Many of my nursing student clients have asked for a new perspective on the way that they receive helpful tips and strategies for success. With great thought, I’ve decided to try something new. I believe it could be fun and engaging for nursing students and new graduate nurses to use the comments section of each monthly post as a discussion board to answer common questions that nursing students have posed. I have asked nursing students on social media, as well as in-person to provide some of their most common questions, and these will be the focus of each monthly Q&A post. I strongly recommend that you contribute to the discussion by sharing ideas, tips and strategies that you may have found to be helpful. If you have not dealt with the particular situation in question, feel free to provide support and validation so that we can show our nursing students the camaraderie and teamwork that is so essential for successful nursing practice!

For the month of June, we are going to focus on tips and strategies for managing a situation where a clinical instructor may have made you feel intimidated, embarrassed or incompetent. Here are three nursing student questions revolving around this topic:

Questions

Second Semester Nursing Student – “My med-surg clinical instructor makes me very nervous. She consistently tells me and others in our group that we are going to fail. How do you recommend that I approach her to tell her that her statements are distracting and inappropriate?”

The Nurse Speak Advice – First, let me say that you are not alone. I experienced something very similar during my outpatient pediatrics clinical in nursing school. On this particular day, we were challenged to administer vaccines to infants and toddlers. During pre-conference, the instructor told our clinical group that more than half of us were going to fail today, and that we’d have to repeat an entire semester of nursing school. After my classmates and I looked at one another in disbelief for a few seconds, I asked for clarification. She immediately became upset, raised the volume and pitch of her voice and said “Well, now I know who I am going to fail first!”  Everyone’s eyes grew big, and heads began shaking in continued disbelief. I remained silent and thought carefully about how I should respond.

Once we were in the patient care area, I asked my instructor if I could speak with her in private and I told her how I felt. I made sure to let her know that her statement was hurtful and that it added a lot of unnecessary stress and tension to an already stressful learning environment. I  told her that I was afraid of making a mistake, or worse – causing patient harm – because I was focusing on her and not on the assignment. Although she appeared insincere in her apology and explanation of “just making sure that we were taking this assignment seriously”, she did however back off of saying that we were going to fail. In the end, she turned out to be an excellent instructor that offered the guidance and insight that we nursing students desperately needed.

So in a nutshell, my advice would be to just be honest and professional in your response. If you need further resolve, make sure you contact the clinical coordinator at your school right away and provide them with a clear and objective description of events so that they may help you resolve the issue.

Fundamentals Nursing Student – “Every time I am doing a head-to-toe assessment on a patient, my instructor comes into the room and tells me that I am doing the assessment wrong in front of the patient. Although I ask for feedback to identify where I am making mistakes, she only laughs and walks out of the room. This has happened three times, and I am afraid that I’m going to fail clinical. Can you give any advice on what I should do?”

The Nurse Speak Advice –  Similarly to the advice given for the situation listed above, I would be honest and professional in your response to her feedback. Seeking clarification is the first step in  finding resolve, however you must let her know how you are feeling as well. When in doubt, focus on patient safety! I recommend asking to speak with her early in the day prior to the start of your assignment and let her know that you want to know how you can improve so that you do not miss anything essential to patient safety and the management of your patient’s care. Nursing instructors are usually very impressed when their students show signs of patient advocacy. If this does not seem to open up the communication channels with your instructor, you should reach out to a professor at your school to ask for guidance and clarification.

Third Semester Nursing Student – “I overheard my instructor telling one of the hospital staff nurses that she thinks I am stupid and she is going to try to fail me. I want to talk to my instructor about what I heard to see if I can better understand how I can improve, but I am concerned she will retaliate. How should I handle this? Should I just lay low and ignore it, or should I say something? I need help!”

The Nurse Speak Advice – First, I want to apologize that you had to experience this. Educators should NEVER call one of their students “stupid”. This behavior is unacceptable and should not be tolerated in any setting, especially in a learning environment. This behavior is a prime example of nurse bullying, and she needs to be reported to your school professors immediately. Be objective in your descriptions, and let the school know of your concerns regarding retaliation. Schools generally do well with handling these kind of formal complaints, so be sure to follow all of the appropriate grievance reporting policies so that this issues gets resolved ASAP.

It is with great hope that these monthly Nursing Student Q&A Blog Series will provide you with valuable advice that help you meeting your academic goals! Please add to this discussion via the comments section below and by sharing this post on Facebook and Twitter!

Best Wishes,

-Damion