how to report a teacher to the BRN?

[scibruin]

On a clinical day my instructor patted me down and searched me looking for my cell phone, which she found, yelled at me for a while then sent me home. I feel violated and humiliated. I want to know my rights as a student and her rights as an instructor (whether or not she can touch or search me). I would like to bring this to the attention of the BRN but don't know how. Any ideas how to handle this?? i've been so distraught over this here i am at 1 am thinking about it when i should be sleeping!!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

Yeah, but she could probably even sue! I mean Americans aren't responsible for having to follow rules nowadays....Didn't you know??

If you break the rules and something bad happens you can simply find a way to place the blame on someone else, or find a way in which you were violated and find a way out of it......Not judging the OP, just sayin'.......

I have to disagree. Although I do not agree with the OP actions or know the other side to this story,

BUT if the CI did in fact start searching her, lifting clothing, handling her without permission, this DOES cross a line. IT doesn't matter the reason, you have the right to not be violated in this case. The CI was not a Cop sub doing a perp. She is a teacher.

The CI should have written her up for breaking the rules, sent her home or what have you, she had NO right to get physical with the student unless it was to defend herself which was not the case.

it reminds me of the case of the HS student being strip searched from drugs by school officials NOT law enforcement. It was a straight A student with out any school problems who was caught with midol or Motrin or something. The school officials completely crossed the line in taking matters into their own hands and the student was left humiliated and emotionally scared. Yes someone handling you without you consent CAN lead to emotional scars. This was huge in a media and if I were that students parents I would have flipped holy hell over the situation.

The punishment should fit the crime per say.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

tread carefully, the school will back the instructor and you will be the villain.

my wife experienced this first hand and it almost cost her degree. she was assaulted (had a book thrown at her) by one instructor while being screamed at, then later was entrapped in a bathroom with the doorway blocked and experienced round two of the beratement.

in the end my wife had to apologize to the instructor in order to stay in the program. this all happened 1 month before graduation, we learned that the school will protect their own.

unless you have witnesses (that are not students) and perhaps a police report you are going to be the bad guy.

where was everyone when she had the book thrown at her? i guarantee you that if an instructor throws a book at me my first call is to the police, let that hit the media and let the school try to retaliate by punishing me. the media will be all over it and that will be the last thing the school wants. you are talking about a physical assault here and a textbook can weigh a lot and do damage if it hits the person. that is completely appalling and unacceptable and i would be damned if i apologized to the instructor. police would have been involved for assault and harassment from the bathroom incident. if i saw the instructor throw a text at a fellow classmate of mine i still would have called the police too, that is abuse and someone capable of throwing textbooks at students has no business teaching.

[Sendana]

Your 4th amendment rights have been violated.

[Sendana]

She must have had a reason to suspect that you were carrying your cell phone.

That doesn't make it okay for the instructor to perform a physical search. If the instructor suspects there is a violation of a phone policy, the instructor can simply dismiss the student for the day. A body search is unwarranted in a literal sense and highly inappropriate.

I can put this very simply for the comprehension challenged in this thread: one adult may not touch the body of another adult in any way unless there is consent or the searching adult has been granted special powers under the law, as in the case of a peace officer searching a citizen suspected of a crime. Any and all other unwanted physical touching is grounds for a tort and possible criminal charges. Period. End of discussion. This is the exact reason that you can't lay so much as a finger on one of your patients unless they have given express or implied consent, or there is an emergency that is threatening life.

Now, if this student signed some sort of agreement that said the clinical instructor could search her person for contraband, that is a different story. Or, if they school of nursing guidelines include, for example, clause that says students and their property are subject to search by the clinical agency at which they are employed during clinical hours, although I would love to see such a clause challenged in court.

Some of you act like nursing school is still high school, and that the students are not legal adults with all the rights of adults. I swear to God I keep reading about nutjob instructors on here doing things that would get them fired from my program post haste.

[itsmejuli]

I agree that the instructor was wrong in her action of patting down a student.

The student should have handled this discretely by going straight to the dean to file a formal complaint and not discussed the situation with other instructors and students at the school.

You'll get much further by acting mature and professional in your approach with problematic instructors, supervisors, fellow students and patients.

[SimonJester]

where was everyone when she had the book thrown at her? i guarantee you that if an instructor throws a book at me my first call is to the police, let that hit the media and let the school try to retaliate by punishing me. the media will be all over it and that will be the last thing the school wants. you are talking about a physical assault here and a textbook can weight a lot and do damage if it hurts the person. that is completely appalling and unacceptable and i would be damned if i apologized to the instructor. police would have been involved for assault and harassment from the bathroom incident. if i saw the instructor throw a text at a fellow classmate of mine i still would have called the police too, that is abuse and someone capable of throwing textbooks at students has no business teaching.

luckily the book was a smaller medical dictionary, this happened at the nurse station. it bounced off the computer then hit my wife so there was no injury, my wife was humiliated by the beratement more than anything as it was done in front of and in earshot of everyone, her mistake against the ci was calling a drug an anti-platelet vs an anti-coagulant.

