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 OR, Nursing Professional Development.
On 2/19/2019 at 8:12 AM, Pepper The Cat said:
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.
Not to mention had OP not been avoidably late the first clinical, the car issue delay would have been the first time late and this whole scenario wouldn't be playing out.
Not to mention had OP not been avoidably late the first clinical, the car issue delay would have been the first time late and this whole scenario wouldn't be playing out.
While I feel sympathy over the car issue, OP waisted her warning on a non-emergency and got labeled as habitually late when something less avoidable popped up.
So I came to clinical at 5:50 yesterday. Was the first one. She made me write three essays on how to be professional (giving me only 2 days) as a nurse. And she's now making me redo two of them. She also said that if I'm late one more time, I will be kicked out the clinical. That also if my clinicals skills are deficient, I can fail despite being early. She's making me redo/rewatch a patient head to toe assessment for the third time. She's like "right now you're deficient. I'm going to watch you until you're up to par. I want you be successful" My mistakes: didn't listen to apical for a min, did 4 lung anterior instead of 6, listened to bowel sounds on the right instead of left. I did my assessment on a Postpartum patient. Before this, I asked to meet with her bc she's part time. She told me she couldn't but instead to ask a peer instead. I'm just scared now she'll fail me bc of the skills. I'm going to see the course manager today.
Essays... and people still disagree that there's ego issues with these teachers.
So the point of clinical is to learn all the skills involved in nursing. Typically, unless your school is horrible, you shouldn't fail for clinical skills mid-semester. But you obviously do need to get those skills up, especially your assessment, or you'll fail.
I'm confused about the bowel sounds and the postpartum patient part, though. For the patient, was it someone that wasn't assigned to you, or did you get assigned a postpartum patient and then there was a problem because of that? And if you weren't assigned that patient, what happened to the one that you were assigned? And if you were assigned a postpartum patient, why, if that was going to be an issue with you assessing her?
And I used to have to get frequent physicals for work, I've never had a single physical done on me where the doctor only listened to one side of my bowel. If you listen to all 4, you can't get it wrong, and you can't fail for being thorough.
But let her watch and when you're done, and you leave the room and are away from the patient, immediately ask for feedback
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.
This is what you don't understand about teaching. I get about 20 requests for "exceptions" every single term. One out of the 20 is unavoidable. The rest are bad planning or special snowflake requests. The rules need to be applied in a non-arbitrary manner.
So, if you want to talk about fairness, how is it fair to allow some to slide for bad planning when others are never late because they are good planners?
I am not going into the details of when something is an emergency and when something is not. I am a compassionate instructor, but I'm often put into a position where I have to say no to ensure that my decisions are not arbitrary. And, I can tell you with 100% certainty that saying "no" to a student is not something I look forward to. However, I have to for fairness.
So I came to clinical at 5:50 yesterday. Was the first one. She made me write three essays on how to be professional (giving me only 2 days) as a nurse. And she's now making me redo two of them.
Holy crap. It sounds like she hates your guts. I wonder what her side of the story is.
This is what you don't understand about teaching. I get about 20 requests for "exceptions" every single term. One out of the 20 is unavoidable. The rest are bad planning or special snowflake requests. The rules need to be applied in a non-arbitrary manner.
So, if you want to talk about fairness, how is it fair to allow some to slide for bad planning when others are never late because they are good planners?
I am not going into the details of when something is an emergency and when something is not. I am a compassionate instructor, but I'm often put into a position where I have to say no to ensure that my decisions are not arbitrary. And, I can tell you with 100% certainty that saying "no" to a student is not something I look forward to. However, I have to for fairness.
Were they REALLY avoidable, though? I see this come up all the time. Someone has left at the same time every day, and never had a problem. They were always on time, always got there about 10 minutes early. But today, there was a 30 minute backup. So was getting there 10 minutes early all that time wrong, should they have been aiming for 45 minutes early? But then what if there was a major accident and they were stuck for over an hour? So really they should try to get to work by an hour early? But they're in northern California and a mudslide just completely blocked the road for hours, and they're stuck on a mountain with no other way off... Guess they should have just slept at work then.
How much do students have to plan ahead for problems on the road? Do they have to anticipate major accidents every day and just be there hours early? Because that's going to happen. Or do they have to somehow know that their car is going to break down, so really they need to leave the night before so that they can get it towed?
When there is no exceptions, it shows a refusal to accept the real world. That student can only control themselves, they have no control over the weather, the integrity of the parts in their car, or other drivers on the road. Sometimes, things are just going to happen that are going to make them late.
Holy crap. It sounds like she hates your guts. I wonder what her side of the story is.
I've emailed for help, but she hasn't responded. Because she said if my articles aren't accurate, then I will fail. I have to find two articles that relate to time management and patient safety. I've found like 7 articles, but I don't know if it's what she wants.
I'm an older nursing student getting ready to graduate in April. I'm not saying it's necessarily the case here, but I watch the younger students half *** their skills, give attitude, skip class and then wonder why the teacher "hates them so badly". There is a major disconnect here.
From reading all of the posts, it appears that the OP has not only been late twice, but is not performing her clinical skills in such a way as to be a safe and effective nurse. I don't think the instructor correcting her, making her remediate and giving her a warning is ego. I think it's redirecting a student who is not performing up to par in clinical - and that's vitally important in order to be a safe nurse. The instructors get a bad rap, but honestly, they have dozens of students in any one semester, and if everyone was late, giving excuses or not performing clinical tasks properly, it would be chaos.
OP, do whatever she says to do. Do it with a smile. Don't be late again and improve your clinical skills. Watch videos, read articles, whatever it takes. The instructors are there to guide you, but some of the learning is your responsibility.
I understand but I think she doesn't like me. She doesn't respond to emails when I need assistance. Because the makeup assignment is due today at 4, I sent her articles related to time management and patient safety. She mentioned that if it wasn't accurate, I would fail. I sent her email since Friday...nothing. My full-ride scholarship requires a signature from clinical instructors for clinical hours every month. So I emailed again to ask if I could meet with her to go over the articles I found plus the scholarship document. She really told me to send her the log AND the guidelines for being a recipient of the scholarship...so she can review before signing. This is a scholarship I've been granted since last August...so I don't know why she is reviewing the guidelines. She then told me she couldn't meet four hours after sending that last email. I had to send my scholarship document without her signature as it was due by 5 PM as I emailed her since 7 AM. After talking to various instructors, they communicated with me to email her for any help with the makeup assignment..that maybe she can send an example of the article she wants. I sent it since yesterday at 5...now no response. I received help from the librarian and we both had a hard time finding articles that mainly relate to time management and patient safety because she wants research studies. I'm so scared. It's hard because she's not even on campus as she is adjunct.
In regards to my scholarship document, my Med-surg instructor signed it with no problem. And I have an exam for Med-surg tomorrow, which I haven't even fully focused on because of this assignment. I asked for an extension due to this, but she said giving me 7 days was enough.
It looks as if your outcome with this instructor is a foregone conclusion. Make a copy of all your email attempts to communicate with her as they will be evidence needed when you have to take your issue to the department chair.
Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN
6 Articles; 12,057 Posts
Not to mention had OP not been avoidably late the first clinical, the car issue delay would have been the first time late and this whole scenario wouldn't be playing out.