How does a student fail clinical?

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Other than being late, not showing up, and not completing assignments, what are some ways that a student can fail clinicals? I've read so many horror stories about instructors failing their students for the smallest mistakes. What does it actually mean to fail a clinical? Is it going to be reflected on their transcript? Also, what happens AFTERWARDS? Do they continue attending clinicals for the rest of the semester even though they know they'll get an unsatisfactory grade, or do they sit out for the rest of that semester and "repeat" the clinicals next semester?

At my school, med errors are huge. Usually that means you're placed on jeopardy or some instructors will fail you right away. Other than that, it's pretty hard to fail. It depends on instructors though. I've had instructors that are very uptight and watches your every move and then I also witness instructors that allow a fellow classmate to turn in late assignments three times without failing him even though in their syllabus, that was not allowed. And he did not have any excuses either! It really depends I think...

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Sounds like my M.I.L :roflmao:

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

A gal failed in our final semester, on a med-surg type unit. She didn't know what to do with her pt's tube feeding. She was failed because she was expected to have prepared.

One who I'd precepted on subacute rehab for the final practicum of her LPN program failed as well. Her instructor had stopped in for a random check, and while pulling meds she took the plain 325mg ASA bottle opposed to the enteric coated bottle. I pointed out to check again, and after the med pass her instructor informed her that her near-miss meant failure.

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A gal failed in our final semester, on a med-surg type unit. She didn't know what to do with her pt's tube feeding. She was failed because she was expected to have prepared.

One who I'd precepted on subacute rehab for the final practicum of her LPN program failed as well. Her instructor had stopped in for a random check, and while pulling meds she took the plain 325mg ASA bottle opposed to the enteric coated bottle. I pointed out to check again, and after the med pass her instructor informed her that her near-miss meant failure.

Had the student already completed her 3 checks or had she merely pulled the bottle out and began the process of her checks? I feel like that's a mistake the student may have caught on her own once she had started doing her med checks. And from what I can gather from your online persona, I'm almost positive your reminder to the student wasn't meant to ultimately end in her failure, but was probably meant to help the student (as well as to ensure patient safety). The reason I bring this up is because I caught one of my mistakes at my 2rd med check once, and I'm glad I wasn't docked for not noticing it with the first check!

So OP, make sure you do your med checks! Not an area to get lazy in, because everyone makes mistakes, but checking yourself three times really helps you to catch those things and increases patient safety.

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Is it possible to fail a clinical if you got below a C on the midterm evaluation because of one objective. But there was still a final evaluation, to be done where you could improve?

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I also have a question. I’m very concerned in this situation because my friends preceptor failed her. On the evaluation, she’s stating that my friend was unsafe. 
1) she states that my friend didn’t find it necessary to check the food a parent brought for her child with suicide risk. As per my friend, she did verify the bag which the parent brought the food in but she didn’t check the “food” cuz it was a plastic bowl and she could see the rice instead so no need to check. Also my friend mentions that she told the parent also that she couldn’t bring in the milk in the glass cuz that’s unsafe for the child in psychiatry.

2) she states that my friend was unsafe because she didn’t remove the lace from a patient’s shoes. According to my friend, she was in another patient’s room and the patient arrived in the unit from an in-hospital pass. So the preceptor already removed the lace but she blamed my friend for not doing so. But my friend wasn’t even there when the patient came back.

3) She said my friend was going to give a book with spiral to a patient with suicidal risk. According to my friend, she left the book on the side because she wasn’t sure if she had to give or not due to the spiral. So she was trying to ask the preceptor if it was considered “unsafe” for the unit. 
 

4) She sais my friend was unsafe because she didn’t do any interventions to a suicidal patient. According to my friend, there were nothing to do because the patient wouldn’t disclose the plan. All she did was ensure a safety environment and do a safety tour check every 15-20 min to check on the patient.

Do you guys think she deserves to fail? 

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Specializes in CEN, Firefighter/Paramedic.
7 hours ago, Typical Nurse Student said:

I also have a question. I’m very concerned in this situation because my friends preceptor failed her. On the evaluation, she’s stating that my friend was unsafe. 
1) she states that my friend didn’t find it necessary to check the food a parent brought for her child with suicide risk. As per my friend, she did verify the bag which the parent brought the food in but she didn’t check the “food” cuz it was a plastic bowl and she could see the rice instead so no need to check. Also my friend mentions that she told the parent also that she couldn’t bring in the milk in the glass cuz that’s unsafe for the child in psychiatry.

