Dropped from LPN school last week--have OCD.

Leelee2 · Aug 16, 2010

I would be speaking with student services/school counselor immediately. You are in school and learning, you Will make some mistakes. The patient who requested not to have you the 2nd day...any specific reasons given for why? It may have just been a personality clash, OR the fact that maybe she just did not want a student? Or was there something more to this? I would be asking for specific information regarding why they want you to drop out. Also, just an FYI, if you drop out, you may still be held responsible for tuition for remaining school year. It is time to speak with student services, and have this instructor present at this meeting!

agldragonRN · Aug 16, 2010

am an older student in my 50s and have a touch of ocd, but do very well with it. have had an absolutely merciless, nasty, power-loving instructor on my case for 1 1/2 quarters of school now. she is director of the nursing program and is also employed at one of the hospitals where we do clinicals. i been tardy several times and absent once. you immediately get on her black list if you're tardy or absent. but, i did well in clinicals until we were assigned our own patient (the second week), and my patient requested that i not be her nurse the second day i was to care for her---the first day we hit it off great. then the 2nd day, my instructor and the pct teamed up and started scrutinizing me and maximizing any little error i would make, documenting everything. when i confronted the instructor about what i was doing wrong she said that all the nurses had been complaining about me, but she wouldn't tell me what they said. then, instead of letting her humiliate me in front of patients, classmates, employees, etc. i refused to do the second accuchek she wanted to observe me doing, then she got the other instructor coming in to relieve her, she, and myself and we talked about 30 minutes and said for me not to come back to school any more. this has been devastating to me--but i'm going to talk with this instructor again this coming tuesday, because i am an excellent student, do have good patient care skills (they need refining), and am very concerned about patient safety. still trying to put all the pieces together. any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated!

sorry to hear that. i hope it gets resolved soon. and just curious, did you really refuse the accucheck? if it is one of your skills check off, i think they can use that for your failure. well, i hope it works out for you because you have come a long way and lpn school is tough work.

good luck,

angel

allnurses Guide · Aug 16, 2010

Wow it sure sounds like your instructor was gunning for you! Since she is also the Director, that narrows your options quite a bit. There are just a few things in your account that are a little unclear--

How does your OCD play into all of this?

Why would you and your patient hit it off great one day and she asked for another nurse the next?

Are your absences and tardies playing a role here as well?

It sounds like you got off on the wrong foot with the CI/DON from the way you

describe her and your your description of "confronting" your instructor.

It think you'll get better responses if you fill out some of the details in your account. I'm so sorry it all ended the way it did- but remember you can always pick up and move on, you aren't nearly the first person who was dismissed from a program and eventually succeeded. Some of the most effective and helpful members of allnurses were once kicked out of nursing school! :)

IndiKast · Aug 16, 2010

I had a similar experience during my ADN training and I got dropped 5 wks before graduation. No one died. I just had a bad week. Turns out I had an undiagnosed medical issue that was effecting my thinking clearly. Anyway, I ended up having to repeat all of school through Excelsior (you test to prove your knowledge instead of take classes). That was a year and a half ago and I'm about to graduate, yet again. One more final. Needless to say I'm a nervous wreck now but it is almost over now. You just have to decide if its worth it. Transfering the credits is really the hard part. Don't trash your syllibi if you plan to.

Jules A, MSN · Aug 16, 2010

Since you have already gotten plenty of "cyber hugs" I'll be very honest. I'm sorry but refusing to do a task just doesn't even begin to make sense to me and that alone would have caused any student to be terminated. I am shocked to read that at your age you don't see anything wrong with being tardy numerous times and absent from nursing school. Can't speak for your situation but when we have students on the floor it is very rare that we don't cut them some slack and it is usually the student lacking insight rather than clinical skills that would cause nurses to complain. I would do some soul searching here and open your mind to whatever feedback you are able to get from them because this doesn't really sound like it has anything to do with OCD. The good news is that many of the nurses I consider to be the best have varying degrees of OCD. If you truly want to become a nurse I hope this works out for you. Good luck.

