Our clinical instructor was fired mid semester...help!

Never_too_late · Oct 11, 2005

We just found out today that our clinical instructor (I am in sem 3 out of 4) has been fired. We will meet our new instructor next Thurday at clinicals. We have been told that our work is not up to par and that, if we were to be graded today based upon what we have done so far, our new instructor (whom we have not met yet) would fail us all.
Then I heard through the grapevine, that schools are not supposed to change teachers mid stream and if we got a bad grade, we could appeal.
Have any of y'all been through this??
Have you heard about the "rules" of changing teachers???

Teachers may go off on sick leave, for example. Not much you can do about that. So, yes, changes can occur. Aren't you happy to get a new teacher if the ousted one was not providing you with good teaching? When you talk about failing, you mean this one clinical, right? If this new teacher is great and cares about you, he/she will work hard to make you pass. I think the school was not trying to scare you but to justify their decision to fire the other teacher.

In my school, as of this year, all clinical groups are supervised by two teachers during the semester. Each cover a set number of weeks of clinicals and each is involved in final grading.. it should be to a student's advantage because personality issues or other grey zones are minimized because two teachers are involved... All I am saying is this can be a good thing...and if I was in your shoes I would be happy the school decided this matter was important enough to be taken care of now rather than make you waste your time during an entire semester with inadequate training...

N_T_L

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2005

No, haven't been through it or know of such a thing or anything about the rules. Still, common sense reasons that the school is responsible for the hiring of its instructors and if there is a problem, I sure see grounds for appeal... especially is all of you are performing below standard. It doesn't sound like the faculty is threatening to fail you. It sounds more like they're justifying the reason for your instructor's termination and preparing you for remediation in some form short of actually failing you. You want to go on to semester IV with confidence in your skills. Third semester is hard enough. You really don't need this stuff right now but here it is. Hang in there.

landonsles · Oct 12, 2005

I was in such a hurry last night that I don't think I made things very clear (sorry!).

What I meant to say is that we are not up to par on our paperwork (concept maps) not on our clinical skills--we are right on course with the other third semester students.

I am not upset about the changes--I actually welcome the opportunity b/c I know we're going to learn more. BUT I am upset that we are being judged solely on concept maps, and not our competencies--she has never even met us before to know our clinical skills.

I do agree that it is better that it happens now instead of later on in the semester. Thanks for your comments!!

Achoo!, LPN · Oct 12, 2005

I haven't had experinece with that as I don't start clinicals until January, but wanted to wish you luck and hope you all won't have to do too much " catch up".

Tracy

TexasPediRN · Oct 13, 2005

When I was a nursing student (in my last semester of clinicals as well) we had a clinical instructor become extremly sick and a new instructor was brought in since our old one was hospitalized for a long time and could no longer act as an instructor.

Think of it this way - you are almost done, and this can be a chance to prove yourself to someone who doesnt know you. I spent my last semester gaining confidence and actually started to feel like a nurse halfway through it.

I have to say, give it your all, prove that you can do what you know you can do, and have fun with it! Who knows, you may really like this clinical instructor, and he/she may teach you thinks that you didnt know, or show you new tricks on doing nursing tasks, or help you to learn new things.

Good luck! Trust me, I know how frustrating change can be in the middle of a semester, but we are all nurses ( or soon to be!) and change is well, inevitable.

:nurse: