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.
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
9 hours ago, tonyl1234 said:
So you've NEVER been late, ever. There's never been a single time where another nurse had to take report for you before you could get there? That's never happened once in your entire career?
Also these are students. What's it take to give them the basics, 5 minutes? You can't find that time ANYWHERE?
Ego.
Nope, I was bought up that if I are due to start work at 0700 I am in the door by a minimum of 0650 and ready to take handover at 0700.
The start time of work is just that, a start time. Not an optional suggestion
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
9 hours ago, tonyl1234 said:
Then refuse to take students. Seriously, what do you do when a nurse on your floor has to be late? Do you refuse to take report until they get there because "You can be doing something else?" It's amazing how there's time to hand off to other nurses, but absolutely none to give an more limited handoff to a student.
All it comes down to is the principle of they're late. There's time to tell them what they need to know, you just don't want it.
Life happens, sometimes people are late, get over it.
Generally the only notice I get when I'm getting students is when they rock up to the ward with the clinical tutor and I'm told I'm taking X amount of students
Dont get paid any extra for it either.
Dont get me wrong I enjoy teaching, that doesnt change the fact that having a student increases my work load.
So you've NEVER been late, ever. There's never been a single time where another nurse had to take report for you before you could get there? That's never happened once in your entire career?[/quote]
No, not once, ever, for clinical or in a professional setting where a coworker would be inconvenienced by me. Because I had tremendous respect for the fact that the nurse has worked all night and shouldn't have to pay the price for my issues (carpooling-not an emergency). And if by some chance I had been late for clinical, I wouldn't be giving the nurse any attitude.
Quote
Ego.
It's ego, you're correct. Ego on the part of the person who's late and has the attitude that because they are paying tuition to Tail Gate U, a nurse who has no affiliation whatsoever with that institution should be required to cater to an attitude of entitlement.
No, not once, ever, for clinical or in a professional setting where a coworker would be inconvenienced by me. Because I had tremendous respect for the fact that the nurse has worked all night and shouldn't have to pay the price for my issues (carpooling-not an emergency). And if by some chance I had been late for clinical, I wouldn't be giving the nurse any attitude.
I never said that there's no respect, but sometimes family issues come up at the last minute. Sometimes an 18 wheeler wrecks on the road and leaves you stuck for hours with no way to get off that road. Sometimes an unexpected blizzard hits. Things happen. We can't all be perfect and never ever ever ever be late one single time like you two.
Again, if it was a habit, I'd completely support your argument. But when it's a 1 time occurance, it's all your ego that your time is more important than everyone else's.
I think what rubs many the wrong way is the attitude of "It's not my fault I'm late. It happens. Inconvenience yourself to catch me up, and also, get over it. It's not a big deal" instead of admitting that they should acknowledge how that impacts the people they work with or are learning from. It should be a learning lesson on how to prevent it from happening again. Not a "It's not fair I got a warning. I CALLED." That shows no acceptance of responsibility. Ultimately, its not the instructor or nurse or patient who was late, it was the student. If it's someone in one of those other positions is late, then the same applies to them.
The reason I'm guessing most schools are so strict on students vs. how strict (or non-strict) an employer is on an employee is because of how it could affect the school's ability to obtain placements. If the various students of a school are constantly late and lowering the productivity of the units, that school might not be given clinical placement or get pushed to worse times. Same goes for any other unprofessional behavior.
I never said that there's no respect, but sometimes family issues come up at the last minute. Sometimes an 18 wheeler wrecks on the road and leaves you stuck for hours with no way to get off that road. Sometimes an unexpected blizzard hits. Things happen. We can't all be perfect and never ever ever ever be late one single time like you two.
Again, if it was a habit, I'd completely support your argument. But when it's a 1 time occurance, it's all your ego that your time is more important than everyone else's.
The nurse's time IS more important than the student's in that moment. She is legally responsible for x number of patients. The student is there to learn but has nowhere near the amount of work to get done and is not the one at the end of the day who bears the larger responsibility and liability. If the student's tardiness causes them to miss report, then they need to get into the chart and find out for themselves what is going on with their patient, or get their clinical instructor (you know, the one who is actually paid to teach them and is responsible for their learning experience) to go over the relevant information, not let their own EGO dictate that the nurse must drop what they are doing and report information that was available to the student during the SCHEDULED report time.
One of the reasons clinical instructors are so strict about student tardiness is that every student's one "life happens" multiplied by the number of students in the group is no longer just a one off. They've heard every excuse in the book, btw, and not all of them are legit.
I've seen a lot of your posts and many of them have the same theme: "I'M PAYING TUITION, so I have the right." Staff nurses aren't paid by you or the educational institution. Many of them are given no choice to take a student, and most are not paid by their facility. Students often think their presence is a help to the nurse, but that's rarely to never the case. Interesting how many of the same students come back to AN once they are nurses and say "I'm kind of embarrassed about my attitude. I had no idea how much work it is to take on a student on top of all of my other responsibilities."
Be on time or get written up. It's not like she's thrown into jail or sued for damages. It's a warning. And earned. We all had to do the same when we were nursing students, so we know what is was like. Nursing students, on the other hand, have not been nurses.
I think what rubs many the wrong way is the attitude of "It's not my fault I'm late. It happens. Inconvenience yourself to catch me up, and also, get over it. It's not a big deal" instead of admitting that they should acknowledge how that impacts the people they work with or are learning from. It should be a learning lesson on how to prevent it from happening again. Not a "It's not fair I got a warning. I CALLED." That shows no acceptance of responsibility. Ultimately, its not the instructor or nurse or patient who was late, it was the student. If it's someone in one of those other positions is late, then the same applies to them.
That makes sense. I agree that even if it is an emergency, to own up to it being your emergency.
A separate argument though is on how these schools treat one single incident of being late and that's what led to this. And that goes back on that idea of a habit vs one time. It's going to occasionally happen. Somewhere in this country, there was a student late to class today because of sudden diarrhea on the way there. And that's what we don't agree with. They expect a level of perfection that just doesn't exist in the real world. No job is as strict as today's nursing schools. We can't even be prescribed medicine without risking being kicked out. Getting sick and having to miss a day is even more frowned on.
I think there is a big difference between being late because an accident shut down the highway and being late because you were driving someone to school. One is unavoidable, the other is just bad planning.
Tenebrae, BSN, RN
2,021 Posts
Nope, I was bought up that if I are due to start work at 0700 I am in the door by a minimum of 0650 and ready to take handover at 0700.
The start time of work is just that, a start time. Not an optional suggestion