2nd week of clinicals and I don't know if I'm going to make it

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Tonight was difficult. :eek:

I do not find situations with the residents extremely stressful, it's other things.

Before we got to clinicals we were told to jump in and there wouldn't be a lot of hand holding. No problem. :up:

Tonight everyone was reprimanded because we were not able to be found for a few minutes. We were all helping with residents. When we help with residents we provide privacy by closing the door. I understand that the instructor needs to generally know where we are, but the insinuation that some people were goofing off was just not right. :mad:

No one, and I mean NO ONE, has time to goof off. We run around like chickens with our heads cut off from the time we step in the place, until the time we leave. Personally, I was looking for the instructor and the instructor was in a room for a while with a resident. I walked down one hall and there were quite a few lights on. The one CNA there asked if I would help her quickly get someone to the toilet. I said, "yes". Was I supposed to say, "no"? :confused:

Then 15 minutes before we were due to go home a student needed help with a woman who had to use the bathroom. I got pulled from the room I was in. Everyone else (who lives no more than 20 minutes from the place) was on their way out the door, we were just getting started. I live 1 hour and 15 minutes away. Okay, so I went and got our supplies because she needed a few things done. We finished 40 minutes later. Okay, I can swallow that one. :smackingf

Here is what I cannot deal with....

Don't and I mean DO NOT even think for one minute that it's okay to insinuate that we are not working. I get home every night after 10pm (tonight 11pm). Back aching, feet aching, and everything else aching. While I'm there I am constantly working with residents and staff. If I'm not helping them I'm restocking supplies in rooms. If it's slow we have even been instructed to wipe down handrails and clean portable toilets. I have never performed housekeeping duties in my life, outside of taking care of my own home. So, there is no way, that the idea of "goofing off" should even come to mind!

Second, if we are sent to take care of one thing and you tell us in the midst of doing it...to do something else, don't chastise us because we don't have enough/or appropriate supplies and have to go get more. If we would have known you wanted us to do something else we would have prepared for it. :nono:

I can take a lot of things, but those are not included:down:. :madface:

Don't know if I will last another 2 weeks. :banghead:

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Although your frustration level is thru the roof, it will get better! ( I mean, it has to, right?) Hang in there, you know you're doing the right thing and in the end it will pay off.

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I'm sorry you are experiencing this....situation...where you are working. Hopefully, and I'm sure it will....get better..with time and experience. I find the best way to deal with these situations, are to talk with your instructor about you, and you alone. Don't speak for others; in regard to what they were or are doing; speak up for yourself, that YOU ARE doing your job, and ARE WHERE you are supposed to be doing WHAT you are supposed to be doing (of course in a polite and confident manner)! I'm sure she will see that YOU ARE a great worker, and are doing your job. Keep your chin up and smile, be pleasant...even through your frustrations. A great attitude is the best defense, especially when your frustrated. Think about all those patients you are caring for and the difference YOU are making in their lives by helping them with their care! I know you will experience better days!

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Getreal2011---Instead of staying quiet and letting your anger and frustration get the better of you, I would suggest that the best way that you could of handled the situation would have been to ask to speak with the instructor, in private, and let her know your feelings in a professional and respectful way. There could have been many reasons to why she addressed this concern with everyone. Usually it would be due to the fact that the clinical was over and with everyone leaving she may of wanted to just make sure that, everyone who needed to know her concerns, heard what she had to say. She probably was really addressing those individuals, but due to time constraints, she just stated it to everyone.

I have been an instructor for quite some time now. We know, by the time the students will be going to clinical, who is the committed student and who is not. Try looking at it from her perspective. The instructor ratio during clinical is 1 instructor per 8 students. If she is the Primary Instructor, then she is not only responsible for her 8 students that she is instructing, but also carries the weight of responsibility for all the students and residents that they are providing care for. That is a lot. So try to cut her some slack. If you are as competent as you say you are, then I am sure that it is not going unnoticed and would be verbalized at a more convenient time. Remember, instructors are human too. We might have a very stressful day, as you did, and may not always choose the best way to present things. Hopefully, that does not happen too often. So my suggestion to you would be to relax, think about what you would like to address and then ask to speak to your instructor. Stick with it and GOOD LUCK!

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You can do this!! I agree with CSO/CNA Instructor. The instructor probably had some concerns with others and just voiced them to everybody. I'm sure you are good at what you are doing and were doing exactly what you said you were. Usually, it's the ones that care the most and take the most pride in their work feel the hurt of others words more than the slackers.

There will be good days and there will be bad days. Chalk this one up to an "off day" and put that smile back on your face and push forward! You can do it!!

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They must do clinicals differently where you're at. At the LTC facility where I'm employed, when we did clinicals there our instructor told us not to let the other CNA's just command us around and have us do stuff for them. We were assigned certain residents to care for and we weren't there just to make everything easier for the CNA's on duty. Personally, I found clinicals as easy as pie because I was already working the residents halls unassisted by that time, I just hadn't been certified yet to do vitals. With clinical shifts I was only caring for 2 people.....on my regular shifts I had 15.

