>>> 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 hope you actually SAW that policy in the student handbook....that myth has been going around at about every college in the country...and I have yet to see someone that has ever actually SEEN it in a college handbook....and that is where all of you can get into trouble.
You need to understand that clinical hours for a nursing program is regulated by the state...so if everyone leaves, you will have to make up the day. You WILL have to make up the day.
Personally, I think the action was childish and cowardly. The college has a process for complaints and your group, instead of utilitizing it, took the easy way out.
Very unprofessional....so is the CI, but two wrong's don't make a right.
Not every hospital is busy...your CI can do nothing about the discharges or the med passes....some days it's busy, some days it's not...she doesn't choose the hospital or the floor.
Be thankful that you don't have a mean CI.
hopefully, no nursing school schedules the minimum req hours of clinical..and the complaint about discharges and no meds, would appear valid to me...if the CI cant get there in time to know these things she is not doing her job....and i had a prof who used the 15 minute rule. and missed the first 1/2 of class d/t a snow storm....gave the few of us who stayed, an extra absence ,without penalty, for the semester....
You need to take more action with the dean BEFORE she retaliates further, via grades or lying about you.
She can do things that will be very hard to undo unless you prevent them.
I agree that deans stand behind their faculty, but given that she's new, you might have a chance.
Another option, which may not be very popular, is to suck up and tell the CI that you're sorry about the way you handled it and that you've learned something very valuable... blah, blah, blah.
Remember it's just school. Yes, there has been a big violation of ethics in you not getting what you paid for, getting treated badly, etc, etc. But remember the big picture is that you need to graduate and get approved to take the NCLEX. Keep your eye on the prize. As far as school goes, nothing else really counts.
This whole exchange got me thinking about how the idea of not standing up for ourselves begins in nursing school. Forget about societal and media portrayals and expectations, and realize that the whole clinical situation sets us up to self-destruct. Your entire grade hinges on whether or not this person "likes" you? Keep every scrap of paper and take this instructor at her word -- this is far from over. I agree with the others, you have to make a formal complaint with the dean. Dates, times, clinical assignments need to be included. Stick to the facts and you will all be fine. It's nice to see students stand up for the right to a good education, but you need to follow through.
We had theory today, and our professor stayed with our whole group after class. We told her what happened yesterday, and I showed her my 4 pages of documentation. She was extremely supportive, apologetic (that we had such a bad experience), and told us if we wanted to proceed, what to do. We filed the official complaint, with all documentation, and can be expecting a call from the Dean tomorrow. She said that she was so proud of us for standing up for ourselves. She said she wouldn't have handled it any other way!
I know the next few weeks will be unpleasant, and she may just fail all of us, but we'll deal with that day by day.
I'm not as worried as I was, and feel like some weight has been lifted. I know this isn't over, but I do know that we all did the right thing. No one else should have to go through this at our school (or any other, for that matter!)
We had theory today, and our professor stayed with our whole group after class. We told her what happened yesterday, and I showed her my 4 pages of documentation. She was extremely supportive, apologetic (that we had such a bad experience), and told us if we wanted to proceed, what to do. We filed the official complaint, with all documentation, and can be expecting a call from the Dean tomorrow. She said that she was so proud of us for standing up for ourselves. She said she wouldn't have handled it any other way!
I know the next few weeks will be unpleasant, and she may just fail all of us, but we'll deal with that day by day.
I'm not as worried as I was, and feel like some weight has been lifted. I know this isn't over, but I do know that we all did the right thing. No one else should have to go through this at our school (or any other, for that matter!)
Yes, I think everyone wants updates!!
The formal complaint was an excellent move. Hopefully it will pre-empt her from further retaliation.
Good luck on the dean meeting. My advice is to be very factual and unemotional, if possible; but be absolutely clear that the CI has threatened you with "what goes around, comes around".
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.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...what does she think the ass chewing she gave was? I sure hope you never have her as a CI again, she's a cancer on the nursing profession.
I agree with Traumasrus. Your instructor is an EMPLOYEE. She has a job because you exist. You are, in essence, paying her salary. If she is incompetent and unprofessional, you and your classmates have a right to redress. IMHO she should be fired because her behavior is chronic and is causing her students difficulties. I would advise you and your classmates to persist until she is gone or until her attitude is sufficiently checked.
All I can say is "oh yay!" At least you have an advocate and I'm so glad you guys went ahead and filed a complaint. Now she'll feel like a dummy for even scolding you guys at the end. She'll question whether you guys would have filed had she let it go (don't tell her either way...let her dwell on it!).
Anyhow, I doubt you'll all get failed...once there is a complaint things can get sticky legally speaking. I would say you all have reason to feel somewhat comfortable as long as you are showing the grades and not making big mistakes.
morte, LPN, LVN
7,015 Posts
hopefully, no nursing school schedules the minimum req hours of clinical..and the complaint about discharges and no meds, would appear valid to me...if the CI cant get there in time to know these things she is not doing her job....and i had a prof who used the 15 minute rule. and missed the first 1/2 of class d/t a snow storm....gave the few of us who stayed, an extra absence ,without penalty, for the semester....