This semester of nursing school not going well for me - unbelievable

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I am just shocked at how my 2nd semester is going for me. It's rough.

Last semester, when I first started my nursing school program, I did pretty well in my classes. I either got B's or A's on my exams, paper, project, depending on the class. I also had a fun time with my group at the basic clinicals.

This semester, however, is turning out to be a complete nightmare. I really mean it.

My clinical instructor is a mean young lady. She is very nit-picky about having us following the rules. I once showed up to clinic with our other uniform, rather than the clinical scrubs, and she marked me down on that. It was a mistake, but an honest mistake, as I volunteer at the hospital where I have my clinicals.

I also parked on the wrong floor in the parking structure. This too made the instructor disappointed, although on days I volunteer, I am allowed to park on any floor. That didn't cut the slack with my clinical instructor. No where in our course syllabus does it state that we have to park on certain floors in the parking structure.

At midterm evaluation, she literally forced me to sign some kind of stupid contract with all of my infractions, stating that I will not make any more mistakes. I looked it over, and it had all the dates of infractions, incorrectly printed on the form!

Another issue is my lecture course exams. I passed my first exam for the lecture portion of this class. However, the second exam was a complete disaster, as I failed the 2nd exam by four points. I have never dreamed of this kind of nasty/awful scenarios happening in nursing school.

Lastly, I had clinicals last week. I had the chance to do gastric tube feeding on one of my two patients. During the first day of last week's clinical session, I watched the nurse aid in charge of my patient, do all the procedures for the gastric tube feeding. These procedures were measuring out 280 cc of Jevity in a large plastic container, aspirating the gastric tube for any residual fluid, pouring the supplement from measuring container into the feeding bag (looks like a large IV bag), and then flushing the gastric tube with regular water, prior to feeding. The second day, the nurse aid did the same feeding, but felt that I could try the gastric tube feeding procedure myself. So she walked me step-by-step through the procedure. Opening the can of supplement, pouring it into the container to measure out the exact CC's, aspirating the gastric tube, etc.

It was a nerve-wracking at first, but I was very happy to do this gastric tube feeding procedure for my patient. After the procedure, I thanked the nurse aid for assisting me and teaching me in a very nice fashion.

Unlike the fashion my clinical instructor uses when she's teaching me a technique during clinicals (i.e. raising her voice, asking me "I already told you this this and this....")

To make a long story short, all students have a writing assignment after each clinical session block to reflect on what you did during clinicals.

I wrote about how exciting and happy I was during last week's clinical session session, because I got to do gastric tube feeding for one of my patients.

I got my assignment back with her comments, except that the comments weren't nice comments.

She was upset with me for doing the gastric tube feeding because she wasn't there in the room.

I mean seriously, I have classmates in other clinical groups who get to follow their nurse aids and give injections to their patients, as long as the nurse aid or a nurse-related employee is at their side while doing the procedure.

Getting back to my mean clinical instructor, she said via email that I don't follow her instructions, and hints of wanting to fail me for clinical.

I am sick to my stomach right now, and don't feel motivated to even study for upcoming exams and quizes.

I also have group project coming up in a week, and I also don't feel like doing any work for the group project.

I worked so hard to get into nursing school, worked hard during my first semester to get great grades.

Now this semester, seemed like the whole world turned upside on me, my exam performance is not that great, and my clinical instructor is being a d-bag on me.

I don't know what to expect in the coming weeks. For now, I am just working on a paper for my second class. My second nursing class is fine, because I am getting an A in that class.

It's just this clinical class that's being a tough road block for me (both exams and the clinical instructor).

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It sounds like you're not following directions set by the instructor.

It doesn't matter that you volunteer at a clinical site. If you're there for your "clinical" experience then you need to follow the rules for the "clinical" site. Period. A Cna is not a licensed nurse! Just because they are allowed to do gastric feedings does not make it ok for you as a student with no instructor around to be allowed too do so. What if that patient a reaction?

Then you write about it!!! Bad move.

Be careful of what you do from here on out. IF you're instructor sees fit to pass you, follow All the rules from here on out. Even if that means the correct uniform and parking space.

Good luck to you

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I'm also in my second semester and feeling like :sorry:. All I can say is hang in there, but I know it's tough. I'm sort of having issues with my one clinical instructor also, but for different sorts of reasons. Right now I'm in the same boat though..not motivated to study or prepare for anything. Something she said to me during my midterm evaluation sort of got to me and made me wonder if I'm just wasting my time. I too spent *so much energy* to get to where I am, and now I'm like, whatever. I can honestly say that if I don't make it through this semester, I'm finished and I guess I'll be doing Plan B (whatever that is). This is really, really rough. I'm rough on myself, it's rough for my family, and now I'm sitting here wondering if I really belong here :cry:.

