Yesterday I left a patients bed up to go grab some wipes. My instructor walked in and saw that the bed was in the high position while I was gone. This was what got me kicked out of nursing school.
I always thought that school was a place to learn, and to grow. To make mistakes.
There were other incidences like putting nystatin cream on a patient after report, leaving colace at the bedside because I needed a liquid preparation because my patient wouldn't swallow (d/t confusion), for answering a patients friends question (knowing the patient knew him for 20+ years, but since I did not directly ask permission it was violating hippa, and lastly, for the whole bed incident.
I don't want to blame my clinical instructor for my failure. But I just wish I didn't make those mistakes.
To be honest the majority of the mistakes the OP made are things that s/he should have known from their experience LNA (before they even went into nursing school).
HIPAA and not leaving a bed in the high position are nursing assistant "fundamentals".
that is my point, something is going on to cause this inattention....
I believe it is a violation of nursing care to pinpoint and humiliate student nurses in front of peers. I believe it is a violation of nursing care to blow students off and think everything they say is wrong. I don't believe that emotionally abusing people is effective teaching. Maybe physical abuse like in the nun days. Or in the army where you are made to kill. I believe that this perpetuates fear and poor modeling for the future of nursing. I was good at what I did and I was complimented by staff and told by my clinical group that they looked up to me. I was an A student before nursing school, and a B student in it. I am a damned good person and I did the best I could to prove what I was made of. If that is a problem then I am happy to leave the profession.
I want to tell every single nursing student or pre-nursing student out there. Watch every single move you make. Do everything your instructors want, be prepared and never make a mistake. You will sweat, and cry and work 6-8 hours a night on careplans and spend thousands of dollars on something you may not make it through. I have seen many others go as well as myself. It is a rewarding field. And it has been everyday on the floor as an LNA and a nursing student. But today was the least rewarding of my life, after all the work I put into it. And for one semester and 4 mistakes. Have one bad day and you're toast.
This is good advice for nursing students. Nursing school is very hard, the standards are very high and you cannot mess around. I know you are disappointed but people do manage to graduate from nursing school, despite the hardships of the program, they are able to abide by the rules and meet standards no matter how impossibly difficult they may seem.
So please do not disrespect those students by saying how unfair it is that you were let go while others get away with things.
We all make mistakes, unfortunately from your post it seems that you may a series of very bad mistakes. This wasn't just one bad day. That you don't recognize that and think it is unfair that you have been disciplined is a concern.
The stakes in nursing are very high. Just because you are not the MD calling the shots and making the big decisions (and big mistakes) doesn't mean that the errors you make as a nursing student or as a nurse cannot have terrible consequences.
But, the fact is that some students don't make it through the first time and have to repeat. It's discouraging but sometimes life throws us for a loop. If you truly want to do this you need to just buckle down, regroup, learn from your mistakes and move on.
Ah, a bit presumtious, Ashley! I think that you and I can agree that leaving a bed in high position is extremely unacceptable, ESPECIALLY from a LNA/nursing student. My suggestion was in light of that. Something is going on here, I made a suggestion of one possibility. A visit for assessment wouldn't hurt. If it comes up as a poss. then counseling and teaching of ways to accomadate would be in order....
I apologize for being harsh and yes, rather presumptuous. I work with children and recently have seen several cases of young energetic, smart, kids being diagnoses with ADHD or ADD because they simply can't sit still all the time. Safe to say that I think this is highly over-diagnosed and fits right in with our society's growing trend to "fix' everything with a medication. I'm quite fed up with it at the moment. While I don't think ADD is the OP's problem, I agree that it couldn't hurt to consider it. I'm sorry if my frustrations spilled over. :)
I simply did not think before leaving the room. I simply did not think before answering the patients friend when he asked how he was doing because I figured that I wasn't giving medical information and the patient stated they knew the friend for 20+ years. I did think with the colace, the patient had been taking the colace and chewing them before (info I got from the nurse) but when I tried he refused. I figured liquid colace would fare better and I didn't know if I should throw out the med or keep it for any info, I left the room and the patients bedside table was far enough for him not to reach, and then didn't think to take the colace with me. I didn't think to put the bed down because the patient was on bedrest and the siderails were up and I was going to be gone for a minute to get wipes. Anything could have happened while I was running out of that room.
I was negligent many times. I may be smart in theory, but maybe I'm not smart with dealing with people on the floor.
I don't know what I am going to do next. I found a quote that I quite liked, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. Then go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Howard Thurman
Nursing made me come alive. It made me think, it challeneged me. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. And it was the people that made it most interesting. I have touched many lives and I thought of it as saving the world one person at a time.
But there are other things that make me come alive. I love to paint. I love the creativity and poetry of what you see on canvas. I love to write. I will find happiness again. It's not the end of the world. I will remember all the mistakes I made, never make them again, and THINK before I do anything.
Concur with mazy. OP, the choice to quit or not is yours, but develop a checklist or system to use if you do return. For example, a safety checklist with things like armbands verified, rails up/bed in low, locked, code status/allergies verified, IV WNL, room safe, pt's general survey WNL/unchanged, etc to help you focus. Get a good "brain" sheet to use to keep you organized. Show your instructors that you will learn/change, and give concrete examples of how.
When you discuss going to the BON, for "abuse" - in what way was there abuse? There were no specifics that indicate "abuse".
Just having errors pointed out, that may save others from doing the same. You mention the instructor ignoring you/ disregarding you as abuse, but clinical instructors have multiple students and may need to focus on another at a point that you desire attention.
I just don't see anything specifically that calls for the BON's attention.
