Urged to withdraw.....

[happyhealer]

I missed two days of clinical due to stress, job obligations and just plain feeling like I wanted to withdraw. I emailed my professor on the day of clinicals (about two hours prior to start of class) to speak to her. Long story short, I only received the chance to speak to her the next day in the afternoon. I also emailed her a vague reason for not coming in, but like I said she only contacted me the second day in the afternoon.

So anyway, of course now the head of the nursing school is urging me to withdraw. I tried every avenue to have them reconsider explaining that I would do anything to make up the labs and even do more than that, but to no avail. They say there are no more labs available to make up and they also referenced their guidelines which clearly state "two labs missed and you can be terminated from the program."

I am now so incredibly sorry for what I did and want so much to finish the program, but it doesn't seem like they will give me the chance. Is there any other option? (I know every school has their own set of rules and guidelines, but maybe another avenue to state my case.) Did this ever happen to anyone? Also I want to state that I was doing well in both lecture and lab.

[windsurfer8, BSN, RN]

Here is the thing. You knew the requirements before hand and you did not meet the minimums. You must learn from this situation and understand that requirements and rules are there for a reason. If you are working in a hospital no one wants to hear excuses. You complete the mission. If that means coming in with a broken leg so be it. Being responsible and reliable are HUGE in nursing. There is nothing worse than having a coworker who is supposed to relieve you who does not show up for work or is late. Not showing up for work or clinicals...is totally unacceptable...especially if you do not have a legit reason other than "feeling like I wanted to withdraw." This is a grown up profession and no one feels sorry for people who are not in the mood to work. If you do get to continue LEARN from this.

[Red Kryptonite]

With people waiting two and three years to get in, it seems to me the seat in the program should be given to someone who will take it seriously.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

It appears the school officials are doing you a huge favor. You are currently failing the nursing program because you are not meeting the minimum requirement since you have not reported to a sufficient number of labs.

At this point it is either withdraw or accept a permanent failure on your record. The school officials are urging you to withdraw because it will look better on your record than the failure that will inevitably result if you refuse to withdraw.

The school officials are not obligated to accommodate your missed lab portions, and if they are urging you to withdraw, they have already made up their minds. They are not going to work with you, so either withdraw or fail. Good luck to you.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

I'm sorry you've been so stressed. However, that's no excuse for missing clinicals, especially twice. Take the withdrawal to avoid getting a failure and hope they'll let you take a seat in another cohort.

[caliotter3]

They told you what is available to you. It is up to you to mitigate your circumstance at this point. What has been said about you applying for readmission after a semester or a year to get yourself together? If that is not possible, at least if you withdraw, you can spin the story how you want to a new program. Good luck.

[happyhealer]

Thanks for responding. You know how it is. It's one thing and then it's another. I was feeling anxious a lot because I had to work and struggle both. I still need to figure out how to avoid this in future. Most of my classmates did not need to work. It is not an excuse for missing clinicals. I had a knee-jerk reaction and regret it so much now.

[happyhealer]

Thanks for your reply. Of course, you are right. But unfortunately, I allowed my feelings of being overwhelmed to take over. It's not that the classes were overwhelmingly hard, it was the constant juggle of a lot of work coupled with other things. But I will take this time to really think about how to proceed. I would have done another 6 labs to make up for the labs I missed. But it's a no go. At least now I know what nursing school entails. And I have to be prepared to manage it when I go back, whether it's to this school or another.

[caliotter3]

No matter what you do, you have to learn how not to let life circumstances, nursing school or anything else, overwhelm you. If you do not have a viable support system, you have to learn how to do this on your own. I would suggest you find some coaching or personal counseling, preferably non-cost, so that you can learn some strategies to overcome this. Best wishes.

[happyhealer]

You are right, but many many students bow out only to go back to nursing school afterwards. I don't have a great support system right now and you are right because it did occur to me today that that is what was missing and how I could have used that. I find it very surprising how nursing students who are fully aware of the rigors of the program and juggling work, kids, etc. cannot understand how one might think of quitting. Like I said a momentary mistake, and one that I regret. But I will think this through very carefully and consult a career counselor to move forward in the best possible way.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

You are right, but many many students bow out only to go back to nursing school afterwards. I don't have a great support system right now and you are right because it did occur to me today that that is what was missing and how I could have used that. I find it very surprising how nursing students who are fully aware of the rigors of the program and juggling work, kids, etc. cannot understand how one might think of quitting. Like I said a momentary mistake, and one that I regret. But I will think this through very carefully and consult a career counselor to move forward in the best possible way.

I failed out of nursing school and managed to get readmitted. I ended up having to repeat 2 semesters due to a program change, but otherwise it would have only been a single semester that I would have repeated. You can only work with the elements you have at hand. If that means you have no support system or a very ineffective one, that's what you have to deal with. You need to figure out how to balance all the stressors that come with going to nursing school because not being able to balance them will definitely not be a good thing for you.

I figured out what was the ultimate cause of my failure, rebalanced things and ended up doing extremely well. You knew the requirements going in and since you have now missed 2 clinical days, from what I gather, you can be dismissed from the program. Though it's possible that you might be able to get by and continue the program and finish it, there's a strong possibility that you may fail and they may be looking at just how likely it is that you just might end up missing another clinical day and therefore earning you a definite fail.

That may be why they're urging you to withdraw before you earn a fail... one way may be better for you in terms of readmission. Tread very carefully here.

[Jen_Loves_Nursing]

I do not mean to be harsh in any way, shape or form... but this is a reason why nursing schools have us students sign promissory notes and letters of commitment. It IS stressful, and a lot of us have families (kids and spouses) AND jobs then to include school, it is all very stressful. I really don't know what the solution to this is...... my school has an entire lecture/inservice/conference on stress management as a pre-requirment before class starts because your type of situation is common. Im sorry, best of luck.