Pregnancy and dismissal from nursing school

Aurora77 · Jan 20, 2012

Unfortunately, if they let you miss more days than allowed, they then have to allow everyone to do the same thing. See if they can let you pick up where you left off. Congrats on your new blessing! Hope all goes well for you and the baby.

BSNRose · Jan 20, 2012

Now, once you finish school or training, you can become pregnant, but the military just doesn't want a pregnant female taking up a training spot that could used on another individual that would be able to complete school without any interruptions.

Hmm let me think, got pregnant in the second week of nursing school, had the baby in the summer, and still went back to summer school and finished on track with my cohorts. What part of this is "taking up a spot"? Unless there is a medical issue that prevents you from completing school, a pregnant student is fully capable of doing everything a non-pregnant nursing student can do. If you are active and stay active throughout pregnancy - you can do patient care!

wooh, BSN, RN · Jan 20, 2012

Do you really want someone taking care of you that missed EIGHT DAYS of nursing school? Taking care of your family member? Taking care of your CHILD?

If those days weren't important, everyone could stay home (or in the hospital or wherever other than school.) Perhaps they should just let you take off the whole semester and still let you graduate?

I had a friend in school that was having a rough pregnancy and had to take a break. She went back, she finished, she's a nurse. And has her baby. I'm pretty sure she regrets that extra time before getting her license a LOT less than she'd regret losing her baby.

Life isn't fair. One of your classmates probably can't get pregnant. You can't finish nursing school in the time planned. Want to trade places?

Saija · Jan 20, 2012

This is horrible! In Finland, whenever you get accepted into school you have like 1-2 years that you are allowed to take off in the middle of it if something unexpected happens like illness, pregnancy, etc. So if you get pregnant, you can leave school and then come back 6 months - 1 year later and start up where you left off (you'll just be in a different group, one that started 6 months to a year later than you). Even if you go over those 1-2 years, you can apply for more if you have really bad circumstances (though I don't think pregnancy would count after 1-2 years xD).

That way, you don't have to drop out, but you also don't miss school. Two or three people already left for mother's leave from school from my class. One of them just returned in January six months later and now she's in the group that started half a year after us.

nursecat64 · Jan 20, 2012

I went to nursing school with a lady who was pregnant and Despite warnings from her doctor to quit, she continued school and ended up LOSING her baby! Very very sad..:cry:she can't get her baby back..and school would have been there had she just taken a break. Listen to the other posters, your baby is your #1 priority!! Also,( I assume this is your first baby) you have NO idea how much a baby changes your life, believe me, you are not going to want to leave that baby 4 days after birth. Your life will be different, you'll be sleep deprived, you may be tearful-you'll be recovering from childbirth...! :eek: You are already high risk- stay home, enjoy your pregnancy, and your baby. You won't regret it... I kept a journal during my 1st pregnancy, wrote everyday, intending to continue writing daily after the birth..next time I opened the journal, the baby was 6 months old!! that's how fast the time will fly..

Bronxtale · Jan 20, 2012

Do you really want someone taking care of you that missed EIGHT DAYS of nursing school? Taking care of your family member? Taking care of your CHILD?If those days weren't important, everyone could stay home (or in the hospital or wherever other than school.) Perhaps they should just let you take off the whole semester and still let you graduate?I had a friend in school that was having a rough pregnancy and had to take a break. She went back, she finished, she's a nurse. And has her baby. I'm pretty sure she regrets that extra time before getting her license a LOT less than she'd regret losing her baby.Life isn't fair. One of your classmates probably can't get pregnant. You can't finish nursing school in the time planned. Want to trade places?[/quote)
Dear, Woof
It seems to me like you are one those classmates that can't have any children and take it out on the world. Missing eight days of clinicals has nothing to do with the care I can provide to my patient. I know that I will be a great nurse and that I work my butt off like every other student in the program. In fact, I do more than others. Some students that haven't missed a day are the ones that treat the patients the worse so don't judge a person you don't know.

Bronxtale · Jan 20, 2012

I went to nursing school with a lady who was pregnant and Despite warnings from her doctor to quit, she continued school and ended up LOSING her baby! Very very sad..:cry:she can't get her baby back..and school would have been there had she just taken a break. Listen to the other posters, your baby is your #1 priority!! Also,( I assume this is your first baby) you have NO idea how much a baby changes your life, believe me, you are not going to want to leave that baby 4 days after birth. Your life will be different, you'll be sleep deprived, you may be tearful-you'll be recovering from childbirth...! You are already high risk- stay home, enjoy your pregnancy, and your baby. You won't regret it... I kept a journal during my 1st pregnancy, wrote everyday, intending to continue writing daily after the birth..next time I opened the journal, the baby was 6 months old!! that's how fast the time will fly..

