Is There Something Wrong With ME????

Nurses General Nursing

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You all probably don't remember this, but I was terminated from school back in May for failing the foley check-off. Well I went back July 9th. Today I was terminated for good for failing to wear gloves at clinicals with a patient who has chronic UTIs. Of course I know you're suppose to wear gloves!!! But stupid me touches the clamp on the catheter bag gloveless with 2 of my instructors standing there! How dumb can ya get????

What the f#&% is wrong with me????? In April I turned a patient with herpes without wearing gloves. Listen, I'm a very intelligent woman but why am I soooooooooo damn DUMB??????? What now? I'm no spring chicken.

There is nothing wrong with you! I would bet it's just nerves. However, your school doesn't sound very supportive... I agree with everyone else that you should try to change schools. Everyone's made dumb mistakes... hell, on my clinical testing day, near the end of the school year, the final requirement to PASS the nursing program, I was doing a physical assessment in front of my instructor on a man with a prosthetic leg... I went to check his CMS and remarked to my instructor "This leg's much cooler than the other one!" What a moron! But I still passed, and you will too. Good Luck!

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

((((((((NICURNtobe))))))))) Don't give up.....especially if you are so passionate about becoming a nurse. Rejection is par for the course in life....hang in there....keep trying....and stay encouraged! :kiss

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ummm... you aren't in AZ are you? My first day of clinicals I was nervous as a CAT! I had NEVER been in a LTC facility, and was "partnered" with someone who had experience in one. I was book smart and hands on stupid. The day before actually seeing the patient (oops, client) I read in the chart she was prone to biting, hitting etc. I was a wreck!

Needless to say, my "partner" couldn't handle the client (patient) either and said "go get xxxxx" (our clinical supervisor). I hi-tailed it out of there, ran down the hall and asked for help. I was a marked woman from then on. I learned the difference between a true "emergency" (as in client falls on floor) and emergency in my mind (client is obstructive and you are terrified she will act out physically which is horrible being that you have NEVER changed a diaper on a woman twice your size and this one is violent!).

In any case, my clinical instructor was also my "mentor" and I NEVER got along, from that day on. I walked out on an 4.0 average TERRIFIED to go back. She told me I looked "good on paper"

Needless to say, I changed schools and have met with my new instructor and feel much more comfortable. In fact, I don't think I am gonna be the same student anymore... I don't need A's, I just need to learn --please instructors, teach me the clinicals without the terror of violence my first day (or the colostomy change, the tube feed... along with the other patient who had constipation and let loose on me... hours of oozing ... all in my first 2 days of clinicals!)

So, guys, that drowning "help" dude in the corner is my mentality returning to nursing school after 2 years!

Is it me? or is it every student who faces these horrors their first week!! I feel weak just thinking about what I had to face my first week 2 years ago. Tell me it ain't so! Tell me that I will get a learning experience that isn't so bad... or is it all the same and I can't handle it?

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Mine told me that I'm very intelligent but that there are other things I could do in medicine besides being a nurse! Excuse me???

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Originally posted by NICURNtobe

Mine told me that I'm very intelligent but that there are other things I could do in medicine besides being a nurse! Excuse me???

My instructor told me that I was obviously very intellectual, and why did I want to 'settle' with becoming a nurse when I could obviously go much further.

I think she meant it as a compliment, though.

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No, she meant that I shouldn't be a nurse cause she felt I couldn't grasp the infection control concept - PULEEEZE!!!

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Originally posted by NICURNtobe

Mine told me that I'm very intelligent but that there are other things I could do in medicine besides being a nurse! Excuse me???

"when I was in school.......I had an instructor tell me in a routine evaluation......that i should take up a hobby........."

like, excuse me?????, but what in the heck does a hobby or anyother of my personal life have to do with my nursing capabilities or studies........"

NICURNtobe.........

whatever you want, do it............

period......

the rest of the world is mistaken if they say differently...........

Micro

;) :stone :p

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Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU,.

don't give up and hang in there.

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I was extremely nervous in clinicals my freshman year, even though I did well in the theory parts. I would get nervous to the point where I was paralyzed and couldn't function and it came up in all of my clinical evaluations. I almost failed clinical because of it. So I decided to become a CNA and it really helped me. I am leaps and bounds ahead of my classmates in clinical now and my instructors can't believe the difference. Also, I had an instructor once tell me that I should "go into hospice because it was less stressful and I wouldn't have to worry about killing anyone because they were going to die anyway," Some people just suck.

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Please dont let that stop you!

I agree, that was a really stupid reason to kick you out of school. I've made dumber mistakes in school, and they just taught me how to correct it. So they should've said, hey, wash your hands and put the gloves on this time.....no big deal.

Can't tell you the number of times i've had body fluids splash, drip or spill where the gloves didn't go....you know????

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Specializes in ER, PACU, OR.

i remember you telling us about it.

your not dumb! as somebody else pointed out, it's probably nerves. there isn't really anything that makes me nervous anymore. however, when a person makes me nervous, i do "dumb" and "stupid" things also. i think there are a lot of people that get that way.

then to top it off in your scenarios; it's much worse, because that "person" is somebody in control of your future/fate.

try again, be confident, and don't let the fact they are there shake you. that is how you can get through it.

me :)

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I feel so awful for you! Nothing is wrong with you! Stop that thinking right this minute! You hear me? You are a good person. Yep we all make mistakes. You get right back on that horse and ride it hard. Change programs, immediately! Find one with instructors that are supportive and encourage your growth, ones that don't make you feel like a gun is to your head and rag so that you get so nervous. Don't give up. Please, don't give up. We need people as nurses who care enough to hang in there. Take a little time to REALLY figure out what goes wrong. Probably nerves, I agree with that. Who can do anything without nerves with instructors breathing down your neck? But, only you can really look at what was going on with you. So, figure it out, then enroll somewhere else. If you knew some of the nitwits who managed to pass Boards, then what you did is minor! Don't let it stop you. You'll be one of the best, caring nurses when you get your RN, because you'll know how hard it is to get, and how easy it is to lose it. God love you!

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