>>> 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 am so sorry that you have had to deal with this. I have never heard of a clinical experience like this. It is too bad that you are not getting the hands-on practice that you should be getting. Your CI is not prepared. Giving assignments isn't that hard. BTW, what semester are you in?
I didn't read all the responses, so if this has been said before, sorry. I can understand your frustration and why you did what you did, although I think I would have taken less aggressive steps at first. As students, you can get away with this, the worst they can do is fail you. But, if you had been a actual nurse, you could have been charged with abandoning your patients and had your license disciplined. You have much more at stake when you become a nurse, so just think about it in the future.
I wish you luck in getting thru this rotation and having a better clinical experience next semester.
Seems like the bulk of the storm has passed. What happened was not the best professional judgement on anyone's part, but its over now. At least until the "what comes around goes around" comes and kicks you in the backdoor...which I'm positive it will. She threatened you and is now promoting and facilitating a hostile environment. That is what you need to focus on now. If you feel harrassed or retaliated against, you need to follow up with appropriate channels. She is an employee of your school which I'm sure has strict policies to uphold regarding hostile environment. If those policies are not being followed by HER then the school needs to take action immediately. But, your class needs to exhibit the professionalism of following the chain of command. The chain has been drilled in to our heads since day one of NS, its there for a reason and in the future should be used. It works, I promise. It may take time, but you will see results. Until then, suck it up and smile. It's almost over. I've been there and done that...its hard but worth it! :nuke:Good luck.
Specializes in MedSurg/OrthoNeuro/Rehab/Consultant.
Thinking back now, most of our clinical assignments were made out the day before the clinical. We were expected to go in the day before and prepare. Down side was that I often lost sleep the night before, worrying about it.
Sorry you have to go through all of this. Nursing school really is unbelievable. It's not like other areas of study in that things really can be life and death. Of course, nursing instructors can make it worse in that regards, but I guess we are dealing with human lives. Good luck.
Man, I bet there's a WHOLE bunch of us who'd sign up for that club!! As if NS wasn't hard enough, to deal with this type of person far beats the stress of any test on any day. And it's especially frustrating when you're an adult (many years beyond 21) and are really and truly trying to learn and do a good job, rather than trying to be "wallpaper" as someone else mentioned in an effort to just get out of school as a GN with half your brain cells (and no stroke from the stress) and then finally learn the job.
By "wallpaper" I meant don't be known for complaining, making scenes, having arguments...overall try to focus on learning but in a non-confrontational way. Feel free to ask questions and actually learn but don't be obnoxious and/or "noticeable" for negative traits. Just be "chill"...I know too many people that when given the opportunity to stand out and flash their opinions they will...it can be annoying to the instructor and they can zero in on that person.
Oh my, michigangirl...this sounds so unpleasant. I know it may be small comfort, but hang in there, learn as much as you can...I hope that this clinical won't be for too much longer.
When we arrived at the beginning of clinical, the Director of Nursing was sitting at the table waiting for us. Our instructor arrived EXACTLY on time. She was very pleasant, and we proceeded to talk for 1 hour about our frustrations and possible improvements. The DON recommended that we go straight to the floor instead of the cafeteria, and that the CI would try to get our assignments to us quicker. She also recommended that we take on more patients and gave us a little more direction as to what we should be accomplishing in the next 3 weeks.
Then we talked for another hour, after the DON left, and things seemed to be fairly positive. We went up to the floor, got an assignment (one patient, assessment only) and kept ourselves busy. After 3.5 hours, we were told to go back down to the cafeteria and wait for her for post conference.
She came down 45 minutes later, and laid into us. She said that we had no integrity, that "what goes around comes around", were unprofessional, and had never in her life ran into people like us. We should have gone to her first. We just don't understand how hard it is to get assignments for us, and how hard she is working for us. She gave us assignments for missed clinicals and basically lectured us for another 45 minutes about what lousy students we are.
So.... I guess we sort of got our point across, we certainly got everyone's attention!! I am continuing to document this mess. We will be talking to our professor tomorrow for more guidance.
I really appreciate all of the supportive comments. Too bad I am actually PAYING for this experience!
nursing is a career of integrity and accountability; I don't know about the instructor's integrity, but it's clear she missed the parental lessons on accountability--she's assuming no responsibility for her inability to show up to work on time; hopefully after a good night's sleep she'll have a new perspective on her most unprofessional behavior; but I understand because her ego is severly wounded and she needs to mend here ego at your group's expense
please keep us updated; I suspect this will be a strong lesson where people uniting as a whole can truly bring change--the change being her promptness to clinical from this day forth; remember this experience because it might be the last time you see such solidarity amongst colleagues; and I have to praise you and your group for taking this bold step to attempt to redirect inappropriate behavior
Michigangirl, your clinical instructor seems like an absolute sweetheart, lol. Don't stop fighting - it's your education and your patient's care you're fighting for. I must say it's well worth the strugle.
yes i agreee , don't give up the fight.. bring those notes to your dean and cover yourself.. you are paying a hefty price for our education and deserve the best. you are brave and strong... keep us posted
I so totally agree! I don't know why people in general don't create paper trails- you see it on court shows everyday. I can't stress the importance of that enough!! Honestly, the opportunity to sign a written complaint should've been taken advantage of, but that's now water under the bridge. So far, you guys only have a little leg to stand on... now IMHO if you were brave enough to walk out, you need to be brave enough to file something written regarding what she said to you all. If you don't, you may find yourself wishing you had.
Judging by the instructors actions during the post conference, I think that every single student should now document and leave a paper trail. I think you all are going to need it, and if you don't have it, you won't have any way to protect yourselves.
Please, people; go to www.ratemyprofessor.com and put your own rating and comments and help out those who follow you. This website is about the only thing as far as a "consumer's report" for professors and college instructors!
Please DO IT!
I use that site all the time! I'd rather choose CI first then worry about date, time, and place of clinicals
I didn't read all the responses, so if this has been said before, sorry. I can understand your frustration and why you did what you did, although I think I would have taken less aggressive steps at first. As students, you can get away with this, the worst they can do is fail you. But, if you had been a actual nurse, you could have been charged with abandoning your patients and had your license disciplined. You have much more at stake when you become a nurse, so just think about it in the future.
I wish you luck in getting thru this rotation and having a better clinical experience next semester.
nope, no abandonment, there had been no professional relationship established....
:chuckle
TangoLima
225 Posts
I am so sorry that you have had to deal with this. I have never heard of a clinical experience like this. It is too bad that you are not getting the hands-on practice that you should be getting. Your CI is not prepared. Giving assignments isn't that hard. BTW, what semester are you in?
I didn't read all the responses, so if this has been said before, sorry. I can understand your frustration and why you did what you did, although I think I would have taken less aggressive steps at first. As students, you can get away with this, the worst they can do is fail you. But, if you had been a actual nurse, you could have been charged with abandoning your patients and had your license disciplined. You have much more at stake when you become a nurse, so just think about it in the future.
I wish you luck in getting thru this rotation and having a better clinical experience next semester.