I am a second semester ADN nursing student and today I really feel like quitting. Last semester I had a really great clinical instructor that was very helpful and easy to communicate with however this semester our clincal groups changed and I was assigned to a new instructor. Last week, I received 3 unsatifactory's (one for forgetting my penlight in my purse, one for not telling the clinical instructor the five P's when I was assessing restraints and another because I was having a problem with the thermometer) on the first clinical day. The patient that I had was extremely difficult to deal with. I had to check his pulse but he had tremors and I couldn't get the pulse right and when I went to check his blood pressure, the dial would get stuck in the middle of turning it and I would have to pull it harder and it would deflate too fast for me to read. When I said that I was having problems reading the pulse my instructor just told me to hold his hands down and when I said that the blood pressure cuff was getting stuck she just sort of shook her head like I was just making excuses. I decided to just chalk it up to having a bad day and decided that I would make today better (I even took my own blood pressure cuff).
Well, today almost the exact same thing happened. First off, at 6:45 am after hearing report my instructor tells me that she needs to talk to me and she asks me, "Where were you Wednesday? I was waiting at my office for you." I had no idea what she was talking about so she says that last Monday she told me to come to her office Wednesday so that she could give me my yellow Unsatisfactory papers. I don't recall her saying anything to me about meeting her at her office and I'm actually pretty sure that she didn't tell me to meet her in her office but we've been told not to disagree with our clinical instructors so I just said that I'd forgotten. So, she gives me last week's Unsatisfactory papers which was totally the wrong way to start off the clinical day.
I tried not to let it get to me and I went to go do my head to toe checkoff which did not go well at all. I greeted the patient but I didn't check her armband. I went through the entire head to toe assessment and then afterwards we went to the staff lounge. My clinical instructor asked me how I felt like I'd done and I thought that I had done better with the exception of the armband but she began ticking off all of these things that I did wrong. The patient had gotten an infection in her breast where she had a biopsy done and the instructor said that I should have asked her about when she'd gotten the biopsy done and the patient complained of pain in her upper left arm and although I looked at her arm, the instructor said that I should have assessed the arm. She said that I didn't tell the patient what I was doing and although I verbally went through each step outloud but my instructor said that I didn't tell the patient I was doing a head to toe assessment. She said that I should have been asking the patient questions about her diagnosis, and N/V and intake. She said that the head to toe assessment wasn't just what was on the form and I should have talked to the patient so that I knew what was going on. Then she proceeded to tell me that I didn't know what I was doing and if I don't get a satisfactory check off on the head to toe in the lab, Wednesday, then I won't be allowed to go back to the hospital. I worked just as hard as anyone else to get to this point and I feel ridiculed. I feel like I'm stupid.
I was really upset although I tried not to let it show but that pretty much screwed up the rest of the day for me. I fumbled through my Accuchek and she shook her head at me and told me that I would be getting 3 more unsatisfactory's today.
The thing is that during my last semester, my clinical instructor laid out her expectations for us and we knew what we were expected to do. We asked questions about our patient's condition during our first look and when we did out head to toe assessment we just did that without asking too many questions. The new instructor that I have doesn't make her expectations known. I don't know how she want us to do our assessments or what questions she wants us to ask the patients. She just sits there, watching and when I ask a question, she says that I'm the nurse. I asked her about a med and she started asking me questions about it instead of just answering the question. I mean, if I knew I wouldn't have asked the question in the first place. At the end of the day she asked me what I 'd learned and I said that I didn't feel like I'd learned anything today because all I did was make mistakes. Then she says, well you learn from your mistakes. I mean, you give someone 3 unsatisfactory's, tell them that they don't know what they're doing and that you're going to give them 3 more unsatisfactory's and expect that person to have a great day.
This is only my second semester and I am still a first year student. I feel like everything I do is subpar. It's to the point where I am afraid of asking of question and I feel like I can't do anything right. I'm second guessing everything and I have zero confidence. Someone please give me some advice on how to deal with this because at this point I feel like I should just call it quits.
