I was the "chosen" one this semester...

[oklahomagal]

meaning that my clinical instructor chose to stick it to me everytime she got the chance. I will admit that sometimes I am a slow learner when it comes to hands on but when I do it once with someone by my side then the next time I am better at it, and then better and better with repeated performances. she chose to single me out for being slow, made comments about it in front of my peers, and staff. She disliked how I was always behind on charting my assessments, she wanted them done by a set time and I was, maybe just 30 minutes or so late... however my patients were getting excellent care. I was also helping other nurses, cns's or nursing students when I got the chance. She told me that if I wanted to continue doing the cna's job maybe I would be better off staying a cna. well anyways, I made it through the clinical experience with her hounding me every day and sending me home to cry several times. one time I even stopped to cry in a stairwell on my way to post conference just so I could regain my composure. on the upside, I feel like I have learned to deal with nurses that eat their young and passed my clinicals to go on and face my last 4 months in nursing school!!!! Its been a long road but I am damn glad I am still pursuing it!

[Katie71275]

Sorry that she used that technique on you BUT my guess would be that she is trying to get your time management skills in better order. Nursing is hard, it's hard to fit everything in one shift, and she's right...if you don't learn to delegate some to the CNA, you won't finish everything you need to. It sucks that nursing has become more about checks(checking off in the chart that it's been done), than actual patient care

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Sorry it was a tough ride for you. You got through it an you will be a better nurse for it. Sometimes teachers pick on the brightest.

[CP2013]

Sorry she was tough on you. It's not always a good way to teach. Sometimes instructors have a way of not explaining the rationale which makes it hard to remember.

Thinks like getting assessments and vitals in on time is of utmost importance though. Doctors will make their rounds and expect to see this information already charted. If it's not charted, the other nurses and doctors will single you out, knowing you're "always the slow one" and I think this is what your clinical instructor failed to clearly state. Instead she made it sound harsh, which wasn't fair as a learning experience for you. If you are 4 months away from graduation though, you should be charting on time at the very least. Everything else (helping other students, helping the CNA, etc) can be done AFTER charting is completed.

It is also best to chart as you go, so that you A) don't forget what you needed to say and B) don't chart it on the wrong patient. Sometimes it makes it easier if you are at least taking notes in between patient vitals and assessment to keep things straight before you go back to chart.

Hope your last 4 months are amazing! Congrats!

[Hygiene Queen]

I'd say ignore the delivery and listen to message.

The message is that you need to work on time management.

That said, it's sad that charting trumps patient care... but it all too often the truth!

I think your instructor is out of line with the "stay a CNA" thing.

"CNA" work is very much a part of a nurse's care.

I'll tell you what, just give her want she wants and get out of her clinical in one peice.

Work on your time management.

Extending you my sympathy.

[oklahomagal]

Time management is definitely an issue, one that I was trying to address. The hospital was very limited on computers to chart with so that was an added factor. Ugh! I felt like my last two weeks were definitely an improvement. I just kept the computer that I did med pass with and charted before I let anyone else use it. That really worked out. I am also the kind of person that don't like to be seen sitting on my butt doing anything, even charting. I like to work, constantly when I'm there. Keeping my med pass computer seemed to help me feel like I was actually working because I was standing while charting. It felt more productive. Lol. Thank you all for the constructive criticism and helping me understand why she was like that. I am going to keep pushing on!!

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Feeling like you are under the instructor's thumb all the time is not a good feeling, I can relate. While my patient care is not substandard, there are couple of things that I have found that I need to work on, just because my instructor noticed that I was doing something a little bit different than normal. Hopefully, I can show her very quickly that I have corrected those minor issues, and that she can move on to watching other students.

One of the confounding things with us this semester is that we are using handheld scanners for the first time. I have quite literally used it 4 times so far, since it was introduced. Otherwise, at least I get vital signs done, assessments done, charting done very quickly. It is never nice to have to do those things and hunt down a computer to do it. Although the handheld computers that we have for scanning medications are used for that, it appears that they also can be used for charting assessments. I'm glad that you have found a workaround for that charging problem. Good work! I just hope that I don't have to do that as well, because it is much easier to do my charting on a computer than a handheld.

I hope that you stay off the instructor's radar next semester, and that you can get through it very quickly, easily, and safely!

[oklahomagal]

That was just it, I felt like I was under her thumb...constantly.