Too many Negative remarks regarding Nursing School here!! Stop the discouragement!!

Diahni · Oct 20, 2006

I didn't discover this site until I was already a nurse, but I think hearing all the vents actually is helpful. It makes you feel not so alone, and helps you cope and get through tough situations.
Hearing from others who struggled in nursing school, and then became great nurses is very inspiring and I think is an incentive to keep hanging in there.
Nursing school is NOTHING like real nursing. And sorry - but nursing school does suck.

May I add to this? Nursing school sucks ROYALLY. As for venting once you become a nurse, there are dangers to venting at work. I had a friend who did this - the person who was getting her goat was the daughter of a patient - this woman had just been fired by the same hospital, so she had an axe to grind. My friend uttered some remark about her, which the woman heard. Anyway, my friend got "written up," had to "apologize," and she quit instead. Probably better to keep your mouth shut at work. This woman was swearing at her, and being a real troglodyte and my friend was expected to just be pleasant right back. Venting is downright therapeutic.

Diahni

Diahni · Oct 20, 2006

I take satisfaction in seeing those type of students get their faces ripped off by experienced nurses once they actually get on the floor. They might get away with that behavior for awhile in nursing school but it doesn't fly when you are on the floor. In our college, the year 2 class is particularly immatrue and nasty to each other, i watched 3 teachers stand all of them up and address the nasty and mean behavior with a pretty good tongue lashing and everyone looked pretty darn humbled after the spiel was over. Especially since it was coming from very well respected teachers who also worked part time/full time in the hospital and were considered quite reasonable and fair.
Those students need to grow up or go back to highschool where that behavior belongs.

Yes, highschool mentality, maybe even middle school. Where does this meanness come from, and why are these people becoming nurses? I've heard more than my share of nasty remarks from other students. Ah, well, "stuck people stick people," and I don't mean with needles!

Diahni

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Oct 21, 2006

:rotfl:
still LMAO at the thought of a post slamming us about negativity in a forum full of stressed, tired, cranky, borderline homicidial nursing students.
I am surprised all of the replies have been as nice as they are!!!!!

The irony that's getting me is 1) the original post was about negativity, yet it was negative. 2) it turned into yet another nursing-school-is-hard thread, the very thing the OP complained about lol.

Sheri257 · Oct 21, 2006

I used to try to sugar coat the realities of nursing school when friends, particularly ones who were waiting to get into the program ... asked me about it.

But it would be a lie ... plain and simple. So I just told them the truth.

Forewarned is forearmed.

If they don't know how tough it is ahead of time, they can't prepare for it. They're going to find out sooner or later ... better sooner before they flunk a bunch of tests or, even worse, flunk out all together.

:typing

Halinja, BSN, RN · Oct 21, 2006

Why do nursing instructors have to be so hateful? I have never in my life run into such a group of women in my life and I work in a unit with over 100 RN's. Sure you see and will work with all types in the "REAL WORLD" but who needs to be ridiculed and belittled for making mistakes or asking questions IN THE CLASSROOM...not in clinical.
I am 47 years old and the average age of my class of over 100 is 30 so we do not need to build character. We also have a GPA of 3.7 or higher so we are not ignorant yet we are treated that way every day.
Amen!
I have wondered that myself...why DO nursing instructors have to be so hateful? Not all of them are...but WOW the ones that are sure overshadow the ones that aren't. And every time you question something, or stand up for yourself, you get the answer, "if you were a nurse you'd have to put up with blah blah blah". Uh, if I was nurse, I'd be getting paid and they'd have more right to blah blah blah, but under the circumstances, I am paying you!
(Once I was even told I should be down on my knees THANKING her...whew, yeah, I usually thank people that treat me like *&^%)

JVanRN · Oct 21, 2006

I didn't find nursing school to be as stressful as some of my classmates made it out to be. But that was THEIR individual experience, maybe it was that stressful to them. And of course some people are just drama queens that love to complain. If you had a bad day at clinicals, thier day was 1 million times worse. But you find those sorts in all walks of life and all different majors.

I don't think it's so much that it was hard for me academically, but it is VERY time consuming. It's almost like a full time job in itself and on top of that I was working a full time job to pay for nursing school. So it was stressfull at times, but I didn't consider it to be the worst experience of my life or anything. But I was so glad when it was done. Sorry but that's just the reality of it for some people.

RNsoon! · Oct 21, 2006

LOL, but as of your posting, it's only 28 hours old. Give her time, she may be busy looking for different career options.

I said some of the comments were discouraging .I never said I would stop pursuing a degree in Nursing .I have a B+ gpa, which is pretty high, so I believe that I can make it through Nursing school.Many people enter Nursing school with gpa's way below mine and do fine.lol....Didn't mean to respond so late guys! I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my post , whether it was negative or positive!! LMAOI LOVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO LOVE ALLNURSES.COM.Oh and You guys have helped me view " venting" in another perspective and I can't wait to VENT on this site when I do become a Nursing student ...Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Jo Dirt · Jul 16, 2007

Nursing school has caused divorce, financial ruin, depression.

I don't think throwing a little reality peoples' way is over the top.

caliotter3 · Jul 16, 2007

If I were refunded all of my tuition and other expenses associated with nursing school that I couldn't complete due to circumstances beyond my control, I would be existing comfortably: nice home, modest lifestyle, complete with health care and all those other niceties that older people want or need. And that's just the financial viewpoint. I wish anyone would have given me some wise counsel before I started on my neverending journey. But then, I wouldn't have listened.

