failed my clinical rotation? very worried..

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my rotation this year is at a school, im in a class with autistic 5 year olds. the rotation has been going ok so far. so during the usual reading time i decided to catch up on my studying...the preceptor walked in and noticed what i was doing and told me that she could fail me because of it and said that the principal at the school has seen me using the phone during class time too (and has let her know). she said my performance during the rotation only started improving towards the end of the year. i asked her if this means that i probably failed and she said it looks that way but there are still time to improve...

today she lets me know that i will need to meet with the nursing assistant-dean and that i need to reflect on my work ethics and explain that both verbally and in writing.

i now realize how bad it must have looked to be there sitting and studying but i mean, is it really that big of deal?

she said that the faculty asked her about my performance in the last few days and she said that its good but im still extremely worried that i might have failed and i have no idea what to expect from the dean. this is really throwing off my studying and i'd really appreciate some input on this situation.

PedsHopeful

302 Posts

Put the phone away, stop studying in class, pay more attention to the kids.

Despareux

938 Posts

That kind of behavior is considered unprofessional and is grounds for dismissal from our program. As a nursing student, you are held to very high standards of professionalism. While you may not see studying, while the kids are busy with other things, as something bad; what you may not realize is that, you may be causing your college to look bad and that school may not allow your college to return for rotation; therefore, affecting not only you, but your cohort and future student opportunities.

Instead of catching up on studying, perhaps you could have used the time to assess the children's interaction and responses, or maybe you could have been working on developing nursing diagnosis and interventions based on what you've observed.

Specializes in Medical Surgical/Addiction/Mental Health.

Why does your clinical consist of babysitting 5 autistic children? Are you doing your Community Nursing rotation? Okay, so being on the phone and studying isn’t looked upon favorably. However, students have done far worse things than that. I am sorry, but some of these clinical instructors need to get a grip. If you were in my clinical group, I would have set the ground rules. Once I found out that you were on your phone, the two of us would have had a private chat. I would have made it abundantly clear that if you are caught doing anything else besides “babysitting”, you would not pass the clinical. To wait until seeing you “studying” then bringing up other things after the fact is plain stupid. Are these schools seriously finding it incredibly difficult to recruit clinical instructors that they have to resort to someone like that?

Well, the only suggestion I have is to have a well-prepared outline of your actions and the interventions you plan to implement right away to ensure the behavior isn’t repeated. Give examples of what could happen to patients if you’re not paying attention. Be humble and own up to what happened. Above all, be understanding and remorseful. Tell them you don’t want to fail the course, but do feel a punishment of sorts is warranted. It will show your ability to negotiate and compromise. Suggest an extra research assignment on the topic of things that have happened to patients when nurses have ignored them. Also suggest making the presentation to your class. Offer a public apology to the clinical instructor although a pink slip is more reasonable.

Good luck.

x_factor

520 Posts

You were supposed to be watching not just 5 year olds, but AUTISTIC 5 year olds. And instead you were studying?

What happens when you are a nurse one day and your elderly, frail patient attempts to get out of bed alone when you aren't paying attention, falls and breaks her hip... or worse, fractures her skull and dies.

Clinical rotation is NOT the place to be doing your studying, with the exception of actual lunch breaks or other off-the-clock time when you are not supposed to be actually doing your job.

And using the phone during class? Really? That slows a complete lack of maturity, lack of respect for the teacher, and lack of seriousness as a prospective nurse. If this is how you are presenting yourself as a student, how will you present yourself as a nurse when patients lives are in your hands?

mursetudent25

43 Posts

thats understandable, but this is a school not a hospital, noones life is directly in my care, this is more like babysitting.

the dean asked me to write a report about it, i suspect the meeting will not be pleasant.

what should i expect??

tokyoROSE, BSN, RN

1 Article; 526 Posts

Specializes in Operating Room.

