My clinical partner showed up for clinical this week completely unprepared. As in, she waltzed in at 7:00 AM on the dot, having no clue who her patient was nor knowing anything about her. She seemed bewildered that the assignment sheet was no longer hanging on the board.
After
Here's the deal. EVERYONE screws up at some point. Your car breaks down, you oversleep, you wake up puking, whatever. We're human, it's understandable. But here's where my partner fucked up: She refused to take responsibility. She made excuses and was offended and upset at being sent home. She simply didn't get it, and that's the biggest problem.
She said, "I could go get her vitals and then sit back here and get all the info in twenty minutes. We don't have to pass meds until 8:00 AM, so what's the big deal, anyway?!"
WRONG
I can't emphasize how wrong my partner's attitude is. She was setting herself up for failure and risking the health of her assigned patient. And she just didn't get that.
She's extremely lucky that she didn't get thrown out of the nursing program. As it stands, she has to make up the 12-hour shift AND prepare a case study which she then has to present to the entire class...the 21st century version of the dunce cap, I suppose.
My biggest fear is that she won't learn from this experience.
Well, we have three more semesters to go after this one, room to grow for all of us.
I hope...
7 comments:
The unprepared nurse is definitely NOT the one I want helping my family in the hospital!!
Not a good way to 'start' training... And NO, I don't want her treating me!
I hope your partner gets the message. Otherwise? Washout.
Blondefabulous and NFO, yup!
Buck, I concur.
Hopefully it'll do her some good to hit reality this way. If not, it'll do the rest of the class good for her to be the warning example.
Was her case study mandated to be something that you can't pull up and cross-reference all the relevant info in twenty minutes, with only basic vitals?
By Day Three of nursing school, I and any number of us (probably right around 92.5% of our starting class of 40) had mentally picked out which three beginning students weren't going to make it.
All three bit the dust within the first two weeks of starting clinical. They just...weren't there one day.
As long as you know you aren't "that guy", just keep rowing until they unchain you from the oar, and try to keep up with the beat of the drum.
Wing, I'm not sure, I haven't spoken to her since. I'll see her later today and I wonder if she'll still be bitching and moaning. Oh, my guess would be that the case study will require at least a few hours of prep.
Aesop, my class had about 120 students last semester, this semester we're hovering around 100. Attrition is bad, but it's mostly lecture-related. A C+ average is mandatory for all nursing classes, and some people can't manage that. I hope my partner shapes up, but she's always been a bit flaky.
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