Clinics Being Cut Short

[Taiin]

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Basically, clinic/class troubles.

I'm an LPN. I'm currently working at a hospital. I am also working on my RN. This semester is the psychiatric health class and clinic. I so looked forward to this semester, but thus far, it it has been a dismal experience.

First, half of our clinics are scheduled at a nursing home. Great. It is good to know about Alzheimer's patients. I work with them everyday. But we merely were used as nurse's aides. Yes, knowing how to do cares and feed is so important, but my group is composed of all LPNs working on RN, and most of us (including myself) were aides to before becoming an LPN. We are all quite proficient with the basic cares. The hospital I work at has a single nurse's aide, who is also a secretary so has other duties, to assist up to four nurses and their patients, so we all do our own cares for the Medsurg patients.

Anyway

Fast forward to the acute psychiatric care ward where our clinic group is to go for the last four weeks. Finally, a chance to see and assist people who are suffering from acute mental illnesses and are (hopefully) on the road to recovery and being productive once again. We are told on the first day that there was a previously unknown scheduling conflict. For each day we are there, another school had the afternoon booked. A twelve hour clinic became six. So the lecture instructor is assigning us APA papers each week to "makeup" the experience.

Writing papers =/= clinic experience. We are paying for the more expensive clinic contact hour tuition without the clinc time. I can write an APA paper without much difficulty. But it just isn't the same. I am in a clinic to interact with people who are in acute need of mental healthcare services. If I was in a theory only class, fine, papers are great. None of the other clinic groups are having this problem.

To make matters worse, my clinic group showed up for our six hours of clinic this past week. And another school was waiting by the elevators. Their clinic instructor rudely told us to piss off, they were scheduled to be there. My clinic instructor, who is incredibly knowledgeable and compassionate, was shocked at both the other school being there AND that clinic instructor's behavior. She left us for some discussion with the other school. Turns out, that other school was supposed to be there. We'd traveled for two hours for no clinic.

I left the clinic site and went strait back to the college and nursing office. I wanted to discuss the event with someone. I am literally the last person to make a complaint in that nursing office, I only go there to perhaps chat or get a piece of paperwork I need, it is the same college I got my LPN at so the faculty know me. The only person available then was the Dean, who taught so many of my LPN classes before becoming the Dean, she knows me well and my lack of troublemaking/pot stirring. We had a good discussion, realistic solutions proposed, and some good therapeutic communication.

That school that showed up HAD been on the lecture instructor's main clinic schedule, but with no hours listed for the day. A simple call to that other school would have eliminated our showing up for nothing (but not the missed clinic). BUT we could have had a simulation day or something planned instead. We did actually miss a simulation day due to an illness of the SIM instructor.

I'm currently procrastinating the paper due this week. My clinic instructor tried to tell us to not do it and we'd just discuss the topic, because she thinks the additional papers are not productive and an inappropriate substitute for real clinic experience. I'm caught between "desperate to be a good obedient student and do added assignment" and "this clusterjam is taxing my patience". It doesn't help that we received the paper a couple days after the shortened or missed clinic, with only a few days to work on 4-5 pages.

[Sassyrose]

I feel your pain. Trust me...

There are a few things that pop to mind that you could do.. but honestly, I think the best thing to do is to keep your head down and do the assignments. Not because it's right. But because it is very important to not be seen as a trouble maker in nursing school. That, at least, was my experience. The people they didn't like got crap all the time. Perhaps ask for a refund of your $$ from the more expensive clinical hours... but some things you will just not win and this might be one of them. You could end up with a target on you.

[SaltySarcasticSally, LPN, RN]

Your experience is why I wish schools had to do what hospitals do now: get funding based on student satisfaction and success. Granted, I am about to graduate so my burn out is at an all time high after 4 years, but I, like you and many others, worked so hard to get into my program which was supposedly reputable and I thought I had confirmed this through my research before even beginning pre-reqs. But the lack of effort put into our program is astonishing.

We haven't had shortened clinical days but as an LPN, I had terrible clinical sites during PN school, so when I interviewed RN bridge programs, I specifically asked what sites would be used. We have used none of those sites and my clinical experience has been very poor even though I do try to make the best of it wherever we are placed. They told me multiple other out right lies when I was visiting the school beforehand as well. And my experience isn't unique sadly, I have friends in other area schools who have had the same problems.

I don't have any advice just that I commiserate. I don't regret going back to nursing school because I wanted it but it has been the biggest disappointment I could have imagined. I do a lot of studying on my own so I have a good knowledge base and I participate in clinical wherever I can to get experience, that's the best I think you can do at this point.

[Samm06, BSN, RN]

I would do the paper, only because it may be used for extra credit later in the semester. (unless the instructors mention in the syllabus that no extra credit will be given)

[elkpark]

So, basically, your school is going to be lying to the BON about how many clinical hours you have had ... Something really stinks here. I would be complaining higher up the ladder than the dean of the nursing program, if I didn't get prompt results from talking with the dean. What you're describing just isn't acceptable. Writing papers is no substitute for clinical (on a regular, ongoing basis -- for a single student making up a single, missed clinical day, sure. But not to make up for having 6 hr clinical days instead of 12 hr days for the whole rotation).