kicked out nrsing school-would u fight?

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I was 5 days from finishing my first year nursing and got bounced. i must go on record as not being the most beloved person in the class. the staff in a manner of speaking, hates my guts. i have clinical with a woman hell-bent on getting me kicked out. she has earned the name of dracula's daugher (AKA DD) from the clinical group. she is less than supportive, and when i asked for guidance regarding a straight cath (i anticipated a pt requiring one, no experience) she told me to read the book. (you get the picture, right?)

The last 5 weeks of class are med-surg in ortho. we got our first two patients the third clinical day. (i was not given a patient the first day of clinical--he never materialized from the OR) I happen to have an essental tremor. i found this out in lab first semester, when trying to draw up a meds my first semester. i sought care from my physician who placed me on lopressor. it has helped tremendously. I advised the staff.

Clinical was torture. we were required to fill out the paperwork described in the syllabus as well as additional forms introduced by DD. we recorded VS in 4 different places. If you did meds for the rotation, it was virtually impossible to finish on time (all my meds were administered late), and many of my classmates failed to accomplish this.

My first patient had alzheimers, total hip, and was combative. i fell behind schedule in performing his care. a future clinical instructor was shadowing DD and helped me with this patient. we fell behind DD's written schedule. I made the assumption that the shadow had a some authority and i took directions from her. I was later told that i was late emptying drains, and did not adhere to the schedule of care. i was told this was MY patient and I screwed up the timeframe for emptying foley and a hemovac. (i had never done either skill up to this day). The most EMBARASSING error I made (yes dear reader, i will tell you) was not telling the nurse in charge of the patient, that the wrong IV fluid was hanging (we had IV and foley training post these incidents). We had the postoperative lecture describing the tasks necessary for post op care after four patient care days. i didnt hang the fluid, which was not ordered and also incorrectly documented on the patient's flowsheet). DD found the error and told me to tell the nurse................and god, i forgot (i told the nurse 1.5 hrs later). I admitted my error in postop conference (there was never a preop conf) and got reamed (understandably). Had I kept my mouth shut, i would have escaped probation. THEN my other grievous error is reaching out of an isolation room to grab my clipboard. Ok i have dumped all the big ones. Remember the tremor? Well yesterday when they dumped me, they told me that I didnt have the motor skills to do the job. I never made an error in med admin. no problem there. i just couldnt draw up the med. without air bubbles (sigh).

it's hard to write this stuff up. i'll let this stand and wait for your comments. remember the agenda is to get rid of me......................there is no support whatsoever. i worked hard to get to this point and these creepy, unprincipled women have pushed me out.

your input most appreciated.

hotcoffee1:uhoh3:

PS there is a guy who has been put on probation last semester for a med. error, who made a med error this session. nothing happened

Specializes in critical care.

at my current school, if a student is having a hard time with an instructor, a different, unrelated instructor will follow them for one clinical day to evaluate their skills and rule out difficulties r/t personality differences. there is one instructor who lots of people have a hard time with and it seems that every semester she has a student followed by another instructor. Even students who didn't have her in clinicals tell me that I'm fortunate to never have had to work with her.

but, in a different school I had an instructor who did have something against me. at first I just told myself that I was being overly sensitive and that maybe I did deserve her harsh criticism. Our first clinical day she tore into me because I didn't know that there were different types of antihypertensives. she talked on and on about how unprepared I was. I felt that I was prepared as well as I could have been with my extremely limited nursing knowledge. There were some people who were not in complete uniform, some who didn't even look up their pts drugs...but I was the only one who was "unprepared." We had a lab that night and my clinical group gave me the best support and said that they didn't understand why she was being so hard on me. I perservered and passed with flying colors, but this is just to show that sometimes, there are instructors with an ugly agenda.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I am soooo sorry. I have not any real words of wisdom just support.....Maybe try to gain entry to another school.???? Clearly, based on what you say here: You have been "marked" and even if you do fight and get back in, it will be HELL from beginning to end. I would not consider it worth it myself. Best wishes, whatever you do decide to do.

I have seen potentially good nurses get booted- and not all were justified. Sounds like you had a hellacious day on the floor. Somedays it is just like that.

But if they booted you for one day's performance- then they were looking for a reason to dismiss you. It would probally be a good idea to search your mind and review your performance in school up to that day. If you think it was good, and the dismissal not merited- then by all means file a grievance or appeal. If they do not rule in your favor then you may have to decide whether to pursue it or not. If you are planning to attend another school then you may want to leave on very good terms. My friend was booted and followed the protocols to have her dismissal reviewed. She kept going up the chain of command. Unfortunately she could not get a letter of recommendation from the school. So she was not accepted in any other nursing program. Othe students who failed out but did not make big issue of it got their letters of recomendation.

