I Think I'm Going Insane

Nursing Students General Students

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Specializes in Long Term Care.

first of all, i have the clinical instructor straight from the pitts of hell!!! this is our third week of clinicals of our third semester. she expects our care plans to be perfect, if not she marks them all up:angryfire . when you do exactly what she says, it is still wrong:angryfire :angryfire . she is terrible!!!! i feel as if i'm going to lose my mind (or most of my hair ). i mean she praises us in clinical when it comes to giving meds and charting, but she slaughters our paperwork.

i'm sorry guys, i just need to get this off of my chest. i'm really worried she may fail me for clinical based on my paperwork, because this is the only problem i have. my class grades are wonderful, its just these freaking care plans:o .

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i feel your pain. i think that there are many of us in similar situations. the best advice that i received and can give is to get to know your instructor the best you can. find out what her nursing interests are, sit down with her in private and explain that you need a bit of extra help and if she cant help you ask her for advice where you may find a tutor to ensure that you can become proficient in the manner in which she wants your plans to be completed.

[color=#48d1cc]good luck and i hope this helps.

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

SOON2BERN..I'm sorry you are having such a hard time with the instructor! Babe..this is a worldwide thing! I'm in Scotland..when I was training, many years ago, we had this one woman..how she ever was a nurse with compassion..I will never know! I know it's frustrating, but don't let that one person put you off. can you go to another instructor and ask for help with the situation? Chances are, they may know what this person is like, (this is what happened at our nursing school). It won't just be you who is feeling this! Good Luck!

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

Just do the best you can to make this person happy, then let it go if you can. We don't get graded on care plans, but they are kind of a part of our passing or not passing clinicals. I've been fortunate, but know some groups who had instructors who just tore them apart during the semester. They still all passed despite the misery. I don't personally get the point of making it such a miserable experience, but that's probably why I am a lowly student and not an instructor, lol!! I know some students went to another instructor to help them, and THOSE care plans also got ripped to shreds, lol!!

Best wishes!!

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

Hey..my care plans were great. A couple of my clinical instructors xeroxed them to use them as samples to the next classes......of course before they were all marked up in red and green flair pens.

Hang in there! It's a learning experience.

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I just wanted to give you a bit of encouragement & to let you know that you aren't alone. I've been fortunate to have fair, understanding clinical instructors but a few hours ago I got a call from a classmate telling me that she wouldn't be finishing the quarter because there was no way she could pass clinical. This gal did wonderfully last quarter, with a grade for clinicals in the upper 90's. She has over 10 years experience working as a ER tech & EMT. Last week she was given a failing grade because she administered eye drops to 2 patients without the instructor observing, something that every other student is allowed to do. This woman has made her group absolutely miserable & they hate clinicals. People who see them say they look like a bunch of robots when they are working. They don't dare joke, laugh, or say anything for fear of getting the instructor mad. There's at least one more in that group at risk of failing & she also was an A student unil running into the instructor from HE_ _.

Good luck! Do what you can to keep her happy. It won't last forever, even if it seem so.

Dixie

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Specializes in Neuro.

Some instructors are just hard to please. My first CI was a good teacher (really) but she was really critical of our write-ups. The first few I forgot to include a few things consistently (we had to write a full description of the pt as we found them, and I would forget to write down that the respirations were easy and unlabored). Then I got smart and looked at my corrected write-ups while doing my new ones so I could correct any errors.

Then I figured out that I don't think she really reads them all. I fixed what I always omitted, but in big red pen at the bottom of the page, she'd write "What about respirations? Easy? Unlabored?" about 3 lines below where I had written "respirations are easy and unlabored."

The funniest was when my friend had a double BKA (below the knee amputation) pt with pneumonia. When critiquing his nursing interventions she wrote in big red pen with lots of underlines and question marks "What about ambulation???" We had to laugh because clearly if she had read the whole thing, she would have seen why that was a little impractical.

Just keep your chin up, realize the instructors aren't perfect, and learn what you can.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

You know, about 2 weeks ago you made two posts on two different forums about your care plan for an MI patient. You didn't give enough information for me to give you any kind of specific feedback and I said that when I posted an answer. I respond to a lot of care plan questions and I am always willing to help students with this process because it is not as simple as people think it is. If it were, there would be more experienced nurses falling all over themselves answering care plan questions because nurses love to help others. Do you see them anywhere? The reason is because this is a difficult concept for everyone to grasp. But somewhere during my career I figured it out and I'm willing to share what I know with you. I'm always trying to come up with ways to try to explain the different steps of the care plan process in an easier way from the formal wording in a textbook that people can more readily understand. I'm here and ready to help you. But you have to tell me what it is that you're being told you are doing wrong. I can't figure it out without your honest input.

Just what kind of comments is the instructor writing on your care plans and other paperwork? If you don't want to post them publicly, PM me.

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Daytonite, is there a care plan book that you would recommend?

Thanks!

-Jenny

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
Daytonite, is there a care plan book that you would recommend?

Thanks!

-Jenny

Nursing Care Plans: Nursing Diagnosis and Intervention, 6th edition, by Meg Gulanick and Judith L. Myers has nursing care plans for many medical diagnoses in it as well as a focus on a number of nursing diagnoses. Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: A Guide to Planning Care, 7th Edition, by Betty J. Ackley and Gail B. Ladwig is strictly a reference book that contains an alphabetical listing of all the NANDA nursing diagnoses with all their defining characteristics, related factors and nursing interventions with rationales. It also has a cross-referenced index in the beginning where you can look up a symptom or a medical condition and find recommendations for possible nursing diagnoses that you should consider using. Many students like that particular feature of the book.

When I've gone on the Barnes and Noble website, the Ackley/Ladwig book is definitely showing as the better seller among all the different care plan books that are listed. Strictly speaking, however, it is not a care plan book, but a nursing diagnosis reference. I have copies of both books here at home. They are both good. The Gulanick/Myers book was specifically written for students.

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This is off topic, but I just want to say I have always wanted to visit Scotland. Is it as beautiful in real life as it is in photos?

p.s. I think it's very cool we can all communicate as students across the globe and also share common issues.

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Like most nurses/students, I too had the clinical instructor from you know where. Mine tried to fail my big care plan, know the grading guidelines that she grades off of, and make sure that you meet all the requirements. Go above and beyond. Also know your schools policy (usually in their handbook) on challenging grades or having it regraded if you have too. I know my school didn't allow regrades, but I could challenge it if I felt it had not been graded fairly.

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