Today, I got the e-mail I've been waiting all of nursing school to get: My Capstone placement. I was so excited to see where I was placed. That excitement turned to pure hysteria when I saw I was placed at a hospital that I was not expecting.
My school places us in our Capstone clinicals based on where we live. So, I was expecting to be placed in one of the 5-6 hospitals no more than 10-20 minutes from my home. Instead, I was placed at a hospital that is almost 40 minutes away (who knows how much longer with traffic) in an area that is not all that safe. A fellow classmate of mine that lives only a few blocks away from me, was placed at a hospital just 10 minutes away. I'm extremely confused on how we got placed in very different places. It seems that everyone in my class is getting assigned to these amazing locations and I'm stuck in a horrible place.
Sadly, after e-mailing back and forth with my school's clinical office and getting the same general response, it doesn't look like my placement can be changed.
Can anyone give me any advice on how to handle this situation? I'm just very upset at this whole thing and don't know what to do...
I understand feeling upset. I had clinicals at a hospital for two semesters at a place that was 40 minutes from my house no traffic. A couple times it took me 2 hours to get home (and then I had to write a care plan), only to turn around and come back less than ten hours later. Meanwhile others had clinicals ten minutes from their house. I envied them, but honestly you just get over it and adapt. With the hundreds of students they have to place, some are going to get the short end of the stick. There's a million other things to stress about in nursing school.
30 minutes is okay, 45 is "meh" and > or = an hour is the worst. You're stuck in the "meh". If they haven't changed it yet, accept what happened, let go of those frustrations and move on. Why deprive yourself of a peaceful state of mind by holding onto these negativities and feelings of unfairness? I've had over an hour commute to class (one way) before and that was the worst; my clinicals now are only 40 minutes away. I'm so grateful for that lol.
If it makes you feel any better, I didn't get a placement. Flat out, no placement. Had to get switched to another class last minute because my school couldn't (wouldn't?) place me. And, I have a 3.9 GPA...
Really, I'd take anything. Placements are difficult to come by. Make it a great experience or not...the choice is yours
Specializes in public health, women's health, reproductive health.
I had a 4.0 GPA and didn't get any of my choices for my preceptorship. In fact, I got such an odd placement that seemed useless to me. It was in a hospital that I didn't care for and in a specialty that did not give me the regular experience of caring for multiple patients at one time. I could not, at the time, see how it could be relevant to what I wanted to do in nursing, as the specialty was not anything I was interested in. As it turned out, it was highly relevant to the work I am doing now, a year and a half later. Plus, I had a great preceptor! You just never know. In addition, remember it's a preceptorship that will go by quite quickly. It's just a flash of time compared to your whole nursing career. Try to make the best of it and see what you can learn. You're allowed to be bummed about it and not like the commute, as far as I'm concerned. But once you start, give it your all and it will be over before you know it. And you just may benefit more than you expect!
Just roll with it. Part of nursing is being flexible in less than (your) ideal situations. Also, capstones are generally only a handful of shifts. It isn't like you are absolutely committed to that drive for years to come.
I'm just frustrated that my school promised each us that we would be placed to hospitals close to where we live.
I really don't think so. I think it's much more likely that they said something along the lines of "we will put you close to where you live if it works out."
I commute 4 hours round trip to class and clinical. I take a boat, car and taxi (U.S. Virgin Islands) I do all this because the affordable (income qualified) housing is on one island and the University / Hospital is on another. I see it as a privilege to have clinicals in an underserved hospital because I truly believe it better prepares me to deal with challenging populations when i get back to the states
You should try and see this hospital assignment as an opportunity for you to grow.
I was going to offer words of encouragement from the "I've been there" department, but am glad that you've thought about it and put a different face on the situation. This can actually be a very powerful lesson learned; when you're in the middle of hysteria, step back and think about it. It's also a good time to keep quiet. You don't want to be known as the nurse that blows things out of proportion.
This is your Capstone, meaning you graduate in May. Just a little farther to go...
I can understand being disappointed in your assignment, but I am a true believer in letting things take their course. I hope that you will get an amazing preceptor and a great unit that will make the extra drive worthwhile.
I had a similar experience of being assigned to the farthest clinical placement offered, while my classmates all seemed to be placed closer to home. It was about over an hour from my house, but that was the semester that changed my career path. To make a long story short, I had no interest in working in a hospital setting and was planning on staying with my current company in long term residential care in a more administrative role. My preceptor that semester inspired something in me that I did not know existed, and I found a true passion for providing bedside care. That placement was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It also happened to be in an inner city area that was considered more than a little rough, but I never once felt unsafe. I hope you have the same experience.
Additionally, for my Capstone I was placed on the 7p-7a clinical rotation while most of my other classmates received 12 hour day shifts. I was a little bummed, but sucked it up. It was brutal doing the overnight shift and then attending classes the next day, but it taught me that I was capable of making it happen. And when I was offered the night shift as a new graduate at busy medical center, I gladly accepted the position knowing I don't like nights but I can make them happen. I wouldn't have know that if I hadn't had a Capstone placement that was a shift I didn't truly desire.
My point is, look for the silverlining in this experience. It's there, I promise you that. But it's up to you to find it and make the most of it. I wish you the best of luck!! = )
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wildling
31 Posts
I understand feeling upset. I had clinicals at a hospital for two semesters at a place that was 40 minutes from my house no traffic. A couple times it took me 2 hours to get home (and then I had to write a care plan), only to turn around and come back less than ten hours later. Meanwhile others had clinicals ten minutes from their house. I envied them, but honestly you just get over it and adapt. With the hundreds of students they have to place, some are going to get the short end of the stick. There's a million other things to stress about in nursing school.