The phone thing is never appropriate, ever. I would sympathize with you on the studying because I have done that in the past (most people in my group did the same), we all received warnings, and I never did it again. I don't think studying is one of those "one strike and you're out" deal. Now if you received a warning and continued to study in class, that's a problem.

allnurses Guide

Nurse SMS, MSN, RN

6,843 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Frankly from all you have said here it sounds like they are going to work with you on it, give you a warning or some kind of punishment. I think at worst you will have to repeat the semester, but hopefully it won't come to that.

You'd have gotten in deep dookie for this at my school too. I find the idea of "babysitting" five year olds bizarre and awful enough to make me want to stick a fork in my eye, but if you were doing behavioral analysis or observing for developmental issues and interventions based on your observations, then obviously if you aren't observing you can't be passing the assignment.

I hope this all works out for you. It sounds unbelievably stressful, but it also sounds like they are going to give you a chance with a stern warning of some sort. Be remorseful, take responsibility for your actions and throw yourself at their mercy (without begging). Let us know how it turns out.

caliotter3

38,333 Posts

I would expect being told that you have failed the course and I would expect to hear whether or not you would be continuing in the program and under what circumstances. Be thoroughly prepared to defend your case to continue in that nursing school.

mursetudent25

43 Posts

does anyone think it's a good idea to e-mail the dean and ask about the upcoming meeting?

Specializes in School Nursing.
thats understandable, but this is a school not a hospital, noones life is directly in my care, this is more like babysitting.

the dean asked me to write a report about it, i suspect the meeting will not be pleasant.

what should i expect??

You're making excuses for your careless behavior.. You don't use your cell phone while you're taking care of patients (or children).. hell, even if you were flipping burgers, you wouldn't be allowed to just make a phone call in the middle of your shift while you are taking care of customers. That definitely shows a very poor work ethic..

When babysitting, the children you're watching ARE directly affected by your care. Yes, I think it SUCKS you ended up in a babysitting clinical rotation (wouldn't that be a special education major's job?) but that is what you were assigned to do, and you should have done it to the best of your ability. It shows a lackadaisical attitude toward your assignment, and that attitude would put a bad taste in the mouth of potential employers, and cast the school in a negative light.

A customer service rep at Petco is help to higher standards than you showed this school. If you were at an actual paying job, you'd probably have been fired. Fire=Fail

When you visit the dean, you need to NOT have this 'nobody's life was in my direct care' attitude. I would do a reseach paper on ethical behavior in the medical care as well as special education fields. Outline how you could have done things differently, and remember that this world doesn't OWE you a job, and this school doesn't OWE you a good grade. You have to work hard and be engaged.

Good luck.

mursetudent25

43 Posts

You're making excuses for your careless behavior.. You don't use your cell phone while you're taking care of patients (or children).. hell, even if you were flipping burgers, you wouldn't be allowed to just make a phone call in the middle of your shift while you are taking care of customers. That definitely shows a very poor work ethic..

When babysitting, the children you're watching ARE directly affected by your care. Yes, I think it SUCKS you ended up in a babysitting clinical rotation (wouldn't that be a special education major's job?) but that is what you were assigned to do, and you should have done it to the best of your ability. It shows a lackadaisical attitude toward your assignment, and that attitude would put a bad taste in the mouth of potential employers, and cast the school in a negative light.

A customer service rep at Petco is help to higher standards than you showed this school. If you were at an actual paying job, you'd probably have been fired. Fire=Fail

When you visit the dean, you need to NOT have this 'nobody's life was in my direct care' attitude. I would do a reseach paper on ethical behavior in the medical care as well as special education fields. Outline how you could have done things differently, and remember that this world doesn't OWE you a job, and this school doesn't OWE you a good grade. You have to work hard and be engaged.

Good luck.

you make very good points. thanks. i guess it comes down to how generous the dean will be. is there anything more than i can do?? i'm considering sending an apology email to the dean before meeting..but what if thats not even the issue? very very stressful.

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