Clinical skills test failure - should I just give up?

[chiralgirl]

Hi all,

I just flunked my third chance at passing my clinical skills test going into my third semester of nursing school at Austin CC. I am so disheartened and so humiliated. I can't believe the things I did - I KNOW better! What's worse is that now I have to withdraw from the program entirely and re-apply, which for my program means that the earliest I will be back on track is Fall, 2009.

I am a good student...I passed all previous skills evaluations, pass clinicals, make at least "B" on classroom work and even scored a 93 on the most recent HESI.

I am also a bit angry since I felt I wasn't given a good environment to pass this final, critical checkoff - missing several items of equipment, the instructor dropped a glass of water during my checkoff and cut me off several times during my explanations. I also was failed for things that weren't on the written list of critical steps for the skills I demonstrated!

I understand that this is all my fault and I should accept my part in this...but my goodness, I am SO demoralized right now and wondering if this is the place for me.

Does anyone have any advice or encouragement? I have a meeting tomorrow with the program head and I just don't know what to say...

[Finally2008]

First of all, let me tell you how sorry I am that this has happened. I graduated in December and I have to say that, although I was an "A" student, the most difficult and nervewracking thing about nursing school for me was the skills checkoffs. I hated them and got so nervous in each and every one. I just want to tell you not to give up. I know of four fellow students that had this happen to them: two in the very first semester and two in the final semester. All four of them went on to graduate and are now happy, successful nurses! You can do this---like you said, you know what to do. You have worked this hard, don't give up your dream. I wish you all the best and hope that everything works out well for you.:icon_hug:

[jjjoy, LPN]

Take a good look at yourself... do YOU think your clinicals skills or your performance that day are/were weak enough to merit to failing? If so, would more practice help? If you want to be a nurse, there's no shame in re-taking a course in order to improve your proficiency and/or ability to perform under pressure. You'll be a better nurse for it. If you don't really want to be a nurse, then you have an excuse to stop now before investing any more in this educational track.

Perhaps, though, you think your skills ARE and WERE sound and on par with other students who passed. If that's the case, you could very well be right.

Some kinds of evaluation are subjective, without a definitive measure of pass/fail. Instructors aren't perfect either; and some (hopefully few) are downright poor instructors. While you definitely want to listen to the feedback you get from experienced nurses and instructors, you also have to evaluate it for yourself and determine what feedback is valid and useful for you and what isn't.

I remember being so angry that an instructor told me that I hadn't studied enough. Well, maybe I didn't study the right stuff enough, or study the right way enough, but darnnit, how dare the instructor acccuse me of "not studying enough" period?! I had studied diligently for weeks and had tons of notes to prove it! I fumed over the injustice of that feedback instead of reinterpretting it given the knowledge I had (that my instructor didn't have) of my study habits and just moving on.

Whatever the reason for your not passing, if you decide to contest the failure, make sure that your attention focuses on YOU and not on the instructor or issues with the testing method. It will sound like petty excuses & blaming "the instructor didn't tell us we'd be tested on that" "the instructor didn't give me enough time" "the instructor let Suzie pass and she dropped things!". It may all be true, but your goal is to have another chance to prove your proficiency... not to prove the testing method was unfair, etc.

Best wishes! This will work out one way or another!