Has anyone ever felt that one of your instructors truly hated you?
A few weeks ago I had a difficult patient at clinical who was very angry and lashed out at me. The one time the teacher was in the room with me to give meds, the pt. had just woken up and didnt say anything. We work these patients up pretty extensively, so I had spent a lot of time reading her chart. At our conference afterwards, we have to tell about our week. When it was my turn, my instructor interrupted me, and said very firmly that I had not read the chart and that if I had, I would have known that the patient had a "history of mental retardation." She went on to say that if I had paid attention, I would have noticed that interactions with this patient caused her to lash out because she was retarded! I was floored. I had read the chart, and saw nothing about a history of retardation. One of the nurses said that he thought she was "slow", but there was no other evidence of it at all. It was also not mentioned in report, and the RN assigned to her worked with me the entire first day and never mentioned it.
A lot of times if I ask a question in class, this teacher does not know the answer. Today we were reviewing heparin drips, and she told me that I worked a dosage calculation wrong, even though we got the same answer!!!! I dont have trouble with school , I have been almost acing the tests this semester. I study my rear off because I want at 4.0 and I want to graduate. I just feel like I am under fire anytime she is around and it drives me insane!!!!!!!
Maybe your instructor sees a student that is doing great and is just trying to push you that extra step. Is it possible there was some obscure remark buried in the chart (just guessing could be wrong!!). Instructors motivate students in different ways, unfortunately it's not always in a positive manner. Just remember you won't have to deal with her forever! Best of Luck!!
Had an instructor with the same reputation as the one you describe. However, when I got her in clinical ahe was not exactly as people described her. She was VERY tough, but she would never point it out in front of others. She used to say "lets go take a walk." She did push students on their week points. Mine was meds, knowing what they were for and what the side effects were etc. and she would ask me a million questions about my pts meds each day, but guess what I didn't let it get to me I instead looked at it as a challenge and I would know my meds upside down and sideways so any question she would ask I would know. I also punctured an IV bag trying to spike it in front of her and to this day eveytime I have to spike a bag I can hear her voice in my head saying "don't puncture the bag" and I haven't punctured one since. She turned out to be my favorite instructor!!
The point I am trying to make is, if this instructor is pushing you about knowing your patients and looking through the charts then maybe that is an area you should work on. Not that she wasn't completely inappropriate in the way she addressed the situation.
Try not to let her get to you (I know it is hard) because this may not be the first time you run across someone like this, and remember you don't have to like her, you just have to get through each shift one at a time.
busybeaver
50 Posts
On another note.
Maybe your instructor sees a student that is doing great and is just trying to push you that extra step. Is it possible there was some obscure remark buried in the chart (just guessing could be wrong!!). Instructors motivate students in different ways, unfortunately it's not always in a positive manner. Just remember you won't have to deal with her forever! Best of Luck!!