I'm in my last semester of nursing school in a peds rotation at an excellent magnet status hospital. Firstly the facility required we pay 40 dollars to complete a few online modules and an exam. I do not understand why that wouldn't be covered in tuition and fees but I don't want to complain too much.
To the point today was our first day on the unit and our instructor chose to use this day as an orientation day for us (showing us around the hospital, learning the unit, etc.). However what should have been a 2-3 hour experience ended up taking all day with us sitting in an empty patient room going over basic locations of things, the instructor on the phone for some MAR difficulties, and going over the parking situation for some students for at least an hour. All things said and done the clinical was very boring and mundane and we did not come in contact with a single patient to even just talk to.
Fast forward to this coming Friday and we are told that the Joint Commission will be at the facility and we will not be allowed on the unit. Instead we are to attend a grand round (which we are expected to do anyways) and then for the rest of the day we will look over specific conditions and try to guess which meds would be expected.
That counts as two days of no patient contact in the slightest, and only 3 days would remain. I am feeling cheated out of my clinical time and am very aggravated by the fact. Can the staff really kick us off the unit if we are paying quite a bit to be there if the joint commission is there? I understand why they would but wouldn't it be okay to just be there for basic cna duties and our own assessment, no med passing or other procedures.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i would have a large issue with the fire in the middle of a code. You had a better response than I likely would have.
The joint Commission team told my manager that they didn't think I was taking their presence seriously enough. When I was called into the office to comment, I said I didn't think they were taking my code seriously enough and that a REAL patient trumped a FAKE fire every time.
Specializes in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.
You may call me a lazy nursing student, but I enjoyed my days off of clinical due to whatever reason (some days we couldn't go because of holidays; others was because the clinical instructor was sick and there was no replacement to be found). It was a nice break from the 12-hour clinical day pressure from family, docs, other personal, your nurse, your classmates, and your instructor (did I get everyone? lol). Last semester was the most important as we had most of our freedom to be a real "nurse" and that is when I enjoyed being on the floor. Your last semester is peds, I personally wouldn't mind staying home for a few clinicals or stay in sim lab because peds wasn't my specialty. Unless peds is your thing, I don't think there's any reason to feel "cheated."
I hope Ruby Vee's tale of having to defend herself for a slightly-less-than-ideal response to the fake fire started by TJC during the time of a very real code illuminates how serious it is when survey comes around (and everyone present at the facility is seen as available for inquiry, students definitely included). When I was in nursing school, we were well aware that if there were any surveyors in the hospital, we would likely be getting the boot as well. It happened a couple of times. No big deal. Besides, I'm working in a Magnet peds hospital and I am getting a million times the experiences I ever could have had in any clinical. Be patient. You'll have plenty of opportunities to do the things that eventually most RNs consider mundane and routine.
By the way, seeing as how you were in a Magnet facility, it is much more serious when it comes time for them to submit their Magnet document that they minimize any issues that could come up. And don't crab about paying $40 for education modules. When I was at a state corrections facility for psych only our group had to pay $52 for fingerprinting and DoJ background to be eligible to attend.
Nursing school requires more patience than most people realize or care to have.
I honestly do not think you understand just how serious a Joint Commision visit is. Our unit is already under pressure for a pop up visit between now and March. Those visits can make or break your hospital. I would never want a student present during it, due to how serious the issue is. I am not saying you cannot handle it, but it is our jobs on the line.
I would try to approach your nursing Dean and ask for extra clinical days if you can. We had an instance where our Pharmacology class was being taught by a Pharmacist and taught as if we were students becoming Pharmacists. It was awful and we were failing. I finally pointed out what we would need to know as nurses and not on a Pharmacist level. We approached the Dean with our concerns and the teacher was replaced. If you do this in a professional manner, they usually listen.
But I am going to point something out. How you responded to the very first response, had attitude and a tad combative. Maybe you were like this when you approached them about your test and didn't realize it? So my thoughts, self reflect and see how you can approach this in a different manner. You might not have intended to come off this way, but I am going to guess based on your initial response that you had your back up and responded in a negative manner. This isn't being said to attack you, but help you when you go back and discuss this again with your nursing Dean.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I honestly do not think you understand just how serious a Joint Commision visit is. Our unit is already under pressure for a pop up visit between now and March. Those visits can make or break your hospital. I would never want a student present during it, due to how serious the issue is. I am not saying you cannot handle it, but it is our jobs on the line.
I would try to approach your nursing Dean and ask for extra clinical days if you can. We had an instance where our Pharmacology class was being taught by a Pharmacist and taught as if we were students becoming Pharmacists. It was awful and we were failing. I finally pointed out what we would need to know as nurses and not on a Pharmacist level. We approached the Dean with our concerns and the teacher was replaced. If you do this in a professional manner, they usually listen.
But I am going to point something out. How you responded to the very first response, had attitude and a tad combative. Maybe you were like this when you approached them about your test and didn't realize it? So my thoughts, self reflect and see how you can approach this in a different manner. You might not have intended to come off this way, but I am going to guess based on your initial response that you had your back up and responded in a negative manner. This isn't being said to attack you, but help you when you go back and discuss this again with your nursing Dean.
This is good advice, both for this situations and for other situations you encounter in the future.
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
I just finished my pediatric clinical rotation at what is considered to be one of the best Children's hospital in the nation. It was BORING as all get out. Understandably, many parents do not want students. We were on a transplant floor so most of these patients, the nurses have had forever, so they are super protective over them and we were allowed to do very little. We essentially did vitals and played with the kids. I am not interested in pediatrics so I wasn't super bummed and I know from LPN school (now in RN school) that you essentially learn everything once you are hired, clinicals are just so you are exposed to the different environments. Your experience sounds familiar to mine and I go to a well regarded nursing school.
The joint commission coming is serious stuff. Everyone is under enormous pressure, including CNAs. There will be enough to worry about for the facility without having "beginners" around. It's hard enough under survey scrutiny for seasoned staff, and the ratings that places get are very important. They can't risk having a student make a mistake, even an innocent one. Possibly the joint commission has rules about no students as well, because you are not official staff, which is what they are there to evaluate. Just bad timing for your group, I guess.
That counts as two days of no patient contact in the slightest, and only 3 days would remain. I am feeling cheated out of my clinical time and am very aggravated by the fact. Can the staff really kick us off the unit if we are paying quite a bit to be there if the joint commission is there?
When the Joint Commission arrives, the whole facility is under enormous pressure. And that's just if it's a routine visit. If it's a follow up visit because of some issue that didn't quite pass muster the first time, it's even worse. Instead of lobbying to be there while the floor is under such pressure, why not lobby for an extra clinical day at another time?
Or an extra sim lab day if it's an available option? TJC is a huge, stressful deal for everyone involved.
"Hello. We'll be there in a couple of weeks. Make sure you have all the dirty medical equipment cleared from the hallways...and anything else that may be tiresome and interferes with our quid pro quo arrangement....
This way, WE ALL GET PAID. GOT IT!!!"
Hospital: ( stuttering administrator)
"So so so, this this this, will be an UNANNOUNCED COMPLIANCE VISIT, as as usual?"
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Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
The joint Commission team told my manager that they didn't think I was taking their presence seriously enough. When I was called into the office to comment, I said I didn't think they were taking my code seriously enough and that a REAL patient trumped a FAKE fire every time.