3rd year PT student here. Posting under a different alias since I do not want to use my pre-PT username. I'm not in the best place right now after just falling short of passing my first long-term clinical this past summer. I tried my best to appeal to the committee for my case for passing, but no avail. I feel really depressed that my graduation will be delayed by a whole year (granted everything goes right), and I'm just feeling my life has no purpose and life. I pushed aside my marathon training for 3 weeks to focus on my clinical, which makes this failure even more depressing....I wonder why I always fall short in life....
Failing A Clinical
- Thread starter fighter43
- Start date
You are not the first and won't be the last! Many leaders in the field have even failed clinicals. PT clinical education is a special beast, a you are dependent on basically one person, and that person doesn't have to have any background in education or even prior experience teaching a student. For that reason, I often do not see people who failed a clinical as anything more than bad luck. Most likely you will go on to be completely successful.
First order of business is addressing your mental health and confidence. Everything you are feeling is totally expected, but it also won't help you when you return to the clinic. I highly recommend getting some counseling. Second, more in the PT realm, when you are ready, look at what the comments were that led to the failure. Might be helpful to sit down with a trusted faculty member and go over it. Does this feedback line up with your previous feedback either in class/practicals/previous clinical experiences? If so, it does need to be addressed. Be pro-active in finding faculty mentors who can help you overcome shortcomings. If it is not consistent, try to see why it may have been in issue (real or perceived by your CI) so that you make sure it isn't in the future. I'd also see if you can get any temporary experiences in the meantime before re-starting- even going back to pre-PT sort of shadowing.
Life and career are far from over. Feel free to PM if you want to chat.
First order of business is addressing your mental health and confidence. Everything you are feeling is totally expected, but it also won't help you when you return to the clinic. I highly recommend getting some counseling. Second, more in the PT realm, when you are ready, look at what the comments were that led to the failure. Might be helpful to sit down with a trusted faculty member and go over it. Does this feedback line up with your previous feedback either in class/practicals/previous clinical experiences? If so, it does need to be addressed. Be pro-active in finding faculty mentors who can help you overcome shortcomings. If it is not consistent, try to see why it may have been in issue (real or perceived by your CI) so that you make sure it isn't in the future. I'd also see if you can get any temporary experiences in the meantime before re-starting- even going back to pre-PT sort of shadowing.
Life and career are far from over. Feel free to PM if you want to chat.
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2004
- Messages
- 1,050
- Reaction score
- 388
well said
@wiseOldPT , I sent you messages. Could you please respond to them? I'm in a better place now. It really sucks that I won't be graduating with my classmates, but ultimately, I'm in this program to get my degree and work towards becoming a physical therapist, and this is utimately my own journey. There is an option to appeal the grade (which I highly doubt they'll change because I already stated my points in the meeting with the clinical education committee), but I guess I'm also looking at this as a time to reinvent myself. I do not know whether it will be worth my time or not (thoughts?)
Ever since my 2 years of missionary work and finding about PT afterwards, I have been pushing non-stop for the past 5 1/2 years towards this goal, and it SUCKS that there's a setback right now, but I feel that some of the struggles I face were bound to surface at some point. I do feel unlucky, but the way wiseOldPT says, it does give me a bit of comfort. Talking with someone that was in a similar situation in the class above me helped as well.
Ever since my 2 years of missionary work and finding about PT afterwards, I have been pushing non-stop for the past 5 1/2 years towards this goal, and it SUCKS that there's a setback right now, but I feel that some of the struggles I face were bound to surface at some point. I do feel unlucky, but the way wiseOldPT says, it does give me a bit of comfort. Talking with someone that was in a similar situation in the class above me helped as well.
I may assume your CI is an a** h*** that's why you are failing (unless you literally killed, injured a patient, or came close to that). There are CIs like that, but most of them are normal. So if you have to do clinical again, make sure you are sent to a different clinic and have a different CI and you will be fine. Yes, it may take you another year and you will have to take more student loans, but it is only 1 extra year and will not be a huge part of your life when you look back at it in 30 years.
@ya1, I wouldn't say she was an a** h***, but there were some aspects of her personality that made it difficult to connect/reach out to her. I started developing performance anxiety/general anxiety as well, which certainly made communicating with her difficult. This is something new, as I've never had anxiety/depression as terrible as what I'm experiencing now.... 🙁
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2012
- Messages
- 1,526
- Reaction score
- 734
You know what they say about assumptions. I have seen students fail because they simply were not where they need to be given guidance and time. Now, if the CI literally failed a student without feedback or communication with the student and school, then the student would have some ammunition during an academic board.
