Clinical Instructor Dilemma

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Hello, I'm a nursing student in my last quarter of nursing school and I'm really excited to graduate since I've already passed my exit hesi. My problem lies in my clinical instructor and I don't know what do to. She has been extremely mean and intimidating to her students. How you may ask? She has been picking on me and the other students for no reason for the past few weeks and it's getting to the point where I can't stand it anymore. Let me give you an example. She pulls us off to the side at clinicals to drill us on different medications and what they do to the body. Well, I can handle that. Then when she asks, no one answers her because they're scared of her so I decided to try and answer every time she asked a question and no one else wanted to answer it. She turns to me and tells me verbatim "Shut your mouth, I don't want to hear from you anymore" and physically puts her hand over my mouth. My blood boiled because I know I can't say anything. Then later on the same day I was with my nurse following him around constantly and I was at bedside providing care so much that I couldn't do my paperwork for our care plans due every week. So I decided to sit down at the computer to get into the chart to look up patient history for exactly 10 minutes at the end of a 12 hour day. My instructor came over and told me to get off the computer because I had plenty of time that day and she "saw" me at the computer ALL DAY. Well, I asked my nurse how long I was on the computer that day and he said "maybe 15 minutes tops because we've been providing care all day" (He is in ICU so we had critical drips going). Then after I go to post conference, the instructor says that she'll send home the next person that she catches on the computer next clinical and give us a bad evaluation so we can't graduate. I know I can't say anything but she has been verbally abusive to me and my peers since day one. I have 4 more clinicals with her and I'm done but i dread it more than anything. I've had tough instructors but there's a line where you need to stop. I just need advice please, I feel so alone...

Thank you guys for the advice, it's really helping me get through this. I have a great instructor friend who told me something disturbing today and it really caught me off guard. She pulled me over on break from class and told me she overheard said instructor tell another instructor that she's good friends with that she's going to "drill me hard" on Monday but that she would "drill others to make it seem like she wasn't pinpointing me". She told me to make sure I know my head to toe assessment flawlessly "or I would be sorry". I honestly don't know what I did to make her have such a grudge against me. I've always treated her with respect and I do what I'm told always. My paperwork is almost flawless and I know what I'm talking about most of the time. The only problem about the other students who have witnessed it are glad that she isn't picking on them so they are trying to stay out of it. They have the "as long as it's not happening to me I'm good with it" attitude. I haven't said anything but I wrote down everything that happened and I'm keeping it as a personal record as of now. I'll see how Monday goes and if it continues, I'll ask the dean to be reassigned to a different clinical instructor because I honestly feel threatened by her.

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Thank you guys for the advice it's really helping me get through this. I have a great instructor friend who told me something disturbing today and it really caught me off guard. She pulled me over on break from class and told me she overheard said instructor tell another instructor that she's good friends with that she's going to "drill me hard" on Monday but that she would "drill others to make it seem like she wasn't pinpointing me". She told me to make sure I know my head to toe assessment flawlessly "or I would be sorry". I honestly don't know what I did to make her have such a grudge against me. I've always treated her with respect and I do what I'm told always. My paperwork is almost flawless and I know what I'm talking about most of the time. The only problem about the other students who have witnessed it are glad that she isn't picking on them so they are trying to stay out of it. They have the "as long as it's not happening to me I'm good with it" attitude. I haven't said anything but I wrote down everything that happened and I'm keeping it as a personal record as of now. I'll see how Monday goes and if it continues, I'll ask the dean to be reassigned to a different clinical instructor because I honestly feel threatened by her.[/quote']

I'm sorry you're going through that. The same thing happened to me. If it helps, I passed and am currently a practicing nurse!

U can do this.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

In your end of the semester review write about everything that happened. I might even write and anonymous letter to the school. She should not get away with putting her hands on students. I'd flip if she put her nasty hands on my mouth. She has no business touching you in any way shape or form.

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We had something similar happen in one of my clinicals. Both the clinical groups had to report it for something to be done, but it was addressed and got better(for a little while anyway). The nurses noticed and were quick to help us out with print outs that we put in confidential trash at the end of the day, but could be carried in our scrub top pockets through out the day to copy relevant info like meds. We were not allowed to be idle or shadow the nurses so we actively sought out and helped our classmates when we were not in our own patient's room. It actually made us closer as a group because we had to put up with it. Try to keep your head down and work with each other.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Once you're through clinicals and walk the graduation stage, thank your instructor for every rotten experience. Not because she's a great person (she may very well be satan's spawn), but because you'll be a better nurse for it.

Nursing textbooks can't teach you to be adaptable, can't force you to grit your teach and learn to accept frustratingly unfair situations, can't heighten your tolerance for idiocy, and they sure as hell can't make you understand that the world of nursing can be dog eat dog and patently unfair.

A terrible nursing instructor can.

Chin up, OP. You'll be licensed and swapping horror stories around the AN campfire before you know it!

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She pulled me over on break from class and told me she overheard said instructor tell another instructor that she's good friends with that she's going to "drill me hard" on Monday but that she would "drill others to make it seem like she wasn't pinpointing me". She told me to make sure I know my head to toe assessment flawlessly "or I would be sorry".

To premeditate something like that for no good reason and to share it (probably gleefully) with another instructor is beyond disturbing. She's one of the ones that give all of nursing a bad name. They are like the nuns of yesteryear. (I went to a Catholic school in the 70's so I saw it first hand.)

Know your head to toe like the back of your hand, if you think you studied it enough, study it more. Since she's drilling all of you for show then studying together is a good idea!!

Maybe, just maybe, she sees that you know your stuff and do well and she's just trying to push you further since she sees so much potential in you. But, then again, the putting her hand on your mouth (assault) and telling you to shut your mouth make me think probably not, and that she's just a bullying witch.

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