I need your help, please....I might fail ):

[KibbsRNstudent]

I am a first yr nursing student and I am in my first semester of clinical. I do everything I am told and treat the pts well and take care of them. I am in a telemetry unit. It is hard and overwhelming sometimes but I do what I am supposed to. I thought I was dong well until my recent mid-semester review. I was told my my instructor I was 1 point away from failing the clinical. I was shocked as were the rest of the students in my clinical group. I asked why I was doing so badly and my instructor listed a few things. I ALWAYS put gloves on for everything but one time I was dong a flush and there was blood in the line and my instructor said to go get another flush and "hurry!" so I ran to get another and in my haste forgot the gloves when starting the flush the 2nd time. I was mortified. Then one day I brought my scissors to class and left them in my backpack. (in the hospital unit) but when I needed them I borrowed another students scissors so I would not have to go get mine and I got written up for not brining all equipment to class. Then another time I had a pt with a GI bleed and alsziemer's that had a bowel prep earlier in the day. Every time she stood up she was incontinent. I was cleaning up messes on the floor, the pt, bed, chair, commode, everything the whole night. Well, I was getting her meds ready and the primary RN had just been in there and my instructor walked into the room with me and saw some disposable slippers on the floor and wrote me up for it. I knew I did not leave them on the floor so i asked and found the primary did it. I got written up for it though. I was also written up for sheets and stuff on the floor. BUT, I was cleaning up the site and this is why. As soon as I was done cleaning I made sure the stuff was in the laundry bin. I just wanted to be sure the pt was situated in a chair and that there was no risk of her stepping on a wet floor and falling while I was dumping the dirty stuff in the bin outside of the room.

And the big thing my instructor told me was that I am too nervous. She said it interferes with my interactions with staff and pt. She said I talk too fats. (That happens to be my personality but anyway) I need to know how to not exclude nervousness and show more confidence. I have the head knowledge but I get nervous the first time I do anything and my prof does not want to see that. If I fail this clinical I am out of the program and the 3 yrs and tons of $$ I spent is all for nothing. I have wanted this my entire life! I am in my thirties and I want this so bad. Any advice will be helpful. Please. I am begging you. I have to still give shots yet and drips. have not done them yet. I know I have studied it but the first time I do it I do not want to look nervous. I feel like every time I ask my instructor a question she gets mad at me and snaps at me. Others in the group as many questions as well but she responds better to them. I asked my prof why she gets frustrated with me all the time and she said that she knows I am smart and have a lot of knowledge but I do not show it. SO I guess when i ask questions she thinks I should know the answer already. I really do not think that is fair. Sometimes I do "half" know the answer but I want to be sure because I do not want to do things wrong or mess up so I ask. I am a first yr NS and in my first clinical and a hard unit at that. Shouldn't;t I have the same opportunity to mess up like the other students? There is a girl in our clinical who has missed 3 clinicals, 2 lectures and at least 1 sim lab and she has not proven to anyone in the class that she would be a good nurse. She interviewed a pt for 6 hours one day and did not even give the pt his/her meds. She is still in the class after her interview!! That makes me mad that I am doing either the same as her in pass/fail or worse cuz you can't get worse than my 1 point before failing. I cried for 2 days after the review. Please help me to get over my timidness and fear. I need you all now please....

[Ms Kylee]

I think you might be able to qualify for a PCT position right away. I had to wait 6 months (till my orientation period was over) before I could apply. My class was 16 hours, which included about 4 hours in the lab practicing the enemas and such. Then the next day, we had our written final and the clinical final. I got 100 on the clinical portion and a 91 on the written final. You had to have an 80% on the written final to pass. Then came the job of doing 5 of all of the tasks and getting signed off on all of them by the nurses. My nurses were great once I told them that I needed them. They even come to me now and ask "Do you need signed off on anything?" My nurses are truly awesome.

It's really been a good learning experience for me.

[ORRocksRN]

I agree with Alternator. DO NOT, under any circumstances, TRY TO MAKE EXCUSES!! Just accept the blame, even if you aren't the one who did it, or if they are accusing you of something you didn't do.

I was accused of something really hideous by some nasty nurses i worked with one day at clinical, their issue had nothing to do with me, they were just taking out their frustration on the student, so i got a bad report for that day. Totally unfair. That one incident eventually got me kicked out of my program, with only 4 months to go to graduation. I am still trying to get back in to finish or to get in somewhere else to start all over again at the beginning.

NEVER make excuses, your instructors hear that as you talking back. The student is always wrong, no matter what, just remember that. Don't try to explain anything, don't disagree, Just say "I will try to do better and I won't make that mistake ever again. Thank you for your feedback." and you will be ok.

[KibbsRNstudent]

I agree with Alternator. DO NOT, under any circumstances, TRY TO MAKE EXCUSES!! Just accept the blame, even if you aren't the one who did it, or if they are accusing you of something you didn't do.

I was accused of something really hideous by some nasty nurses i worked with one day at clinical, their issue had nothing to do with me, they were just taking out their frustration on the student, so i got a bad report for that day. Totally unfair. That one incident eventually got me kicked out of my program, with only 4 months to go to graduation. I am still trying to get back in to finish or to get in somewhere else to start all over again at the beginning.

NEVER make excuses, your instructors hear that as you talking back. The student is always wrong, no matter what, just remember that. Don't try to explain anything, don't disagree, Just say "I will try to do better and I won't make that mistake ever again. Thank you for your feedback." and you will be ok.

Thanks. This actually happened about 3 years ago. I guess the thread was bumped when I responded with a question to someone. hehe. I did not make excuses for the incident. I understand that the student is always wrong. I just accepted ti and moved on. I left school a semester after that because my husband wanted me to be home more. I am now going back to finish. I live in a different state now and they do not take transfers so I have to retake all my nursing theories and clinical but that is only 4 semesters and It will be nice to refresh. :) I am currently studying math right now from Algebra to Statistics in order to test out of the math class. My math credit was non-transferable. Bummer! Oh well. Always good to refresh. :)

[future L&Dnurse]

I had the same problem a couple of times - you want to do it as fast as seasoned nurses do it, but simply put, you can't at your level of skill! It's okay, you'll get there. I would slow down. Slow way down, think things through. Chances are that you are not going to be working in a life-or-death situation in clinical this semester, so it's okay to stop and think it through before you start. Another thing that I think is helpful is to ask the nurse or your instructor, BEFORE you go into the room and get started, if you can briefly walk through the procedure with them and then tell them what you think the procedure is. That shows that you are thinking about this and are aware that there are policies and standards of practice, and that you are at least generally aware of how you're supposed to do whatever it is you're about to do, and it also allows the instructor to correct any mistakes before you're "in the moment" and feeling frazzled and freaked out.

I also have decided that I somewhat disagree with the assertion that you should always volunteer to do a skill if the opportunity arises, because you may not get another chance. While that's true, I've realized that sometimes it is SO much better to say "I have never done it, I would like to observe you if that is okay." They may still have you do it, but there is the understanding up front that this is the very first foley/IV/whatever and you are going to need guidance.

Hang in there. It sounds like you have a really tough instructor which really will benefit you in the end, but meanwhile I would really open up the lines of communication with her and let her know that you are trying very hard, and see what she thinks you can do to improve.

(ETA: I didn't realize this thread was so old, and should have read the whole thing. My advice still stands for any future nursing students who find this thread, though, and OP I wish you the best in your new program!)

[CoCo Queen]

You remind me of Elliot from Scrubs!! Just a lil humor... ANYWAY, you having knowledge should give you confidence. Maybe you need to do a little mediation before the start of each clinical or pray that GOD helps you with your confidence at work. When it comes to asking questions, think of a more creative way to get your questions answered instead of rasing your hand and then asking a question. Start with an example or do a comparison to try to get your teacher to answer your question without her realizing it. That will REALLY build your confidence and also show your instructor a "new found" independence!!

[kcrewfive]

Good one Coco Queen! I will be going back to school in a few years. I had another baby almost a year ago and need to be home with him for awhile. I still have that nursing fever and am continuing to study still! I LOVE that you say I remind you of Elliot! LOVE her!!! thx!!!