Thanks for the advice. No this is not my first baby I have a 17 yr old, 12 year old and 8 year old. This little guy was not planned but I'm super excited and so is my family. I'm seven months now and praying all goes well for me and my family. I would like to have both, a healthy baby and my nursing degree but if it doesn't happen that way, then I will just start the following semester which unfortunately will be in September 2013. I have to stop stressing about this and focus more on the pregnancy. Thanks for your comment:)

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jan 20, 2012

Dear, Woof

It seems to me like you are one those classmates that can't have any children and take it out on the world. Missing eight days of clinicals has nothing to do with the care I can provide to my patient. I know that I will be a great nurse and that I work my butt off like every other student in the program. In fact, I do more than others. Some students that haven't missed a day are the ones that treat the patients the worse so don't judge a person you don't know.

Her name is Wooh and that comment was unkind. If wooh can't have children, it would be heartbreaking to have someone taunt you about it. I am sure you didn't mean to be unkind....right? No one is saying you won't be a great nurse and your desire to continue is proof enough of your work ethic and desire to be a nurse.

The laws concerning pregnancy protect employment. You can battle it in court but they are saying the eight day policy and you are out regardless of the cause. "They" have given you your warning. If your school receives government funds and is public you may have a case, but court battles are long and expensive unless you can get a lawyer to fight pro-bono and that is extremely difficult in good economic times. If this is a rule, you agreed to it when you accepted the offer to go to school there....implied consent. Unfortunately,The family leave/pregnancy laws in the US are lame compared to Europe....it sad we place so much strain on families and pregnacy, and they wonder about low birth weights and pre-term labor reasons.....for me it's clear......we don't allow for women to be cared for. If men were the ones carrying the babies the laws would be different I am sure....

Here is what I would do, I would negotiate with the director to take the rest of the semester off. Take care of your self and your baby. See if you can monitor lecture and get a head start for when you rejoin the school. Maybe even enough to challenge the course when you return. NUrsing school is stressful, pregnancy is stressful. You are already showing signs that this pregnancy may be one you will need to slow down and smell the roses.

Good luck in school and Congratulations on your baby. My prayers for a healthy baby!!!

33762FL · Jan 20, 2012

"it seems to me like you are one those classmates that can't have any children and take it out on the world. missing eight days of clinicals has nothing to do with the care i can provide to my patient. i know that i will be a great nurse and that i work my butt off like every other student in the program."

surely you can't seriously think that the rules apply to everybody but you, and that you are so special that you're allowed to miss clinical. the school has an attendance policy, that if you miss more than 8 days for any reason (pregnancy not being an exception) that you have to repeat. there is absolutely nothing unfair about that. you can repeat next year, as you chose to have a baby now and can't have it both ways.

shamrokks, ADN, ASN, RN · Jan 20, 2012

I know many have already posted this but I think it's pretty much standard that you would be dismissed from any nursing program if you have anything keeping you from attending your clinicals. My class had everything happen from emergency surgery, attempted suicide, and pregnancy. Regardless of the nature of the issue they cannot favor one person over another and allow them to complete the program without the allotted hours needed. There were some makeup clinicals but schools have to fight for spots within facilities as it is so usually the extra hours for makeup are slim. Have you asked if they will allow you to come back and continue the program with a future class? I do know that happened at my school so maybe it's an option at yours and would be better than you leaving on bad terms because of too much time missed. I know it's frustrating but everything happens for a reason and your health and the baby's health is most important. Sorry if anything was repeated here that other posters said as well. I hope it all works out for you.

OhWhyNot85 · Jan 20, 2012

I'm currently attending an LPN program in the state of CT and I'm due to have my baby in April 2012.. I'm in a eighteen month program and they only allow eight clinical days to be missed. I have reached my eighth day because I'm a high risk pregnancy and have been in and out the hospital several times. The director of the nursing program notified me about reaching my eighth day and told me if I miss one more clinical day I will be dismissed from the program. She said I better pray to god I don't deliver on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday because those are clinical days and if so I better make sure it's a Friday after 2:30pm I'm due to graduate in June 2012 and would really be devastated if I get dismissed from the program. I plan to return to school at least three to four days after the delivery if all goes well. I dont know what to do now since she said I'm at the end of the rope. Please advice!! Thanks

Are you going to Lincoln Tech? That's where I went and they are awful about that stuff. I'm in CT too. I had one classmate dismissed because of her pregnancy and another one delivered her baby on Thursday night back to school Monday. Unbelievable. They are so quick to dismiss you for any little thing. I was due to graduate June 2010 and in March 2010 I fell down 14 stairs causing my to break, more like shatter my entire foot and I was about 10 weeks from graduating and they kicked me out. Didn't try to accommodate me or anything. Just said oh well you can return when you're healed. I finally graduated June 2011, but not without enduring a lot of hardship along the way. Keep your head up and do what's best for you.

Aurora77 · Jan 20, 2012

If the 8 days weren't important and didn't affect your education, there wouldn't be clinical requirements. Obviously there are minimum standards in place for a reason. Missing so much school WILL affect your ability to be a nurse.

Everyone has to play the hand they're dealt. Some of us have ovarian cancer at a young age and cannot have biological children. Others miss some clinical time for the health of their baby and have to postpone graduation from nursing school. Life isn't fair. At some point we just have to suck it up and deal with the life we have, not the life we can't have.