I'm in my 2nd quarter of nursing and in only just 4 weeks of clinicals my instructor gave me 3 clinical warnings.
The 1st one was reasonable because I didn't have my hair up nor had a pen and didn't bring my papers to orientation.
The 2nd one was because I forgot to do the Pathophysiology assignment for my patient (last quarter my clinical instructor didn't require it to be done on the day of care for your patient until turning in the assignment, only your plan of care for your patient and face sheet, but was reasonable because she said I was the only one that didn't do that).
But I don't agree with this recent clinical warning she gave me today which was because I didn't know how to give an IV bolus to my patient which was Pantoprazole (Protonix).
We have 2 times in successfully passing medications to our patients the whole day in clinical (which is 9 hours) and today was my first schedule to give out meds. to my patient with a pass or fail mark. I administered 2 medications today: Insulin and Pantoprazole. She passed me when I gave insulin SUBQ in the abdomen in my patient but didn't pass me when I gave Pantoprazole IV (I froze in the part where I had to disconnect the IV from my patient, I paused because I didn't want to hurt the patient and didn't know which port to disconnect it from which made me and my patient nervous/scared so my clinical instructor grabbed the medications out of my hand and administered them herself).
After that she told me to go talk to her post-conference alone and that's when she said she was going to give me another clinical warning because I didn't know what to do (even though I have 1 more chance to give meds. with a pass/fail grade in 4 weeks from now and that's why I pleaded with her to give me 1 more chance since my next/last chance in giving out meds. to redeem myself is in 4 weeks from now but she said that it was my responsibility to practice this/be prepared in knowing what I should do when my schedule for passing out meds. was today so I asked her if I can object to this clinical warning and she told me that I can see the head instructor of my clinical class and talk with both of them about it).
So my question is, is my clinical instructor set out to fail me from the course because in the first 2 weeks that I had her, I had already gotten 2 clinical warnings?
Is she biased towards me because of that?
I asked her if the others passed giving out meds. so far and she had said yes (but I think she's being a little more hard on me although she could've sent me home for not bringing my Patho sheet from the 2nd clinical warning).
It's too late now to withdraw from the class because last day from dropping classes was this week on Monday so is that why she's being more hard on me or am I just being paranoid)?
Any comments/advices/constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! I really can't sleep/study and I've been crying/worried since this evening today because I feel like this clinical warning is the last straw (in the 2nd clinical warning I already had a 10% reduction in my grade so I'm scared/worried that for this 3rd one she's going to do another -10% reduction in my grade again which I don't think is fair).
It just sounds like she is preparing you for the real world of nursing, honestly you should thank her and get yourself together so you can become a nurse.
The first two warnings you received because you were unprepared. From these experiences, your instructor may be expecting you to be unprepared--she may be keeping a closer eye on you now. When you hesitated while giving meds, you scared yourself and the patient; you know this was simply because you were freezing up, but your instructor is expecting you to be ill-prepared. I think it's reasonable that she assumed you were, yet again, unprepared. Maybe you could schedule a meeting with her and simply admit that you haven't been on top of your game and provide her with a list of how you're going to improve. No excuses, just be real with her. Good luck.
Hey guys! Thank you so much for taking the time to read/reply back to my post and thank you all for the constructive criticism and support! I'm still here, I check this thread from time to time but I'm failing the class (the 3rd clinical warning did make a 10% reduction on my grade) and my clinical instructor said the only way I can pass clinicals is if I get high B's or A's on my care plans/assignments, no more clinical warnings, and I need to pass for this next medication administration in 3 weeks from now (I already made a schedule with my head instructor to practice during her office hours, she just found out that nobody wouldn't be in the school's clinical labs this quarter so she just posted her schedule on her office door this week so i'll be going there everyday from now on). Will update again sometime in the future, i'm still here! :)
Whew, that sounds like that will be tough, but I really bet you can do it. Just stick with it.
I take it that you're in a BSN program because it sounds like you aren't getting much clinical time. I think purple_roses is right, once you showed up without a pen and with hair down you were "on the radar." It is a student's responsibility to find out what is expected to be turned in and when. I'm not trying to beat you up, I've gotten off on the wrong foot with a clinical instructor before and it's tough to recover but, you can do it. It sounds like you're doing the right things now. Next time make sure you know your meds and if there's something funky get in the room and figure it out before hand. Ask a fellow student if you're unsure. You have learned an important lesson about first impressions. Good luck!
It sounds as if your instructor's warnings were fair. In all 3 scenarios you weren't prepared. Having all required equipment, doing all assignments, and ESPECIALLY safely knowing how you're going to give your patient a medication are parts of nursing school. If you really want to be a nurse buckle down and do what is required of you. It's not an easy job, that's why they don't make nursing school easy. Best of luck to you!
