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Discussion

How do you FAIL clinical?

I'm in my first quarter of 'real nursing stuff' (fundamentals, CNA work at a SNF). We have our classroom portion, tests, written assignments etc which is worth a letter grade. Then we have clinical, 1 12-hour day a week. The clinical portion is Pass/Fail. (unrelated question: is this the norm? hows yours set up?) So, technically, you could get a 100% in class, but fail the clinical portion. I'm not going to go into great detail, but I am worried that I may fail the clinical portion. I havn't gotten into any real trouble, but apparantly I'm just not working hard enough. So I'm wondering.... what kinds of things could you fail a clinical for?

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    I'm not sure how your clinicals work, but for ours anything marked with an unsatisfactory (ie care plans, written assessments, skills, etc) would constitute a fail.

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    In my program we have to turn in weekly paperwork assignments for the patients we get every week, we have to do comprehensive care plans, do teaching plans, etc. All that stuff counts for our final grade, so at the end of the semester we get an actual grade for our class. It is not pass/fail, however, we do have some stuff such as the math test at the beginning of the semester and a couple of assignments that we have to complete but we don't get a grade for them. If we fail the math test after our 3rd try or forget to turn in one of the special assignments we fail the course. But once you're done with those at the beginning of the semester you just have to work hard in the paperwork and perform well in clinicals to get at least a C and pass just as any other class.

    You should really talk to your instructor. He/she is the only one who can tell you why it seems that you're not doing good enough and can help you to improve, so you don't end up failing the course. Good luck :up:

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    1. Not being prepared for your pt's dx and care

    2. Not having your med cards ready and understanding your meds by studying them the night before

    3. Not knowing why your pt is getting those meds

    4. Not being able to perform the tasks you were set (anything from bedbath to fingerstick glucoses). If you passed off the task in lab/fundamentals, you'd better be ready to try it in clinical with your instructor's help. Now is not the time to study it for the first time.

    5. Being rude and disrespectful to the staff, your fellow students, your instructor, and most especially your patient.

    6. Being chronically late

    7. Being out of uniform, or arriving with an obviously dirty uniform (again, not prepared for the day).

    8. Skipping clinical and not calling ahead to say why.

    9. Refusing to follow policy, especially where safety is concerned.

    10. Not washing hands or using gloves appropriately (back to policy!)

    How to pass?

    Get your assignment, study the pt's diagnosis, know what a pt with that dx may need, get the med list and be ready to answer questions about those meds, be polite and enthusiastic, ask questions, ask for help when you need it, offer to help whereever and whenever you can. Be available, always let your instructor know where you are, answer call bells in every room, not just yours.

    Be eager to learn! wash your hands and dig in!

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    I've seen people fail clinical due to:

    1) Being late or not showing up- "no call/no show" without contacting the instructor, the school, or anyone in authority with a relevant excuse.

    2) Not doing the background work- not getting pt assignments and doing background work on meds and Dx,

    not submitting care plans, papers, teaching plans, etc.

    3) being rude, disrespectful and generally not cooperative with staff, instructors or anyone else (doctors, CNAs,

    PT/OT, pharmacists, other nurses, housekeeping)

    4) obvious disregard for patient or their own safety (not washing hands, not wearing gloves when wiping up poop, that

    sort of thing, not wearing a gown when a pt is under contact precautions, etc.)

    Generally if you show up on time and are prepared, make a genuine effort to learn and help when you can, are respectful of the work culture and fellow professionals, and get your class paperwork done, you'll be fine. It is always better to annoy someone and ask for help if you are unsure of a procedure, than to do it and endanger the pt's safety.

    We've all made really stupid mistakes, but that is part of the learning process and life.

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    My school did the pass/fail, satisfactory/unsatisfactory thing, it was totally subjective on the CI. and she made daymn sure you knew it.

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