend in with me as I knew she needed the practice or review as much as I....it's nice when you have some choice in the matter...

Don't quit -- you're almost there....

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

She is not picking on you. She's trying to help you rise to your potential. It was a compliment.

Don't get discouraged and quit over one chastising. It happens to all of us.

Good luck!

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

Picking on you? That was a compliment. She sees that you're capable of excellence, and she wants you to be excellent, not just so-so.

As for the nervousness:

Dear heavens, sweetie, concentrate on the patient, not the instructor. How do you think she feels, legs open and three people staring at her privates with a flashlight while all the discussion goes on?

That thought helped me get good and fast with that kind of procedure.

Also, I always bring an extra pair of gloves with me when I do anything sterile, because it never failed, I'd rip the first pair.