Been trying to read all these comments, and in total agreement with about 99% of them. My school was brutal.. and I mean BRUTAL.. as in, nazi school of nursing, lol. However, because it was this tough, those that made it through, came out FANTASTIC nurses who can be counted on in any crisis. Were clinicals easy? of course not, and they are not designed to be. they are prep to get you into the real world, where you have the lives of patients in your hands. 2 written warnings, we were failed out of school, simple as that. We knew the rules, we arrived on time, prepared and GRILLED by our instructors prior to performing ANY care on any patient. If we did not know an action of a medication, did not do an adequate prep of their disease process, did not able to accurately state the proper procedure of an IVP, we were not allowed hands on time with that patient. We, as the students, went out of our way to practice extra on our own time in the skills labs, or even in the classrooms amungst ourselves.. we were in the hospitals every Sunday evening prior to monday morning clinicals, picking patients, getting down all their info, and writing up psychopathology, care plans, and anything else that we needed to turn in that next morning.. those were seriously late nights, well past midnight. Those of us who excelled, did it, and learned from each other, asked questions, practiced and when we walked in to that patients room with the instructor, we were as confident in our ability as we could be. Did we freeze? of course, some of us did, BUT... usually didnt last long, and the "know" took over. there are always nerves when being watched, but again, you need to project confidence in front of a patient. If you dont know for sure though, step out and tell the instructor that you do not feel confident. That would go alot further than the instructor having to tell you to step back. The point here that I am trying to make is... if you want it, take the extra time, and get to the level that the instructors want you to be at. They are not there to pick on you.. rather they are there to make you understand that everything has consequences. You can do this so work hard and give them a reason to have faith in you. Good luck and I am glad you took the step to talk to your instructor and doing extra skills training. That shows them that you are serious in your, hopefully, future career.
When i was in school we never had a pass/fail for clinical. It was all about a learning experience. So in this situation my clinical instructor would ask me what the med i was giving was for, how to give it (ex over 2 mins etc..) and what are some major side effects/what labs should be watched with this med. We were never reprimanded for not knowing things.
Personally i don't think i would have meshed well with a program like this because i am all about asking dumb questions. but hey, that's learning. but i was also in a straight BSN program and had the same 3 instructors the entire time, more of a peer relationship than a student-teacher one.
When i was in school we never had a pass/fail for clinical. It was all about a learning experience. So in this situation my clinical instructor would ask me what the med i was giving was for, how to give it (ex over 2 mins etc..) and what are some major side effects/what labs should be watched with this med. We were never reprimanded for not knowing things.
Personally i don't think i would have meshed well with a program like this because i am all about asking dumb questions. but hey, that's learning. but i was also in a straight BSN program and had the same 3 instructors the entire time, more of a peer relationship than a student-teacher one.
That sounds like a really unusual nursing program. Are you saying there were no consequences for poor performance in clinical, no matter what?? What if students were clearly unsafe?
That sounds like a really unusual nursing program. Are you saying there were no consequences for poor performance in clinical, no matter what?? What if students were clearly unsafe?
I'm sure there would obviously have consequences if something happened that put the patient at risk... Buy that never happened from what I know. Our program , like many other bsn programs, focused mainly on theory rather than clinical experience. We didn't have skill test outs, etc.
Specializes in Progressive care, cardiac surgery, telemetry.
I have to say, I fully understand where you're coming from. At least on the third offense. It's sounds like the first two may have been deserved. My school did not have clinical warnings, or at least I'm not aware that they did. Really I think that we wouldn't face trouble in clinical unless we endangered patients.
But I understand not knowing how to give IV meds because that's something that I don't think we were taught early in school. We weren't even allowed to give IV meds until our final semester. And at that point our instructor was not with us, but rather a nurse from the hospital (during preceptorship). So there was never any test outs for giving meds.
I only finally feel comfortable giving IV meds and piggy backs after working. Even when I started work I had to ask how to hang piggy backs.
I think your instructor may be being a little harsh on the last one. You did not want to hurt your patient and did not want to do something wrong. Did you tell that to your instructor?
But at any rate it doesn't really matter if it's fair or not. You've gotta pass the next time. So study up and practice giving meds by different routes
A huge part of becoming a nurse is RESPONSIBLITY and ACCOUNTABILITY. It appears to me that even though you know what you are supposed to be doing and bring to clinical you are not prepared and you want to blame the instructor. I think you may need to take a hard look at your actions and ask if you would accept this behavior (forgetting and blaming) from someone else. Once you are on your own- there is no one to blame but yourself and you put your patients at risk. Best of luck.
evolvingrn, BSN, RN
1,035 Posts
You can do this!