to all you Instructors.....

Nursing Students General Students

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In the program I'm in, we have 5 weeks of quarter left...we just switched clinical sites and Clinical Instructors...we have IPR's due, Nursing Care Plans due, a pharm test every single week, and Med Surg II test every 2.....needless to say, we students are stressed to the gills...and that includes me.

Today, first day of the new site, new Instructor, new earlier hours, I had to retake my nursing math test and pass or get the boot from the program, after waking up every hour or so all night, leaving home before the crack of dawn, dropping my kid off at his temporary daycare, working on the floor all day long, and post-conference, I had to sit down and take this math test that was going to decide my immediate future.

Yes, I prepared, yes i visited the nursing tutor, yes i practiced the online tests and looked at the practice sheet off and on all day....but then I got to 2 questions that didn't look familiar and my brain shut off...SHUT OFF. I did the rest of the test and went back to these 2 and sat there and stared and stared and stared....and then the tears began to leak...finally I slid over a couple chairs toward my new Instructor and told her my brain had shut off and I just couldn't think and was there anything she could tell me that could give me a clue on how to approach these....she very calmly took my test, looked it over and then looked at the 2 i couldn't figure out. Then she turns to me and says...."I don't see why you wouldn't do these the same way you have done the others....you just need to ignore the unnecesary information.." and handed the test back to me.

With that, I looked at the 2 problems again, reread them and suddenly I saw what she was talking about, did the problems and started to recheck my test...and then she said...."you don't need to do that, you got all the others right, just let me look at those 2."

After she looked at them she turns to me and tells me she doesn't know what I'm crying about, I got a 100% (she had a big goofy grin on her face..)...and suddenly the world was brand new again...the past 3 years I've spent getting to here wern't a waste.

After the past three clinical Instructors I've had...her calmness, patience, thoroughness, organization practicality, experience, caring and humour has me eagerly counting down the days until my next clinical days...well, this is how nursing school should be.

Thank you to all you Clinical Instructors - sometimes it's YOU that makes the difference.

K, back to the books, pharm test at 1130 tomorrow.

moonjumper...the student nurse

YAYYYYYY for you and your test! And I totally agree, you react on your professors actions. If I can see that my professor or precepting nurse is just nasty... then I in turn freak out and go blank. Happens everytime.

I'm super happy for you! Youre almost there!

Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

aaw that was very sweet moonjumper. I like instructors who are like that as well, unfortunatly a lot of them are to tired and overworked to take the time to be like that.

swtooth

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

Nice post -- thanks for sharing a positive experience from NS!! Congrats!!

congrats on the 100 and thank you for sharing!!! You will be a great nurse before you know it!!

We also have a new instructor and she seems very willing to go out of her way to help and support us students. I really like her demeanor and all my worries about someone new have flown out the window!

A big HUG to all the instructors who care and understand!

Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

What a wonderful post! I could almost feel the same emotions you felt that day as I read through it!

Many congrats go to you and your fabulous clinical instructor. Keep up the good work!

Great story.....you were breaking my heart at this point ----

"and sat there and stared and stared and stared....and then the tears began to leak...finally I slid over a couple chairs toward my new Instructor and told her my brain had shut off and I just couldn't think and was there anything she could tell me that could give me a clue on how to approach these...."

I think you were very brave to reach out and ask for help. It is touching to see how much you were trying.

Good luck with the rest of your term. You sound as if you are well on top of things, even though some days might feel as if you don't. :icon_hug:

You might have a second career as a writer! I wanted to cry....first out of frustration, then from happiness.;)

Thank you so much for sharing such an emotional experience. This website is a wonderful place to vent and let off steam, but it's a great forum for sharing good news as well.

Thank you for spotlighting an instructor who was kind. She helped you (without cheating) just by getting you to focus and breathe and gather your wits about you. She could have shot you down and changed the course of your life in a terrible way if she hadn't taken the time and had the patience to help you settle your thoughts.

What a nice story. Please, at some point take the time to let her know what her actions meant to you. And, whenever you have the chance, pay it forward. (You sound like the kind of person who would do that naturally.)

Good luck with the rest of your schooling.

I just re-read this post and each time I do, I get the picture and feelings of the moment so vividly in my head.

I just wanted to add that you really have a way with words! Not too many people could describe the event and capture the feeling the way you did so eloquently.

I honestly feel you should start a journal (if you don't have one already) and start to document your experiences. I see a great book in the making someday! Your writing talent will help you immensely in your Nursing career!

Best wishes to you!

Hello everyone...thanks to all who responded to my post, and thanks to all who read my post and related to my nursing school drama de jour...lol

It's been rough going since day one in the program...my school switched to a 1+1 program, and they're still getting their feet underneath them...result being that test dates are constantly being switched around, we're playing tag you're it with clinical instructors and sites, new time and learning expectations are constantly being implemented with sometimes a day's notice...our heads are spinning trying to keep up and constantly rearrange our lives and flex to it all...and we've had three full-time Instructors quit right before Christmas break....and a well-oiled nursing program is probably hard enough, but this guinea pig nursing school experience has turned me and my classmates into a bunch of surly snarling feral caged beasts...fueled by chocolate and caffeine....HOO-RAH, SIR YES SIR!!! (gotta laugh and poke fun or I swear I'ma gonna 'splode)

But me and my class will soldier on and keep moving along down the path...don't cry for us Argentina...lol.

And, rn/writer....don't you worry, I will pay my Instructor's kindness forward, indeed I will, for that experience has been sharpie'd onto my brain forevermore...and speaking of paying it forward, last quarter a girl in my clinical group was in the same position I was in this quarter...having failed the math test the first time and was under the gun to pass or get the boot...I stayed with her, went over conversions, worked the problems over and over...and stayed right outside in the hall when she went in to retest...I was not going to leave my comrade...I had her back....and after a long while she came flying out that door and just about knocked me over grabbing me...and we did the happy dance in the hall and then celebrated with hot chocolate and donuts...(quite the party animals huh?)....and she has told me many times how much my doing that meant to her.

Fast forward to last week...and this time...Lord help me...it's me staring down the barrel of the nursing school gun. So after I ended up passing the test, thanked my Instructor and gathered up all my going to clinical stuff, I leave the room...and I'm walking down the hall, I still got that little sob thing going on every now and again, sniffing back the nasal drainage that accompanies tears, puffy red eyes, mascara tracks down my cheeks, wobbling on my jello legs..(the poster child for nursing school eh?)...I turn the corner...and there she is..my buddy (not the same girl from last quarter, one of the new clinical group)...she was waiting it out, waiting for me...her turn to pay it forward. And of course...the happy dance ensued....it's all so bittersweet...

So pay it forward...yes indeed, without a doubt, I have and I will continue to do that, it's part of my personal creed.

Kukukajoo..thanks for your words of encouragement, this is not the first time I've been told that I need to make use of my writing skills...my english professor sister keeps pestering me to write stuff and submit it around (and if SHE gets to be the professor....dangit, I don't wanna be Gilligan, I wanna be Maryanne...lol)...I would be more apt to journal if I could find an online place to do it...suggestions anyone?

Better get going....gotta get busy, I have Impaired Home Maintainence r/t Nursing School committments AEB big piles of my stuff laying around, lol.

Have an excellent day everyone...I know I intend to.

moonjumper - student nurse

I definitely know what you are saying. If the instructor believes in you, then it reflects back on to you and hopefully you succeed. I am very happy for you, and jealous!

I wish I was fortunate enough to have instructors like yours! Goodluck with your nursing career!

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