How am I evaluated as a clinical instructor

[goingback]

So in the hospital as a nurse you are evaluated based on your performance that is observed, peer eval, maybe your written documentation, your percent of scanning meds, following policy, etc. But how are your evaluated as a clinical instructor? Is it 100% based on the student evals. Apparently I have a rep of being strict., tough grader, demanding too much based on the student evaluations. And the director says that I should pay attention to the student evals--but yet there is never any documentation of me doing things wrong, unfair, etc. Just student complaints. So I feel awkward being told I am basically doing things wrong by administration when they have never shown me anything I am doing wrong, have never come to observe me in person, and have just told me students complain I am too hard. I have taught for over 7 years and never have had a formal evaluation, just told I have comments from student surveys that I am strict, hard. Students have said I have made them cry--so I am a bad instructor. So because I talk to a student outside of a patient room, and tell them the things they did well, but also the things they could improve on, and in some cases things that were very wrong--so if they cry it is because of me? Sorry--I just need to vent frustration here. I want to be a good instructor. I thought I was. What do I need to ask for from by nursing director and how should I approach this?

[TEXASWAG, MSN, RN]

Multiple sources should be used to evaluate you. Do they evaluate you by observation? Do they review your course material? Do you have peer reviews? Are you maintaining a teaching portfolio for yourself? All the "little" things that you do for your students, but don't get paid for. You need for your evaluation to be fair and valid from multiple sorces. It's great to get feedback from students, but they are not necessarily fair or valid. But.....your boss seems to be focusing on those student evals more than anything else. Just remember that those students bring money into your nursing program, and students do talk.

There is nothing wrong with making changes in how you interact with the students.

[elkpark]

When I've taught as a clinical instructor in the past, the student evaluations were just one piece of data that went into my evaluation. My boss also got input from the unit staff on the units where I had clinical, direct observation, the other clinical instructors with whom I worked, and our (boss and I) conversations and discussions over the course of the semester about how the clinical was going

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

One of the lead instructors came to my clinical site for a few hours and observed. She asked the students in person how I was. The staff also have their input.