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Sorry you are having such a hard time with your clinical instructor. I am not sure if you are not following the rules or if she has "unspoken" rules that you are not following.

I am in my thrid semester of an RN program as well as a LPN. I still have to get my instructor or get her ok to do skills even if the RN is there. I am not trying to freak you out but doing a skill without our instructors ok can get us kicked out of the program.

It might be time to "brown nose" a bit. Ask her if you can have a one on one with her. Let her know that you are sorry that you broke the rules but you did not understand them. Ask her what she wants you to do at each clinical and what you are able and not able to do. Apologize for "breaking the rules". Then document that you had a one on one with her.

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Hi, I'm a new grad so know what I says comes from trial and error as well as experience. As I'm sitting here reading all that you wrote, I can relate to you. Coming into nursing school, I was already a great student, confident in my skills and abilities to learn everything having to do with nursing. My first semester although VERY DIFFERENT from traditional classes, went well with much effort and commitment. My second term, was a whole other story. My clinical instructor was horrible, and I went through a similar situation as you did with your nursing aide. Although my assignments and clinical strengths were too strong to be messed with, this woman did her best to dock points from any little assignment that was subjective to her grading. :sniff:

From what I read in your post however, it seems to me like you're doing certain things that you think should be "fine" but are not. I'm going to give you these words of advice and I hope you will follow them throughout your nursing career. You will meet many, many people with very different personalities, likes and dislikes. Professors are perfect examples; you will meet professors with many different teaching styles and attitudes. I'm not saying your professor isn't picking on you or is right in the way she is behaving, but I do know that you are the student and she is the figure of authority. Right now you are learning how to become a nurse and although you will at times be right and your professor will not, it does not give you the right to do things the way you want. I'm not trying to break your spirit or keep you from being your own person, but these are the years in which you will have to learn to "suck it up" and put up with everything that will come your way. You will be asked to many things you think are stupid or that could be done differently, but that you will have to do nonetheless. Pick your battles and don't blow things out of proportion.

Next time, pay attention to your mistakes, it may have been a mistake to wear the wrong uniform, but do you think that if you showed up with the wrong uniform to work, they'd let you start your shift? That to me, shows you're not paying attention to details which is essential of any nurse. Also...the parking issue, it may be so that you can park on the floor you choose when you volunteer, but you're not volunteering and you need to follow instructions.

What I would suggest is that you speak to your professor and be honest with her about how you feel.(ARRANGE A MEETING! don't just attack her in front of your classmates)Explain that you feel you have done wrong in these events and although you didn't see it at first you acknowledge you could have handled things better. You will work on your mistakes, pay attention to detail and follow instructions as closely as possible. Nursing school may be a hard transition for you but it's not impossible, you just have to learn how to play the game!

I hope this helps and best of luck!!!

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Wait until you get out in the real world. Charge nurses, managers and the powers that give you your nursing license will also be "nit picky" about you following the rules. You may as well learn now that the rules are there for a reason and you need to develop the discipline needed to follow the rules.How do you "accidentally" wear the wrong outfit?It sounds like you aren't taking this very seriously.

Performing a gastric tube feeding for the first time with just a nurses aid present was not a good move. You must be sure that you have someone qualified to supervise you when doing anything in clinicals, especially for the first time. You need to pay more attention to the guidelines laid out and follow then even if you don't like them.

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Specializes in L&D.
I am just shocked at how my 2nd semester is going for me. It's rough.

Last semester, when I first started my nursing school program, I did pretty well in my classes. I either got B's or A's on my exams, paper, project, depending on the class. I also had a fun time with my group at the basic clinicals.

This semester, however, is turning out to be a complete nightmare. I really mean it.

My clinical instructor is a mean young lady. She is very nit-picky about having us following the rules. I once showed up to clinic with our other uniform, rather than the clinical scrubs, and she marked me down on that. It was a mistake, but an honest mistake, as I volunteer at the hospital where I have my clinicals.

I also parked on the wrong floor in the parking structure. This too made the instructor disappointed, although on days I volunteer, I am allowed to park on any floor. That didn't cut the slack with my clinical instructor. No where in our course syllabus does it state that we have to park on certain floors in the parking structure.

At midterm evaluation, she literally forced me to sign some kind of stupid contract with all of my infractions, stating that I will not make any more mistakes. I looked it over, and it had all the dates of infractions, incorrectly printed on the form!

