Clinicals

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I really got the short end of the stick when it came to clinicals and I have no idea why.

Last week was the "rush" to get our clinical time/location which consisted of a webpage being brought up, and at a certain time we all rushed in and grabbed the time we wanted. It was first come first serve, and you get what you get; or so I thought.

The slot I took was taken from me for no apparent reason. There were several slots, and of them I was probably the second or 3rd person to grab one. I took a screen shot of it just to be on the safe side. Recently when I received the final times and places we were assigned I saw that not only did I not get what I signed up for, but I was moved to almost the exact opposite of what I signed up for. I counted the spaces available from where I was, and that had not changed. I looked up the other people who signed up for my location and they were not moved. The only change I had seen was that there was a new person there who apparently had taken my spot.

When I asked why this had been done all I got back was a "We reserve the right to change... blah blah blah". I can not think of any reason why I should have been moved that makes any sense. If there were less spaces available, than ok. I got unlucky, but someone had to get screwed. However like I said the same number of spaces exist, I just lost mine to someone else. While this should not be a merit based thing, even if it was I am an A student.

Ultimately there is nothing I can do about this. I have zero power in this regard because my only recourse would be to quit, and I will not do that. I am not going to go over anyone's head because I am sure that will make my time in school unbearable. If anyone can come up with a 'why' other than someone else's idea of person "x" needs this more than person "y" I am all ears.

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Specializes in BSN, RN-BC, NREMT, EMT-P, TCRN.

Instructor/student ratio?

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Take the assignment and move on.. honestly you are lucky that you have ANY input into clinical assignments... We (and most other nursing programs that I'm aware of) were simply given a schedule of our CIs, locations, and times at the start of each clinical course.

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Take the assignment and move on.. honestly you are lucky that you have ANY input into clinical assignments... We (and most other nursing programs that I'm aware of) were simply given a schedule of our CIs, locations, and times at the start of each clinical course.

As far as a constructive post goes, the Ratio is 30:1.

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Stop complaining. This happened to me, and I thought it was going to be horrendous. What actually happened...I got a job where I did my clinical and it was based off my clinical performance. Perhaps your professors think this clinical slot would be more suited to you and for your own benefit. For the record, don't complain like this post graduation over what you are assigned at work; this will make you look extremely unprofessional. Just a heads up for future reference and how you react to situations that do not go your way.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

The healthcare workplace is strikingly similar in that regard due to the fact that licensed nurses cannot select which assignments and patients they want.

This will all be water under the bridge a few years from now when you conduct some retrospection. Sometimes the "why" does not have an answer, or the answer is not really worth unearthing due to reasons that are political rather than academic.

Good luck to you!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

I agree with TheCommuter. You mentioned that you are an 'A' student while in school. Since you wanted other perspectives of 'why' this could have possibly happened, I believe you may have answered that yourself when you said that you were not going to go over anyone's head about this, etc. Think about this: could your instructors perhaps be testing you to see how this 'A' student performs on an undesirable assignment? Will you still be an 'A' student at the completion of said assignment? Will YOUR PATIENTS still be safe under your care while you are on this particular assignment?

Case in point. As a Float Nurse, if there is an HIV-positive patient on contact isolation for other conditions, it is nearly a 100% chance that I will be assigned to that patient when I report for duty. Is it fair? Absolutely not! Do I care? Absolutely not! Why? Because I even treat my co-workers as if they had AIDS and other disgusting illnesses.:cheeky: I take the assignment and keep it moving because I will more than likely have an easier, though still difficult, night than my coworkers because of the way I view my assignment. Attitude is a major factor in nursing that sets the tone for the next few hours of your life.:up:

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Thank you commuter and BSNdone.

My clinical, unlike the other places that were assigned has "ICU" in the description. My understanding is they float you around the hospital corresponding to what you are learning atm in class. It could be nothing, and please don't jump all over me because I am not aware of how this stuff works. But the other hospitals are just listed. My hospital is not named "ICU..." such and such. But it is part of my clinical description.

And FYI on my 'complaining'. This is not my first degree. The last semester of my first degree I had 19 hours of classes, a full time job, and lived out of my car and still managed a high B GPA. I really can do w/o the lecture. As far as being "unprofessional", only a child goes through life and lets things happen to them and not try to understand the 'why'. Life may not always go your way, but if you don't learn from the things that happen to you, you don't grow. If I did something good/bad that meant I got special treatment I would like to know what that is so that I can either repeat or stop the action that got them to decide what they did. That is not being 'unprofessional', that is just not walking through life blindly.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

From reading OP's description of the process, I think it was probably misleading for the students to believe that they were in control. CI to student ratios are strictly mandated and there may also be underlying issues as to why some CIs are not a good match for some students. All in all, the school is ultimately responsible for the arrangement. IMO, they should have communicated more clearly. By not doing so, they have opened the door to a much higher potential for negative student reactions than if they had just gone with a more dictatorial approach.

Is this (choose your own clinical setting) a growing 'thing'? If so, I'm guessing it's part of the attempt to elevate the priority of "student satisfaction" - along with grade inflation and kowtowing to social media pressures.

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