Clinical professors...

[rei-chan]

I feel like I am always complaining on here.

But, I have finally confirmed that one of my clinical professor's clinical skills are out of date since she does not/has not worked on a unit in a long time.

My question is, why are colleges employing adjunct clinical professors who are not aligned with their way of thinking and/or do not practice nursing? Why are some clinical professors administrators?

It was horrific finding out that her clinical practice is out of date, which greatly explains why she never answers our questions and leaves us to look everything up on our own. It also may explain why she is so mean and no where to be found half of the time...she's probably hiding her insecurities and lack of knowledge. The school is aware of this situation and have a plan in place since I am not the only student complaining about the same thing.

I am relieved to know that I am not losing my mind because of what I see happening and feel is wrong. Others feel the exact same way.

EVERYTHING THAT HAS COME TO PASS THIS SEMESTER MAKES SENSE NOW.

I feel so much better now. The stress and anxiety sort of gone. Understanding why she does what she does makes me annoyed that she is going to have another group of students next semester who may not learn a lot with her.

[rei-chan]

I've had my best clinical experiences with clinical professors who have their PhD's (well there was one that was happy making everyone miserable), and their clinical skills are still current, despite having not been a bedside nurse for several years. Maybe I'm spoiled or expect a little more out of clinical experiences (such as learning actual nursing things). But when I'm asked to look up everything, without being given guidance as to where to look for the information on the unit, constantly being paired with the nurse who does not want to precept and is easily overwhelmed by her existing patient load, or being questioned on things that I sometimes wonder if they are trick questions because she's already asked me the same thing 3 times before (or as what happened to a classmate, being asked what to do, explaining it, and then the professor asks another nurse what to do since she didn't trust the answer--the other nurse said the exact same thing my classmate did). I'm frustrated at the whole experience and feel like I am wasting my time. I'm hoping next semester and the second half of Med-Surge will be better because I'm still hoping that I am going to love Med-Surge and had high hopes for this semester.

[loriangel14, RN]

It won't be better if you don't adjust your attitude.You are supposedly an adult.Make an effort to find things on the unit yourself instead of whining or maybe ask someone that works there. You can't expect an instructor to know where everything is.You ned to take responsibility for yourself.