rocketsurgeon87

Are you hearing yourselves right now? You are going to stick up for an alcoholic just because she is an established RN. She could make a few med errors, drop a couple patients. Oh it's okay, she's a recovering alcoholic. WHAT?? Let's bust out the Ativan on the job. This is just getting ridiculous. I have learned a lot alright... I have a plan. Stop thinking about nursing for a while. Because I have been stressed out for far too long.

I also think that is very immature and foul. Would you want an alcoholic teaching you? Or working for your college? Or working with you?? And actually I found out from a reputable source. Like I said, I am probably not going to do anything about this. But what would you do?

If anyone believe that nursing care only applies to patients, I wouldn't like to know how they treat everyone else. That is the flaw in this field. We get so burnt out from caring for people all the time that we forget to treat everyone else with respect, and care. There is nothing stated on the BON website that says I cannot go to the BON. They can laugh in my face but at least I stood up for something. It says on the BON page, "ALLEGATIONS MAY INCLUDE gross negligence or incompetence, unprofessional conduct, license application fraud, misrepresentation, substance abuse, mental illness and unlicensed activity." I just found out through the grapevine that my CI is a raging alcoholic. And I have evidence to prove this. I also have a laywer boyfriend and he happens to know the dean of the college. Not saying that I'm going to go through with anything but I could definitely make a dent in her reputation. She should not be teaching if she has substance abuse issues. I fear for the future nursing students who get her as a clinical instructor. I have learned from my mistakes. I understand why I am no longer in the running to becoming america's next best nurse. But I think its alright to make a little post here so everyone else can also learn from my mistakes. And get a little support. You don't know me, you haven't worked with me in the hospital for 6 years. But you are a community of nurses and pre-nurses who can help me see other points of view and alternatives. And that broadens my perspective and will help me understand, and move on. Thanks again for all your comments.

I say PA because it is within the health care field, but it is not involved with direct patient care (e.g., wiping @$$ while raising beds). And I do have more than a half a brain somewhere. But now that I am being kicked while I'm down, maybe I'll consider hairdressing, or waitressing. Or wait, maybe since I may drop a steaming hot bowl of soup on somebody or nick someones head, I'll just remain jobless, stay home and make it safer for everyone. Thank you LVN and a few others for giving me some hope.

Thank you for being so frank. I am upset that I was let go after all the hard work and determination and care I've put into this. And I would love to blame it on everything else so that it doesn't hurt as much. But in the end ultimately I made these mistakes. Even though I'm the best person I can be and I tried the best I could, sometimes that isn't enough, and maybe it's the outside forces trying to tell me that. Maybe I would have been very unhappy in this line of work. I do hear of nurses getting burnt out in 10 years or less. And even though I'm extremely positive, it may have been very draining for me. I am very passionate about health and it is involved in everything I do, everyday. I'm thinking of possibly going for a bachelors in Nutrition and maybe going for PA. It is more cerebral and related but not so much on the floor with direct patient care where I can make those kind of mistakes. There is so much I can do but I still want to be involved in the health care field.

My aunt is a military nurse, and I went to her for advice on what I should do. She had a similar experience in Nsg school with an Instructor who would embarrass her, blow off everything she said, everything she did was wrong, and said that she would never let her take care of her patients. She left clinical early because she could not deal with it anymore. And the instructor tried to count it as a clinical absence and kick her out of the program. So she went to BON and her clinical buddies stood up for her and said she was competent, and that she would never do anything to hurt a patient. She was reinstated and re-did the rotation. Maybe it was all her fault that she couldn't handle the pressure. Maybe that's what makes us stronger. She is a nurse in the army as well as out now and she is the strongest person I know. That is what gives me strength to know that I am not the only one. I don't think I will go to the BON. But I still want to fight for staying in the profession I feel so strongly about.

I simply did not think before leaving the room. I simply did not think before answering the patients friend when he asked how he was doing because I figured that I wasn't giving medical information and the patient stated they knew the friend for 20+ years. I did think with the colace, the patient had been taking the colace and chewing them before (info I got from the nurse) but when I tried he refused. I figured liquid colace would fare better and I didn't know if I should throw out the med or keep it for any info, I left the room and the patients bedside table was far enough for him not to reach, and then didn't think to take the colace with me. I didn't think to put the bed down because the patient was on bedrest and the siderails were up and I was going to be gone for a minute to get wipes. Anything could have happened while I was running out of that room. I was negligent many times. I may be smart in theory, but maybe I'm not smart with dealing with people on the floor. I don't know what I am going to do next. I found a quote that I quite liked, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. Then go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Howard Thurman Nursing made me come alive. It made me think, it challeneged me. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. And it was the people that made it most interesting. I have touched many lives and I thought of it as saving the world one person at a time. But there are other things that make me come alive. I love to paint. I love the creativity and poetry of what you see on canvas. I love to write. I will find happiness again. It's not the end of the world. I will remember all the mistakes I made, never make them again, and THINK before I do anything.

I take full responsibility for everything that has happened. I'm an awful student nurse for putting my patients lives in jeopardy. And I understand that the consequences were to leave nursing school. It is very serious and real and they happened and right now I'm paying the price, literally. I've learned so much in these past years and I've worked so hard. My instructor told me she thought that I had it in me but that I needed time to grow. I've talked to my old instructors that told me not to give up, and that they really believe that I am meant to be a nurse. I understand and appreciate all of your comments because this is probably the hardest point in my life and no matter how much I tell myself it'll be okay, it is nice to get input from other people who may understand what I am going through. I do not have diagnosed ADD haha. But who knows we are all a little crazy in our own way I'll get through this. It's another bump in the road and who knows, it may have been for the best and lead me on to something bigger and better. Everything happens for a reason.

