>>> Sorry - this is a big vent and may be very long!!
Today we took a stand against our clinical instructor (and now I'm a little worried).
Our CI is new to the school and new to the hospital. She was a last minute replacement, but claims she has 10 years teaching experience. We are half way into our rotation.
The earliest she has arrived was 15 minutes late - and that was on the first day. Since then, she insisted that we start clinicals 1 hour early (which put a strain on some of our schedules), and has been at least 30 minutes late every day.
When she does show up, she only has a list of patients on the floor. She does not check with the head nurse about who is getting discharged. She does not check the medication chart about what kinds of meds (and what time) the patient will get. She brings in her list and randomly assigns us a patient... AFTER we have already been waiting up to 45 minutes for her to show up! We usually do not hit the floor for 2-2.5 hours after our clinical started. Sometimes we end up with nothing to do (due to discharges and no meds to pass). She told us to bring our books to study, and to hide in the conference room:banghead:
There are other frustrations - wasting time talking endlessly about herself, her family, every health problem she has ever had, etc, etc...
Although I would not say she is mean to us, she can be condescending to some of the patients (behind their backs), primarily the overweight or mentally impaired.
Our professors that teach the theory part of the class are aware of the problems (heard it from the grapevine, I guess), but can't do anything about it. They have been supportive of us, and have given us some advice.
The official school policy is that a student must wait 10 minutes for an instructor to show up. Our professor said that certainly after 20 minutes we can assume they will be absent.
So.. today, we waited 20 minutes, then as a group, got up and left. We all went home. I really wanted to talk to her first (as a group) and then leave tomorrow if she is late again, but I agreed to go with the majority.
Now I am really worried. This woman will be writing our evaluations. I know she will be angry, and have no idea what will happen tomorrow. I think we have enough documentation to put administration on our side, but this could get really ugly.
Anyone ever had anything like this happen to them???
I have to admit I was thinking this...that there may have been one student that would have stuck behind to "explain" what happened and then look like they were the only ones that were not convinced it was the right plan. One may have even driven back. I wasn't going to say it though but the reason I was thinking it is because I MAY have been one of those that went back... (sorry but my paranoia would have kicked in that everyone else would go back and i'd be the only one that left).
Hey... I thought of that, too. I watched everyone leave, but it never occurred to me that someone may have gone back!!!! Now one more thing to worry about! Thanks!!!
I was the only one of the group that wanted to give her one more chance and talk to her. But I will stick with the others (they were probably worried most about me!)
what happened? does anyone know? i'm dying to know.. gosh i hope everything turned out okay.... i wonder what the CI thought when she walked in and no one was there....
I wish you the best of luck today, and I think you did the right thing. CI Tardiness is unacceptable, when they are trying to be a positive example to your learning environment, as you pay for "their time".
Hope everything turns out positive, and the CI corrects her tardiness,
Normally I only glance over posts that I label "Whiny Student Post"...you know such posts as "my instructor yelled at me...whaaaa..."
This one is a bit different however. A consistently late instructor would be frustrating. It's a shame that we are so short on instructors. Low quality ones are hard to get rid of due to the shortage.
I would not have given up a clinical day for that though...
Yes, I have been thru this frustration on my FIRST clinical experience. It was such a nightmare. It wasn't handled appropriately by our staff teachers to our liking but we did get extra hours of instruction on how to write careplans. Our incompetent teacher would hand us back our careplans with absolutely no feedback (if she ever even read them!). Plus she would have us arrive an hour late so she could sleep in!!!! Our future staff was apprised of our experience and we received more help with our next rotation. It was a 'learning' experience to say the least.
Specializes in Happily semi-retired; excited for the whole whammy.
I guess I'm in the minority. It would make me furious, but I would have just hung around and waited for her. That way, I was where I was supposed to be and can't be docked or punished for not being there. I also wouldn't have declined to sign the formal complaint with the dean last week; IMHO, that would've been the better way to go.
That said, good luck. As the others have said, I don't think she can fail all of you.
i have to admit i was thinking this...that there may have been one student that would have stuck behind to "explain" what happened
the reason i was thinking it is because i may have been one of those that went back... ().
lol.....where's the spit-take smilie?
granted i have been awake going on >36 hrs but i do believe that might just be the funniest thing i've ever read here on allnurses.
and tomorrow when you come back to actually 'fess up i'm going to laugh even harder......
kidding!
oh, i very seriously don't envy you guys....it's weird that ns wackiness seems right now a million years ago to me and it really wasn't even that long ago. that's somehow strangely reassuring to me...
as for house, i love that show!! is that one of the things i shouldn't admit when i start working at the hospital?? will they make fun of me?
ah, who cares. man, those nurses have it made, right? you've probably seen a nurse on there at leasy once in the last few years. after all they do sometimes go down to visit cameron in the er:nuke:
seriously, i think house is good because you can actually guess along with them and try to piece it out. it usually ends up being medically plausible and almost within the bounds of reason.
my q is why decline the complaint with the dean last week:confused: i think that would have covered your butt ! I just hope the group gets a good grade good luck !
ah, who cares. man, those nurses have it made, right? you've probably seen a nurse on there at leasy once in the last few years. after all they do sometimes go down to visit cameron in the er:nuke:
seriously, i think house is good because you can actually guess along with them and try to piece it out. it usually ends up being medically plausible and almost within the bounds of reason.
just remember,
it's never lupus!
except when it is......
i've seen plenty of nurses on that show! you just have to hit "pause" on the dvr just at the right time when the patient codes and house, md is saying, "at least we're getting somewhere now"...i swear you can see them in the bottom right hand corner working on the patient...:chuckle
"Now I am really worried. This woman will be writing our evaluations. I know she will be angry, and have no idea what will happen tomorrow."
And you will presumably be writing an evaluation on her. Both sides have power here - don't be quick to give up yours!
The route you all went with this may not have been the way I would have picked to go, but I wish you luck all the same. I guess you have certainly made your point!
good luck !
NightOwl0624
536 Posts
Hey... I thought of that, too. I watched everyone leave, but it never occurred to me that someone may have gone back!!!! Now one more thing to worry about! Thanks!!!
I was the only one of the group that wanted to give her one more chance and talk to her. But I will stick with the others (they were probably worried most about me!)