Failed clinical because...

Published

My very good friend got pulled out of clinical yesterday and now has to wait a year to get back into the program (we're third year doing the BSN) because she tied a nephrostomy tube to the bed railing and when she put down the bedrailing, she forgot she tied it there in the first place; well it popped out of the patient. It was a big deal in our ward with everyone including patient care coordinator, family, rn, drs yelling at the instructor and student...It was a very ugly scene...

Do you guys agree with the fail she got? We are nursing students and we are there to learn are we not? I believe this is her first incident report.

I agree she shouldn't have tied it to the bed EVER and was of very poor judgement. After that said I do believe students should be given a second chance. She may have let her nervousness take over her common sense (something that should never happen in nursing always ask if you are unsure).

I am also getting my BSN and last semester (Senior 1) there was a girl in our class whose patient had a chest tube. The very first day of theroy in this class we were shown a video on chest tubes and by the end of the movie it was very clear to us to NEVER disconnect a chest tube (duh that is what the water seal is for) Well anyways this student decided to DISCONNECT her patients chest tube to let him walk the halls. He was disconnected for 2 HOURS:eek: until our instructor did her rounds and found it disconected. The instructor quickly reconnected it and let the girl have it. Of course the doctor was called and he yelled at our instructor and it to was a big deal around the rather large hospital. I am surprised this didn't kill the patient. Anyways to make a long story short they did not kick her out of the program (she should have been because she showed no remorse for it) because after reviewing her file they couldn't find anythig else wrong that she had done. Eventually she did end up failing her final :uhoh3: .

now THAT is unreal. criminal actually...

to the OP, I feel that it is such a gross act of failing to use common sense, that she should fail the class. Not sure about all together dropped from the course, but certainly, she caused undue suffering on a patient, doing something rather boneheaded.

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The fail was appropriate. Obviously someone thought that she was salvagable becuase they are letting her come back.

Measure twice cut once applies to nursing just as much as carpentry. In this case it is to never do anything without double checking that you are doing it safely and IAW procedures.

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Specializes in MSICU.

That stinks about your friend. Yes, clinical is a learning experience, but if she was worried about a tube getting tangled, she could've taped it to the patient's side or abdomen, not tie it to the bedrail! Think about all the pain and trouble that act has caused. Yes, she might have seen an RN do it. But let me tell you, I see RN's do all kinds of things in my clinicals that I would not do. You really need to use common sense (unfortunately it's not so common anymore). Sorry, but she deserved to fail.

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I've never seen a nephrostomy, but my jaw dropped when I read the OP's post. I wouldn't tie a pt's shoelace to the bedrail, let alone something coming out of their body. What did she think was going to happen? Why didn't she ask that of the RN she supposedly witnessed doing something like that? Why didn't she call her instructor the first time, and ask what proper care was for a nephrostomy? We're told to always look anything unfamiliar up in the hospital's policies and procedures binders, and we're responsible for it - just like the RNs are. Our instructors are rarely around, and our clinicals are precepted. Just because my preceptor does something doesn't mean I can - I'm responsible for looking it up or calling my instructor if what they're doing doesn't look safe to me.

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Sorry ur friend failed!! And sorry that many on here are jumping all over her by saying she deserves to fail,and yes I'm a student as well. I could almost bet that many on this topic have done far worse, they may not admit here, but we all make mistakes. Better punishment would have been a paper on proper procedures, not an out right boot out the door. Of course we all don't know the whole story, maybe this gal was rushed, or maybe even her preceptor told her earlier it could be done like that, but now wont own up to telling her that (ya, unlikely) And maybe she was a subpar student, and they were looking for an excuse to fail her. I guess i just try and see the good in things, and yes i feel bad for the patient, but one could almost gaurentee she would never make that mistake twice, and for sure she isnt the first, nor last, to do it.

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wow.

we learned the urgency of pt safety, our first month in school...

and, in our very first clinical, we were emphatically taught why never to secure anything on the bed rails.

your classmate being a 3rd yr student, makes it even more incredulous.

similarly, i find it a bit unsettling that you find her failing, harsh and unwarranted.

what aren't you understanding?

and again....wow.

leslie

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Specializes in Case management, occupational health.

Yes, she would have been out of my program with no possibility of ever being allowed back in the program.

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We had a student get in such bad trouble for giving an NPO client food that she ended up dropping out instead of trying to redeem herself during first semester.

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Hi there

I'm only in my 2nd semester of the nursing program, but I'm not really sure there is ANYTHING that you attach to the bed rail. I understand that the bed rail only serves one purpose..to keep the patient safe.

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Specializes in Hospice, ER.

That was a huge big deal and she should be failed out. I had a patient with a nephrostomy tube yesterday and it was painful just to adjust is so as to ensure no tension was on the tube. To have one pulled out must have been horrendous for the patient.

It may seem harsh, but when you are in practice with your own license you worked so hard for, you would not want this to happen. Horrible. I winch just thinking about it. You could probably be sued for negligence, or something. People are beginning to sue nursing students. The school may have had no choice in order to protect itself.

And yes, the point of being a student is to learn, but this was just to big an event to ignore. It violated the cardinal rule of "At least do no harm.":scrying:

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.

The big reason it has been leaning towards a yes she the failure is appropriate....

Where she is in the program.

If it was the start of clinicals I probably would feel differently because it's very possible she wouldn't have been told not to tie anything to something movable like a bed rail.

I have to say honestly that at the same time I wonder how many tubes she's dealt with. When you haven't dealt with something a lot you really can tend to forget things that are important but at the same time such a little thing...a basic. So that part of it makes this a real shame.

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Specializes in IMC, ICU, Telemetry.
I agree she shouldn't have tied it to the bed EVER and was of very poor judgement. After that said I do believe students should be given a second chance.

It seems as if the OP classmate is getting a 2nd chance, being allowed to retake the course the next year. This major compromise of patient safety would have been an automatic dismissal from the program I went to, with no appeal or readmission. This was a serious incident and cause for a serious consequence.

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