2) she states that my friend was unsafe because she didn’t remove the lace from a patient’s shoes. According to my friend, she was in another patient’s room and the patient arrived in the unit from an in-hospital pass. So the preceptor already removed the lace but she blamed my friend for not doing so. But my friend wasn’t even there when the patient came back.

3) She said my friend was going to give a book with spiral to a patient with suicidal risk. According to my friend, she left the book on the side because she wasn’t sure if she had to give or not due to the spiral. So she was trying to ask the preceptor if it was considered “unsafe” for the unit. 
 

4) She sais my friend was unsafe because she didn’t do any interventions to a suicidal patient. According to my friend, there were nothing to do because the patient wouldn’t disclose the plan. All she did was ensure a safety environment and do a safety tour check every 15-20 min to check on the patient.

Do you guys think she deserves to fail? 

IMHO -the fact that any of those scenarios made it all the way to the nursing student without being caught by literally anyone else is a failure on the part of the facility.  Where was the actual nurse for the patient?  Where was the students preceptor while the student was in the room with the patient after the first missed risk factor? 

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Did you understand the story? It seems like you didn’t tho. Nothing risky happened. 

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Specializes in CEN, Firefighter/Paramedic.
15 minutes ago, Typical Nurse Student said:

Did you understand the story? It seems like you didn’t tho. Nothing risky happened. 

Did you not understand my response?  I don't think its appropriate to hold a nursing student accountable for something that if the instructor thought was so risky, should have been caught well before the nursing student.

 

 

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Specializes in oncology.
4 hours ago, FiremedicMike said:

According to my friend, there were nothing to do because the patient wouldn’t disclose the plan. All she did was ensure a safety environment and do a safety tour check every 15-20 min to check on the patient.

I wonder what the student was doing that was more important than supporting the patient with a 'wellness' plan or at least an anti suicide plan. I read a lot of 'excuses' in your description of the student's actions or lack of actions. .  Yes, the whole situation has many professionals failing this patient. It doesn't read like there were  any safety measures in place provided by the institution.

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Specializes in CEN, Firefighter/Paramedic.
7 minutes ago, londonflo said:

I wonder what the student was doing that was more important than supporting the patient with a 'wellness' plan or at least an anti suicide plan. I read a lot of 'excuses' in your description of the student's actions or lack of actions. .  Yes, the whole situation has many professionals failing this patient. It doesn't read like there were  any safety measures in place provided by the institution.

Just to be clear, somehow what you quoted attributed those words to me, I did not say that ?
 

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On 12/28/2021 at 9:19 PM, Typical Nurse Student said:

I also have a question. I’m very concerned in this situation because my friends preceptor failed her. On the evaluation, she’s stating that my friend was unsafe. 
1) she states that my friend didn’t find it necessary to check the food a parent brought for her child with suicide risk. As per my friend, she did verify the bag which the parent brought the food in but she didn’t check the “food” cuz it was a plastic bowl and she could see the rice instead so no need to check. Also my friend mentions that she told the parent also that she couldn’t bring in the milk in the glass cuz that’s unsafe for the child in psychiatry.

2) she states that my friend was unsafe because she didn’t remove the lace from a patient’s shoes. According to my friend, she was in another patient’s room and the patient arrived in the unit from an in-hospital pass. So the preceptor already removed the lace but she blamed my friend for not doing so. But my friend wasn’t even there when the patient came back.

3) She said my friend was going to give a book with spiral to a patient with suicidal risk. According to my friend, she left the book on the side because she wasn’t sure if she had to give or not due to the spiral. So she was trying to ask the preceptor if it was considered “unsafe” for the unit. 
 

4) She sais my friend was unsafe because she didn’t do any interventions to a suicidal patient. According to my friend, there were nothing to do because the patient wouldn’t disclose the plan. All she did was ensure a safety environment and do a safety tour check every 15-20 min to check on the patient.

Do you guys think she deserves to fail? 

First, during my psych clinical we were never allowed to be or put in a position where we were the sole person responsible for their safety. It was our least "hands on" clinical. Maybe if this was our final semester preceptorship it would have been different. 

Second, not everything is black and white from a student vs instructor opinion. I "failed" a clinical because they didn't think I was professionally ready to be a nurse. I was able to get a portion appealed, but ultimately still failed.

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