AlabamaBelle · Aug 16, 2010

IMHO, your tardies/absences are problematic, especially for those of us who have any degree of OCD (one of my areas is being late - I'm compulsively early). In nursing school, one should never do anything to antagonize an instructor. I'm hoping you really didn't "confront" your instructor, but rather asked for guidance and advise on issues she may have with you. I question why you wouldn't perform something as simple and basic as an accucheck. Unfortunately, you have put yourself on her radar.

Most really good, if not great nurses, are somewhat OCD. Especially ICU RNs. I have asked not to be re-assigned a patient (as an RN, not student) and have had 2 people ask that I not be reassigned (I also asked the same). I cared for one of them later on and everything was fine. One mom tried to "fire" me. Her husband came flying out of the room when he found out, apologized to me in front of the whole unit and begged me to resume care of his child.

Hope you get some answers that are helpful to you.

iwanna · Aug 16, 2010

Nursing school is tough, and sometimes instructors are on a power trip. And, sometimes you just have to suck it up and get through it. Refusing to do something in clinical is not a good idea. It is okay to say that you would prefer to practice more before performing on a patient. e.g. I had a problem with finger sticks and asked my instructor if I could practice on myself. She told me no, but we would practice on our peers. I felt more confident after being successful on a few sticks with peers.

If you know being late will get you on "her list", then set your clocks earlier than the real time.

During nursing school, I was once one of the victims to be picked on more so by "one" of my instructors. But, I got through it, and had instructors that were more easy going. Also, there were other peers who were singled out by other instructors. It happens. It is not right, but it happens.

I was praised by one of my instructors for showing motivation. She said that most other students would run the other way when she found a good procedure for practice in a skill they were weak in. If you find something that you are weak in, ask for more practice, or permission to go to practice lab. But, please, never refuse any assigned skill tasks.

Best of luck to you.

kovercomer · Aug 17, 2010

I had already been checked off on doing AccuCheks and passed. I had done about 8 or so before this.

caliotter3 · Aug 17, 2010

While you are in school, you are always under scrutiny. If the instructor wants to watch you do six accu-checks every clinical day and three extra ones on the last Tuesday of class, you do it. You do not have the option to refuse, unless something would grossly endanger a patient, then you have the responsibility to report the situation to another supervising nurse. When you get this resolved, learn that one of the ways to survive in nursing school is to refrain from challenging instructors unless absolutely necessary. Good luck.

kovercomer · Aug 18, 2010

Thanks for everyone who posted a reply. It seems that the Director of the program at the school I attended is very pro-hands-on, very fast and impatient, and just downright mean and cutting. I did find out today though that she does really magnify even the smallest mistakes because she believes these can be the difference between a patient's life or death. She thinks I was a little stand-offish and thought my communication skills needed a lot of work, which I agree that they do, but I've been in an abusive marriage for 7 years where I learned not to speak up too much or there would be trouble and was ignored a lot. Also, right before starting school I separated from my husband and was adjusting to alot of transitions.

But, one aspect of this clinical experience that I should mention is that the staff and patients really really seemed to like me a lot from the beginning and I am extremely intelligent (theory,tests) and one time when my instructor and I were at the charting station and she was drilling me about my patient's chart, I came off being very knowledgeable and the staff around could see that, and since my instructor was an actual employee on that floor at the hospital on her days off from teaching she was always to be No 1 in everything all the time. One of the PCT's also was a little jealous of the good rapport I had with my patient. so in the end they teamed up and did a fine job of getting rid of me.

Anyway, the prospect of being an LPN looks pretty dim at this point, although I could go in Spring 2011 to a different campus of the same school. So, I going to try to find a job in assisted living or home health for the time being.

Thanks again for everyone's excellent advice!!

iwanna · Aug 18, 2010

Sorry that things didn't work out for you. We all make mistakes, and we can learn from them. I truly hope things will get better for you. You can try again at another campus like you said. Perhaps, the timing wasn't right for you, as you stated going through many transitions. Nursing school is stressful enough, and it is harder when other areas of your life that are stressful. Congratulations for leaving an abusive relationship. Best wishes for a brighter future. If you really want to do nursing, try again in the spring.