Drill Sargent Clinical Instructor

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Hello all, Im about to enter my Acute Care MedSurg III Clinicals in about 5 weeks and I just found out that my clinical instructor is a teacher who is like a drill sargent. Everyone has been trying to avoid her including me, but I have no other choice. Im stuck with the drill sargent. I heard that she has failed some students(failed clinical) but Im not sure if this is true. Any tips on how to deal with this type of clinical teacher? Im scared that she is going to ask me something that Im not sure of and say, "Your not going to pass this clinical if you don't get it together." Im scared, anyone else go through this, how do I do my very best during my ICU clinical? Thanks

Forgive me, but I've noticed on these board there seems to be a running theme: angry clinical instructors that embarrass students, intimidate them, and make them afraid of them are the clinical instructors you want, because they make you work hard?

Huh?

This is grossly incorrect, in my humble opinion. I had a clinical intstructor who picked on only me in a class of eight people. She would actually chart for other students, was kind to them. When it came to me, she embarrased me in front of patients, their families, and other staff. She talked down to me, she consistently made me feel that I was not going to be a good nurse. She actually argued with me about the position that a chuck should be in (I thought as long as the absorbent side was toward the patient that was fine, but I guess there is a right and wrong way to put a square chuck down on the bed).

Absolutely EVERYTHING I did was wrong, and nothing I did was right. Even when there were no mistakes on my charting, she made it a point NOT to tell me how well I was doing, yet did it with other students.

I know a classmate of mine who had this instructor, and obviously has been traumatized by the incident. She needs counseling.

I realized later that when there is a person, instructor or otherwise, who you can NEVER, EVER PLEASE, despite how hard you work, and how correct your work may be, there may be a personality disorder there, and you may need to simply talk to other faculty who may be able to talk to the instructor. But lateral violence, nurses being mean and cruel to each other, and younger nurses accepting this attitude and even praising it is baffling to me.

I can understand that nursing students may be afraid to cross these clinical instructors, but what kind of nurse will you be, and how can you advocate for patients, if you cannot advocate for yourself? You need courage to be a nurse, and it seems that the message on many boards is: "do what you can with mean clinical instructors, be silent, accept the abuse, and move on". This just seems strange to me since as nurses, we need to be strong for our patients.

There is a nursing shortage going on, and we don't need students dropping out of programs because they have clinical instructors stuck in the past who think it's acceptable to embarrass and intimidate students and create a hostile class environment. It's unnecessary, and we as nurses need to acknowledge it.

And We wonder why so many nurses leave the profession.

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Specializes in Telemetry/IMC.

I didn't see anything in the original post that indicated that this instructor was purposely humiliating anyone. What I got from this is that the OP was being assigned a CI that was tough, which doesn't have to be a bad thing.

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I had a clinical instructor who actually WAS a retired Colonel from the Army. She was tough as nails and made several people who were unprepared for clinical and/or skills test out, cry. However, she was probably one of the best instructors I have ever met. Having a tough instructor is only a bad thing if you are not taking your nursing education seriously, in my opinion. I'm sure you will do just fine! You may be surprised at how much you actually learn from the "drill sergant".

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From a military person who is in nursing school: "Yes ma'am, No ma'am", "Yes I completed all of my assessments, looked at my patient's orders labs meds already" "Yes I am confident enough to perform this skill"

You'll be gold :)

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Specializes in Operating Room, Long Term Care.

I have an instructor right now in clincals who is very tough. I also have her next year for 3rd semester. I have learned though if you don't know something, tell them and let them now you will look it up. I went everyday prepared for clinicals. I memorized my drugs, knew my path., labs, skills I knew I would use on this patient and there always seemed to be something I didn't know but that's OK we are learning. I felt she never told me good job and she did constantly to other students and a friend told me that maybe those other students needed to be told that because they always seemed unsure of themselves. I must say I have learned more this clincal rotation than I have in others and she tells us we are only there for a few weeks so we need to be prepared in the real world when we don't have an instructor there to answer our questions. I also have a surgical tech. degree and believe me, doctors and other staff can be just as tough on you. I have left several days crying after surgery. I don't take things to heart anymore. I will be a great nurse and I have had patients tell me this and other instructors so one instructor won't ruin it for me. Saftey is key as long as you don't do anything that will harm your patient, look up your stuff and be prepared you'll do great. Good Luck.

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Talk to the instructor prior to your clinical rotation. Tell her about your concerns. Most instructors want the very best learning experience for their students. Remember-- rumors are rumors-- often spread by students who have had some challenges. Be direct, open, and honest. You have a good academic and clinical performance record-- expect to be successful.