As long as unsatisfactory papers didn't mean dismissal from the program I would just take my licks and go on. But if it seems like she has singled you out and is trying to make an example out of you and ultimately get rid of you, I' have her in the office with the head of the nursing program. Ask her what exactly she sees in you that is such a problem and be sure to mention that you want to know what to do to fix things and make them better.
:icon_hug: I'm so sorry you're going through this. I've seen several students in my program go through similar experiences with instructors, and this is the advice they gave. They all said to go to the instructor right away and talk with her. Ask her to pinpoint areas she thinks you really need to work on, and then really work on those areas (I think the advice about having another student pretend to be your instructor is a great idea). Ask her for feedback frequently. You want to come across as someone who is working very hard at correcting whatever your instructor perceives the problem to be. I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but all the students I know who had similar experiences have told me that although it was horrible they feel it made them better nurses. Keep us updated on how things go for you :icon_hug:
Ah, I think I remember that from nrsg school, now that you remind me...
To the OP, this instructor is a B-!-T-(-H, I have no doubt about it from your description. She probably has her head so filled up with stuff like the 5 Ps that she doesn't know anything else anymore, because she hasn't actually worked at the bedside in so many years that she really doesn't know what in the H3LL she's talking about. She's a bully...
Do you want me to email her for you and tell her off?
I feel like I'm not really getting a chance and I feel like I have to try 100x harder than anyone else in the clincal just to prove myself. It wouldn't be so bad if I knew what she expects but she is so unapproachable. Like I said, last semester we only had six clinical days and we only performed NA work, we checked off on all of our procedures once with our classmates that were normal and now we're expected to go into a clinical enviroment dealing with sick patients, new instructor expectations and know what we're supposed to do. Not only that but I feel like that instructor doesn't want to spend anymore time with me than absolutely necessary. I feel that my learning experience isn't what it should be. I can take constructive criticism but for someone to tell me that I don't know what I'm doing and that unless I get checked off in the lab on a head to toe assessment I won't get to back to the clincal site is a little much. It's not as if I was doing something obscenely wrong, and dangerous to the patient and I will admit that I made the mistake of not checking the patient's armband but I don't believe that the mistake that I made warranted that kind of response from her when she is all smiles with the other students. I was to the point of tears earlier today, and it was all I could do to suck it up and get through the rest of the day. I don't know if I should just try to stick it out or meet with the dean of nursing and ask for a new assignment because I don't think it's going to get any better.
Shining Star, you'll make it. You're a sensitive person and that trait will make you a great nurse! Just stick it out and make it through. Probably the advise that valerette gave you is good. I had a shrew in my second semester too. You aren't down in Palm Desert are you? You'll make it!
Truthfully, alot of nurses in real life don't check armbands all the time. Your instructor doesn't know this because she doesn't know about real life.
I also agree that seeking out the instructor out of clinical hours would be a good idea. She'll either continue to be unsupportive or she might let up a bit upon seeing you take that extra step of consulting her. You have a right to be upset with the situation and you do deserve better. However, upon approaching her, try to maintain a learner's attitude. The goal isn't to show her how unfair she's being - which she is, but pointing that out probably won't get you anywhere. The point is that you are serious about wanting to be a nurse and willing to do what it takes - including asking her what exactly she thinks you can improve on and any suggestions on how to do that.
Also, another good suggestion was to consult with your classmates. They may have some advice for you in regard to how to deal with this instructor. They may not understand just how you feel since they aren't experiencing the same thing from this person, but there may be some useful observations they can give you.
Specializes in Adult and Pediatric Vascular Access, Paramedic.
Try and recover and regroup and go in to your next clinical day with confidence and just do what you need to. The less cofident you are the moe they pick on you, so do what you need to, read, do reasearch, whatever you need to to be more confident.
I think your instructor wants you to ask questions related to the part you are assessing. For example if you are assessing the patients abdomen ask them when there last BM was, how they are tolerating diet, if they are having nausea etc....
Please DO NOT QUIT! Don't let another person's immaturity squash you're dream into dust. You will spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened if you had stayed in. If someone thought enough of you to invite you into the program, then you are smart enough to stick it out!
