Is it customary to give clinical instructor's gifts at the end of a rotation?

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My rotation is about to end and my classmates want to all chip in to give our instructor a gift - this just seemed really odd to me. Is this normal? The nurses on our unit have been AMAZING and we plan on bringing them something and I am very much into that, but the clinical instructor?

Just looking for input on that.

thanks

OMG! in my school, we change rotation every 4 weeks and there is like this invisible rule that u have to give ur clinical instructors something and i hate it to death! why should they be getting anything when theyre just merely doing their job and getting very good compensation at it. i hate it to death!

1 Votes

We always gave a gift to an instructor at the end of our rotation with them....and I always had fantastic instructors too. One we had we all pitched in a few dollars a piece & gave flowers & a card, another one we had we all pitched in & got her a shirt of her fav football team, an army thing because she was a retired army colonel, a card & we took her out to lunch,another we all chipped in for flowers & a gift card to her favorite restaurant........... I think giving a token at the end is appropriate because you are showing thanks for the instructor helping you to learn & achieve your dream of becoming a nurse. We always gave our gifts after our evaluations were complete though.....just out of the concern that others may see it as sucking up to get better evals.......we always waited until after because then we were "technically" not their students anymore......when someone goes overboard giving a gift solely from themself to the instructor ..then I think it is definetly not appropriate........

Specializes in Staff nurse.

One rotation one of our students offered to make homemade cookies for each floor we worked on that semester. The rest of us gave her some $$ if we wanted to for the ingredients. Then we all signed a card and gave it to the floors thanking the nurses.

It's tradition at my school, too. As long as no one is made to feel that they HAVE to contribute (which, I think, is often a problem), I think it's fine. I had one rotation after which no one seemed to be interested in giving a gift to that instructor, and we didn't.

A card and a hearty "thank you" are more than enough.

Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

After my very first semester I remember one of the students was trying to rally everyone else to chip in $5 to get our instructor something.

I thought it was really stupid, because I was half-unemployed and broke as hell and I was thinking that my instructor probably makes at least $50g's a year (probably more). Why should I help buy her a giftcard to bath and body works? Isn't paying my tuition thanks enough? It's not like an instructor is going out of their way to help you for no compensation - It's a job.

Needless to say, I was the huge jerk that didn't give any money for the cause (I think one or two others decided against it as well).

Now my preceptor on the other hand, I'm thinking about getting her something. Maybe a box of chocolates or something since she's a chocolate freak. She's helped me get more experience in the field and taught me more common sense stuff than 3+ semesters of clinicals combined. That's on top of her other responsibilities for next to nothing in terms of compensation and I think she deserves a little somethin somethin

We do.

I am a recent grad. On the last day of clinic, we always gave the nurses on the unit a thank you card, signed by all of us including the instructor with personal notes of thanks. We also gave them "treats" like donuts or candy. We also took the clinic professor out for dinner and all chipped in for one gift. I think that individual gifts are wrong. At the end of clinic, we also had to fill out an evaluation for the clinical professor, to be handed in to our lecture instructor. This was where we could let the school administration know how much we liked (or hated) our clinic instructor. These evaluations were anonymous.

Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

On our last clinical day last year, we had a 1/2 day and then went to lunch. We paid for our instructor's lunch...we weren't a very organized group, so it was probably a bit uncomfortable for her the way we were throwing $$$ around the table at each other, lol....I think we forgot about a card!!

I DO think it should be based on how the group feels....I don't think anyone should feel it's required to participate or do something for an instructor that you didn't care for....

Specializes in Peds.

As others have experienced, we had a half clinical day on the last day of clinicals. The second half we would usually go out to eat somewhere. After everyone ate, the instructor would do evals with us individually while the others chatted. We would then present a small gift which most would chip in a couple of bucks for. Also on the last day, we took in cookies, doughnuts, something like that, for the nurses and aides we worked with.

I bought my preceptor a pretty nice gift but she spent a lot of time teaching me a lot and got no extra pay through work for being my preceptor.

out of all my clinicals we only gave a gift to two instructors because they were exceptionally good instructors. it was never an expected thing and i never really thought of it as inappropriate.

We brought in a goodie tray this week for the nurses on our floor. They barely lifted their heads to acknowledge our presence, let alone thank us for the pastry. Yeah - I can't wait to pay for THAT again.

As for the instructor's gift, it bugs me. I can barely scrape together gas money some days to get to clinical. I don't see that many instructors go out of their way for the students...what does that mean? They're at clinical, they do their jobs with us, and we all leave. I've never gotten any extra help. She was lovely, but there was nothing extra there.

I've got a contract with my nursing school. I pay them, and they show me how to be a nurse. These end of clinical expenses confound me.

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