I felt horrible about ever mistake I made and NEVER made them again. It was often a busy day and it is very easy to get caught up in the moment and "forget gloves" or forget to put the bed down. It was a compounding of issues but I think besides those issues I made many effective nursing decisions to make up for it. I made it this far in the program with out making any mistakes and to fail in one semester just really depresses me and I am kicking myself and wishing I slowed down and thought of what I was doing before leaving the room. Any care while in the hospital is nursing care, no matter if your dealing with physicians or nursing students. Nurses are nurses if they are teachers, Diabetes educators, IV nurses, ICU nurses and Rehab nurses. Treatment of anybody no matter the situation should at least be humane and fair, and should be the way you yourself would want to be treated. I realize that maybe this isn't the profession for me if I would be surrounded by people who do otherwise. I really don't know what to do. I've ate, drank, and breathed nursing for the past 3 years and it is in everything I do. It would be hard to imagine myself as anything different. I've worked in my hospital for 6 years, and it is a family to me. I am just heartbroken.

I totally agree with you bruce. Anything could happen in a given day. You could die at any second especially in the hospital. As a student I tried my best to be aware of everything. And since I couldn't, that is why I will not be a nurse. Thanks for all your helpful advice.

My choices were administrative failure, or withdrawal failure. I chose the latter and spoke with the head of nursing. I may or may not return to the profession, but I have a pretty bitter taste in my mouth right now. I believe it is a violation of nursing care to pinpoint and humiliate student nurses in front of peers. I believe it is a violation of nursing care to blow students off and think everything they say is wrong. I don't believe that emotionally abusing people is effective teaching. Maybe physical abuse like in the nun days. Or in the army where you are made to kill. I believe that this perpetuates fear and poor modeling for the future of nursing. I was good at what I did and I was complimented by staff and told by my clinical group that they looked up to me. I was an A student before nursing school, and a B student in it. I am a damned good person and I did the best I could to prove what I was made of. If that is a problem then I am happy to leave the profession. I want to tell every single nursing student or pre-nursing student out there. Watch every single move you make. Do everything your instructors want, be prepared and never make a mistake. You will sweat, and cry and work 6-8 hours a night on careplans and spend thousands of dollars on something you may not make it through. I have seen many others go as well as myself. It is a rewarding field. And it has been everyday on the floor as an LNA and a nursing student. But today was the least rewarding of my life, after all the work I put into it. And for one semester and 4 mistakes. Have one bad day and you're toast.

It has been something I have been interested in and passionate for for a while. I work as an LNA on a medsurg floor and I see these things being done all the time. I even found a used needle left in a patients bed one time! And nobody gets fired for it. Those are all fundamental issues, and anybody can make fundamental mistakes. If I hadn't left that bed up, I would still be in clinical now. And still have a shot at being a nurse at the hospital I was promised a job at. I've just heard of so much worse that others did not get kicked out for and it breaks my heart that I couldn't prove myself to my instructor. I was thinking of getting all the faculty members together for a meeting for their perception, and what I can do for the future. I was also thinking of going straight to the board of nursing. I have nothing to lose at this point.

I'm at a loss for words. Yesterday I left a patients bed up to go grab some wipes. My instructor walked in and saw that the bed was in the high position while I was gone. This was what got me kicked out of nursing school. I always thought that school was a place to learn, and to grow. To make mistakes. There were other incidences like putting nystatin cream on a patient after report, leaving colace at the bedside because I needed a liquid preparation because my patient wouldn't swallow (d/t confusion), for answering a patients friends question (knowing the patient knew him for 20+ years, but since I did not directly ask permission it was violating hippa, and lastly, for the whole bed incident. I don't want to blame my clinical instructor for my failure. But I just wish I didn't make those mistakes. Any advice would make me feel better. Thank you in advance.

I'm officially a senior nursing student! I just finished my maternity, pediatric and geriatric rotations. My geriatric instructor was what everyone warns about with nursing instructors, we had to know a lot about the meds (labs, use, interactions) when she asked about them, she gave me a clinical warning on the first day of our rotation for forgetting one med, and told me she was concerned about my nursing ability (on the first day!) I was scared out of my wits, literally, and by the end of the rotation she was impressed by my ability to turn it around, and I even used her as a reference for an LNA position, and she went to the floor personally at the hospital! For everyone who has a scary instructor, kill them with kindness and really show them you want this. You'll get through it if you can just prove you have confidence and competence. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips/advice about the med-surg/psych rotations. Any kind of book that really helped or things that you kept in mind to get you through? Anything for lecture that really helped you? Anything will help!

I have... and I was devastated. It was my first semester. Never failing anything, I took it hard. I had a 3.4 GPA taking honors courses. But I am now in my second semester and getting B's on all the exams. Even being regarded as a "role-model" by my instructor. Life happens, and it can turn any smart person into a fluff-case. I knew this is what I wanted. I went through the process of readmission, a group of 5 MSN RN's huddled around me questioning me why and how I'd deal with going through it again. In our school, we only get one chance to get back in, and you can't fail clinical and get readmitted. Out of 500 applicants, they only accept 108. I was one of them. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. But if you don't really know if this is what you want, take some time. I'm sure teachers can smell motivation from a mile away. And instructors will see it. Really take it seriously and have fun with it. It can be stressful, but in those moments where you feel like giving up, remind yourself why you want to be a nurse. You can never really know what it feels like to succeed if you've never failed. After passing that first semester, success never smelled so sweet.