I was reported for something I didnt actually do. Help.

[LisaF0115]

hi, first post on here so please bear with me. My stomach has been in knots for the entire day... Ok so here:

I started nursing school this year and have been doing AMAZING. I study, I do my work, I do well on exams, I ask questions if I do not know something, I take constructive criticism well, etc. I started clinicals a few weeks ago and was doing great, got great weekly reviews and so on. Then, my instructor was replaced by an old school instructor who everyone has feared and hated since she has worked there. Us new students have heard stories about her.

Anyway, she is a psych nurse, knows her stuff, is very informative, but is so mean spirited and condescending to me that I literally have knots in my stomach. Anyway, she has been consistently telling me I am unsafe... I don't see it. I've asked peers and staff members of the facility I'm at and they said it's false. So I've kind of put up with it until last week, she yet agai insisted on embarrassing me in front of people and really for no reason. I want to do well, I like to do well, I work hard, but when I do something as little as look away for a split second, she claps in my face and says I'm "like an autistic child" who likes shiny things and gets distracted easily.

Anyway, our first instructor told us we could make copies of charts and black patient info our (for assignments and care plans,etc) but yesterday out of habit, like I've done with my friends in class where we take a picture of a handout we got in lecture and send to the other ones to make sure we all have everything we need, I took my phone out at clinical while looking at a patients chart I had, DID NOT take a picture but admit I first by habit was going to, then put it away after a split second (I'm not that stupid) and made copies and covered the patients info.

Today I got called by my school director for a meeting. I wasn't allowed to go to clinical because the instructor who I swear is all over my butt for everything, told the director I took a photo of a chart. I %100 did not, but iof course admitted that yes I took my phone out by habit. Then realized oh crap, not lecture right now! Hipaa! I even had the copies I made along with the assignment that was due corresponding to the copies that I made and handed them over, but I have the sickest feeling in my stomach I've honestly ever had. If it were any other instructor I wouldn't be worried. I was about to make a huge mistake and then snapped out of it, I know better. Is this something I can be dismissed over?

Also, the instructor never came to me about it- I was honest with the director because I have nothing to lie about, but I feel like it has almost been a shot at sabotaging me. I have remained mature in the entire "communication" problem with this teacher, spoken to her, asked her what I can be doing to help myself, to no avail. She refuses to even speak like adults. I have had her laugh in my face and mock what I say so I have just been taking it. Plus anymore details on this woman's personality belongs on another thread.

i am more concerned with how I feel like I am guilty until proven innocent. Does anyone know what I should do? I've told the truth how this fifteen seconds happened, I'm not sure what else to do.

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

We could use ours in clinicals to look up meds and I had one clinical instructor who would text us. As for work, we have a STRICT no cell phone policy.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

My psych clinical instructor in nursing school was one of the most dishonest, innappropriate and sadistic human beings that I have ever met. A real psycho. She was the total opposite of what I imagined a psych nursing instructor to be. She targeted a male student and ridiculed him every day. He was a Paramedic and stone faced for the whole rotation. We were locked in seclusion rooms, placed in leather restraints for hours and locked in a closet sized room where she unleashed fury on certain students for no real reason.

We all stayed quiet so as not to agitate her and had a party when that three month rotation ended. I have to wonder if the OP has my old psych instructor.:)

Gooselady and jade gave you sound advice. I suggest you regard her as just another unstable personality disorder to be avoided and focus on your clinical experience and try to get through this with a passing grade.

Can you request to be assigned to another instructor due to her clapping her hands in your face and calling you an autistic child. Did you report that incident? I am curious to know if her complaint made in retaliation.

[RescueNinjaKy]

Just to be devils advocate, you really shouldn't have your cell phone out, more so I'm psych. With psych, patients can be extra sensitive to the thought of their privacy being violated. And especially psych, the repercussions can certainly be more drastic, they can attack you without warning.

And for clinicals, it is not innocent until proven guilty due to the fact that it's not a court of law. They grade you pass and fail arbitrarily. They have the final say, so really it's their word against yours.

Now, this instructor sounds so nasty that it sounds so farfetched. I'm sorry that you're going through this right now. Perhaps speak with a trusted professor and then approach the head of nursing about it. It would help if you have the backing of another professor and or other students who have her as an instructor. If the head refuses to come out with an agreement then you can go to the provost or student relations, but note that this is usually an all out kind of move, because the department certainly won't like it.

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

My psych clinical instructor in nursing school was one of the most dishonest, innappropriate and sadistic human beings that I have ever met. A real psycho. She was the total opposite of what I imagined a psych nursing instructor to be. She targeted a male student and ridiculed him every day. He was a Paramedic and stone faced for the whole rotation. We were locked in seclusion rooms, placed in leather restraints for hours and locked in a closet sized room where she unleashed fury on certain students for no real reason.

