dealing with an unprofessional clinical instructor

[mjrysmom]

hi all....this is my first semester in nursing school (RN program) and I've been having a problem with my clinical instructor. She is extremely insulting and demeaning to the point of being very unprofessional. She gets very emotional (angry) when trying to make a point and has expectations of my class to have skills that our other professors have told us will not be learned and required til med-surg. I cannot comment or ask a question without her blowing up and there was an incident where I made a very general comment while she was explaining something and she exploded and went into a 15 minute rant and screaming session at me in front of my classmates. I am a very calm person, not a child, I'm 44 years old and have never had issues with professors, to the contrary I've gotten many recommendations. After that incident I stayed to speak with her and after a lengthy discussion I believed that we had resolved whatever the issue was and later learned that she went back to my professor and was questioning my character (which he totally defended). I've returned to each clinical since then very meekly, tried to stay low key and stay out of her way, ask questions only when necessary and she is actually worse now and has made it a point again in front of classmates to let me know that if I'm unhappy I'm more than welcome to request a transfer (that is not a real option in my school). I've got two more weeks left with her but each week I come home devastated with my experience and it has affected me mentally and emotionally and I'm at my wits end. Any advice would be great....I'm thinking of going to the dean but just not sure what to do anymore.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

in every school where i have taught, the students make out end-of-semester evaluations. sometimes they tend to be short-and-sweet, 5-question, on-a-scale-of-1-to-5 things that don't give you any opportunity to elaborate. if you and your classmates who have made similar observations to yours come prepared with notes on this instructor's unhelpful behavior, you can attach them to the eval sheets prn. as a matter of fact, you ought to turn them in anyway. strength in numbers.

[grateful2b]

What did you mean by saying, "She seemed to be bipolar"? I find your remark very offensive.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

What did you mean by saying, "She seemed to be bipolar"? I find your remark very offensive.

This thread is from 2011...it is good to remind people that throwing "labels" around can be offensive.

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