For a start, since my college days I always shy away of the thought of being a clinical instructor or a member of the faculty, for one I have no patience in standing infront of other people which I really don't know the main logic, but maybe I'm just too lazy to do it.
Anyway going forward, I started my journey in the academe or clinical teaching last September 2022, during the time of COVID, the first concern is how I can be a effective mentor to this students, especially with all of this strict hospital policies that will limit my implementation of the teaching plans that I think will be applicable in there future practice as beginning nurses. Another concern is, do I have the skills or even the knowledge in providing them a good learning environment, knowing that my last clinical practice was way back 2004, then coupled with other personal questions in the back of my mind, like I'm I too strict or to lenient in the way I treat my students. I had one situation that I got one of my students (male) cry infront of his team members during our debriefing session because he felt that he was not good enough after I called his attention in private about his numerous non-compliance or errors within that 8 hour shift. This type of scenarios created doubts of myself if I can be a effective mentor.
So this are some of the concerns that always come into play and there are a lot of other small concerns that are manageable, so I still condition myself even until now that I have to consider each clinical exposure (day) to be part of my learning (as a novice academician or clinician) challenges in being a effective clinical teacher to my present and future students.
