reprimanded

I know better than to talk to anyone in a tone that is not professional at any of the facilities that I have been to. Why I didn't tell the student directly about the error was because previously I gave her "heads up" about something that she was not to do and she responded with "I'll think about it". Which then later caused the whole group to get in trouble again with the DND. LadyFree, what you have written pretty much sums up the situation I am in. This is my last term. I have 4 months left and I thought this issue was done and over with since this all happened last term. Apparently, it's not over and I have to continue dealing with this issue and work alongside students who know better but are trying to find easier routes. With the "lay low", it's hard when you work in a group. We are all put on the same med carts, partnered up and overseeing the same patients. If I passed 2pm meds on a pt, someone will do the evening medications so there is an overlap. What frustrates me is the lack of communication. Nurses give end of shift report to the oncoming nurse, I did that. I just don't understand why people feel the need to disregard information given. I'm officially done with this drama and good luck for those who may entrust their family members with these future nurses. It's about principles and ethics, which I come to realize people have forgotten. I ask myself often, is this really worth it? The drama? The next 4 months of mental anguish, to know I'll graduate and work alongside many nurses like the ones I have encountered.

Ready4nu, I was told that everything should be reported to the instructor (by the clinical director) and not to students. I wasn't the one that sent the student to the cart. The reason why the nurse came to the cart was because the student who made the error is a loud person. She was getting upset that a med error was brought up by me. I don't wish for any fellow students who is in the same group to be reprimanded. One doesn't go down, the whole team does. When I'm watching my back, believe me it's only to benefit the rest. Of the three students that made errors that day, two owned up to their mistakes while the one with the insulin error wanted to blame me for their mistake. The post may have seemed like a vent for others but for me, seriously after 12 months in a nursing program a person would know by now how and when to give insulin. I can't believe how many nurses are not seeing the problem > medication error > patient safety. Instead, people are saying "lay low". Maybe that's how people were raised and taught, but I wasn't taught like that. You're right about the students watching me to make mistakes. They have been lately and unfortunately they can have a fun time following me around the clinical settings. If I don't know something, I ask. If I don't know how to do something, I ask for help. We are dealing with human lives not mannequins in SIMS lab. But I do thank you and others for giving me their inputs. I realized that nurses are not patient advocates, but rather advocates for their own selfishness.

Yea that does sound unprofessional, I guess. I wasn't aware that using CAPS was unprofessional along with advising fellow students. Swearing..I guess a nurse we have to model after angels. Thanks again!

I want to know what you found to be unprofessional about my FB post. Which part? All of it? Just posting about school related stuff is unprofessional? Using "ass"?

This is taken from my FB: "Dear Fellow Nursing Students, Please, please know how insulin works!! Fellow students are there to help you and save your ass. If you don't want your ass saved, please make it clear! Officially sick of NURSING STUDENTS who think they know everything, if you did or think you do, you wouldn't be a student would you? Also, NEVER EVER argue or talk back to a RN OR a LVN who is EMPLOYED!! She/He is LICENSED and we are NOT!!! Nod your head and apologize for your MED ERROR!!!" The reason I was checking the MAR: 1.) I passed medication that day. 2.) Our group as a whole were getting into trouble for medication errors. Working in a group is a great thing and at times it's not so great. The facility never pointed a finger and said "you and you" are making errors. They addressed it as a whole. So even though I didn't make an error I was still partly at fault. So the nice me, took the time to ensure that everyone did their part, which backfired. Honestly, there are many reasons why the instructor didn't oversee some of these issues. Nursing isn't what it is anymore. Instead of ensuring patient safety, I have to weigh if I want to voice my concern with the possibility of getting in trouble for doing the right thing or just pretend like I never knew nothing about anything.

I'm currently a nursing student and while at a clinical facility I noticed that another student failed to give insulin to a patient. So before the end of shift I went over the MAR to make sure that everyone had documented and to do a narcotic count before leaving. I brought up the medication error to the instructor and the instructor informed me that the issue would be taken care of. The instructor sends out the students to the med cart to rectify the issues. One of the student, who missed the insulin, begins to shift the blame on me and then proceeded to argue with the RN who was in charge of the cart. The RN told the student that when she was instructed to give the insulin, why did she withhold it? The student begins to give her reasonings to why she did not give the insulin and in the end, even after taking another glucose reading, she needed to give the insulin because the pt was on a sliding scale and needed the insulin even with the new reading. Anyhow, there are many incidents that have happened while I was at this facility and each and every time I had brought it up to the instructor, I was told that it would be taken care of. Today, I just found out that some instructors at this institution are saying I'm the cause of problems at the clinical sites and in a classroom setting. The same student who made the med error confronted me in front of the class making remarks like "how did you pass term 2, if you don't know how to assess the abdomen". She over heard another student and I discuss about how to differentiate between high pitched and wave like sounds from the abdomen. I never once stated I knew everything about nursing. This is why I'm enrolled in a program and attending daily because I never had previous medical exposure and if I claimed to know it all, I wouldn't be in any program. After this incident took place, I never felt the need to run and tell to the directors or instructors about the cattiness that took place in the classroom. She said whatever she wanted to say, and I also did the same. Now, it's apparent that instructors are starting not to like me because of my ethics and willingness to comply to rules and regulations enforced by the board. They are trying to find any flaws that I might make to kick me out of the program. I posted a status on my FB about the insulin incident. Warning my fellow nursing friends to not make the same mistake and I was brought in by the clinical instructor and was told that my FB status was "unprofessional". Yet, students who came to clinical hungover, late almost every other day and students who believed that taking multiple smoke break is important versus taking care of the patients while on duty. I just have a whole list of "unprofessional" things that were done by the other nursing students. I'm upset that these adult professionals who are instructors are going around my back talking about me in unprofessional ways without once contacting me directly to inquire about the hearsay that has been going on. I no longer feel safe to step a foot onto the campus and I wake up not wanting to go to class to finish my program. I'm harboring these feelings and thoughts that I haven't been able to tell any instructors or individuals who run this program in fear of being retaliated against. I need to know what should I do?