My colleagues and I are tasked to help mold new therapists, not entertain less than mediocre performance. Our responsibilities extend passed the student and his/ her institution. We are also protecting our profession and future patients.
@Azimuthal @wiseOldPT @truthseeker , based on your experiences, how have you addressed students who had difficulty with communication? More roleplaying? Faking confidence? I have struggled a lot with articulating my thoughts and had times where my mind blanks out most of my life, where there are awkward pauses that affects the flow of the interaction. I feel that the pressure and the buildup of anxiety really made these underlying issues worse.
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2012
- Messages
- 1,526
- Reaction score
- 734
It would depend on what these barriers are and what year the student is. This sounds more like a comfort, confidence, and perhaps even competency issue that is being the source of your anxiety. I don’t know you so IDK about competence. In my own experience, these “mind blanks” are typical and usually derived from “testing anxiety” or over thinking. My students and I review the patient’s chart together and before going to greet the patient, discuss the student’s plan. The student will write down their plan if they feel inclined.
To mitigate this, I tell my students during our first day, 1) Safety and professional conduct (patient, facility, etc.), 2) This clinical is *NOT A TEST* (you are here to learn), 3) I’m here to help you build your own clinical foundation, but will give you insight into my -isms, to provide research and reasoning. Take it or leave it, I’m not making mini-mies, 4) Ask questions, and 5) What’s your preference on feedback?
The other side of the spectrum, I had a student who wouldn’t stop talking when she was nervous, e.g., explaining demyelination to a patient with GBS using textbook terms who spoke little English with a 5th grade level education. Jesus.
Either way, if the student feels welcomed, rather than feeling like a 10-12 week test, they perform better. As long as the student is safe, they’re there to learn. I don’t intervene much as I always have an agreement with students that I will follow through whatever they missed during their first few weeks to assist them with gathering their thoughts. This is done not directly with the student in front of the patient, but with the patient themselves so that the student can observe. I find that this makes the student feel like we are collaborating (as it should), rather than the student being taught in front of the patient.
Your comfort and confidence will follow.
@Azimuthal, in a way, this clinical did feel like a test, which I believe played some factor into my performance. Part of me felt like I was out of place until the last few weeks, since it was a pretty huge clinic with many therapists, and there were many things going on around me. A huge part of my anxiety also stemmed from being constantly criticized for minute details during examinations and documentation, and there were a couple of instances where I just shut myself from my CI's feedback due to overload of information. I also felt irked when the CI mentioned about the caseload requirements for the different passing criterias, that he/she was setting a "low" expectation based on a new grad's caseload, and mentioned how if it was based on a more experienced clinician, he/she would've increased the standard.
This CI was also taking in a student for the first time, and felt like the relationship was not the best initially, so like @wiseOldPT said, I'm going to chalk it up to being in an unlucky situation. After a month of depression and sorting my life out, I can say that I did not leave this clinical experience empty-handed. Another silver lining is that the CI left a detailed note in my CPI to work on for the future clinicals. I did not burn any bridges, and gave my appreciation to my CI, but I have a difficult time imagining that I will reach out to this CI in the future.
This CI was also taking in a student for the first time, and felt like the relationship was not the best initially, so like @wiseOldPT said, I'm going to chalk it up to being in an unlucky situation. After a month of depression and sorting my life out, I can say that I did not leave this clinical experience empty-handed. Another silver lining is that the CI left a detailed note in my CPI to work on for the future clinicals. I did not burn any bridges, and gave my appreciation to my CI, but I have a difficult time imagining that I will reach out to this CI in the future.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2004
- Messages
- 1,050
- Reaction score
- 388
I echo what Azimuthal said. Every student is different. Every student brings a different skill set to the clinical. That said, you don't get into PT school without having academic cred. Relax, don't overthink, try to simplify. I give my students a list of "Axioms" with the intent to simplify their decision making process. I will attach a copy. Some people are better communicators. Generally speaking, if you can dribble well with your right hand, you should spend more time practicing with your Left. If you struggle with communication, spend more time with people and talk to them. You will get better at it. have clinical conversations with your peers. learn to use lay language. etc . . . And if you aren't already, treat your depression.