Stop listening to rumors and find out from the source. I suspect your instructor is not a drill sargeant, but simply someone who cares about your being ready for practice.

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Specializes in CICU.

"Tough" does not usually mean "unfair", IMHO. I have high expectations of myself - I like it when my instructors also have high expectations and expect excellence. I think we all tend to rise to the level of the expectations others have of us, if that makes sense.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

So NoeIssa! How was it?

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so, if you had an instructor who asked you something that you weren't sure of you would be ok with a mediocre or below par answer and performance on your part as long as the instructor responded nicely to you? oh, wow! poor patients!

how do i do my very best during my icu clinical?

prepare. read up on the procedures you see or anticipate being done there. if you are asked a question and you don't know the answer, 'fess up and promise to find the answer and report back with it. it is one thing to not know an answer. it is quite another not to know an answer and then continue to ignore a duty to correct this gap in knowledge and go one's merry way. if you have a specific fear of being asked about something--face it and learn about it so if you are asked about it you won't be standing there with nothing to say. leave the personalities of the individuals out of it.

for your learning pleasure this clinical term:

some people don't learn well with hostility and bitterness thrown at them unnecessarily. ;)

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"Tough" does not usually mean "unfair", IMHO. I have high expectations of myself - I like it when my instructors also have high expectations and expect excellence. I think we all tend to rise to the level of the expectations others have of us, if that makes sense.

High expectations can be presented in more respectful way than some teachers do. My clinical instructor last class handed out failing grades for not knowing all 22 meds verbatim and tell us it was ridiculous that we would come to clinical so grossly unprepared. If we were especially lucky, she would get frustrated and be in a bad mood for the rest of the day. She also liked to push us out of the way at the Pixis if we weren't going at her speed. She told me "Just let me get it, you'll learn how to do it faster in your next class." As a group we became so nervous about recieving a poor grade that we would simply try to memorize the drug book word for word. That is not learning, that is intimidation.

Forgive me, but I've noticed on these board there seems to be a running theme: angry clinical instructors that embarrass students, intimidate them, and make them afraid of them are the clinical instructors you want, because they make you work hard?

Huh?

I hear ya! The teacher I mentioned above I feel really went out of her way to find things to reprimand. The very last day of clinical I got my med sheets back and she said in preconference that we needed to have onset, peak, and duration for antidepressants. She had told us on the first day which meds she wanted those for. BP meds, insulins, analgesics, and sedatives. When I said that, she shook her head and looked at me like I was an idiot. So I went back and looked at all my other weeks of paperwork with antidepressants. There was no mention of onset, peak or duration. All my classmates said they never heard her ask for that. Another student had the instructor check and approve her paperwork the day before it was due. She said it looked good but when the student got it back all it said was "unacceptable". At my final evaluation she told me she couldn't belive another instructor had not failed anyone, it kept other students in line.

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Specializes in Rehab/Post Acute.

I had the drill sargent clinical instructor my second semester of my first year in med-surge(first semester passing meds). We start at 6:45. 6:45, our assignments were slappend on the wall (no pre-conference), and we had to have all vitals done on our patients before going to get report at 7am (which doesn't sound tough, but we were all scrambling because not enough thermometers, pulse ox, you'd get in the room and the blood pressure cuff didn't work things like that--- and no excuses for not being done). If you missed report, don't even think about sticking around-- you're done, that was a "no-no" LOL. I could hear her yelling at students down the hall. I did some crying that semester on the drives home from clinical from the stress, but you know what--- she was awesome! I'm very grateful to have had her, learned so much, and it forced me to really just get my butt in gear, stop being afraid (first semester, everything scared me--- I hated just waking the patients up), use my time management etc. By mid-semester, I really loved her!!! Also everyone told us, if we could survive her, we would be great nurses, and that did so much for my confidence. It may not be as bad as you think!!! Try and embrace the challenge

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I had a instructor that used to be in the army and she had the look and the reputation to go with it. The previous class all had their bad things to say about her and that she asks you a lot of questions and be prepared. I was soo nervous. However, she was the best instructor I have ever had!! Seriously, she taught me so much and once we got to know her all of us in the group loved her. We just nominated her to be our faculty speaker at our graduation in May. She was firm and pushed us to learn and really did make it the best experience ever. Give your instructor a chance she might surprise you..and getting on her goodside from the beginning wouldn't hurt either! So be prepared!!! Good Luck!

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