I wish you luck in the future.

When I went to nursing school I had two 2 decent clinical instructors...the rest were crap...they were either inept, decrepit or angry vicious burn outs. I had an instructor who was a diabetic but she really liked choclate and pepsi...she really loved pepsi..for breakfast...so she had a continuous insulin pump..and a never ending supply of pepsi..so she would jack up the rate for every pepsi...and then in the middle of nursing ethics she would get confused and then argumentative and finally combative...she got carried out regularily...lucky the hospital was right next door...that's how we students started the day...

My group lived and died with these two decent instructors...we went to them with every issue..with every procedure...we dragged them to practice labs after hours by bribing them with dinner and other unmentionables...they were year 1 instructors...but they were great nurses who knew their stuff and had great senses of humour and LOVED nursing and LOVED teaching.

Nursing school can be filled with nurses who never intended to be teachers and they ain't happy about their situation at all and the only target they have is the poor dumb student...they were once supernurse perfect in all things and that's what they expect....you must recognize these creatures and defeat them

You are an adult and some teachers HATE that..I know because I was an adult student too and I was in an all "older learner" class...they hated us all...they wanted children to do what they were told and to never ever question or WORSE have a life that occassionally interferes....it was amusing at first but finally we had to call a meeting with the college and get them to rein in the worst of the bunch.

Don't even bother contacting the director of the nursing program go straight to the director of the college or university and lodge a formal complaint...demand an immediate refund.....nothing they hate worse thean someone demanding money back....

The problem really is do you really want to go back into this program?

They will now be spending ALL their time trying to flunk you out if they reinstate you. I had a girlfriend that was reinstated because they bounced her because they said she wore too much makeup...during classtime...hadn't even had a chance to get to clinicals...they thought she wasn't of "good character"...so she got reinstated and they hounded her for two semesters...she tried and tried.....one of our favorite instructors did everything she could but they just hated her and finally she couldn't take the hate anymore and quit...she did go to another school..did really well and is a great nurse.

I would do the formal complaint and demand full credit for the year and then transfer to another program. It will save you alot of hurt...but remember it doesn't matter where you go...those clinical instructors are everywhere..you are going to have to decide whats more important ..getting the RN or winning a fight with some crackpot instructor?

Wow that is terrible. I understand what you mean my instructors were like Nazis they did not care about what was going on in your life if you couldn't cut it then that was that. I hope you do fight it. Documentation in order. I went to a totally new school system because I hated my LVN school my RN school on the other hand was very supportive and nurturing and I will never forget those nice instructors. Don't give up. They kill me how they can judge who is entitled to be a nurse or not depending on their perception.

Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.
I have to agree that "the instructor is out to get me" mentality can really adversely affect students. I have had instructors that didn't like me and guess what I did? I made them like me. I went out of my way to be nice and to show them that I appreciated them (even when I didn't). I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, no presents or special favors, I was just nice and would pretend they were nice even when they weren't.

.

This sounds nice and all, but that really doesn't work with everyone. I was fortunate in that the majority (all except one) of my instructors didn't bang heads with students. The sole exception had it in for two of the students -these two did have, shall we say, a different attitude -but I did not think it warranted dismissing them, however) -for my part, I generally get along with everyone, even though some don't care for my attitude or way of looking at things (I've never been particularly hung-up on wheather or not someone liked me. Probably goes along with the whole "biker" thing, but ??)

I don't know the thread starter, but it sounds to me, like they were rushing these students along a bit harder than would be called for.

Our ortho was no piece of cake, but nothing at all like the one that was described. And someone who is in her 50s, with a pair of masters, OBVIOUSLY is not afraid of hard work, and will have had more than their share of college classes, so I'd be more inclined to believe her version of the story -she seemed pretty forthright with the explanations.

HotCoffee1:

I would CERTAINLY fight this! (as was said, what do you have to lose?) but I'd get my ducks in a row, that is, write down the topics and points of such, that you wish to cover. They should, at the very least, listen to you. I'll tell you now that they may not let you finish this one, but they may offer to let you retake it (under a different instructor). On the other hand, if this teacher has a lot of these kinds of complaints on her file, it may cost her the job (not a bad thing, and I've seen it before) -the point here is that you don't give up.

