Clinicals - Instuctor is being harder on me than the other students!

Published

So we started clinicals on October 14th and from the beginning my instuctor seems to be harder on me than the other students. I feel like my clinical performance is pretty good for just starting out. Anyways....we always have a clinical evaluation form that we have to turn in to our instructor the day after clinical. The form allows us to grade ourselves on different areas with a "U" (unsatisfactory), "NI" (needs improvement), or "S" (satisfactory) and then our instructor fills it out with her own opinions. Last week, 4 of the students made the EXACT same mistake that I did and they all got an "S" on that category and I, for some reason, got a "U". The mistake was that we filled out part of a form wrong. I gave meds this week and my instructor told me that I did great and I was the best so far. I just don't get it. Another thing the instructor does is question me constantly and that makes me doubt myself when she keeps asking me "Are you sure?" I am just so nervous that I am going to fail my clinical. Has anyone had this happen to them before? :confused:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I suggest that you make an appointment to speak to the instructor. Calmly and objectively state your concerns. (Ex: "I am concerned about my"U" and would like to discuss how to better prepare for clinical and perform up to the instructor's expectations." Not "I am being graded more harshly than my peers."

Use "I" statements such as "I am concerned with my performance." or "I would like to improve." This conveys that you accept responsibility for yourself, and will avoid putting your instructor on the defensive.

Not all students progress at the same rate. Unfair as it may seem, it is impossible to grade all clinical students by the same standards at the same time, since no 2 students have had the exact same experiences. Your instructor may have expected you to get the form right since you have already done similar paperwork. Or s/he may have reason to believe that your experiences have been more advanced than those of your classmates, and thus expected more of you.

A well-planned conversation can help you to straighten this out.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Jolie gave you some good advice.

About the questioning, since I am mostly involved in the clinical side as opposed to classroom; the only way I have of knowing if you know your stuff is to ask you. The "are you sure" type are to see how confident you are or if you are just guessing. How timidly or confidently you answer says a lot. So when you are asked that, say "yes, because A, B, C supports it".

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I also suggest that you make an appointment to talk to your instructor about this before the term passes and it gets to be too late. You need to clear up any misperceptions about your performance. The only way to do this is to communicate with your instructor.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in critical care, PACU.

most instructors will question you constantly

I am a good student and get "picked on" sometimes too. I take it as a compliment because usually when teacher's see potential they like to maximize it, even if this is not so easy for you. you'll be a better nurse in the end after all those challenges

if your first semester, make sure 2nd and 3rd semester to make your teacher have no worries about you by performing really well so you can function with just your nurses during clinical if you do not like their intimidation. sometimes nurses can be just as questioning, intimidating, or worse

its only 2-3 yrs of your life :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion