The school is a private school and this is what happened.
It was my last day of clinical (and last 6 months) and I was supposed to shadow a nurse in the emergency fast track (basically a department dedicated for non emergency care). When I was put there, there were no patients around because the department just opened. So what we did was just talk and after a while she started working on her paper work. This lasted for a good 20 minutes until our first patient arrived.
Unfortunately at this point, I was very tired and I came inside with the patient. Everything was fine, I told the patient I was very tired because I stayed up the night before working on a paper and that today was my last clinical. After that was done, the nurse again started working on her paper work. Again, I just sat there for like almost 10min.
Finally she got up, ready to give a shot to the patient, and I immediately followed her but she told me to stay. After this, she came back and that was the end.
We sat for another half hour doing absolutely nothing. I even went to every patient room to look busy and went to the bathroom to clean it but still I had a great deal of free time. I sat on my chair again, and again started looking very tired. After the shift finally ended my nursing instructor came down to relieve me.
Unfortunately, the nurse told my clinical instructor what happened. My clinical instructor was furious, and a long story short she than told the dean. And then during my clinical evaluation they failed me.
I still don't understand why. I was tired, that was all. They forced the nurse to write a report about what happened, and by force I mean the dean calling that nurse several times for nearly 2 weeks until the nurse finally wrote the report.
Under why I failed it stated because of inconsistencies in performance, and paper work. However, all my paperwork was fine. I passed with everything with at least B's. The same applied to performance. I argued and argued but no avail.
Last week the V.P. of academic affairs gave me my final appeal decision which was that the nursing committee decision stands. Her final decision is "had the POTENTIAL to put patients as risk".
This doesn't make sense. If I wanted to, I could have just told the nurse I am feeling very fatigued and I need to leave. We as nursing students have every right to do that if it may endanger a patient. But obviously that was not the case because I chose to observe that day rather than having a patient assignment, as did others because it was the last day.
I am furious. I want to sue under breach of contract, (nothing states I cannot come to clinical being tired) and being arbitrary and capricious in their decision.
Any advice?
What do I need to prove to win?
Please help.
Additional details
All charges against me have been false. From paperwork to performance (have weekly clinical evaluation forms that state I was performing well. I passed all paperwork as wel.
I was in the ICU earlier that morning, without incident. Under the watch of many medical personal. No one complained.
The nurse report stated "his eyes were closing, nodding off, and jerking himself side to side to stay awake". It does not say I fell asleep. Allegations which the department said I did.
I have other nursing students who wrote for me stating that they observed others being extremely tired to clinical. And displayed similar behavior themselves. But no consequences, because obviously it was a onetime thing. (Just like my incident).
I was never warned, it was out of nowhere. Previous landmark decisions in court have stated that students are entitled to be told of their inferior performance, in order to improve. I was not told this. And again documentation states I was progressing well.
Nothing is objective. Nobody say me physically sleeping. It's one nurse assumption that I was very tired. The school is interpretating the incident as me putting a patient in danger. Impossible seeing that I had no patient assignment.
"In my program's rules it did say that being excessively fatigued or suffering from sleep deprivation while in clinical is reason for dismissal. You're sure there's nothing in your program's rules about this?"
NO it does not. I looked at every single rule with a lawyer. That's why I have a case. I did not do anything that I was not warned about. If it did, than I would understand, but it does not.
In fact it lists a set of incidents that can constitute course failure, none of which I did. This is why I'm fighting this decision.
"In my program's rules it did say that being excessively fatigued or suffering from sleep deprivation while in clinical is reason for dismissal. You're sure there's nothing in your program's rules about this?"
NO it does not. I looked at every single rule with a lawyer. That's why I have a case. I did not do anything that I was not warned about. If it did, than I would understand, but it does not.
In fact it lists a set of incidents that can constitute course failure, none of which I did. This is why I'm fighting this decision.
Thanks for the responses people! I'm getting a really good picture of the situation and how the school is thinking as well. But just one more thing...
OK so what I'm getting from everyone is that i made a great error in telling the patient I was tired. I should have not done that because as a patient, she probably got worried (most patients would), and told the nurse how she felt. However, I forgot to mention that when I told the patient I was tired, I specifically told her I was not taking care of her. We even laughed about it, after stating that. She knew I was just there to observe. So she did not say anything to the nurse because I was there the entire time in conversation with her, talking about nursing school and finals and such. Nothing was said that would make the nurse feel uncomfortable following me to see the patient again but the nurse just felt like doing it b/c she "thought" I was too tired.
