Hey guys. I'm currently in my second semester of nursing school (trad BSN program).
Yesterday was my first day of my maternal-health nursing clinicals as I was in the NICU. The clinicals started at 6:30 and because of a family situation (had to drop off my sister bc there was no one to give her a ride to school), I knew I was going to be late, so I emailed my instructor at 6:09 AM. However, her rule is she only takes calls before 6:15, which I completely forgot. So I arrived 6:55.. Bc of my anxiety, I called my mom then called the professor. We met at 7:10.
Told her my situation...she said that it wasn't an emergency, how I was unprofessional, how I had only had to call, how I would lose my license if I was really working, how I should feel sorry for myself bc I need to make myself a priority, how I didn't communicate accordingly. I apologized several times & told her that I was never late last term, she told me she didn't want to hear it.
So she gave me an Unmet. And if I get two, I have a risk of failing the course. I don't know what to do bc it's not like I didn't communicate & there was no way I could just leave my sis at home. One of my friends had a similar situation & was late 40 mins, however her professor just gave her a talk because it was the first day & warned her to not let it happen again.
Any advice? I've been thinking about it since as maternal nursing is one of my highest nursing interests. I'm worried.
It's all about power. Out of principle everyone has to have the horrible clinical location, everyone has to have the bad teacher at some point, nobody can get sick, the majority of schools force you to wear white, the least practical color in healthcare while expecting it to always be perfectly white.
Reading the complaints from people, some will drop you if you get caught having a job, some will drop you if you're caught smoking a cigarette out of uniform...
I was once 30 seconds late to class pulling my huge rolling backpack of books behind me running down the hall and the teacher looked at me, shut the door and locked it so I couldn't come in. This was normal and happened to others almost everyday, so I sat outside the door and tried to take notes from what little I heard until it was time for a break.
I once had a friend give birth while we were in nursing school, she was allowed to miss one day of clinicians and 2 days of class. She was in the hospital 3 days and was expected to be in that classroom the next day or repeat the semester. She made it, and is a awesome nurse but wow!
Nursing school is super strict about attendance, however I think that this teacher could have been nice about it and still emphasized how strict they are. Once you become a nurse the attendance policy is insane. Once I was assisting a patient in the hall to the ER and I was a few minutes late to my OR residency program and got a warning. I had almost perfect attendance too, I was late once in 2 years and had never called in sick. Nursing school is all about perfecting people into nurses, so I would say my only advice is to get on that teachers good side as best you can and try to get through it.
Sounds like the typical nursing instructor. Undergrad nursing school was the worst experience ever, not due to difficulty but due to things such as this. Save the email. Her rule of "only taking calls" is laughable who does she think she is.
Also, your family needs to figure out their stuff you should not have to take siblings to school and be late for things. You should not be late but that instructor was probably a crusty old hag.
Ah nursing school... don't you love it? I disagree with a lot of commenters on here. She shouldn't have gotten angry if you gave an excuse. Shit happens. That's the problem with nursing culture, they expect you to be on time for everything no matter what... even if your family dies in a car accident, they still expect you to show up to work on time, mentally stable, and prepared to work a 12 hour shift. It's ridiculous, honestly. And don't get me started on their absence policy... you can't even have the flu without them warning you that you're at risk of being kicked out of the program.
As much as that sucks there is a valid reason for it. There are a certain number of clinical hours which are required to graduate and to take the NCLEX. Most programs don't have many extra hours built in to give students much of a cushion for missing any. Few programs allow make up clinical hours unless it's for something that requires a whole group to miss a day, like a weather event. They are not going to both arrange for a clinical site and an instructor for one student who misses too many hours.
On the other hand, you were admittedly late. In real world nursing stuff happens and being late occasionally isn't usually a big deal.
In a hospital unit, it certainly can be a big deal, especially for people working 12 hour shifts. Someone being late because "life happens" is now causing a "life happens" for someone else, who may need to get home for important personal reasons. These kinds of things impact people down the line more than the person who is late may realize. But I absolutely agree that no one is losing their license for being late. That's just absurd, and that instructor knows it.
Also agree with someone above that nursing instructors must be strict about students missing clinical time. There is usually a state mandated minimum of hours required, and it may be very difficult for an instructor to get a student make up clinical hours. It can be a challenge for schools to negotiate with facilities for the minimum, much less getting more time for students who are missing clinical not for extreme illness, but for personal reasons such as the OP described.
OP, the way to handle this is to not be late for clinical ever again. You need to impress this on your family. Right now, you cannot be depended on to chauffeur anyone anywhere. If you fail clinical, you have just flushed precious tuition money down the toilet. Some things in life are flexible/negotiable, but this is not one of those things.
Getting your sister to school is not an emergency. You were wrong. Nursing instructors are tough for a reason. They are teaching responsibility and accountability. Don’t let it happen again.
