I feel like I got thrown under the bus during placement and I don’t know how to process it
I’m a nursing student on placement and something happened that’s been sitting really badly with me.
Basically, I accidentally misunderstood the shift time and thought it was 7–2:30. I fully acknowledge that part was my mistake and I take responsibility for it. But after my clinical educator came in, some of the nurses started talking about me in a way that honestly felt unfair and humiliating.
They were saying I “refused” to give medication, when they literally never even allowed me to touch or administer the medication in the first place. Then they also said I refused to take vital signs, even though I was actually the one ASKING whether vitals needed to be taken for the patient.
What hurt most is that a lot of the comments were coming from a nurse I barely even worked with that shift. It felt like assumptions were made about me and suddenly became facts once my educator was there.
I’m trying really hard to learn and be proactive on placement, so hearing people speak about me like that behind my back was honestly upsetting. I know I’m still learning and I’m open to criticism when it’s fair, but this just felt exaggerated and inaccurate.
Has anyone else experienced being misrepresented on placement? How did you deal with it without completely losing confidence?