I'd be real interested in knowing how it goes for you. Please keep us posted.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
they are responding to my performance. i am disabled. i have posts under the appropriate columns. it appears to be ineptness, but it's really disability under stress. i will never be a nurse on a med surg flr.///looking at psych. i understand their reactions, they have not been told of my afflictions. i felt my privacy would be jeopardized. so your friends are right it's performance that they are witnessing. they could however, be supportive. i would have functioned better under those conditions. thanks for responding.

Am I reading this right? ... You knew you had a disability that would diminish your ability to provide safe patient care and yet you didn't share that information with the school? Didn't that endanger the patient? Isn't that unethical? If that is true, that is a serious breech of your duty to protect the patient and your hiding the information from the school would be reason enough to get you dismissed from most schools.

Or am I misundestanding your above post?

llg

Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.
Am I reading this right? ... You knew you had a disability that would diminish your ability to provide safe patient care and yet you didn't share that information with the school? Didn't that endanger the patient? Isn't that unethical? If that is true, that is a serious breech of your duty to protect the patient and your hiding the information from the school would be reason enough to get you dismissed from most schools.

Or am I misundestanding your above post?

llg

I didn't get that. Perhaps I missed something? I thought the tremmor was discovered during the program, not before.

I'm not sure I'd call a stress-related tremmor a danger to patient care, though.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
I didn't get that. Perhaps I missed something? I thought the tremmor was discovered during the program, not before.

I'm not sure I'd call a stress-related tremmor a danger to patient care, though.

That's why I asked her to clarify. The post I quoted from the original poster said that she knew she could never work in med-surg because of her "disability" and I got the impression that she intended to fight her failing grade based on a claim of disability. But ... if she is going to claim that she has a disability that prevents her from performing well in a med-surg environment -- and she knew about that disability at the time of her clinical experience -- she had an obligation to inform the school about it.

She can't have it both ways. If she is going to make the legal claim that her disability prevents her from working in med-surg, then she had a legal/moral obligation not to try to "bluff her way through the program."

... though perhaps I misunderstood her previous post.

llg -- who has a hearing/balance impairment

i was born w/o an acetabulum. Leggs Perthes disease. I am physically unable to work in an environment that demands heavy duty physical labor, hence disabled. i am headed for psych more than likely (i have a degree in social work). The tremor was new to me. i was totally unaware until a preceptor brought it to my attention. i found i couldnt draw up a syringe without touching the plunger. i got hell for that, until the director told me touching the plunger is ok. it has been an emotional roller coaster. Many of my classmates are sympathetic, although too frightened to come forward. Interestingly, the other 'older' student in the class was told that she was getting written up for time management (it was an empty threat).

eliminating me because i draw up air bubbles is extreme. i need time to prepare, i must have a technique problem. ive only given 4 shots. all given safely to the patient with all rights observed.

That's why I asked her to clarify. The post I quoted from the original poster said that she knew she could never work in med-surg because of her "disability" and I got the impression that she intended to fight her failing grade based on a claim of disability. But ... if she is going to claim that she has a disability that prevents her from performing well in a med-surg environment -- and she knew about that disability at the time of her clinical experience -- she had an obligation to inform the school about it.

She can't have it both ways. If she is going to make the legal claim that her disability prevents her from working in med-surg, then she had a legal/moral obligation not to try to "bluff her way through the program."

... though perhaps I misunderstood her previous post.

llg -- who has a hearing/balance impairment

hotcoffee,

PLEASE do not lose your confidence...fight for what you believe in, which includes all the wrongs done to you and believe in yourself. do not give anyone permission to take that from you. of course your emotions are going to be hung out to dry, but then you'll recoup and go forward. do not let them get the best or worst of you. peace.

leslie

Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.
i was born w/o an acetabulum. Leggs Perthes disease. I am physically unable to work in an environment that demands heavy duty physical labor, hence disabled. i am headed for psych more than likely (i have a degree in social work). The tremor was new to me. i was totally unaware until a preceptor brought it to my attention. i found i couldnt draw up a syringe without touching the plunger. i got hell for that, until the director told me touching the plunger is ok. it has been an emotional roller coaster. Many of my classmates are sympathetic, although too frightened to come forward. Interestingly, the other 'older' student in the class was told that she was getting written up for time management (it was an empty threat).

eliminating me because i draw up air bubbles is extreme. i need time to prepare, i must have a technique problem. ive only given 4 shots. all given safely to the patient with all rights observed.

So you draw air bubbles. No big deal, so long as you make sure you clear 'em out of the syringe before giving the injection. I wouldnt say any of what you've said would or should disqualify you.

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