StephOScope · Jul 16, 2007

Interesting. I loved school anyway, but in retrospect I think Nursing as a profession makes Nursing school look even more like a picnic.

nurz2be · Aug 15, 2007

I can already imagine what responses I'll get....But anyway...I and im sure, alot of other people who are pursuing a degree in Nursing are tired of some of the remarks that are made on this site regarding Nursing school! It's already stressful for many of us who are trying to get into a program and to hear such things like " when will this end," "15 people dropped out of my Nursing class last semester!!,"etc makes it even more stressful for us! Nursing school is not easy , but Im sure it's not "Hell." I have known many people who applied and got accepted into Nursing school with a 2.7.Uhmmmm, thats "pretty average Joe" to me and hey, they're pretty good Nurses now.

Well, as you say, you don't know what "hell" is in nursing school. I actually find it funny for people who aren't in or haven't been to nursing school to comment on how hard or easy it is. Let me tell ya, when you have a care plan to do, study for a test that you HAVE to make a 90 on or you get booted from the program, read your 12 chapters for the night, do the 30-40 page nightly handouts (This happens daily at our school) and all the while REQUIRED to maintain a 3.5, maybe JUST maybe then you can talk about what "hell" it is. Someone saying hell is not a bad thing, it is actually meaning they are working hard and studying to become the best bleeping nurse they can become. If they need to come here and blow a few valves, let them. If you don't like that sort of thing maybe you should rethink even going to nursing school. If you can't handle negative posts, just wait until you are in a classroom of 20+ people the majority of which complain on a daily basis, instructors who are bitter about the administration at your school and vocalize it to all who listen, enter a clinical setting where you hear nurses, CNAs. even doctors day in and out voicing their complaints..All the while YOU maintain a smiley face..... I feel sorry for you....You may not be able to handle that kind of stress.

grv68 · Aug 15, 2007

Ive read this with interest. Logically I believe there is a need for balance, and self-control because we are in control of how we choose to react.

Nursing school was not pleasant for me. It was not pleasant for my classmates. Was it hell or the hardest thing to do? No. I would think being a single mom with kids, scrambling to make ends meet with no support structure is accurately Hell. Ive had life experiences that far exceed nursing school as trauma.

In my program which consisted of mature students and second career people. We were belittled, mocked, insulted, and at one point one student was practically physically assaulted by a screaming instructor in front of the class. Clinical instructors would comment out loud who they were going to get rid of. There was gender and racial issues. I had one instructor tell she did not believe males should be nurses. I smiled and didnt respond. This instructor most likely had mental issues.

I wont go into details as to how but the class stood up. That instructor was removed, there was an investigation, lawyers consulted and in the end a Dean was asked to leave, contracts for clinical instructors were not renewed and there was restructuring of the department.

Is this the norm? I would say No. There is clinical documentation in journals in history about mass psychosis. The best example I can give here is to look at a lobster tank. When it gets overcrowded and turbid and the environmental stressors increase the lobsters become cannibals. Go look in a tank sometime and you will find a lobster with one claw. I'm sure the lobsters know they are destined for the dinner plate. The rubber bands on their claws are not for your protection, it is to prevent the product from killing each other.

I have two good friends who are nurse educators so I have heard the other side of the debate. Students who are not prepared, who are dangerous, and don't seem to care. I have also heard how the internal academic politics like the corporate crap in offices drove them to tears and banging their heads against the walls. They stay because they love to teach and that one great student that comes along once in a while makes a difference to them. They remain active on the floor nurses in addition to teaching because they are there for the patients. They know some of their peers are Harpies who have no life or outlet and who sharpen their claws daily.

The nursing student environment does get toxic. Fall below a GPA and you are out. Think to transfer to another program to finish out, then think again. You start from scratch. I know because I left one school after one semester (nasty environment where I was one of three males) and went to another program and told I had to repeat first semester despite solid 'A' work in pre-reqs and Fundamentals. Why? "We emphasize cultural competency and each school has a different emphasis."

Overall my class was supportive of each other. Maybe that was not the norm from what I read here. I saw the rage, the tears, the doubts, the frustration, the 'I don't dare talk and just go with the flow' among students.

I'm not bitter. Would I do it again? No. It was a traumatic two years I wouldn't wish it on anybody; and frankly if I were in my early twenties I would have bailed and knowing my disposition then I would not have responded so nicely. I am in my late 30s. The drama and trauma is behind me. It remains to be seen what the job will bring. I will do my best.

I read somewhere 34,000 students were turned away from nursing programs nationally last year because the schools were flooded with apps and short of nurse educators. I know of folks on waiting lists so I have mixed opinions on the "nursing shortage". I believe the American south, poor populated, and rural areas are hurting for nurses.

I am convinced if the American public truly knew the working conditions and why nurses don't stay they would be on the front lawns of the state houses wondering why administrators, big insurance, and pharm companies are making obscene amounts and perks and we work hours that belong to the 19th century. It is (my opinion) OBSCENE that in a country of extraordinary wealth we have homeless and uninsured. Children and the elderly are our most vulnerable populations. The public knows we will all at one time or another be in a hospital bed. I digress.

I am an RN now. Nobody will take that away from me. I know and choose NEVER to subject a student to the behavior. That said nurses show through behavior that they belong to a profession. It is a profession with a history stretching back to medieval times. No place, job or school is perfect but there should be reforms and standardization on programs so we dont have this ASN vs BSN debate and no 'horizontal violence' in the schools or workplaces. There is a lot work to be done in recruiting men into nursing. We should not act like caught crabs in a pail who pull down the one crab trying to climb out of the pail. We are not lobsters and we aren't crabs.

In closing I have told others and I remind myself with the adversities in Life, "Living well is the best revenge." You can decide what that means to you.