We all stayed quiet so as not to agitate her and had a party when that three month rotation ended. I have to wonder if the OP has my old psych instructor.:)

Ummm....what?? You were locked into closets and placed in restraints as a nursing student? This can't be true.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

As students we were locked in a small room for post clinical conference in which the psych clinical instructor would rage at certain students for no real reason and we could not leave. She would rattle her keys the whole time. The crazy lady also placed us in seclusion for four hours and restraints for two hours so that we would know how it felt. (no big deal, I took a nap). This rotation took place in a now closed state mental hospital. My BSN program was otherwise excellent.

The original post does not sound far fetched to me, not at all.

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

Wow, the ex-psych nurse turned instructor sounds like she has her own set of psychiatric problems with how she is interacting with students....clapping in your face? Calling you an autistic child?.....maybe she was relieved of her former position because you just don't talk to people like that!

The good news about technology is there is probably a way to prove that there was never a picture taken on your phone. I'm not sure how but if you have an iPhone the Apple support staff in say, a PeachMac location could help answer that question. I have the GPS turned on in my phone so it actually stamps each picture with where it was taken.

As far as what the school can do, they can really do whatever they want unfortunately. That's where the system is really screwed up.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

To icurnmaggie...if I was you, I'd file battery charges against the instructor who locked you in and restrained you. While you say it was no big deal, it still occupies some of your head space. Imagine how classmates who have a history of abuse might have felt. I hope this was reported to those in charge at your school. This whole thing angers me, truly.

Now, back to original topic... I suspect someone at the clinical site saw you, the OP, with your camera out, as you looked at charts. That person probably reported it to the boss, who contacted your instructor. At most facilities, suspicion of violation of HIPAA by students is something that requires immediate action by the school, and the student isn't allowed back at the site until/if it is all resolved. A big consequence is that the facility might now allow ANY students from that school back, if the school doesn't act quickly and sternly.

I'm a clinical instructor. In the situation you describe, I'd have no choice but to report what happened to whoever is in charge at the school and exclude you until the facility was satisfied that you did not do what was suspected.

By the way, taking pictures of things in theory class, that have personal information about patients, could be seen as a HiPAA violation, since blocking name might be forgotten.

Keep phones off the floor at clinicals and off during class...

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

My psych clinical instructor in nursing school was one of the most dishonest, innappropriate and sadistic human beings that I have ever met. A real psycho. She was the total opposite of what I imagined a psych nursing instructor to be. She targeted a male student and ridiculed him every day. He was a Paramedic and stone faced for the whole rotation. We were locked in seclusion rooms, placed in leather restraints for hours and locked in a closet sized room where she unleashed fury on certain students for no real reason.

We all stayed quiet so as not to agitate her and had a party when that three month rotation ended. I have to wonder if the OP has my old psych instructor.:).

False imprisonment is a crime. Nice that we have felons teaching us nursing. I have to wonder how some of these people got away with doing the things they did.

[Hygiene Queen]

We were locked in seclusion rooms, placed in leather restraints for hours

My CNA instructor made us sit in a wheelchair while tied in a posey vest in an empty room for several hours. This was to see what it felt like to be restrained and forgotten... and it was uncomfortable and I've never forgotten it.

However, your instructor sounds far more extreme...

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

Ugh, it's no fun to have an instructor that you don't feel comfortable with.

You mentioned that she was stated you are "unsafe". I know it wouldn't be easy, but have you asked her for specifics? Maybe if she sees you are trying to improve, it would help your situation/ relationship with her.

I've run across some instructors that come off as really tough, but really want their students to succeed and become the nurses that they would feel comfortable taking care of them and/or their family members. Their tactics, well, don't always seem to be well received.

Not that I'm condoning the behaviors that you mentioned in your post by any means.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'm not going to comment on the actions of your CI because I'm pressed for time right now, and she/he sounds like a real nasty piece of work...

But I will say this: if I saw a student at my hospital with their cell phone out, I would have them escorted off the unit and their CI notified. No excuses, no "but I'm going to fail if I'm kicked off", no "I was looking up a drug," nothing, because no cell phones are allowed, period. And students are informed about that before they even set foot in the building. If you as a student can't understand that, then I don't need you on my psych unit because heaven knows what else you won't understand or choose to ignore--and that ignorance is too much of a safety risk.

So yes, you are culpable to a point. I do hope things work out for you, but you do need to accept responsibility for breaking clinical policy.

[Nursynursenurse, ADN, RN]

I'm not going to comment on the actions of your CI because I'm pressed for time right now, and she/he sounds like a real nasty piece of work...

But I will say this: if I saw a student at my hospital with their cell phone out, I would have them escorted off the unit and their CI notified. No excuses, no "but I'm going to fail if I'm kicked off", no "I was looking up a drug," nothing, because no cell phones are allowed, period. And students are informed about that before they even set foot in the building. If you as a student can't understand that, then I don't need you on my psych unit because heaven knows what else you won't understand or choose to ignore--and that ignorance is too much of a safety risk.

So yes, you are culpable to a point. I do hope things work out for you, but you do need to accept responsibility for breaking clinical policy.

But the OP said in an earlier post that cell phones are allowed in her clinical site and students are required to text the CI at certain times. A lot of hospitals are "getting with the times" and allowing phone use if its work related. They were allowed in my school and the hospitals I went to for clinicals.