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Surviving Clinicals

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Posted about 3 years ago

 

How do you survive clinicals when you have a Professor on your back the whole day?  My last three semesters all my instructors encouraged me and said I was doing awesome.  This semester I felt as if I was torn to pieces and criticized.  Does anyone have advice or comments on dealing with difficult professors.

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Rate This | Posted about 3 years ago

 

I've been there with the feeling that I was being singled out and like I couldn't do anything right.  Does it seem like everyone else in clinicals is being left alone?  I had an instructor who was always on me.  He questioned everythign I did and why was I doing it and when he ask me a question about a med and I answered it correctly he would push for more and more until I made a mistake and then he would let me go.  I finally ask him after about 3 or 4 weeks of this why he was so hard on me and his answer was "because I want to challenge you to be better, you are good but I want you to push yourself beyond good."  Maybe you need to ask to have a conference with this professor and be honest with your feelings.  You might be surprised.  If it turns out that this professor just has it in for you then you can go further up and talk to the director of nursing but first find out what the motive is for riding you so hard.    Also if this is your last semester you need to know that those instructors are about ready to put you out in the real world and they want to know that you are going to be a safe nurse.  Nursing school is hard but I just found out how worth it is.  I am a new RN and I would do it all again.  Good Luck and let us know how it is going.


Our service to others is the rent we pay while here on earth!!

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Rated: -1 | Posted about 3 years ago

 

acutally take this as a learning experience and hang in there and shut your mouth. the reason being is that even after you graduate you will have to train at your new hospital postion and your preceptor will most likely have this style. first of all you will have more freedom and with that comes more chances to kill people. so get over it, you will get thru it.

Katbwcolor_max50

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Rate This | Posted about 3 years ago

 

I say just hang in there as well. I am pretty low key at clinicals, and I ask questions when I have them but don't question everything I do. From what I have seen alot of the instructors ride those that are less confident because they're scared they will make a mistake so they hound them more. My best friend had a difficult instructor this past semester and he just bitched to me about it and dealt with it and he passed clinicals and now he'll get a new instructor (not sure how it is in your program but we switch instructors each semester)


 


Kat

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Rate This | Posted about 3 years ago

 

When I was in clincals we switched clinical instructors too. I had great experiences with all my clinical rotations.


I am now a RN and working happily in the hospital. I graduated last June.


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Rate This | Posted about 3 years ago

 

I have a new instructor who has made such a wonderful learning experience of my last clinical rotation.  Two days left of clinicals and I feel so much more confident.

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Rate This | Posted almost 3 years ago

 

There's nothing you can do.  The Dean or Head of Nursing is another nurse.  All of the professors and the Dean are friends.  Complain to the dean, dean tells the professor everything, professor says you're an idiot, dean and professor laugh, and the professor gets really tough on you.  I've had some lovely evaluations like, "You'll never be a nurse.  I suggest you quit.  This isn't for you, but that's OK, lots of people have made it this far (last semester) and realized it wasn't for them."  Pretty uplifting stuff.