Missed clinicals cause of disability

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Sep 12, 2011

Hi I just wanted to get a feedback from Nurses or current nursing students who had to miss a clinical (or more) because of your disability? Also how did the school/job accommodate?

School does not accommodate to disability. And they have no obligation under the ADA to do so (unless it relates to having a place to check blood sugars/get snacks, or something that can be done while going to clinicals). It causes undue hardship to flip times, or any other accommodation re: attendance, for the rest of the class (and the hospital is scheduled for the times in the catalog- it's not a situation where they times can be altered) . In my program, if you missed more than 2 clinicals in a semester, you had to repeat the class- that was the accommodation- not being automatically dismissed from the program- AND going to the make up days at the end of the semester.

I'm disabled. I'm not 'anti-disability'....but nursing school is just a TINY taste of what nursing is like. In school you get a fraction of the work load ( and none of the total responsibility) , and employers have to be able to rely on people being there for their assigned shifts. School needs you there to get the info you need to be a safe nurse. :) If your disability is something that affects attendance, it's going to be a hard, hard road. And you will undoubtedly not have allowances made - we had to make up those 2 days (or repeat the semester). No provisions for anything. One nurses' mom died, and she had to make up that day she missed (after coming to clinicals, being afraid to miss class after finding her mom dead....seriously. She was sent home with a great deal of empathy because we had decent, kind instructors- most of the time; some showed people the door if they came late).

If you can't get homework/careplans done, you go home (missed day- and nobody will care what the reason is).

It's brutal- and it has to be. :)

Best of luck- but really think about what you're getting in to. IF the disability is such that attendance is going to be a problem, let someone else have your slot who will be able to get through the program.... not meaning to sound cold or uncaring at all- just being honest. :heartbeat

mercurysmom · Sep 13, 2011

Hi,

Have you already missed clinical days or are you concerned that it may happen in the future? When I was in RN school the hours of clinical were counted, and in order to complete the course we had to have X many clinical hours. It was acceptable to need to make up 2 days, say a total of 12 hours, because someone was sick or had to leave early or show up late because of babysitting issues, etc. However, only 4 clinical makeup days were offered, so anyone who missed more than 24 hours during the semester were dropped from the program. 24 hours 15 minutes? Too much, bye bye. I remember a woman withdrawing from the program because her daughter developed retinoblastoma and she missed too many clinical hours, even though she was a straight-A student in all classes, including her nursing lectures. Everyone felt horrible about it, including her clinical instructors, who had no choice but to tell her that she couldn't continue because of missing too many days of clinical. It's really out of the instructor's hands.

That said, clinical attendance needs to be the top commitment right now. In order to use all your energy to make sure you complete your clinical hour commitment, you'll need to skimp and save energy elsewhere. If it isn't an option right now, you may need to consider postponing your plans to attend nursing school. My two favorite sources of info about energy conservation are "The Spoon Theory (http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com) and a book called "Cereal for Dinner" by Kristine Breese.

I have a genetic neuromuscular disease and have multiple disabilities, and I'm working towards completing my MSN through an online program. This May, I became certified in Deaf Studies aqt a local community college (my MSN focus is education, and I'm specializing in the health ed needs of the Deaf community.) A 36-credit undergrad program took me 3 full years to complete (in contrast to the BA in Ed. I earned in three years by taking over 20 credits per semester, along with summer and intersession courses. :bugeyes: ) I joke that we'll be able to celebrate my MSN graduation and my retirement during the same party LOL. I have a feeling it will take me at least another 4 years to finish.

Nursing school is brutal, no question about it. I hope you're able to come up with a way to conserve energy in other areas so you can put your clinical commitments at the top of the list. Good luck! :redpinkhe

mm

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Sep 13, 2011

No provisions for anything. One nurses' mom died, and she had to make up that day she missed (after coming to clinicals, being afraid to miss class after finding her mom dead....seriously. She was sent home with a great deal of empathy because we had decent, kind instructors- most of the time; some showed people the door if they came late).

Oy! I can't imagine finding your mom dead like that. :/ Jesus.

I dropped a pan of hot grease on my foot the night before clinicals. Right foot and toes had second and third degree grease burns. Luckily, my dad's a doc and he came over -- gave me a generous rx for vicodin and said that I probably wouldn't need grafting sooo...

...I hobbled in to clinical the next day. I'd stuffed my 3x swollen foot into my tennis shoes somehow and went to clinical because I was terrified of missing even a day.

"Why are you limping like that?"

"I burnt my foot..."

Instructor was absolutely horrified that I'd come in at all. Kept berating me for not calling her earlier to ask whether I should come in.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Sep 14, 2011

oy! i can't imagine finding your mom dead like that. :/ jesus.
i dropped a pan of hot grease on my foot the night before clinicals. right foot and toes had second and third degree grease burns. luckily, my dad's a doc and he came over -- gave me a generous rx for vicodin and said that i probably wouldn't need grafting sooo...
...i hobbled in to clinical the next day. i'd stuffed my 3x swollen foot into my tennis shoes somehow and went to clinical because i was terrified of missing even a day.
"why are you limping like that?"
"i burnt my foot..."
instructor was absolutely horrified that i'd come in at all. kept berating me for not calling her earlier to ask whether i should come in.

yeah- she came in, and looked pale (african-american nurse), and just not all there...when she told the rest of us that it was she who had actually found her mom a couple of hours earlier, we wrangled the instructor from somewhere- and let her take care of our poor co-student. it was really sad. but that student was the epitome of responsibility, and accountability- and if it meant going to clinicals because she had to look out for her education, she was willing; she was willing to deal with her emotions later....but (very understandably) she was in no shape to be at the hospital that morning.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Sep 15, 2011

Our instructors were realistic with certain scenarios (such as emergencies and occasional illness) but if you miss too many days, you are out. It is NOT a reasonable accommodation to be able to miss excessive parts of your education (whether clinical or classroom). It is quite often not possible to make up clinical days due to logistics of scheduling (especially in areas where there are several nursing programs vying for clinical placements)

As a condition of acceptance to school, your physician needed to sign the physical form stating that you were able to meet the academic and clinical demands of the program without restriction or limitation. Accommodations could be made for certain needs such as extended test time, etc. But in my state (and I suspect many others) accredited schools are required by the BoN and accrediting institutions to certify that a student had a specific minimum number of clinical and classroom hours in order to be eligible to sit for the NCLEX.