Conflict with clinical time and daycare time

ibmaryann · Dec 28, 2006

At our school if you are 15 minutes late for clinicals you aren't allowed to stay. You will be sent home. I guess be glad you can come late. I would really look into trying to get one close to home if they will let you.

Good Luck,

Mary Ann

SoulShine75 · Dec 28, 2006

Do you not have a neighbor or a family member you could offer to pay a small amount to come to your house and take your child to day care on those days? If not then trying to get the other clinical site sounds like your best option. Many times they are willing to work with someone with their clinical site. What if none of this can be done and you do get a tardy for every day you're late, what will happen as far as your grade is concerned?

This sounds like a predicament. I don't know why they have to make clinical so stinkin' early. :smilecoffeeIlovecof Have you checked out other day care centers that may open earlier?

I'm sorry, I wish I could be of more help to you.

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Dec 28, 2006

Have you checked with daycare to see if there's any way you could drop off your child any sooner, even if it requires a small add fee? How old a child are we talking? Could someone you know come by on clinical days, and pick up child say 1/2 hour after you leave..i.e. 6? Can said child be trusted to sit on couch watching cartoons, ONLY opening door for family friend? Can you see if there's any openings at any other clinical site? One of our sites got cancelled due to number of dropped students, and they canceled site in town to hospital 1 hr away....go figure.

BKRN · Dec 28, 2006

Here is my situation;
I will be starting second semester in like two weeks. Clinical starts at 6:30 am and could possibly be in a location that is an hour away. My children's daycare does not open till 6. There is no way I can get my kids to daycare and be to the hospital in time for clinical. To make matters worse, I can't ask my husband to take the kids during clinical days because he will be deploying to Iraq for 7 months to a year.
I talked to the director of the ADN program here and she said I will just have to take a tardy for each time I am late. This does not seem fair to me. I am not choosing to be late. I am wondering if I could ask the instructor if I could possibly switch to the group that will end up doing clinicals at the hospital behind my house. If I can't then I think I need to see the Dean and see if something can be worked out. What do you all recommend? And to make matters worse, clinicals get increased to two times a week during third semester and I can only imagine how fourth will be.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks and Happy New Year!:smilecoffeeIlovecof

Boy do I know how you feel! I am starting 2nd semester, my husband is already in Iraq and we have 2 small kids. Away from family and friends, really no one else to depend on. So far I have been lucky with clincial times-but I pretty much keep my fingers crossed all of the time! Even though your husband is not gone yet, heaven forbid he be late for PT! I think that your best bet would be too talk to the clinical instructor and explain your situation. Hopefully, she will be understanding. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Trauma Columnist · Dec 28, 2006

I agree that discussing things with your clinical instructor is the first step. I would be honest and up front with them. Having your spouse in Iraq is stressful enough without adding this to it. Another resource might be your base deployment office - they might know of a babysitter in your area where your kids could go earlier.

My hubby is now long retired (1995) and our sons are grown. Believe me, though when my hubby did his remote tour in Greenland, I was in the states by myself with two small kids, not enough money, you guys know the drill. It was hard.

The families of the deployed servicemen and women are in my prayers daily. Please take care.

sunnyjohn · Dec 28, 2006

How about hiring a college kid to come by and get your child ready and dropped off to daycare? Lots of college girls will do that for few bucks, especially the early childhood education majors.

Call up that instructor and see if you can switch to the hospital behind your house. I bet money there is another student in a similar situation that would prefer the other hopsital.

puggymae · Dec 28, 2006

I had a student do this - she found somebody to watch her kids near the hospital where we did clinical for that day. She went to the hospital where we would be doing clinicals, talked to some of the nurses and found a lady that was willing to watch her two kids just that day. It was the grandma of one of the nurses. Hope something can work out for you.

mysterious_one, ASN, RN · Dec 28, 2006

I am sorry you have to go through this, my husband was in the military a long time ago and was in the Gulf war the first time around. We were actually stationed in Germany ( I am from Germany and was in nursing school over there). I was in the same predicament at the time , but I found a nice lady who's husband was also deployed that did in home daycare. She let me drop of my child at 5:30 am in the morning so I could go to my clinicals. Go to your husbands post and find out if there are some ladys that are looking for some jobs/positions like this.

WDWpixieRN, RN · Dec 28, 2006

This sounds like a predicament. I don't know why they have to make clinical so stinkin' early. :smilecoffeeIlovecof

:yeahthat: For all of us night owls, in addition to those with young ones that arrangements need to be made for...give me an evening or overnight shift ANYtime!!

RN007 · Dec 28, 2006

I feel for you, too. I've been lucky so far with my kids and school (knock on wood, loudly), I'm always on pins and needles over what might happen.

You might want to talk to the ADN director one more time before you go to the dean. In my school, following the proper chain of command is very important.

Also, be prepared to answer the question, "What are you going to do about childcare when you start work?" just in case they throw that in your face.

Good luck, and please keep us posted, okay?

flygirls2, BSN · Dec 29, 2006

Wow, I feel like I just read my own post. I am in the exact same situation. My husband is deploying to Kuwait in a month and I am starting clinicals in a two weeks. I have been searching high and low for resources or what to do. We military families generally don't have family in the area and often times don't know many people. I am only allowed to miss ONE day of school or I get kicked out, so I'm terrified of my daughter getting sick and being unab le to attend daycare. Here's what I have found..

I have my neighbor(live on base) willing to watch my daughter if she gets sick and can't go to daycare--if she isn't working that day.

I just 'happened' to walk by a door on campus that said 'childcare resource and referral'. They gave me a long list of daycare providers in my area. TWO of which are supposedly 24 hours. There phone numbers didn't work, of course.. Try calling other daycares, maybe some open at 5:30 and you could use them on those days?

If it comes down to it, I'm going to post a paper on my church's bulletin board asking for help.

Check with the base childcare providers(the in home ones in base housing)---some of them may be willing to take children earlier.

Ok, and this is the big one. I sent a comment to my cousin regarding my stress over this on myspace. Her friend sent her a message regarding my comment. I copied and pasted it below.. I haven't checked into it yet, so I'm not sure if it is true, but definately worth a shot..

This was his message to my cousin:

"I couldn't help reading about your friends dilema about her husband going to Kuwait and she can only miss one day for her clinicals. Tell her she has a military hardship case for her school. Families that have members serving in the war are eligible for hardship case. This gives her the rights for emergency days off for work and school. All she has to do is show proof to her school or work in this matter. Especially if she has limited family support."