here is the messed up thing, while my wife was off working with her patients following the incident, the ci went to the few witnesses and got them all to sign a paper stating my wife was being disrespectful towards the ci. the ci worked at the hospital and i feel it was that reason the witnesses backed her side of the story. their paper stated my wife shows disrespect because as the ci was questioning (screaming at) my wife, my wife would not look at the ci and stopped answering her.

that was true my wife did shutdown in the situation, that action was viewed as disrespectful by the school and she was made to apologize for it to the ci. she also had to write an essay on how she would handle the situation if she were in the workplace and this was a patient or the family.

we were appalled that the school would point this whole thing back onto my wife. the school was threatening to kick her out of the whole program. we did consider contacting the police, or other legal, but in the end we decided passing the class and thus graduating from program was more important. my wife tucked her tail between her legs, wrote the apology, avoided the ci for the next month passed the class and graduated.

so don't win the battle only to lose the war...

sorry for hijacking the thread but i could see this same issue going forward with the op,the ci was wrong for searching her but dont expect the school to be on you side.

[redhead_NURSE98!, ADN, BSN]

I can put this very simply for the comprehension challenged in this thread: one adult may not touch the body of another adult in any way unless there is consent or the searching adult has been granted special powers under the law, as in the case of a peace officer searching a citizen suspected of a crime.

I can put this very simply for YOU: the response is NOT to contact the BRN.

Some of you act like nursing school is still high school, and that the students are not legal adults with all the rights of adults.

And some STUDENTS act like they are still IN high school, violating very simple rules that have been laid out for them. And we expect them to follow much more complicated rules in just a few months as nurses. So, do I blame teachers for treating students who act like children as children? Not really. Does it make it legal? Maybe not. But OP was barking up the wrong tree and got the answer to her question and then some.

[Intern67]

it reminds me of the case of the HS student being strip searched from drugs by school officials NOT law enforcement.

How does this remind you of a strip search? Seriously.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

it reminds me of the case of the HS student being strip searched from drugs by school officials NOT law enforcement.

How does this remind you of a strip search? Seriously.

What she is saying is it was a search that was not consented to by an individual that was not allowed to do the search. Nursing instructors are not LE and are not allowed to touch students in that way at all. Yes it is wrong she brought the phone, yes the BRN is not the people to contact.

[Intern67]

I agree that the instructor was wrong in her action of patting down a student.

The student should have handled this discretely by going straight to the dean to file a formal complaint and not discussed the situation with other instructors and students at the school.

You'll get much further by acting mature and professional in your approach with problematic instructors, supervisors, fellow students and patients.

Really, people, think about the advice you are giving out here! Going to the dean after you have been repeatedly caught violating clinical site rules is being "discreet"? Maintaining good relationships with clinical sites and ensuring that students follow rules there is of paramount importance to any nursing program. How in the world is this student going to benefit by escalating this situation?

The ship has already sailed on the student acting mature and professional in this case. She messed up. She got caught. She's got some medicine to take.

Of course we can say the instructor was wrong to "lay a finger" on the student and do a lot of hand waving on battery and torts. But considering what the student has told us, is going down that road a beneficial course for this student to take?

This student clearly has nothing to gain by going to the dean, the police, the board of nursing, the archbishop or anyone else. The only proper course of action is to start behaving appropriately. The student has her future in the program and as a nurse to think about; using her to vicariously get revenge for inappropriate acts by other clinical instructors is silly.

[txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN]

If I were u I would stop and not proceed with this..first like someone said the school will side with the instructor....then u will labeled a trouble maker and then the teachers will be out to get you...you may not be able to finish school.....follow the rules....leave ur cell phone at home.....and move on

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

luckily the book was a smaller medical dictionary, this happened at the nurse station. it bounced off the computer then hit my wife so there was no injury, my wife was humiliated by the beratement more than anything as it was done in front of and in earshot of everyone, her mistake against the ci was calling a drug an anti-platelet vs an anti-coagulant.

here is the messed up thing, while my wife was off working with her patients following the incident, the ci went to the few witnesses and got them all to sign a paper stating my wife was being disrespectful towards the ci. the ci worked at the hospital and i feel it was that reason the witnesses backed her side of the story. their paper stated my wife shows disrespect because as the ci was questioning (screaming at) my wife, my wife would not look at the ci and stopped answering her.

that was true my wife did shutdown in the situation, that action was viewed as disrespectful by the school and she was made to apologize for it to the ci. she also had to write an essay on how she would handle the situation if she were in the workplace and this was a patient or the family.

we were appalled that the school would point this whole thing back onto my wife. the school was threatening to kick her out of the whole program. we did consider contacting the police, or other legal, but in the end we decided passing the class and thus graduating from program was more important. my wife tucked her tail between her legs, wrote the apology, avoided the ci for the next month passed the class and graduated.

so don't win the battle only to lose the war...

sorry for hijacking the thread but i could see this same issue going forward with the op,the ci was wrong for searching her but dont expect the school to be on you side.

this seriously ticks me off and i wish i would have been there for the incident. it doesn't matter if your wife had been disrespectful or not or the size of the book, someone doesn't have the right to throw something at someone else. i spent my entire life being abused physically, mentally and sexually and i will be damned if i ever let it happen to me again or watch it happen to someone else without stepping in. people have a right to feel safe, students have a right to a positive education without assault from their teacher.

this is just so absurd and appalling.