The Weak Student

[Carpediem1012]

What do you do when there is a weak student in your clincial group? I am very much a team player. I like my colleagues, depend on them to sound things off, and support them as well. But what about the weak student? The one that makes you think they could be unsafe? Where do you draw the line? I love to work with others, but when does patient safety and my own liability become more important. I guess I know the answer to that, but it feels wrong to "leave someone behind".

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I agree with all of the above, but I also empathize with the student who, at the end of her clinical rotations, is being asked to evidence some clinical judgment about someone who is essentially a coworker. That's an RN's responsibility, too, as surely as sinking a Salem sump or placing a Foleys.

It may be that the instructor was not, in fact, assessing the failing student. (As somebody said above, instructors are usually pretty good at spotting one.) It may also well be that Carpediem herself is at a novice level on evaluating nursing performance, too. It may have been that the CI was assessing Carpediem's ability to recognize subpar performance (and perhaps he asked everyone in her group). It may not have been a great decision to assess that in the way he did; if I were that instructor, I'd ask in private conference, "What do you think you should do if you think someone you work with isn't performing to what you think is standard?"

But you can be sure that when Carpediem (and the other students in her cohort) are working as nurses, somebody, someday will ask the same question in response to a complaint or concern about one of her coworkers.

This thread is a good start in thinking about how she would answer, including giving her the perspective that she may not be able to give a complete answer, or she should preface whatever she says by, "I might not be the best person to answer that."

Sometimes you learn things in nursing school that don't appear on the syllabus or in the curriculum, but you have to learn them nevertheless.