Clinical instructor is threating to fail me!!! please help ASAP

[luvemrare]

Just to set up some background information....So I have 4 more weeks until the clinical rotation is over at psych ward. And midterm evaluation was a week ago. Each week we have clinical reflection journals and patient presentations (almost like a care plan like paper), that needs to be turned into the instructor via email and also print a hard copy to bring to class the following week.

So when it was my turn for evaluation with my instructor. She gives me an unsatisfactory evaluation paper workup. It was 4pgs long of what I did not do. It consists of not turning in assignments. And that was it.

The evaluation that she wrote up for me was so untrue! I had completed all of my assignments and never was late to clinicals and always engaged in critical thinking discussions during class.

When I asked her why is she complaining about my missing work because she physically has them in her possession. She keeps all of our completed homeworks and assignments in our folders that she keeps in her strolling backpack of hers.

When she when back to double check if my "missing work" was in the folders, it in fact was there. All she said was "oh here it is."

Then I asked her, how come I was never notified about my missing work? She showed me of the emails she had sent complaining about my missing work.

I looked through the printouts of her email because she had printouts of them stapled to the evaluation. I looked through three separate email printouts. They were all complaining about missing work. Then I noticed that the email address was incorrect. So I pointed it out to her and she was like "ohh how could that be," "opps."

One thing for sure, she has my CORRECT email address because I (just like the rest of my classmates) have to send homework via email weekly to her. There was no reason to get the emails incorrect.

Secondly, the instructor never took the proper way of address me the "missing work." She sees me each week and never had I gotten a hint or notification about missing work or even asking about receiving her email compliants.

To make it worse. She is still going ahead with the unsatifactory evaluation which means she is failing me.

She even sent the unsatifactory eval to the nursing director and chairperson to notify them of the incident.

So iam furious and do not know what to do. So I notify those same director and chairperson and told them my side of the story.

The director and chairperson had arranged to set up a meeting with me and the semester chairperson. I spoke about the incident and explained the situation. After 1hr -2hr meeting and discussion, she told me that she has no power or authority to change/force my instructor to pass me. She said that the instructor is the one who has the grade making decision for your clinicals. She also said that she is the middle person trying to mediate this situation. She said the best bet is to go talk to my clinical instructor and work something out.

Now am I four-weeks away from passing this semester and Am hit with this junk. I do not know what to do. Can someone please help me out. Nobody from the nursing department will stick their necks out for me. So my family and I are thinking about legal methods and reasoning. What do you guys/gals think? any experiences?

Please help asap

[PEBBLES1]

Try calling your state board of nursing or the student nurse association. Sometimes they can point you in the right directions. I don't see what the problem is since she has your work. Everyone has a boss, even your director has someone over them, if you need to take your fight to the board of directors. Good luck I hope all goes well for you.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I think it is premature to begin a full scale assault against this instructor. You have not yet received a grade for this course and don't know what the outcomes of your recent meetings have been. Now that it has been pointed out to others that she misplaced your work, used the wrong e-mail address, etc., the instructor may become more careful with your work. Escalating the situation may only drive her into a more defensive posture and lead her to grade you more harshly. Give her a chance to correct her mistakes before assuming the worst.

1. Keep as much documentation as you can of all of this and any future interactions. 2. Have witnesses if possible.

3. Use e-mail to communicate and print out responses. Have the e-mail system issue you receipts when your e-mails are received and read, etc.

4. Ask for written feedback on the work you hand in each week. (That's where e-mail might come in handy.) See how she evaluates your next week's work before assuming she will fail you. If you get positive feedback on this weeks work, that will be a good sign.

5. Take a deep breath and see what happens with this week's assignment before lighting the fuse that could blow it all up in your face. Give her a chance to correct her mistakes before forcing her to take a legal stand to protect herself. Give her a chance to be fair with you and "save face" by not forcing her into court prematurely.

By having the meeting with her boss and bringing the instructor's mistakes out into the open, you have put her behavior in the spotlight. The ball is in her court. See what she does with it.

