Missed my clinical day

rachelgeorgina · Jul 28, 2009

My alarm clock has two alarms, so I set them 5-10 minutes apart, plus another 5 minutes on my mobile phone. &, because I'm spoilt, mum often wakes me, too.

I have trouble with wakefulness due to some medications that I take but it is workable, I swear!

LeesG · Jul 28, 2009

I have had this problem, more so when I was younger. But seriousley, If I was at risk of getting dismissed for oversleeping, I wouldnt buy a new alarm, I would buy 3 !!!!!! They are less than $10 at Walmart...I would place 1 on the head board, one on the dressesr, one on the hamper and another somewhere...ANYWHERE...

THEN, I would put my Telephone on loud ringer, and have someone call both my phone and my cell phone !!!

I almost lost a job once for oversleeping, that was in my twenties, its not an issue anymore...but I did have to train myself to hear the alarm.

Also, radio alarms are not the way to go. I have overslept and had the BEST dreams that i was in a club, dancing with my friends, having a great time, and it was the radio alarm that I was subcounsiously hearing for an hour !!

It was great dream, but I was late for work. So ONLY buzzer alarms, and get a few of them quick !!!!!!

Good Luck

awoods0042 · Jul 29, 2009

The second alarm clock thing works! My clinical instructor scared me to death last semester so she was my alarm clock.. i was so scared of being late i'd wake up an hour before i was supposed to. We could only miss one clinical, and if you were more than 10 minutes late it was an absence.. and you failed out of the program.. blah!

kikwon89 · Jul 29, 2009

hahahaha LeesG, you crack me up.....your story about that radio alarm...maybe that's what happened to me this morning....hahahaha. anyways, all of you guys are so awesome! so guess what?!! my nursing instructor calls later this afternoon and let me know that she emailed me a makeup assignment to do. after i opened up the links to the makeup assignments, i was furious!!! it was just way too much!!!...i'd rather do 24hour clinical than this much paper work....ah!!!! well, i guess that's what i get for being a clumpsy student who sleeps through his alarm clock, right?

CyclicalEvents · Jul 29, 2009

My boyfriend has an alarm clock that sounds like those ADT burglar alarms, which if you've never heard, is significantly louder than a smoke detector.

kikwon89 · Jul 29, 2009

holy cow! cyclicalevents! can i be a friend of yours. so that i can become a friend of your boyfriend to convince him to sell me that alarm clock?

XYcsccSN · Jul 30, 2009

Maybe I'm the only one here to see it in another light. If you are in nursing school, you should be responsible enough to get up on time. You're lucky your school is this lenient, most other schools would have been booted out by now. Seriously, be a big girl (or boy) and go to bed early so you get plenty of sleep, put your alarm on the other side of the room, and set your cell phone alarm to go off 10 minutes after your first alarm.

matchsticktgt, LPN · Jul 30, 2009

I promise you that this is the most obnoxiously loud "alarm clock" that I have ever, in my entire life (and I'm 44) heard.....my brother was one of the 'sleep through ANYTHING" types who could never be on time.....this "cured" that......word of caution though - may scare you to death :sstrs:

http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/product.asp?item=MEANIE

allnurses Guide · Jul 30, 2009

I agree - once is an unfortunate accident... twice? On clinical days? Irresponsible.

Do whatever you have to do, but I would hardly stay up all night before going to work with people's health...

I am a heavy sleeper who could sleep through my dad mowing the grass outside my open window when I lived at home! You can get alarm clocks with extra loud rings, or I also set my mobile phone on the most obnoxious buzzer too as a backup. Also keep batteries as backup in my alarm clock in case of power outage. You can get clocks that have a thing you put under your pillow that shakes you awake too!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/8f1a/?cpg=ab

LifelongDream · Jul 30, 2009

I use the fire alarm on my cell and my alarm clock on our bedside table. I know how to find the snooze button on the alarm clock in my sleep, but I get super frustrated (and AWAKE) trying to figure out why the fire alarm is still going off on my cell phone if I pushed the snooze (on my bedside alarm clock....). You have to outsmart your sleepy self! :yawn: :sleep: By the time you figure out it's your cell that is making the ear piercing noise, you'll be vertical and ready for clinicals!!! :yeah:

Sand_Dollar, BSN · Jul 30, 2009

When I was younger I could never get up and had a summer job that required me being up at 6 am, ugh! I got myself the most obnoxious alarm clock I could find. I set it up across the room and set it on max, so I actually had to get up to shut that dang thing off! It always woke me up and I never missed a day, I wasn't always moving fast...but I was vertical! Now, since I only rely on my phone, I set a second clock just in case.

DoGoodThenGo · Jul 30, 2009

Oversleeping does happen, but it mustn't happen too often.

Not wishing to sound mean or offensive, you are supposed to be a grown up person, able to own up to your commitments. Quite honestly think your clinical instructor dealt with you quite lightly, at my old school the first missed clinical counted as an absence, the second would have you O-W-T out with a failing grade for whatever nursing class the clinical was attached to.

So much goes on during clinical time and because the group is under the supervision of one instructor she has to be able to keep her flock together so to speak. Suppose your class was going to observe in the OR? No one is gong to hold up the convoy for you to get your act together.

Get to bed earlier, and or do whatever is required so you are up and out on time.

Or, to adopt a psychological point of view, maybe you are having some unconscious issues that need to be resolved. Maybe a tiny little passive-aggressive thing going on? *LOL*

In any case wishing you the best of luck, but for goodness sake get up on time!

P.S.

Whenever I have had to wake up on time for anything, one trick never fails; simply inform my mother to get me out of bed. Works like a charm regardless if I am two rooms away or two hundred miles away. No one knows how to get one out of bed better than mothers! Look at all the practice they have from the time their children are little until they leave for college! *LOL*