clinical instructor are NOT ALLOWED to write LOR by the school??

[miniangel729]

i am asking for lor from my clinical instructor as many rn residency asks for it.

i graduated last year may, when i emailed her last week - she replyed "unfortunately, the clinical instructors in the accelerated program are not allowed to write letters of recommendation anymore... so i'm sorry i will not be able to help you with that"

in our school, there's the accelerated 2 year, and basic 3 year program - i did my med surg, icu, gen. ped in the accelerated program, then switch to basic for my last 2 semester - public health and preceptorship.

i did very well in all my clinical rotation. the things is, if i request lor from my public health & preceptorship, my clinical instructor never really saw me working on the floor. we weren't in the hospital at all for public health rotation actually. the other one would be ob - but ob is not even like a general medical floor in a way.

i don't know what should i do. i don't understand how the school would not allow teacher to write lor???

any suggestion?

my professor from accelerated program are part time staff - could that be the reason? but regardless, they are excellent instructors, very knowledgeable than many of the full time instructors.. is there maybe someone in the program i should talk to? or should i just move on.. i don't really know who else to ask for the lor tho.. especially if they require from my clinical instructor.

[Pat2012]

I will never understand why they do this. My school does the same thing.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Believe it or not......liability.

[travelcat18]

My school does the same thing, but some instructors will work with you on this. Try a different clinical instructor. If they still say no, there's just not much you can do. If there is a nurse at one of your clinical rotations you worked closely with you could try asking them.

[llg, PhD, RN]

It is becoming increasingly common for institutions (schools and employers) to prohibit their employees from writing letters of recommendation. And yet, some places still require them.

One thing you should definitely do is keep a copy of the e-mail that says it is the school's policy to not allow faculty to write such letters. Also, I would get a statement in writing from the Dean (or some other great source) confirming the school's policy. That at least gives you something in writing to give to anyone who wants a letter of recommendation from one of your instructors. It would provide proof that you actually CAN'T get one -- and aren't lying about their policy.

Also, can you get/produce copies of any written evaluations you received from those instructors? My employer (a hospital) has a similar policy. I encourage people to save written copies of the annual evaluations to use in lieu of a letter of recommendation. Some people will accept that.

[miniangel729]

Thank you for all the suggestions, I will try to contact another instructor, and also the office hopefully they will let me get a copy of my evaluations as well as a proof of the statement that they do not allow LOR be given out. :)!

[NewGoalRN]

Wow! That is crazy! Both my clinical and theory instructors were more than happy to write LOR for me if I asked them. Also, just about all of the residency new grad programs require them and some even require them to be on letterhead.