Would this upset you?

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I will try not to be too descriptive, because I would really hate it if somehow, I was identified by peers or instructors because of this post.

My first year class has three clinical groups. Group 1 and, to a great extent, Group 2, are the first to find out "things" that are going on with our class -- there is a huge communication breakdown at my school; don't know if that's common. But frequently, we in Group 3 feel a little out of the loop. And we're small, so we know each other fairly well already, and all of us are serious students. We try to help each other out to learn procedures and at clinicals.

Our first clinicals are at a nursing home -- maybe that's the same for all nursing students, I don't know. After several weeks, the understanding and the plan was that we would move to the hospital for about four weeks until the end of the semester. Now, I personally love the nursing home. I have a genuine affinity for the patients there and can see myself in that setting one day, but I want lots of experiences first. But we were just informed after clinical yesterday that our group will have to remain at the LTC for the entire semester because the hospital cannot accommodate us on our clinical day, or we can split up and go on other days with the other groups. :nono:

I am pretty mad, to be frank. I selected the schedule I did based on my own family's schedule. To have to change it now would make things difficult (moreso than they already are with me being in nursing school). Not to mention, I have kind of bonded with the other students in my group. We are just now learning to work with each other. I don't want to lose that. We can keep our little team if we stay at the NH, but that means that while our classmates are in the hospital gaining that experience, we are doing the same tasks over and over and having a very difficult time with our therapeutic communication. Furthermore, wouldn't you think this is something that ought to have been ironed out before we were allowed to schedule for this day? Am I wrong to be so ticked off? I feel quite impotent over it -- I think that if I tell them my true thoughts, I'll be thought of as a troublemaker and my remaining time at school will be more difficult.

Do I just need to suck it up?;) Tell me; I can take it. And thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.:heartbeat

PS -- I love this website. Thank you from the bottom of my heart :redbeathe for its existence.:bow:

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Yeah, you need to suck it up.

Hang in there. It gets better - yu graduate.

;)

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Yeah, I would advise you to roll with it. You can't get attached to your classmates b/c learning to work with different groups is experience as well and you won't be with the same group each semester anyway. The school will throw stuff at you from left field occasionally and learning to deal w/ it and make the best of it will help you in the real world b/c it happens there too...lol! Take all the chances they give you to get new experiences by being as flexible as possible! Best wishes!:nurse:

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Specializes in hospice.
Yeah, I would advise you to roll with it. You can't get attached to your classmates b/c learning to work with different groups is experience as well and you won't be with the same group each semester anyway. The school will throw stuff at you from left field occasionally and learning to deal w/ it and make the best of it will help you in the real world b/c it happens there too...lol! Take all the chances they give you to get new experiences by being as flexible as possible! Best wishes!:nurse:

:yeahthat:

I can't tell you how many times I've been advised in school to be, "Flexible, flexible, and more flexible!" Not only was my clinical site changed less than a week before we were scheduled to start, the class itself was changed, too (from 2nd semester Psych to 3rd semester Intermediate Med-Surg; I'm only 2nd semester).

I was irritated with it, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Now, I find I'm happier with the schedule, and so far the nurses and the instructor have been awesome. I've been getting GREAT experiences.

It could be worse; think of how many people desperately want to be in NS - and you have this chance that they don't! NS won't last forever...even if it seems like it will sometimes! :bugeyes:

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Specializes in 2 years as CNA.

I too think you need to suck it up. Not that I wouldn't ****** that this happened. But I think that in nursing, or well in life generally, you have to be flexible to change. You are correct that his should have been "ironed" but what is done is done and now you need to just go with the flow. I would move over to the hospital and you might be pleasantly surprised and find good chemistry with your new group.

Also as a plus, look at this way. Now you have more relationships in school because you can still lean on your "old" group and now you have the new group also. There is nothing stopping all of your current group from still supporting eachother and remaining close.

Good luck!

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Just roll with it, you may not realize it now but you are gaining VALUABLE experience with patient interaction...

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Specializes in Medical Surgical/Addiction/Mental Health.

I would say if you feel more comfortable staying at the nursing home to finish out clinical, then do so. However, this might be a great opportunity to work with the other group. If you say there is a communication breakdown among your group and the others, this might be a great opportunity to bridge that communication gap. If you desire, you can become the contact person for all three groups and really help group three to stay in the loop. Also, I tend to make it a point to network with everyone in my school. I do this because in the future, that person who you made contact with and had positive experiences with will remember you in the event you are looking to get promoted or begin a career elsewhere. I understand your frustrations and I am sure your instructors are frustrated too as now they have to switch gears. Hang tight and go with the flow, but I would consider the opportunity that has been made available to you.

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

I would sacrifice and change if you can if you REALLY want to go to the hospital. But trust me, it's neither good nor bad...just different. This is the reality of NS. Things change a day ahead of time, and you have to readjust. Things will get better...when you get a real job.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Flexibililty is necessary not only for nursing school ... but also for a successful long-term career. Conditions change, budgets change, census goes up and down, etc. Both employers and employers need to be able to adapt.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Give yourself permission to be annoyed, then suck it up.

It sounds to me like the school isn't the one who changed things, the hospital said they couldn't accomodate your day. Your school is giving you a choice: up to you what to do with it. I think most schools wouldn't have, they'd simply have assigned you to another day.

Personally, I'd say go with the hospital on a different day. Your clinical group is only for the semester, in nursing you will be working with different people all the time, not to mention very very few people get set schedules. Especially new grads, you work whenever they assign you. I think you will get the best experience and learning opportunities in the hospital, even if you eventually want to be in LTC professionally.

A little side track here, my hospital is doing remodeling. The floor my clinical group is assigned to closed down, and the nurses there were sent to a different area (it was planned, but literally happened overnight. The students picked up their assignments in the afternoon, and went back the next day to find everything shut down. Communication only goes so far, the school had no idea). Half the patients went to a new specialty unit, the others to where the nurses also went. We were allowed to follow the nurses from place to place, otherwise the group would simply have been out of luck.

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Specializes in CVICU, ER.

You sound like so many of the students in my class. Always griping about the schedule changing. The truth is.. They DON'T have to accomodate you. And.. on the subject of your closeness to your clinical pals, that will all change when you get rotated with other ppl each semester. Also, it is best not to get to attached because, if your school is anything like mine, you will lose a good percentage of them in Nursing III. More than half of my class is failing this semester, and man am I glad I didn't rely on them too much b/c I would have to be dealing with losing them right now. When you get to be a nurse, you will have a regular floor, but if your census gets low, you will have to float out and not be able to work with the same people all the time. Better get used to it.

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Yes, suck it up. It does sound like your school tried to give you a choice in something that was beyond their control. It was the hospital's doing, not your school's. Go with the other group. Make new friends. Get other experiences.

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