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.
And leave your cell phone in the car.If you must have with you, keep it off of the floor and leave it in your bag in the break room.
Again, following this advice would actually cause me and my classmates to FAIL our clinical! We are required to text our CI so she can be present when we do things. She's supervising 7 of us. My CNA clinicals were run the same way, so I have no reason to believe it's uncommon. Things have changed since some of you went to school. Nurses have multiple useful nursing apps on their phones, and students do look up drugs. While my phone may be a toy a lot of the time, when I'm at clinical, I use it to text my CI or to look up drugs and terms I don't know. Whether you believe that or not is really irrelevant
Again, following this advice would actually cause me and my classmates to FAIL our clinical! We are required to text our CI so she can be present when we do things. She's supervising 7 of us. My CNA clinicals were run the same way, so I have no reason to believe it's uncommon. Things have changed since some of you went to school. Nurses have multiple useful nursing apps on their phones, and students do look up drugs. While my phone may be a toy a lot of the time, when I'm at clinical, I use it to text my CI or to look up drugs and terms I don't know. Whether you believe that or not is really irrelevant
Ah, but my post wasn't directed at you, but at the OP who DID get into trouble because their cell phone was in their hand. Not sure why/how you think it is directed at you...unless you also just got into trouble at clinical and have the CI from hell who is gunning for your head as well :)
As I said earlier, OP has to answer to the policies at OP's school. If YOUR school policy instructs you to do otherwise, then that's what YOU do.
While my phone may be a toy a lot of the time, when I'm at clinical, I use it to text my CI or to look up drugs and terms I don't know. Whether you believe that or not is really irrelevant
Whether or not I believe you are looking up drugs is irrelevant. Cellphones (with very few exceptions--for MDs, NM, etc.) are not to be used in our department. There is a link to Micromedex on every computer. In addition, there are drug books in the med room. Finally, when in doubt, one can always call the pharmacy--they are happy to help.
Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.
Again, following this advice would actually cause me and my classmates to FAIL our clinical! We are required to text our CI so she can be present when we do things. She's supervising 7 of us. My CNA clinicals were run the same way, so I have no reason to believe it's uncommon. Things have changed since some of you went to school. Nurses have multiple useful nursing apps on their phones, and students do look up drugs. While my phone may be a toy a lot of the time, when I'm at clinical, I use it to text my CI or to look up drugs and terms I don't know. Whether you believe that or not is really irrelevant
My clinicals, which were recent, had a similar use of it. We were required to buy a drug app on our phones and we could use it to look up drugs during clinicals, however this was subject to change according to the institution and clinical instructor. I've had instructors who didn't allow it.
But to go back to the op's situation. Psych is a whole other matter. This is where privacy is usually more strict. For me, no cellphones were allowed on the unit. They must be turned off and in your bag in the locker room.
Have you started your psych rotation yet? I am curious how your school handles their electronic's policy in regards to psych.
Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.
And, I don't believe anyone who states that they use their phones mainly for looking up drugs. For most people they are a distraction, with us covertly checking our Facebook or to see if anyone noticed our witty post on Allnurses!
Personally, I only used my phone to look up drugs in clinical. Never went on other apps or anything like that. I was too busy writing my notes and care plan to go on Facebook. Certainly I had classmates who were on their phone for other purposes but I was not one of them. Of course, once I was out of the hospital, Facebook popped up, along with games and messenger.
Now lecture is a whole other topic, never managed to be quite as full of concentration there. So ya, we do exist
Oh , poor kid ! I have been a nurse for 23 years and I KNOW exactly what your saying. There is always one student that instructors love to single out.You stopped yourself and didn't take the pic', Never , never for get HIPPA Laws...very important. As for terminating you from the program , rest at ease , you didn't take the pic and quite honestly its your instructors job to make sure you are well informed on these laws. You are the student, she is the instructor. Thats the good news, the bad news is that it sounds like she has focused on you as her victim. Just do your job, have confidence, Remember....CONFIDENCE !
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...
I did post-conference exercises with my students where they wore vaseline-smeared glasses to simulate visual impairments, or gloves to simulate sensory and motor impairments, and asked for a volunteer to be a wheelchair-bound patient with hemiplegia. They all got bibs. Then I gave them snacks (including juice in a cup) and eating utensils to see how they'd do. NOBODY had to do any of it if they didn't want to, and it takes only a few minutes to make the point.
I had them pair off in learning lab, one the patient, fully clothed, and one the nurse, and had the "nurse" position the "paralyzed patient" in bed with pillows, pull the curtains around the bed, and step outside for five minutes, by the clock. The "nurses" all gathered in the center of the room and chatted until time was up, then they changed places with their partners and did it again. They were all very impressed with this roleplay-- how helpless and isolated they felt as patients, how hard it was to be excluded from the conversation like nobody cared about them, and so forth. Five minutes is a long damn time if it's you in the bed. But jeezuz, put them in restraints and seclusion for hours? That's insane. Really.
I'm not sure what restraining students (!) and then apparently abandoning them for hours (!!) is supposed to teach. I feel like I must have misunderstood those posts or something.
It certainly doesn't teach students ethical practice, proper ongoing skin/circulation checks, or anything resembling what I learned about restraint protocol.
Unless they're trying to demonstrate how not to do things. Which still seems extreme....
Cell phones should not be used to communicate any patient information, be it room number, floor, etc. because they are unsecured forms of communication. It is a potential violation for ANYONE, including doctors, to use a cellphone.
If I were an attorney, then I would only need to ask one question: "Have you ever used your personal cell phone on facility property?" An affirmative response is preponderance of evidence and that is all I need to win a civil case. A denial opens the door for all of your cell phone records to be made part of the discovery. All I would need to find is one instance where your personal cell phone was used while you were at work.
I would leave my phone in my car, don't even take it in the building. As far as texting your ci when you're ready to do a skill? Unless that phone is school issued, no way. I would not be giving my ci my personal cell #!! No way in hades!
Rverything turned out okay! Thank you so much seriously all of you. I've just been keeping my phone in my locker at clinical sites now hahah God forbid someone sees it and thinks that again
Red Kryptonite
2,212 Posts
Again, following this advice would actually cause me and my classmates to FAIL our clinical! We are required to text our CI so she can be present when we do things. She's supervising 7 of us. My CNA clinicals were run the same way, so I have no reason to believe it's uncommon. Things have changed since some of you went to school. Nurses have multiple useful nursing apps on their phones, and students do look up drugs. While my phone may be a toy a lot of the time, when I'm at clinical, I use it to text my CI or to look up drugs and terms I don't know. Whether you believe that or not is really irrelevant