I think this lady is trying to intimidate you because she thinks you are easily rattled. Quietly, you have to just keep taking the hits until she zero's in on a new "weak one". I would advise flying under her radar as much as possible. Don't poke the bear! If it comes down to it, and this is a last, last resort, I took my psycho instructor to the Dean and I won! I had a clinical instructor who was literally psycho and sent the whole group of us home and gave us UA's one morning for showing up 15 minutes late because she was having a split from reality and did not realize the true time. I was in an ADN program, and I have to say that semester 2 was by far the hardest, and friends and classmates were dropping like flies with each passing semester. But the whole time I was in NS, the entire 104 weeks, every week I wanted to quit. It is not unusual. I never cried so much as I did for those 2 years. Unfortunately, nursing schools are very big on "weeding out" or "breaking" people to eliminate those they think are weak. Semester's one and two tend to be the big weeder semesters. There is no room for error in nursing and they only want the sharpest and the brightest. But there was no way they were going to steal my dream from me (even though it turned my hair grey and shaved at least ten years off my life!)
They will pick at little things to try and break you. And mess with your mind by telling you you missed an appointment you were never informed about. It's part of the nursing student plight.
The absolute best piece of advice that I can give you is this: Make sure that you are hyper-prepared when you go into clinicals in the morning. Arrive early, if allowed, and don't give her a chance to bust you for something stupid. Play the game her way, it's only one semester and then you will be on your way to better things!
I know it stinks now, but you have to decide if you're going to let some lady intimidate you out of school. You have to put on your poker face and let her know you are there to stay! What it came down to in the end was how bad did I want it, and was I going to allow anyone to take it from me? Heck no! and now, after 3 years of hard work I am a brand new RN. and you will be too! Hang tough, it's all part of the nursing way of doing things!
I am a second semester ADN nursing student and today I really feel like quitting. Last semester I had a really great clinical instructor that was very helpful and easy to communicate with however this semester our clincal groups changed and I was assigned to a new instructor. Last week, I received 3 unsatifactory's (one for forgetting my penlight in my purse, one for not telling the clinical instructor the five P's when I was assessing restraints and another because I was having a problem with the thermometer) on the first clinical day. The patient that I had was extremely difficult to deal with. I had to check his pulse but he had tremors and I couldn't get the pulse right and when I went to check his blood pressure, the dial would get stuck in the middle of turning it and I would have to pull it harder and it would deflate too fast for me to read. When I said that I was having problems reading the pulse my instructor just told me to hold his hands down and when I said that the blood pressure cuff was getting stuck she just sort of shook her head like I was just making excuses. I decided to just chalk it up to having a bad day and decided that I would make today better (I even took my own blood pressure cuff).
Well, today almost the exact same thing happened. First off, at 6:45 am after hearing report my instructor tells me that she needs to talk to me and she asks me, "Where were you Wednesday? I was waiting at my office for you." I had no idea what she was talking about so she says that last Monday she told me to come to her office Wednesday so that she could give me my yellow Unsatisfactory papers. I don't recall her saying anything to me about meeting her at her office and I'm actually pretty sure that she didn't tell me to meet her in her office but we've been told not to disagree with our clinical instructors so I just said that I'd forgotten. So, she gives me last week's Unsatisfactory papers which was totally the wrong way to start off the clinical day.
I tried not to let it get to me and I went to go do my head to toe checkoff which did not go well at all. I greeted the patient but I didn't check her armband. I went through the entire head to toe assessment and then afterwards we went to the staff lounge. My clinical instructor asked me how I felt like I'd done and I thought that I had done better with the exception of the armband but she began ticking off all of these things that I did wrong. The patient had gotten an infection in her breast where she had a biopsy done and the instructor said that I should have asked her about when she'd gotten the biopsy done and the patient complained of pain in her upper left arm and although I looked at her arm, the instructor said that I should have assessed the arm. She said that I didn't tell the patient what I was doing and although I verbally went through each step outloud but my instructor said that I didn't tell the patient I was doing a head to toe assessment. She said that I should have been asking the patient questions about her diagnosis, and N/V and intake. She said that the head to toe assessment wasn't just what was on the form and I should have talked to the patient so that I knew what was going on. Then she proceeded to tell me that I didn't know what I was doing and if I don't get a satisfactory check off on the head to toe in the lab, Wednesday, then I won't be allowed to go back to the hospital. I worked just as hard as anyone else to get to this point and I feel ridiculed. I feel like I'm stupid.
