5 replies to this topic

[sydney1]

I just started nursing school, and my clinical teacher seems to have a personally disorder. One minute she is fine and the next she is biting off your head for no reason. I am stuck with the decision of reporting her to the school or just leaving it alone. I have worked hard to get to were I am and don't what to have anything or anyone ruin that for me. And basiced on how she is, she could have a bad day and take it out on us ( the student) and then decide to just fail us. And that could happen in clinical, it's either a pass or fail course. Need help on how to handle the situation.

[boogiewoogie]

Nursng school is one of those places where you just keep your head down and play the game and get through it as fast as you can. You might try to anonymously report this person, but unless it is pretty bad, abusive behavior, I would just stay out of her/his way and not draw their attention.

[LNDRN@RRMC]

I had that happen at my school. My clinical instructor made me an example in each class, telling me that I wasn't doing anything right. Finally I went up the chain, and found myself failing fundamentals. Yeah right, failing fundamentals, come on. So I took my mother up to the school and had a meeting with the clinical instructor and the department head, at this place this is the only way things get handled. The clinical instr. had more tenure than the department head. The dept. head backed down and I had to take both the clinical and theory all over again. But I didn't have to test in the theory class. I had to spend more money in the end and I had a different clinical instructor the second time around. All in all I almost think I would have been better off just playing possum and letting everything go on. But then again, I feel better that I spoke up. So my advice is speak up, but speak quietly (anonymously). And document, document, document. Have your student nurse buddies write down occurences too. Keep the original copies of the documentation for yourself, you'll need them as you go up the chain.

[mattsmom]

This is a tough situation and I'm glad I never encountered a teacher like this. If you can't keep your head down and tough it out, and fear she will fail you, take a tape recorder (hidden)with you and document her blowups. Then go to your dean with the recordings as well as dates and times the conversations took place. Good luck..sometimes someone flakey gets into a position of power and uses it to hurt others. You will see this in facilities as well, unfortunately.

If you can get a group of students together to report her that would be ideal. But be careful.

[lberghood]

I can relate to this topic, when i was in nursing school we had an instructor who was known for intimidating students and making their lives a living hell. I was extremely nervous about being in her class because i was never an assertive person and had a lot of bad experiences in grammar school where i was picked on and "scapegaoated" by my peers. I found that knowing how this instructor was motiviated me to do my best and always be prepared for clinical so she would be less likely to find fault with me and embarass of humiliate me in front of the other students and hospital staff. I did my assignments diligently and kept a "low profile" on the floor and confided in my classmates and leaned on them fo support and for the most part it worked. There was one incident my senior year where she became upset with me and criticised me for things that weren't my fault. I knew that i had to defend myself or i could become her next "scapegoat" I was never so nervous in all of my life but i just knew that if i didn't i would never change. I sent the whole weekend in a perpetual state of anxiety and barely slept. I wrote my concerns down and made an appt to meet with her that monday. I really felt like she could see my heart beating out of my chest when she came into the room. I simply stated my concerns and asked her what, in her opinion, could i have done differently to handle the situation. I don't remember even exactly what her reply was but it turned out that she was frustrated and concerned with the ability of all of us to transition to competent nurses after we had graduated and she went on to talk mostly about herself. She never apologized and didn't give me specific feedback but i felt that she respected my courage and openness and i never had a problem with her again. One of the skills as nurses that we have to learn on the job is to handle difficult people and i have found over the years, the best way to do this is not to take the other person's behavior personally. They are who they are and you can't change that but you can learn to detach and look at things objectively, be open to constructive criticism as you are a student and learning and can't possibly know everything. Know what your role and duties are and be responsible for them to the best of your ability and seek out people who want to help you and do not intimidate you. If you do all of that then be assertive and stand up for yourself but do it a time when you are not emotionally overloaded or you will not come off professionally. This is a difficult career to learn and nurses, especially student nurses are extremely hard on themselves and self critical. This can destroy a person's self esteem motivation and ability to learn. This can also be a valuable lesson to anyone in any career at any time of their life. Lear how to take care of yourself first and then you will be able to take care of others. I really wish that we taught this to students in nursing schools. I also truly believe that there are a lot of nurses who are sensitive and compassionate and want to help you in your studies and in your transition to starting your career. Seek them out and utilize them, and then when you see someone struggling remember to do the same for them. We don't all "eat our young" and we are also human so don't expect perfection. Good luck to you and if i can be of any assisstance don't hesitate to ask. Sorry this is so long just got a little carried away with a subject that is close to my heart

[rae]

I just started nursing school, and my clinical teacher seems to have a personally disorder. One minute she is fine and the next she is biting off your head for no reason. I am stuck with the decision of reporting her to the school or just leaving it alone. I have worked hard to get to were I am and don't what to have anything or anyone ruin that for me. And basiced on how she is, she could have a bad day and take it out on us ( the student) and then decide to just fail us. And that could happen in clinical, it's either a pass or fail course. Need help on how to handle the situation.

havent really experienced this but as other members have mentioned keeping your head down and getting on is probably the best option