Another point of contention is the area of me putting a patient in danger. Again can someone on this board answer how exactly, (as an observer) could have harmed this SPECIFIC patient in this SPECIFIC incident. I keep hearing, that you could have harmed the patient if I was nurse, but thats also assuming I was a nurse in a hospital, and assuming I took a morning position and assuming I came to work extremely tired with nothing to do. There seems to be a great deal of assumptions and hypotheticals at work here. Lets concentrate on the specific incident and on that specific patient.
Let assume I came late after lunch, the teacher can than fail me because she states "you could have had a patient waiting for your services and you put that patient in danger" and I fail. I say logic, reasoning and objectivity should be placed on my dismissal. Remember, I can't go back. And going to another nursing school is going to take significant time and money.
Lastly, let me make this clear...
I DID NOT FALL ASLEEP. If I did, why would I be arguing? Because I did not. The nurse herself herself didn't claim I fell asleep. You can assume I did, but at the same time, I can argue I didn't. No one saw me physically sleeping, and I followed her immediately when she got up. That alone states I wasn't asleep.
By the way...my clinical instructor asked who wanted to take patient assignments. I said no, on the basis that I could learn more as an observer that day. In addition to feeling fatigued, I felt that I could take the observer position as a better learning experience. I could have easily taken a patient assignment but felt that an observer assignment would benefit me better. There is nothing wrong with that, nor does it say anything about it in the syllabus or student handbook (I looked) coming clinical tired is not recommended. On the last day everyone was tired, and we all verbally expressed that. But no one was barely able to walk or talk or comprehend directions (same goes for me) but put us in a room with nothing to do or watch, you would naturally be able to see fatigue. Again I see nothing wrong with this, as long as you can take care of your patient.
thanks to everyone again for their input. I do appreciate this.
I know that you are not a nurse but I just wanted to say that I work for an agency that staffs nurses in hospitals. Our nurses normally have a day of orientation where they do not perform any direct patient care. Well we had one case where a nurse was "nodding off" and she was quickly dismissed even though she did not have any direct patient care and was just observing. The hospital still took this as harmful to the patients. I do not know there exact reasoning but I do know that they will not tolerate it. We also had a nurse that was just "observing" but was caught texting on her cell and she was dismissed. You have to be alert on the job at all times whether you are providing direct care or not.
I am sorry but in this case I would have dismissed you too.
I know that you are not a nurse but I just wanted to say that I work for an agency that staffs nurses in hospitals. Our nurses normally have a day of orientation where they do not perform any direct patient care. Well we had one case where a nurse was "nodding off" and she was quickly dismissed even though she did not have any direct patient care and was just observing. The hospital still took this as harmful to the patients. I do not know there exact reasoning but I do know that they will not tolerate it. We also had a nurse that was just "observing" but was caught texting on her cell and she was dismissed. You have to be alert on the job at all times whether you are providing direct care or not.
I am sorry but in this case I would have dismissed you too.
That makes perfect sense (on them being able to dismiss those nurses but the reasons I question). But that does not apply to me. Keep in mind those nurses came to an environment in which they already bound themselves to a written contract which stated their erroneous behavior. I however, did not have such wording in my contract. The contract which I am referring to is the syllabus, school catalog and the student nurse handbook. None state anything about the rules and conditions about missing a clinical day due to fatigue.
That is why I was required to come. I did not have a choice. But I was responsible and told my instructor about my LOC. She than had the responsibility to either send me home or stay. I could have went home, got a unexcused absence, and would have had to make the day up. But no, she instead decided that I should shadow that day instead. I also told my nurse who wrote the report and the patient that I was also tired so I did all that I could. Keep in mind I was perfectly fine without incident for several hours until I was left to do nothing while sitting on a chair. That was not something I was anticipating, which is why I did not dismiss myself prior to that incident.
You can attempt to rationalize this any way you want, but the fact of the matter is, you fell asleep at clinicals. I know, you say you didn't, but that appears to be what the preceptor observed.
You are mad because you were dismissed. There isn't any rule about almost falling asleep or falling asleep at clinicals, so you think that you can get away with it. People like you are the reason that rule books in schools and the workplace have become long lists of silly, specific rules.
Is there any mention of your expected behavior at clinical sites? Did your rulebook or instructor SAY it was okay to fall asleep? No? Okay then.
How can you think this is acceptable? How can you think you acted responsibly?
If I were you, I'd take a look at your own actions, see how you can improve, and then reapply. The next time you are at a clinical site where you are working hard to stay awake, look through their policy/procedure/protocol manual, grab a drug book and review, anything to be learning. As a mom who worked full time while in nursing school, I have little sympathy for someone who was so tired they couldn't function properly at class. I've been there, we've all been there. EVERYONE gets tired. You get some coffee, or you take a break and take a nap. You don't phone it in, you don't look for excuses, and you don't blame someone else when you get in trouble for sleeping (or looking like you were sleeping, or constantly falling asleep, whatever you were doing).