Different professors handle situations differently. Just because your friend’s instructor gave some leeway doesn’t mean your professor is obliged to do the same.
I am a nursing student as well and have had instructors handle lateness in several ways. Some address it with a talk and warning, others address it by sending students home or giving an unsatisfactory.
I’m with your instructor on this one. While I think she may have been a bit over the top (I.e. you won’t lose your license by being late one time), I think she was correct in giving you a stern reprimand and an “unmet.” I think you’re lucky, this situation could have gone much worse. She could have sent you home for the day. At my school if you get sent home, you automatically fail clinical which means you fail the semester. Being late on the first day is particularly bad because you set a precedent for unprofessionalism.
Nursing isn’t an easy job and subsequently school isn’t easy either. There are certain expectations you must meet and being on time is one of them. You need to have a talk with your family and make sure they understand the importance of you attending clinical on time and the severity of the consequences if you don’t.
Of course you would not lose your license. The instructor in my opinion is just doing her job. She wants you to take the career seriously. I am a clinical instructor and I look at the overall behavior of the student before any major discipline takes action. However the university requires that we enforce the expectations and initiate warnings for occurences that appear to be avoidable.
Of course you would not lose your license. The instructor in my opinion is just doing her job. She wants you to take the career seriously. I am a clinical instructor and I look at the overall behavior of the student before any major discipline takes action. However the university requires that we enforce the expectations and initiate warnings for occurences that appear to be avoidable.
But you have to be honest about it. Just "This is school policy, and this is why." A teacher intentionally wrongfully telling a student that she'd lose her license for being late for work is not a teacher that should have that job. How much more misinformation has to be out there?
I remember once someone was on here about a teacher telling them that being late for work could get them in legal trouble for abandonment.
As students, when are we FINALLY going to draw the line and make the statement that this is NOT OK?
Remember we're PAYING to be in school. The way these things work: We pay, they provide a service. If you do bad in school, you fail your NCLEX and don't become a nurse, problem solved. But, we let CCNE and ACEN create a monster, where unless you're up to their standards, you don't get to be taken seriously. And part of their standards is a very high pass rate. But oh, it's nursing there's so much risk involved... The guy who engineered all those planes flying around every day literally putting lives in his hands. If he screwed up, that plane might not stay in the air... His education was nowhere near the same standard as someone who wants to make a career of dressing wounds. All because we let these two private companies convince us that only the people who are up to their standards are good enough.
But you have to be honest about it. Just "This is school policy, and this is why." A teacher intentionally wrongfully telling a student that she'd lose her license for being late for work is not a teacher that should have that job. How much more misinformation has to be out there?
I remember once someone was on here about a teacher telling them that being late for work could get them in legal trouble for abandonment.
As students, when are we FINALLY going to draw the line and make the statement that this is NOT OK?
Remember we're PAYING to be in school. The way these things work: We pay, they provide a service. If you do bad in school, you fail your NCLEX and don't become a nurse, problem solved. But, we let CCNE and ACEN create a monster, where unless you're up to their standards, you don't get to be taken seriously. And part of their standards is a very high pass rate. But oh, it's nursing there's so much risk involved... The guy who engineered all those planes flying around every day literally putting lives in his hands. If he screwed up, that plane might not stay in the air... His education was nowhere near the same standard as someone who wants to make a career of dressing wounds. All because we let these two private companies convince us that only the people who are up to their standards are good enough.
This. If I could go back in time, I would not go to nursing school. Sad, but true. They are so extra about everything. It's almost like joining the military. The funny thing is, my nursing school purposely hires nursing instructors with a military background... I wonder why ?
It should be common sense that if you know you are going to be late, and your clinical starts in 20 minutes, calling is the ONLY option. You want to be a nurse, that has very adult responsibilities attached to it, and your instructors are going to hold you to professional adult standards. If your instinct is to email your professor and then call your mom, you really need to reflect on how ready you are for these responsibilities. I'm sorry but your professor was not at all out of line.
Does your school have an attendance policy? Our school says clinical starts at 6:30am. You are tardy if you arrive between 6:35-6:45am. If you arrive after 6:45am you are sent home and it's a clinical absence. No questions asked. We've had students show up with the police because they were in a car accident on the way and the police drove them to clinical and still - nope - go home. A personal situation like driving your sister to school would definitely not make the cut. Nursing school is tough. Nursing administration is tougher. Usually they make the expectations clear from the start though.
We get two clinical absences a semester. The third is a failure and you are out. Believe me, in the winter, we are all leaving our houses an hour before we think we need to!
TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN
678 Posts
It's all about power. Out of principle everyone has to have the horrible clinical location, everyone has to have the bad teacher at some point, nobody can get sick, the majority of schools force you to wear white, the least practical color in healthcare while expecting it to always be perfectly white.
Reading the complaints from people, some will drop you if you get caught having a job, some will drop you if you're caught smoking a cigarette out of uniform...
It's all just the typical healthcare ego.