[AtomicWoman]

My gosh, what nonsense. Is she so stubborn that she can't admit she made a mistake and move on? I don't know what to tell you, especially since you have already gone "up the chain". Probably the best strategy is to be super nice and don't even hint you might even be thinking about taking some sort of action. A "Dear Professor" email (or letter) that says something like, "I am extremely concerned about the mix-up that happened as a result of miscommunication. I would like to know what I can do to remedy the situation. From what I can see, there are no missing assignments and what you saw as lack of communication on my part resulted from a simple mistakenly-typed email address. Can you please verify that I have no missing assignments? In the future, I will [insert remedy here, something like I will email you assignments and follow-up with you in class to be sure you received them. That way, you are presenting a solution to this problem.]"

Also, if she replies to your email and says you have no missing assignments (were any of them even late?), you have it in writing. I wouldn't hold my breath for her to do that, though.

Good luck! I know this is extremely stressful, but please hang in there. And vent *here* not at school! :)

[caliotter3]

Investigate the Student Grievance Committee at your school. If your nursing school chain of command won't help you, then this is your next recourse.

[luvemrare]

thank you guys all for the quick responds.

Yesterday, the instructor called me several hours before my AM clinical ORDERING me not to go to clinicals. I asked her why...but she didn't want to explain. She said that I will inform you later. She also said that we will have a meeting the next day (which is today). This sucks!

[caliotter3]

thank you guys all for the quick responds.

Yesterday, the instructor called me several hours before my AM clinical ORDERING me not to go to clinicals. I asked her why...but she didn't want to explain. She said that I will inform you later. She also said that we will have a meeting the next day (which is today). This sucks!

Well I'm sorry to hear this. She is most likely going to slam it to you otherwise she wouldn't be putting you in a position to miss clinical. You probably need to start making alternative plans. Although you have a good case, most of the time students lose in these scenarios. Hope you can overcome this, no matter how it turns out.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

i am afraid you walked right into her trap, she called you, hence no record, she will say that you simply didnt show up, and hence will be dropped from the program

[caliotter3]

i am afraid you walked right into her trap, she called you, hence no record, she will say that you simply didnt show up, and hence will be dropped from the program

This is one reason why I screen my calls and never answer unless I see who is calling. If the caller does not leave a message I won't return the call. Make them state their business. Yesterday I went acallin' looking for a new job. The place I went to was in an office that was behind a tall fence with a locked gate and callbox. I immensely disliked stating my business from the sidewalk and inwardly decided that this is not the place for me. Inaccessible. I won't be standing on the sidewalk waiting for anyone to let me in anytime soon. I had my handbag with me, of course. You should have seen the characters walking around outside. I suppose the company personnel think they are quite smart for this setup, but I wonder how much business and how many potential employees they lose. Same difference, make them leave a message before you talk to whoever is on the line.

[gogotini]

I hope you let us all know what happens with your instructor.. Did you call the school and let them know that she told you not to go? It's goog to cover all your bases.

[Lin88]

Any updates?

[sallber]

I'm sorry this is happenning to you.

I would keep her boss aware of what is going on every step of the way. The fact that she told you not to go to clinicals, make sure that someone else knows about that per email, and send a copy to yourself as well.

As far as the class goes, I disagree totally with others advice to "wait and see what happens". I am assuming that you have been doing that this whole semester. It's important to act early and act often in these cases.

I also disagree that you should be extra nice to this woman. Why? If you are a capable student doing your job, why should you kiss butt? That's ridiculous. If you are dealing with a person who does not care for you, however irrational it is, being overly nice will only make you feel stupid and inferior.

Now, what to do: I would file a complaint IMMEDIATELY with the student grievance committee, every school has one. Have the facts: names, dates, and what occured. Write down that you had a meeting with the director, and write down what they said to you as well. Several people up the chain need to be held accountable for their actions, or lack of action.

I would also see if there are other students who have had similar experiences with this instructor and are willing to come forward about it. Make sure that you keep this information close: do not go discussing it with other classmates, as rumours may spread and get back to the instructor that you are filing a grievance.

Just remember: in these cases, you must act early and act often. Do not sit back and hope for the best. It's your grade at risk.