At this point, it seems like is it more important for you to be right - than it is to be a nurse.
Let it go. I don't recall hearing any stories of people winning these types of lawsuits. They drag on for YEARS! What are you going to do while you are waiting for your day in court?
Time to get humble, talk to the Director of your program and see if they will squeeze you in for the next semester. The goal is to graduate. Oh and just because you paid 20 grand at a private school, doesn't give you the right to nod off at a clinical site.
I'm sure you realize that you are probably going to spend in legal fees far more the 20K you dropped at the school. If it's a money issue, it'd be cheaper to reapply to the school or finish out at another school than to attempt to chase the sunk money...
And in all honestly, the odds of you winning are against you. I often think that lawyers tell us what we want to hear in any attempt to score big bucks in a lawsuit. Right now it's her word against yours, and I have to say that based on what you've posted, it's she and not you that has the stronger case. You may have not had a patient load that day...but what if something had happened and you were needed but couldn't because you were asleep/fatigued/whatever you were as I wasn't there to see it. What if a patient coded? What if there was a fire? What if there was some other incident? I think that is their concern. You may have been there as an "observer" but I would hope that you certainly wouldn't be sitting around "observing" a crisis.
And to say "but I would have been alert!" if something happened isn't definite evidence that you would have been awake and in top form. You may have...or you may have not. We'll never know. Again, I've never met you so I have no idea how you perform when fatigued, and I was not there to see it for myself...so I all can go by what I've read.
If you really feel it's worth it, then best of luck to you. I honestly think you'd be better off cutting your losses and considering this a valuable lesson learned...but it's your decision in the end.
Sounds as if you took advantage of it being the last day of clinical to slack off and it bit you in the rumpus.
I don't know about your expensive prestigous school, but at my cheap lowly community college we were held to the same standards as professional nurses. While at clinical sites, on campus, and in uniform we were to be shining examples of professionalism. I would have definately been dismissed from the program for failing the standards as you did.
Btw, cudos to the nurse that wrote such a excellent example of charting what she saw...head nodding, jerking back and forth, etc.
My advice: suck it up, quit bucking authority. Throw yourself on the mercy of the administration and come back next semester with a better attitude.
Sounds like your Instructor may not have liked you! Did you have problems in the past? Were there any other issues with the dean? Past semesters? I have seen the same thing with other students, and they had problems from the start. Nothing serious, but enough to have the Prof on their butts each semester. One, in fact, left quite early in our last semester. Another is here till the end, but any little thing, including a final clinical eval could cost her.
I wouldn't spend valuable time and energy fighting, and find another school to finish. All your credits should transfer. Oh, well another semester....beats fighting and uphill battle where a decision has been made that has a "paper trail".
Good luck. Get it over, and forget about it. Get your RN and then retaliate, and shove it in their faces. Karma is a Cool thing.
If you were there to observe, I'm wondering how that could put a pt in harms way? If that was clearly your clinical description, then really it doesn't make sense other than you may have made your school look bad by nodding off (sort of). I hate observing, if one thing will make a long day 3x's longer, its observing. Whats the point, by the time your first hr is done, you would be nodding off. I would be cleaning toilets too just to stay awake.
Do you have copy of your clinical description explaining that you were to observe? I would think the idea of a pt in harms way would really have no basis, but next time fake it like your life depends on it!
I wanted to add that fighting a case like this is a mostly a born to lose deal. I went to a private nursing school and several students including myself went through the chain of commands, wrote the provost and board of nursing. No one was successful. I think it's unfortunate that they could not just reprimand you and let this go but rather dismiss you on the last clinical day. The way you get through this is to persevere and repeat the semester, there or somewhere else. Someone mentioned karma, and I also believe that everyone will be called to judgment one day and their actions will be judged. Also I think it also depends on the relationship you have with your clinical instructor. I noticed some students are able to get away with certain things because they were in good with the instructors. Maybe this instructor did not like you and took pleasure in the fact that she could break you. Happens a lot.
Were there any other issues with the dean? Past semesters? I have seen the same thing with other students, and they had problems from the start. Nothing serious, but enough to have the Prof on their butts each semester. One, in fact, left quite early in our last semester. Another is here till the end, but any little thing, including a final clinical eval could cost her. .thumb.jpg.421493329dd1f136a4222fe8e9399213.jpg){kind=small}
basid786
17 Posts
"In my program's rules it did say that being excessively fatigued or suffering from sleep deprivation while in clinical is reason for dismissal. You're sure there's nothing in your program's rules about this?"
NO it does not. I looked at every single rule with a lawyer. That's why I have a case. I did not do anything that I was not warned about. If it did, than I would understand, but it does not.
In fact it lists a set of incidents that can constitute course failure, none of which I did. This is why I'm fighting this decision.