judging student

[deetrain]

Can a clinical instructor fail a student for not having "confidence"? What if the student is naturally shy, and has no health experience prior to entering the nursing program. The student does a decent job on the written quizzes for other courses, but lacks assertiveness and confidence during clinical.

[AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP]

Yes, someone in my clinical group did last semester. The student is going to resume the same class with another group this semester. The faculty referred the student for remedial practice with communications and skills in the meantime.

[anonymousstudent]

There's a difference between being shy and not having confidence, and not being able to perform basic nursing functions. I am very quiet, and have found a lack of confidence in many situations, BUT I don't just write off what I'm supposed to do because of that. I ask for ways to approach certain situations, I watch other students/instructor/RN's at the facility, and if none of that works I suck it up and do it. Instructors don't generally expect students to be experts, they are there to learn, and if this is a deficiency it should be addressed just like any other. But if it stands in the way of adequate care, I would agree with a failing mark.

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

They must pretend or act like they have confidence. That doesn't mean they can't ask questions but you need a professional demeanor. No matter how long you do this you will always run into new situations that require you to act professional even though you aren't totally sure of how to proceed. That demeanor is a skill all nurses need. Most people develop it naturally, just by being comfortable. Feel comfortable, act comfortable. But you need to be able to act that way even when you don't feel it. Without that demeanor, patients will not feel comfortable in your abilities, no matter how good you really are.

[CBsMommy]

Yes and it can also go the other way. I was just spoken to today by my clinical instructor who stated that I was TOO assertive with one of the nurses at our clinical facility....which is funny because our class instructor last week said that we need to be assertive to be nurses. I swear...no one is ever happy enough with nursing students.