HElp peer evals due and my group sucks

[misssarahRN]

This forum is sooo awsome! I've got a problem only student nurses can really appreciate.

I'm in the 3rd quarter of and ADN program and we have lab that's run like a med-surg floor with us playing the various roles of LPN/LVN, RN and Charge Nurse. After completion of lab the CN evaluates her nurses performance on the floor and a completed care plan for the patient that day. I was CN last week and my nurses dropped the ball big time. Their was no communication. The care plan was incomplete and none of them will take any resposibility for it. They're actually trying to blame me for not getting it done on time!

Under the evaluation criteria I should give them zeros in certain sections-enough that they might not pass.The trouble is that they are already excluding me from projects and various communications and I'm afraid of the retrobution if they do pass. Even worse is that my grade is partly dependemt on my critical evaluation of the nurses. How do I avoid getting screwed?

[Jules A, MSN]

In LPN school I was in one horrible group and found out quickly that if I couldn't motivate them to do their fair share it was my problem. There were some students that were going to be pushed through no matter how lame they were so it really wasn't even worth getting into it, imo. I still have a serious issue with students self-governing these projects especially when there is no back up from the administration. Being a manager takes a lot of training and I don't think that just cutting us loose in groups really accomplishes much except frustrating the ones that are interested in being responsible while not burning bridges with their peers.

In RN school all my groups were really hardworking so that wasn't a problem and I actually enjoyed them. Go figure?!