Career possibilities for older student with 1 year of NP courses

[Hygaeia]

As an older nursing student with a 3.8 GPA who dropped out due to a joint fracture and a failed exam for which I had no preparation and only very distant memories (drug dosage calculations,the ONLY one I could not complete well), I am rethinking my career trajectory and seek means and further education so I can reenter the field for licensure and certification. I request advice in this forum to find a school or training center that accepts and nurtures the older professional student who has experience in a quasi-medical area (labor assisting), medical secretarial experience and one year of an accelerated NP degree. What recourse might I have if my preceptor avoided teaching the practical patient care skills one needed during clinicals? Who can one contact if one believes the quality and content of the clinical training was not equitable and contact time with my preceptor was extremely limited? Do professors purposefully weed out unwanted students by not teaching them overtly and getting them off the floor on other "assignments"? What recourse does one have if this was done and you have dropped out, incredibly disappointed, after the fact? I have told this story over and over again to people outside of the field and they believe it was a thinly disguised attempt to create an impossible situation by routinely sending me "off floor" to attend and observe patients who were not assigned to my floor; i.e. interview a dialysis patient, attend a patient undergoing paracentesis, etc. I wished to learn the rudiments of wound care, patient assessment and assisting patient with ADL's instead of being an orderly. What can I do turn this horrid and expensive situation into a boon instead of a breakdown?

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Do professors purposefully weed out unwanted students by not teaching them overtly and getting them off the floor on other "assignments"?

No. Unwanted students weed themselves out by failing exams because they did not prepare themselves.

If you didn't finish out the first half of your program to be eligible to sit for the NCLEX then you are in a tough spot. You can't work as a nurse and if you apply to other schools the likely wont accept your past credits.

[BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN]

I reread your OP in effort to try again to understand. I still do not grasp what actually happened to you, but I will try to address your actual questions.

What recourse might I have if my preceptor avoided teaching the practical patient care skills one needed during clinicals?

Now, post facto? Probably none. Had it been addressed while you were in the program, your concern might have carried some weight, been met with more serious response. Under the circumstances is going to come across as sour grapes and blame shifting.

Who can one contact if one believes the quality and content of the clinical training was not equitable and contact time with my preceptor was extremely limited? (sic)

Essentially same answer. I think that horse has left the barn. There is no central body to whom "one" complains about their dissatisfaction with a nursing education program. One addresses it before one encounters serious problems, so as not to, um you know, encounter serious problems. (this is euphemistic for "fail," obviously.)

Do professors purposefully weed out unwanted students by not teaching them overtly and getting them off the floor on other "assignments"?

I doubt it, that would be a serious breech of ethics and they would probably be fired and sued for such a thing. Now, I would not be shocked if some other (former) student pipes up and insists they were unfairly scuttled out of a program in similar fashion. I am always suspect of these stores, in fact, I simply don't believe the story teller. I am not accusing you or anyone else here of deliberate attempt to be untruthful, but rather an inability to be objective about the course of events. We all tell the truth according to our own points of view. I suspect were we in possession of all the objective facts, the story would flesh out a bit more.

What recourse does one have if this was done and you have dropped out, incredibly disappointed, after the fact?

Again, none. You lick you wounds, dust yourself off, and try again. I do suggest a bit of time spent trying to assess what really happened. You don't have to tell us, but it might be helpful to you in the future to have a better handle on your strengths and weaknesses so as to ensure better likelihood of success in future endeavors.

I wished to learn the rudiments of wound care, patient assessment and assisting patient with ADL's instead of being an orderly.

We don't have Orderlies anymore, and haven't for (someone help me) 30-40 years? I'm not sure what you think and orderly is/does. However, I would point out that rudimentary wound care and assisting with ADLs are essentially unskilled duties belonging to unlicensed personnel. -Hell, we try to get families to do them if we can! Assessment, of course, is the function of at least a Registered Nurse. This kind of garbled description of what you hope(d) to do makes me wonder if you even understand the job description of a RN or NP.

I have told this story over and over again to people outside of the field and they believe it was a thinly disguised attempt to create an impossible situation...

I agree with the poster up thread who pointed out that getting input about highly detailed aspects regarding the implementation of Nursing education from people outside of Nursing is a waste of your time and theirs. They have no understanding of the intricacies of the culture in which we operate. Going to a hospital and having seen and interacted with nurses from time to time does not qualify them to comment any more than my having seen photographs of Mars qualifies me to criticize the Mars Exploration Program. However, if you would like to hear my lengthy opinion of how NASA and the Planetary Science Division are handling the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, I have no plans for the evening!