Failed my first comp

[SmartMorgan]

Hi All,

It has been a little while since I have posted. I finished my prereqs with flying colors and now I am actually a nursing student. I need some support right now and I know this is where I can get it. I am in nursing 1 right now and I failed my first comp. I feel like a loser. The comp was on hand washing, vital signs, and dry sterile dressing change. I failed when I contaminated my sterile field. I had the drape and 4x4 setup on the table and was getting my gloves ready to put on. I pulled them from their package and then decided to throw away the outer wrapper. I had my trash bag setup on my patients bedside near their hip and I had to turn at the waist to throw away the package....thus the failure! I know that you can't turn your back on the field but I did anyway and to make it worse I didn't even realize. I was stopped by the instructor and she asked what I did wrong...and I had no clue. At first I was mad...and then I was crying...and now I feel like a loser. I have to comp again next Wednesday and I have to pass. I wish I just set the outer package on the table and set the gloves in their wrapper on top of it. That is what I was going to do but I didn't want to risk contaminating my field.

I know it does no good to compare....but other people passed on the first try. On a side note, my average right now is 80 and I did pass my first Med Math test...so I do have some good things going for me. But, at the same time I feel like it is silly to have failed my very first comp.

Thanks for reading my vent....and thanks to all who respond!

[AnneS]

I know how stressed out you are about this right now. I failed a couple of my competencies the first try. I was devastated as well, but they give you more than one try. Its a good learning opportunity. You now know what you did wrong. Its very easy to make mistakes and nursing schools are super strict about procedures like this because if you don't learn it right in school, you will never learn it right in the field.

You are not always going to get it right the first time. If you think it ends at graduation, think again. I am in my first nursing job as a new grad and I thank God everyday for how my instructors drilled into me the 5 rights of med administration (this was one of the competencies I failed first try too). I still review procedures before I do them to refresh my memory, and I still make mistakes. Competence comes with practice and time.

Good luck on your second try. I am confident you will succeed.

[Nurse Connie]

I know how you feel. I also failed sterile dressing in my first semester. And Primary IV (passed them both on the 2nd try). And I just failed IVPB today. Yes, it sucks. But, you get another chance (we actually get 3 chances) and I know what I did wrong and won't make the same mistakes again. The crazy thing is I've already done an IVPB in the hospital. For whatever reason I get so nervous during these return demos and forget the most basic things. It's Ok, just practice, practice, practice and I'm sure you'll do great next time!