I simply did not think before leaving the room. I simply did not think before answering the patients friend when he asked how he was doing because I figured that I wasn't giving medical information and the patient stated they knew the friend for 20+ years. I did think with the colace, the patient had been taking the colace and chewing them before (info I got from the nurse) but when I tried he refused. I figured liquid colace would fare better and I didn't know if I should throw out the med or keep it for any info, I left the room and the patients bedside table was far enough for him not to reach, and then didn't think to take the colace with me. I didn't think to put the bed down because the patient was on bedrest and the siderails were up and I was going to be gone for a minute to get wipes. Anything could have happened while I was running out of that room.
I was negligent many times. I may be smart in theory, but maybe I'm not smart with dealing with people on the floor.
I don't know what I am going to do next. I found a quote that I quite liked, "Don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. Then go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman
Nursing made me come alive. It made me think, it challeneged me. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. And it was the people that made it most interesting. I have touched many lives and I thought of it as saving the world one person at a time.
But there are other things that make me come alive. I love to paint. I love the creativity and poetry of what you see on canvas. I love to write. I have a blog - http://peacelifehappiness.blogspot.com - and I use this as a creative outlet for writing, showing my paintings and collecting things on the web that makes me happy. I will find happiness again. It's not the end of the world. I will remember all the mistakes I made, never make them again, and THINK before I do anything.
I just wanted to say I feel very bad about some of the comments on here. Although I think you know you made mistakes, I think you are probably very upset no matter what the reason. If I was you I would be so very very sad, disapointed, angry, and upset too. I"ve made some little clinical errors too but my instructor always says don't be afraid of your mistakes because if we've made them she has too and thats how you learn. As long as you're not making the same mistake over and over. Either way, I really feel for you and I believe something will work out for you. :redpinkhe
My aunt is a military nurse, and I went to her for advice on what I should do. She had a similar experience in Nsg school with an Instructor who would embarrass her, blow off everything she said, everything she did was wrong, and said that she would never let her take care of her patients. She left clinical early because she could not deal with it anymore. And the instructor tried to count it as a clinical absence and kick her out of the program. So she went to BON and her clinical buddies stood up for her and said she was competent, and that she would never do anything to hurt a patient.
She was reinstated and re-did the rotation.
Maybe it was all her fault that she couldn't handle the pressure. Maybe that's what makes us stronger. She is a nurse in the army as well as out now and she is the strongest person I know. That is what gives me strength to know that I am not the only one.
I don't think I will go to the BON. But I still want to fight for staying in the profession I feel so strongly about.
I'll get through this. It's another bump in the road and who knows, it may have been for the best and lead me on to something bigger and better. Everything happens for a reason.
I think this is a good way to look at this. One of my favorite CIs told us she failed out of nursing school when she was weeks away from graduation. She is now working on her PHD. By the way, not saying she is one of my favorites because she was easy on us. In fact she gave me an Incomplete at midterm evaluation. I eventually passed but she was tough and always challenging us. Anyhoo, when she told us how she failed out, she said she was angry and sad for a long time. But then she said she had came to the realization that everything happens for a reason. The reason was she just wasn't ready. She had to so some self reflection and figure out why she failed. She eventually got back in, and fastforward almost 20 years later, here she is inspiring us future nurses and teaching and molding and pushing us be our best. So sometimes, you do have to take a step back before you can move forward.
I am very sorry that you are going through this, I can only imagine how heartbroken you must be. However, I think it is wise for you not to go to the BON .. it is the instructor's responsibility to pull an individual from a program if they feel there is unsafe practice occuring. I can tell you from experience in my program that some of the A students in class ARE NOT competent on the floor - and in fact it terrifies me that they will be practicing nurses one day. Book/grade smarts will allow you to pass the NCLEX... so who is there to advocate for future patients? It is the nursing instructors that are working with us now during school and seeing our patterns. As student nurses we should know best that isolated incidents require education .. a pattern is something that needs to be addressed. I in no way mean this as a personal attack against you because I honestly feel for you and am sorry to hear this. But on the flip side I do agree that your mistakes warranted further action. Think about how devastated you would be if anything did happen to any of these patients... or how you would feel if a nurse did these things if the patient were a family member. I think there is something to be said about your comment as working previously as a LNA. I saw that a lot of the students who made harmful mistakes during clinicals were actually those who had previous experience working with patients and nurses. Because they see others doing these things they tended to think it was OK practice even though they actually knew it was wrong. These students also tended to be the most likely to roll their eyes and scuff when corrected by an instructor or nurse (not implying you are this way btw). Anyway i'm sorry this happened and it seems that you are taking responsibility for your actions, but have to say that there is probably a larger issue to why the instructors chose to exit you from the program. I wish you luck and happiness with whatever you pursue in your future :)
Thank you for being so frank. I am upset that I was let go after all the hard work and determination and care I've put into this. And I would love to blame it on everything else so that it doesn't hurt as much. But in the end ultimately I made these mistakes. Even though I'm the best person I can be and I tried the best I could, sometimes that isn't enough, and maybe it's the outside forces trying to tell me that. Maybe I would have been very unhappy in this line of work. I do hear of nurses getting burnt out in 10 years or less. And even though I'm extremely positive, it may have been very draining for me.
I am very passionate about health and it is involved in everything I do, everyday. I'm thinking of possibly going for a bachelors in Nutrition and maybe going for PA. It is more cerebral and related but not so much on the floor with direct patient care where I can make those kind of mistakes. There is so much I can do but I still want to be involved in the health care field.
morte, LPN, LVN
7,015 Posts
that is my point, something is going on to cause this inattention....