So I'm in my final semester of nursing school and I failed clinical because I was deemed unsafe. I won't deny the reason as I passed meds in a peds med surg unit without a nurse. Doesn't matter what med it was. That was a med error on my end.
You might be thinking "how the hell could you act outside of your scope?!" I failed because I was too task-oriented. I didn't see the bigger picture. I got stressed out realizing that I'll be on my own in the real world of nursing.
I had a lot of anxiety coming into this semester. I tried talking to my clinical instructor before I started on the floor and it didn't really help. I also felt that she wasn't really putting her heart into helping me. Just a means to and end per se. Come midterm eval I failed it miserably and she didn't give me feedback on my communication and organization. In her defense, I should've asked for the constructive criticism.
I know it's not the end of the world. I have one more shot next semester. For now I'm in my theory courses. It's been a week since i found out I failed. I'm trying to take each day in stride. Do you guys have any advice for me? Thanks.
I'm sorry this happened to you. What you are suffering from is lack of confidence. Being task oriented is very very normal for a nursing student and even for a new graduate nurse. It may take a couple months before you start seeing the big picture. For some, it will take longer than others to "click." Speak with your teachers/mentors, learn from this experience, and move on. We all have setbacks in our careers. Also, just for technicality's sake, you didn't necessarily make a med error. What you did was against your school's and possibly the hospital's policy. In my state, nursing students can practice basically within the scope of practice as an RN when deemed competent. I had to look this up before I started precepting a nursing student in her final semester. Although my state technically allowed her to give medications unsupervised, her school did not allow it. Nursing students do not practice under my license, but I am still responsible for my patients.
I didn't mean it like that.... I think it's just the stress of this situation that's screwing with my mind.
I passed HESI... I can understand the nursing process... It's just this huge disconnect I had when I was on the unit. I don't know what else to say but I froze when I was on the unit. I guess I just need more time to let this all pass.
I think that, to a certain degree, is normal. You don't just automatically know what questions to ask. I've been in healthcare a long time (new grad RN), and I still go, Yeah, I should have thought to ask that or assess that or whatever. There was a post recently about a nursing student who ended up having to administer CPR and froze on the spot. It happens. Being a nursing student doesn't automatically make you an expert, and no one should expect that of you, including YOU.
When you get your next shot at this, focus more on the thought process, prioritization, etc. over the task-oriented stuff. While the tasks are often more exciting, the right way of thinking will make all the difference.
Lev, MSN, RN, NP
4 Articles; 2,805 Posts
OP,
I'm sorry this happened to you. What you are suffering from is lack of confidence. Being task oriented is very very normal for a nursing student and even for a new graduate nurse. It may take a couple months before you start seeing the big picture. For some, it will take longer than others to "click." Speak with your teachers/mentors, learn from this experience, and move on. We all have setbacks in our careers. Also, just for technicality's sake, you didn't necessarily make a med error. What you did was against your school's and possibly the hospital's policy. In my state, nursing students can practice basically within the scope of practice as an RN when deemed competent. I had to look this up before I started precepting a nursing student in her final semester. Although my state technically allowed her to give medications unsupervised, her school did not allow it. Nursing students do not practice under my license, but I am still responsible for my patients.