Failing a student when not receving a failing grade?

goodstudentnowRN · Dec 4, 2008

That clinical instructor is another egotistic moron who wants to make a name for herself by failing students. I would avoid this instructor as best as I can. I do not trust some of these instructors and so I try to be safe all the time. I try to watch my back and be the best nursing student ever. It that instructor were at my school, they would have thrown her out of the school long ago. With this harsh economic climate one has no money to waste and it takes money to start all over again. May God have mercy upon that instructor's selfish soul!

rwright15 · Dec 4, 2008

Our clinical is based on S or U. 3 U's in one area and you are out of the nursing program, regardless of your lecture grade. Last week, with 2 weeks left of school, our nsg instructor emailed a student to tell her that she had gotten a 3rd U in 2 weeks, and she was out of the program. This student was passing everything else, and our instructor's main reason was that she was weak in her clinical skills, and told her she should just find a good LPN program, as that is what would suit her better. I would be devastated. I guess they can do pretty much what they want.

Courtney Nurse Writer, BSN · Dec 4, 2008

We get out clinical grades as an S or a U. I have heard many students getting kicked out of the program from the clinicals, but they have all been legitimate reasons. I am not sure if they are passing the lecture or not. Some teachers though will really pick on students when they see they are struggling, maybe just to prevent bad practice or maybe b/c they have issues...

caliotter3 · Dec 4, 2008

It's been known to happen. The instructor has the final say, and they can say you are not ready if that is their evaluation of you. Not much you can do, unless you see it coming and go on the offensive with the instructor's boss. I was told by a clinical instructor one time that that is the reason why students should pay extra careful attention to documentation issues. You never know when you will need to take your stack of documentation before the department chair.

allnurses Guide · Dec 4, 2008

Book knowledge doesn't always translate into clinical competency.

Your degree says that the school is declaring you to be a safe, prepared and fit health care provider. It depends on the CIs to watch and assess whether or not you are safe, they are the last line of defense for the public.

Are some arbitrary? Yes, we are human beings, with all the variety of shortcomings and strengths you'll find in every other population.

You will also not be told all the details that go into a CI's decision, that is between the student, the CI and the program director. Students do not always share the whole truth of what they were told in their conferences, go figure. It is an extremely difficult decision to make, there is no joy in failing a student. It is rare to fail a student based on just one incident; there is likely far more to the story. If there is a subtle pattern of poor or just not quite adequate performance, the "one incident" may just be the culmination of observations, the straw that "broke the camel's back" as it were.

coolpeach · Dec 4, 2008

We have the S and U thing too, no real number grades in clinical. This is just my first semester, but everyone in our clinical group passed clinical.

morte, LPN, LVN · Dec 4, 2008

i was wondering if anyone has heard of a clinical instructor failing a student when not receiving a failing grade?
one of the students in the last graduating class complained that the clinical instructor had failed her when she had received a "b" in clinical. she said the instructor told her she did not feel as if she was ready.
similarly, my friend in the nursing program with me is having the same problems. the instructor has told her that she feels as if she is not ready but she is receiving a "b". also, the instructor gave the student an incident report because she had a patient with low respirations and failed to have a watch (clearly there was a clock in the room) and felt the patients chest not abdomen. although, she clearly reported the situation of low resp. to the nurse and instructor, she still got reprimanded. do you think this is wrong? this is our last week of school and would hate to see anyone fail for this.

it appears that these students were passing clinical with a "b", so it would seem that the instructors dont have their ducks in a row......i could see a student with a "c" in clinical failing at the end if a c is required to pass...just didnt quite make the grade, but from a "b"? wouldnt seem likely

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Dec 4, 2008

Our clinical is based on S or U. 3 U's in one area and you are out of the nursing program, regardless of your lecture grade. Last week, with 2 weeks left of school, our nsg instructor emailed a student to tell her that she had gotten a 3rd U in 2 weeks, and she was out of the program. This student was passing everything else, and our instructor's main reason was that she was weak in her clinical skills, and told her she should just find a good LPN program, as that is what would suit her better. I would be devastated. I guess they can do pretty much what they want.

How can an LPN have weak clinical skills when that's what LPN's do?

Geezeum.

AtomicWoman · Dec 4, 2008

I know a lot of venting about clinical instructors goes on here, and much of it seems to be reasonable, based on some of the CI behaviors I read about. But we don't know the whole story here. If the CI feels that this person will not be a careful nurse or is likely to harm someone, then the CI has the duty to either help the student correct the behaviors/attitudes, etc., or make sure the student does not become a nurse.

I'm not a CI. Maybe they have nightmares about marginal students they have let pass. Maybe some of them have a strong sense that they must protect the nursing field from people who will be a danger to others, or something else. And yeah, maybe some of them are jerks. But maybe we should give the benefit of the doubt to the CI's professional judgment unless and until we know more about the situation.

That said, I do agree with Suesquatch that the comment about being better suited to be an LPN was odd. I wonder if there was something specifically RN-responsibilities-related that was a problem with this student.

Jolie, BSN · Dec 4, 2008

It is possible to have a cumulative grade of "B" based upon the first weeks of clinical, but not perform adequately or safely in the final weeks.

If this pertains to your grade, I would suggest meeting with your instructor to form an action plan of what you need to accomplish in the next few weeks.

If this pertains to someone else's grade, I respectfully suggest staying out of it.

caliotter3 · Dec 4, 2008

That said, I do agree with Suesquatch that the comment about being better suited to be an LPN was odd. I wonder if there was something specifically RN-responsibilities-related that was a problem with this student.

I've found that steering people toward LPN school is sometimes a common second choice alternative that school administrators put out there. They are probably using this as a way to soften the blow rather than a genuine interest in increasing the ranks of LPNs. Personally, I find it unacceptable that they imply that one whose skills aren't good enough for RN can always become an LPN. LPNs need good skills also and to imply otherwise is not correct, or professional.