I was really upset although I tried not to let it show but that pretty much screwed up the rest of the day for me. I fumbled through my Accuchek and she shook her head at me and told me that I would be getting 3 more unsatisfactory's today.
The thing is that during my last semester, my clinical instructor laid out her expectations for us and we knew what we were expected to do. We asked questions about our patient's condition during our first look and when we did out head to toe assessment we just did that without asking too many questions. The new instructor that I have doesn't make her expectations known. I don't know how she want us to do our assessments or what questions she wants us to ask the patients. She just sits there, watching and when I ask a question, she says that I'm the nurse. I asked her about a med and she started asking me questions about it instead of just answering the question. I mean, if I knew I wouldn't have asked the question in the first place. At the end of the day she asked me what I 'd learned and I said that I didn't feel like I'd learned anything today because all I did was make mistakes. Then she says, well you learn from your mistakes. I mean, you give someone 3 unsatisfactory's, tell them that they don't know what they're doing and that you're going to give them 3 more unsatisfactory's and expect that person to have a great day.
This is only my second semester and I am still a first year student. I feel like everything I do is subpar. It's to the point where I am afraid of asking of question and I feel like I can't do anything right. I'm second guessing everything and I have zero confidence. Someone please give me some advice on how to deal with this because at this point I feel like I should just call it quits.
So lets re-group. First write up some common scenarios that you will encounter in the hospital. Have a friend or family member pick one of these (examples: Pneumonia, knee or hip replacement, uncontrolled HTN or uncontrolled diabetes etc...). Practice a head to toe assessment on them and remember that anytime a patient says there is something abnormal you probe that statement for more info before going on to the next item. Write out your own assessment sheet that will allow you to stay on task and feel comfortable about your assessment. (this really helped me not to forget anything). Practice accuchecks on yourself a few times to get used to the process. Remember that the MOST important things for you to remember are Identify the patient, infection control (wash your hands), safety (remember to make sure guardrails are up and bed is in lowest position with call light in reach), privacy for the patient, and report any abnormalities to the nurse promptly. Practice your skills (injections, the medication administration process, catheters and IV's) as often as possible and even when home go through the steps in your head until they are really ingrained. Show confidence and never ask a question that you can look up. Just try to get through this the best that you can. Make sure that you are seen in your schools lab frequently so that they can see that you are trying to improve.
Do not let her see that she is getting to you. Some people are just mean and when they see they can "bully" you they will. Nursing school is all about jumping through their hoops....I thank god I am done and only had one professor who was like that to me and I did not have her for clinicals just lab and lecture. Once I stood up to her though she backed down and became nice and helpful. I agree with the others...practice practice practice and try to be ready for anything. Good luck to you sweetie and DO NOT GIVE UP!!!
I am a second semester ADN nursing student and today I really feel like quitting. Last semester I had a really great clinical instructor that was very helpful and easy to communicate with however this semester our clincal groups changed and I was assigned to a new instructor. Last week, I received 3 unsatifactory's (one for forgetting my penlight in my purse, one for not telling the clinical instructor the five P's when I was assessing restraints and another because I was having a problem with the thermometer) on the 
Jo Dirt
3,270 Posts
As long as unsatisfactory papers didn't mean dismissal from the program I would just take my licks and go on. But if it seems like she has singled you out and is trying to make an example out of you and ultimately get rid of you, I' have her in the office with the head of the nursing program. Ask her what exactly she sees in you that is such a problem and be sure to mention that you want to know what to do to fix things and make them better.