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@ interceptinglight---Our clinical instruction is run pretty much in the same way. The students are assigned a specific resident and is responsible to do the care that is required for that resident. The care consists of the skills that they had to learn and perform to satisfaction in lab, before ever going to the clinical setting. However, each skill again has to be observed and checked off by the instructor, at the facility, before the student can perform the skills on their own without supervision. If their resident does not require a specific skill that the student needs to be checked off on, a secondary resident will be assigned to them, only for the purpose of accomplishing that skill. By the end of the week, the student should feel confident and be competent in doing the residents daily care without the continual supervison of the instructor. We also do not allow our students to constantly assist the facility CNA's. As we have found that they would take advantage of the situation and leave the students doing all of their care for their resident. If the student has all her skills checked off and all her residents care done, then she may assist a CNA at that time. There are special circumstances to each situation. You would not leave someone who has soiled them self or required toileting.

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Reading all this is seriously making me DREAD having to obtain my CNA to continue with nursing school. UGH!

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Please do not give up!!I promise you it will get better and you will get the swing of things.It seems like you are doing a great job!

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Thank you, I need all the luck and prayers I can get! :)

I am definitely not new at having to respond in a professional and respectful manner. I am not new to the workforce or educational environment. That being said, I did not think it was appropriate to discuss anything at that point. When I posted this "vent" this had just happened that night. I just wanted to get it off my chest. Personally, I feel it is best to sometimes step back, let the situation diffuse a little bit, and then discuss. I really do not want to make a big issue out of it, because I want to pass the training and get on with reaching the final goal. Several students have not returned to clinical and are going to "challenge" and go take the state test. I prefer to get the hands on experience.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely like my instructor! The instructor has done a phenomenal job. :yeah:

Clinical was not over, and there were six of us there. We all have bad days and that is understandable. There were many times I had a bad day, but I had to be careful about not bringing it to work as much as I could. I know it gets hard. From the student's prospective, when experiencing something like this, it can chip away at your motivation and your spirit. In my opinion, that is also very important, especially when you are learning a skill that requires dealing with other people. Instructors and students are human and adults, we can both learn from each other.

You are absolutely right! I am competent and that is why I am not going to make an issue of this. We have 5 more days to go and then we are done. I have thought about it, and sometimes you have to see the bigger picture. This is just a stepping stone and not the first one I have come across. My vent was not about being competent (however, I'm not incompetent) it was about fairness. Reality is... no one is forcing any of us to do this. I did not get a grant, a loan or any of that wonderful stuff. I paid for this training with cold, hard, green cash. I have always taken my careers and my studies very seriously. All I request is that I am given a fair chance.

I will take your advice and try to relax and just do the best I can do. :D

Getreal2011---Instead of staying quiet and letting your anger and frustration get the better of you, I would suggest that the best way that you could of handled the situation would have been to ask to speak with the instructor, in private, and let her know your feelings in a professional and respectful way. There could have been many reasons to why she addressed this concern with everyone. Usually it would be due to the fact that the clinical was over and with everyone leaving she may of wanted to just make sure that, everyone who needed to know her concerns, heard what she had to say. She probably was really addressing those individuals, but due to time constraints, she just stated it to everyone.

I have been an instructor for quite some time now. We know, by the time the students will be going to clinical, who is the committed student and who is not. Try looking at it from her perspective. The instructor ratio during clinical is 1 instructor per 8 students. If she is the Primary Instructor, then she is not only responsible for her 8 students that she is instructing, but also carries the weight of responsibility for all the students and residents that they are providing care for. That is a lot. So try to cut her some slack. If you are as competent as you say you are, then I am sure that it is not going unnoticed and would be verbalized at a more convenient time. Remember, instructors are human too. We might have a very stressful day, as you did, and may not always choose the best way to present things. Hopefully, that does not happen too often. So my suggestion to you would be to relax, think about what you would like to address and then ask to speak to your instructor. Stick with it and GOOD LUCK!

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Although your frustration level is thru the roof, it will get better! ( I mean, it has to, right?) Hang in there, you know you're doing the right thing and in the end it will pay off.

It hasn't been all bad at all. I have had some pretty good experiences doing this. It was very enlightening for me, because I didn't really know any of my grandparents. My mom's parents died when she was very young, and my father and his parents were not really in touch when they were alive. I got to spend some good time with the residents. I posted on one of my other posts that one little lady just wanted me to hold her hand.:redbeathe She was so sweet.

I guess what they say is true, that nothing worth having comes easy. ;)

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I'm sorry you are experiencing this....situation...where you are working. Hopefully, and I'm sure it will....get better..with time and experience. I find the best way to deal with these situations, are to talk with your instructor about you, and you alone. Don't speak for others; in regard to what they were or are doing; speak up for yourself, that YOU ARE doing your job, and ARE WHERE you are supposed to be doing WHAT you are supposed to be doing (of course in a polite and confident manner)! I'm sure she will see that YOU ARE a great worker, and are doing your job. Keep your chin up and smile, be pleasant...even through your frustrations. A great attitude is the best defense, especially when your frustrated. Think about all those patients you are caring for and the difference YOU are making in their lives by helping them with their care! I know you will experience better days!

Agreed. I have never talked to an instructor or boss about anyone other than myself. I was just expressing that here. That's a no-no. I'm not going to say anything though. I am just going to do what I need to do the next 5 days, get it over with and keep it moving. :up:

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