Another issue is my lecture course exams. I passed my first exam for the lecture portion of this class. However, the second exam was a complete disaster, as I failed the 2nd exam by four points. I have never dreamed of this kind of nasty/awful scenarios happening in nursing school.

Lastly, I had clinicals last week. I had the chance to do gastric tube feeding on one of my two patients. During the first day of last week's clinical session, I watched the nurse aid in charge of my patient, do all the procedures for the gastric tube feeding. These procedures were measuring out 280 cc of Jevity in a large plastic container, aspirating the gastric tube for any residual fluid, pouring the supplement from measuring container into the feeding bag (looks like a large IV bag), and then flushing the gastric tube with regular water, prior to feeding. The second day, the nurse aid did the same feeding, but felt that I could try the gastric tube feeding procedure myself. So she walked me step-by-step through the procedure. Opening the can of supplement, pouring it into the container to measure out the exact CC's, aspirating the gastric tube, etc.

It was a nerve-wracking at first, but I was very happy to do this gastric tube feeding procedure for my patient. After the procedure, I thanked the nurse aid for assisting me and teaching me in a very nice fashion.

Unlike the fashion my clinical instructor uses when she's teaching me a technique during clinicals (i.e. raising her voice, asking me "I already told you this this and this....")

To make a long story short, all students have a writing assignment after each clinical session block to reflect on what you did during clinicals.

I wrote about how exciting and happy I was during last week's clinical session session, because I got to do gastric tube feeding for one of my patients.

I got my assignment back with her comments, except that the comments weren't nice comments.

She was upset with me for doing the gastric tube feeding because she wasn't there in the room.

I mean seriously, I have classmates in other clinical groups who get to follow their nurse aids and give injections to their patients, as long as the nurse aid or a nurse-related employee is at their side while doing the procedure.

Getting back to my mean clinical instructor, she said via email that I don't follow her instructions, and hints of wanting to fail me for clinical.

I am sick to my stomach right now, and don't feel motivated to even study for upcoming exams and quizes.

I also have group project coming up in a week, and I also don't feel like doing any work for the group project.

I worked so hard to get into nursing school, worked hard during my first semester to get great grades.

Now this semester, seemed like the whole world turned upside on me, my exam performance is not that great, and my clinical instructor is being a d-bag on me.

I don't know what to expect in the coming weeks. For now, I am just working on a paper for my second class. My second nursing class is fine, because I am getting an A in that class.

It's just this clinical class that's being a tough road block for me (both exams and the clinical instructor).

Well, I hate to sound mean...but it really does seem like you're not following your instructor's directions. I think you need to think about this situation. Why don't you park where your instructor asked? Why didn't you wear the uniform your instructor wanted you to wear? Why wasn't your instructor in the room when you did a procedure? It doesn't matter what your other classmates are doing. They're not the instructor. They are not going to pass you.

It sounds like you're stressed out more than anything. Why don't you write stuff down in a planner so you won't forget? Or perhaps setting your uniform out the night before so you know you have the right one? Little things like that make a huge difference when you need to keep different things straight in your head.

Good luck! (:

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Specializes in ED.

Nursing school is a lot of hoop jumping!!!! Just do it and get thru it !!!!! It is worth it!!!!

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

It's not just hoop jumping.Having rules such as having the proper supervision for a student nurse are there for a reason. Rules aren't just for the fun of it.

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Thanks for the response. I usually prefer to have the instruction written down in the syllabus, not verbal instructions. Verbal instructions are not hard to follow. It's just that this clinical instructor's excuse is always "I have already told you this...." Did she mention certain instructions to me in the past when the semester started? Perhaps she did. However, I have other jobs outside of school, and extracurricular activities that I also do. It's not like I carry a voice recorder with me to record all her verbal instructions. The great part is that I have moved to another clinical section at another hospital. So no more of this instructor constantly breathing down my back.

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No no no, listen lori. I did not intentionally wear my polo uniform because I wanted to. It's just that I volunteer at the hospital after I do my clinicals on certain days. The polo uniform I wear is also a uniform of the nursing school. This is the "other" uniform we wear to other clinical sites, in placement of our clinical scrubs. So it's not like I forgot my clinical scrubs that day.

I do understand that I am not supposed to do any "skills" without the instructor there. However, she treated this incident as if I performed unsupervised brain surgery with a nurse aid, on my patient! LOOL!

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I'm not sure if this is contingent upon the state, but a nurse aid can assess for tube feeding and administer it along with giving injections to patients? They definitely can't do that where I'm from.

Some clinical instructors can be really tough, just try to figure out what she/he wants and do it their way to make your semester go a little smoother. I hope the semester picks up for you soon.

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