Clinical Instructor Didn't Show Up

purplemania, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2003

This is something that should have been addressed in school policy beforehand. Having an appropriate window of time to wait, name and number of whom to call and what action to take should be outlined. In our facility the charge nurses have phone numbers from various schools & instructors to call in case of emergency (what if she arrived but fainted later?), etc. A backup plan is essential. Will you have to make up this time?

LydiaGreen · Nov 1, 2003

Well, I certainly hope you don't have to make up the time. That was a ridiculous excuse, "overslept". And she's late on a regular basis!?! Is your school aware of this? If you have to make up the time, you shouldn't have to pay for it. If you do not have to make up the time, then you missed out on learning opps and that isn't fair either. This is unprofessional and unacceptable. I had a classmate who was late one day a week for three weeks. My instructor was hopping mad and we ALL knew it. She had to write a submission on professionalism and research the compendium (our Bible of nursing in Ontario) and other resources for ALL of the information on lateness. Our instructor has a tough exterior but she's really a softy... the classmate was allowed to remain in clincial but one more tardy will be reported to the head of nursing at our school.

Lecia · Nov 1, 2003

She "overslept" and has a "habit of doing this??"

I'd be so steamed if I were you. YOU had to get up on time, YOU had to be there, YOU'D be in deep **** if you had blown the day off... not to mention you and your fellow classmates missed out on a whole day of learning because she overslept.

I know stuff happens, but if this is something that's common with this instructor it should be addressed. Students shouldn't have there time (and money) wasted by tardy instructors any more than a student should waste the time of an instructor.

I hope she's timely in the future...

Todd SPN · Nov 1, 2003

Originally posted by geekymomma
This morning all she told us was that she was sorry, she overslept. Hey, it happens.

During clinicals my dr changed my medication. It caused me to oversleep and the next morning I was 45 min late to clinicals. I got no sympathy from the instructor. She wrote me up and sent me home for the day.

Lorus · Nov 1, 2003

really ? funny, lorus, in exactly WHAT way?

i was serious. I guess the *nurse* in me was wondering IF possibly, the instructor was in a car wreck or had something go wrong, like get ill.

SILLY SILLY ME huh?????? -SmilingBluEyes

Didnt catch this till now sorry- would have responded earlier. I thought your post was funny because you wrote exactly what i was thinking at that point in the thread. To me it was amusing that several posts had gone by before the subject of the instructor's personal well being even came up. When you asked if 'anyone bothered to check?', (almost as if it would have been an inconvenience for those involved to do so) even though it was probably foremost in our minds, it seemed like an afterthought in the context of the thread. This emphasized the lunacy behind the question -how much time is an instructor worth? How long should we wait? Meanwhile they could be ill or hurt. I had a rediculous visual image of students debating over how much time an instructor is worth while their instructor is frantically digging their car out of a snowbank or something.

I understand that the point of the thread was primarily concerned with what to do in the event an instructor doesnt show up. With this in mind, the reason why the instructor is missing isn't the issue, and is probably the reason noone asked if the instructor was ok. But i still wanted to know anyway, and so did you SmilingBluEyes, and i guess that was funny to me. I should have been more clear in my original post.

To ecco many posters- A contingency plan is something that should be covered at the first pre-clinical meeting. Everyone should know exactly what is expected of them. Purplemania and Colleen10 already summed it up well so i wont make this post any longer than it has to be *too late for that, ha ha* -Lorus

SJSU_Mami · Nov 1, 2003

I would've just stayed and kept pre-rounding for my shift. We aren't required to have our instructor there for tasks if we do them in the presence of this nurse. If the nurse doesn't have time to supervise us, she'll just have to do it herself like she normally would. More than likely if an instuctor was late she would call the unit's charge nurse to let us know. There's no point in calling the school at 6 am. The instructors should always make it a point to give all students an emergency number to call besides their office number. But if you aren't allowed on the floor without her, I think I would've waited an hour, then left. Teachers wake up late and have situations just like students do.. It would be hard to start working at clinical if late.. you have no time to look over charts and plan your day.. and you would still have to gather info for care plans.. no way.. go home..

colleen10 · Nov 3, 2003

Not to beat a dead horse or anything because this post did get a lot of responses but just out of curiosity.......

I was interested in whether or not the instructor did go to the hospital late - after she woke up or,

woke up - realized she was late and didn't go in or,

did she call the floor to speak to the charge nurse to see if her students were there and what were they up to?

I understand that people have bad days, over sleep, get sick, get stuck in traffic, etc. I am just concerned that this particular instructor has a "habit" of doing this.

Also interested if you have to make it up. On the other hand, would be pretty peeved if I missed a day in the hospital due to a clinical instructor over sleeping because in our first semester we don't have too many days on the hospital floor (do other things like LTC, community flu vaccinations, etc.) and I relish every minute spent on it.

tonicareer · Nov 3, 2003

I am not into clinicals yet but I have had classroom teachers just not show up for no reason. It gets very irritating when you take the test and haven't been taught the material. That is what we pay for isn't it?

iliel · Nov 4, 2003

Originally posted by tonicareer
I am not into clinicals yet but I have had classroom teachers just not show up for no reason. It gets very irritating when you take the test and haven't been taught the material. That is what we pay for isn't it?

My A&P class is my profs very first. The traffic here can be very unpredictable. One day (there were a ton of acciendents) he was 40 min late. He moved our test to a day later. He said he wouldn't feel good about giving us a test on something he didn't cover. It has messed up our entire semester, but we will get everything done.

NurseDixie · Nov 4, 2003

Geekymomma,

~Did you ever find out why your instructor didn't show up for clinical? Just curious~:stone

LydiaGreen · Nov 4, 2003

Good question!