Failed part of skills checkoff

[AmandaBeaverhausen]

So it happened as the title suggested. I passed trach suctioning but then failed trach care. While I did sterile technique correctly in the first skill, I bombed the second. I had to request larger gloves because I can't fit into the green ones that come with the kits. So I was so focused on the not being able to put on the gloves that I messed up and removed the cannula with a sterile hand and not a clean gloved hand as I should have before changing them. All during this process, I'm sweating, like profusely. Any gloves stick to me. It didn't help that the coordinator walked up behind my preceptor and watched as I sweated and struggled. She even said she didn't feel comfortable with my competency in this skill, and so on. It went on a bit. So I said that as I work in one of the largest SNFs in the city, they use clean and not sterile technique with trachs so I think that was in the back of my mind (Aside from a hot lab and tiny gloves I didn't mention). She said our PT was post-op, so it had to be sterile. She said I could redo it after the other students finished or come back on the day set aside for redoing skills and the big dosage quiz.

I'm fine with failing for not doing something right. Well, not right now-- right now, after crying the whole drive home, I'm not okay. I'm mad and sad and feel like a complete loser. A girl half my age bops in the room right after me and declares she passed and how easy it was. The whole class immediately turned to look at me. I had to get up and leave because I could feel the tears building. No way I could redo it today. I just said, yeah, I'm gonna do it on the redo day, and wished my friends luck before the dam broke.

Right now, I'm lying in bed with my dog, waiting for my pizza to finish baking in rhe oven. And aside from food, I don't feel like crawling out of bed. The thing is-- I never wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to be a social worker but when I got out of school, there were no jobs. Heartbroken, after years of trying to find even a job making coffee in a social work office, I took a CNA class and headed toward nursing. I passed the first semester pretty easily, but many of my classmates flunked out or withdrew. I thought for sure I had a knack for it. And I became a good CNA and a good CMA. I thought I hit my stride.

And here we are. I don't even wanna move. I'm watching Friends reruns as I sink into the blankets. Any words of encouragement or stories of experience are welcome. Thanks.

[Zamzam]

It’s OK it happens to everyone I don’t know one student who hasn’t failed atleast one skill that’s why they give you multiple chances …… I’ve been working in hospitals for more than a decade and never saw a skill performed exactly like what we are taught in school it goes by facility policy . Just do what THEY want too pass. 

[iNurs5, CNA]

Leave what you know from work. Pretend you don't know anything in your nursing skills. Anyway, practice with your gloves over and over until you master it. Be nice with your self-talk in your head. Try to avoid drinks or foods that can speed up your stress during the check off. 

[londonflo]

On 8/24/2021 at 3:03 PM, AmandaBeaverhausen said:

I wanted to be a social worker but when I got out of school, there were no jobs.

Did you have a bachelors or masters? It is very hard to get any true social work job with only a Bachelors. Getting a Master's in school social work, etc will help you with jobs. Especially if you become a LCSW.

On 8/24/2021 at 3:03 PM, AmandaBeaverhausen said:

So I said that as I work in one of the largest SNFs in the city, they use clean and not sterile technique with trachs so I think that was in the back of my mind

Do you realize the difference between a new trach and a healed trach? 

[maggie0, BSN, RN]

It's okay to fail a skill or two or three. I failed my very first skills--BP and Foley. Like you, I was nervous and sweating and basically psyched myself out, dropping stuff etc. Disaster! But I repeated it, did fine, fast-forward 3 years and now I have my dream job and l love it. Skills tests are faint memories! You'll be a great nurse--because you want to do the best you can do. Put it behind you!

 

[Misteighbloo, BSN, RN]

Two of my nursing competencies I failed on the first go and passed them on the redo. It honestly didn’t upset me, I just made sure to prepare more for the second time. Pretty much every student I know failed a competency at least once.  I’ve been a nurse for two years, graduated on time, and passed the NCLEX on the first try. Allow yourself one night of wallowing, then pick yourself up, practice for the redo and move on. A self-defeating attitude will do just that… you’ll be just fine!  Best of luck! 

[Orion81RN]

When practicing in lab maybe find someone to do the skill in front of a few times to practice with performance anxiety. I don’t recommend it be an instructor, unless there is one you trust. I failed trach care too. Now I do it every day of my job. Good luck! You got this!

[AmandaBeaverhausen]

Thanks for all the input ❤. I did pass on the second try, but moreover the instructor gave me some awesome tips to use when performing the skill in real life. I think I underestimated what the sterile field encompasses, but we didn't go that deep into it before practice with gloves and then onto skills. For instance, it was so warm in the lab, my glasses and shield started sliding and I used my elbow to correct them, never lowering my gloved hands or contaminating them. But I got dinged, so I asked for clarification and she told me if that happened, to ask to step back and then I could correct them, then step back into the sterile field.  I never knew that was an option! Live and learn. ?

Aside from that, I found out that it IS supposed to be a sterile technique regardless of whether it's post-op or healed. I was just observing improper technique from some nurses in a hurry. I checked out the area with all the suppplies and even observed the respiratory therapist, and I think I get it more now, and do feel competent to perform it properly ?

[kubelkabondy, ADN, RN]

My program got rid of skills checkoffs after COVID hit which was the end of my first quarter. The only one that I got checked off on was head to toe assessment. For the other skills they had us record DIY videos of us performing them at home - never thought I would hang a bag of normal saline from the chandelier in my dining room! Honestly, don't sweat it too much. They feel scary and like a big deal at the time, and then after you get checked off you'll probably have limited opportunities to practice until you graduate and get your first RN job at which point you'll have to learn them all over again. When you do, you'll realize that nurses in the real world don't do it the way you learned in school anyway. But if you really want to practice the skills more while a nursing student, try to get a job as a nurse tech at the hospital where you want to work! At my hospital nurse techs can do almost all the things nurses can do (under the supervision of an RN of course). Inserting a foley in a mannequin in a skills lab is totally different from doing it on a real patient! (a real pt is much harder ?). And try not to compare yourself to your peers - who passed skills checkoffs the first time in nursing school has no bearing on who's going to be a great nurse in the real world.