Advice for new students

Nursing Students General Students

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attention new nursing students: :lol2:

first off, congratulations to everyone who is just starting nursing school :yeah:don't forget that there are a lot of people out there who are putting everything they have into this and still have not been accepted into a program, we have been given a great opportunity here. i got rejected several times by the program i was applying to, and most of you know that it can be devastating. i was finally accepted to that program for this summer and didn't make it, i failed out of the program, but somehow...miraculously, i had gotten accepted into another program for the fall, i was on a waitlist and when i received the letter stating that there was a spot available i called them and told them to give it to the next person on the list. then the other day i failed my clinical exam and was discharged from the program :bluecry1:. when i called the other school to see if i could get back on the waitlist i was told that someone had just called to give up their seat and i could have it!!! :bow:

anyway...long story short...school as you know it is over. these people mean business and there is no room for screwing up. they probably will not care that you have 3 kids at home or that your electricity was shut off, or that you have anxiety, or your house burned down, your dog ran away, your kids are sick,,,i don't know, whatever it may be, they might not care. they also may not be fair, may decide to pick on you and give other students more slack than they give you. as hard as you worked to get into this program, there are a lot of other people who worked just as hard and didn't make it so don't take it for granted. put your head down, keep your mouth shut, and do your very best! ask for help, study non-stop, and put every ounce of your being into this. act like your life depends on it because in a way it does. this isn't just school, this is your life, your dreams, and your opportunity to be successful and have a better life for you and your family. just do everything they ask, don't question it, and make lots of friends in class. this is your chance to shine, to show everyone what you can do, and to learn to be the best nurse possible. i went into the program so confident that i could do it, and though i still feel that i didn't get a fair shot, i learned the hard way that fair has nothing to do with it. so be early for every class, stay after to practice, and do your very best.

good luck to all of you!!!

THANK YOU!!! All I was trying to do was offer up a little advice, I can't believe how critical people are being.

"And you have to admit, your results were off. All the other students have to get within the same range as you do, so how is this not fair, how is this picking on you? You should have practiced, practiced and practiced some more. Take it as a lesson learned."

She took the BP 15+ minutes after I did, I got 112/60 she got 120/68. O did practice, practice, practice...in fact I'm confident that there could be that much change in even 5 minutes. I asked her to use a double stethescope and allow me to re-do it, in fact since she kept sating that she couldn't pass me if she wasn't confident that I could take a blood pressure I told her I would take every student in the classes and she could listen with a double stethescope.

I did stand up for myself, I went over and over this exam with two instructors. She accused me of missing range of motion exercises and when I firmly told her that I had done them, she would say "oh, yeah, sorry, you did do that". Like I said before, I own my mistakes, I have been over and over this a hundred times. I discussed it with other students who told me that they were asked during the exam to re-do vitals that were off. I'm not looking for pity anyway, What I said was, don't give your instructors anything to start criticizing you over, do your best, study study study, and stand up for yourself when you have to.

"This could be unfair, however I know this sounds harsh, but I doubt it and you did not give us any details."

It's not up to you to judge whether it was unfair or not, you weren't there. All I was trying to do was offer new students some advice...learn from my mistakes...don't be late, and make sure you are 100% confident in your skills. That's all I was saying. I have read so many posts from people who claim that they weren't being treated fairly and I was just saying, that's how it is. I wasn't looking for sympathy, but like I said before, I've beat myself up enough and I don't think it's up to anyone else (especially someone who wasn't there) to be critical and judgmental of the situation.

Specializes in Forensic Psych.

Honesty, the responses are probably right up to par with what you'd expect from a bunch of chronic critical thinkers. It's hard to sell a pie in the sky ideal without people starting at the very bottom and trying to diagnose the problem to see if your post is a correct conclusion :)

In prior experience, when being tested for BP reading accuracy- the instructor and student listen through the SAME STETHESCOPE (double earpiece kind) at the SAME TIME. I would be irate if I was failed and dismissed from a nursing program for a BP read that didn't follow logical protocol.

Agreed why dont these instructors have teaching stethoscopes?

They have teaching stethoscopes, they didn't use them. I asked her to use one so I could show her I can take a blood pressure and she wouldn't.

I like the dual stethascope idea!

It's not up to you to judge whether it was unfair or not, you weren't there. All I was trying to do was offer new students some advice...learn from my mistakes...don't be late, and make sure you are 100% confident in your skills.

Yes it is up to me to judge, as a student myself, whether are not a person is giving me good advice or not. And of course I don't know all the details because obviously I wasn't there and you conveniently left the details out that would indicate whether the trouble you are having has more to do with you than the instructors, so you can conveniently point the finger at the instructors not being fair.

And you can go ahead and take what was ment only as constructive critisism and point the finger at me too and say I'm not being fair...are you seeing a cycle here? I am soooo tired of hearing those people who are the worst people to be giving advice to anyone but yet are the ones that hand out their advice the most, to anyone who will listen, I see it all the time...I am tired of seeing the more innocent, younger and niave students hearing this king of toxic advice and taking it to heart when it is only adding stress to their already over run system. Don't be late and be 100% on your skills, well yeah!

I'm sorry, I think you got the wrong idea from the beginning here. I said before that the reason I posted this was because I had read so many posts about mean instructors and people not being treated fairly. It was meant to be lighthearted, and I don't think that it's toxic advice at all, just simply a reminder of how fortunate everyone is to have been given the opportunity to even go to nursing school considering how competitive most of the programs have gotten. I wasn't looking for a pity party, in fact I took responsibility for my own situation and I didn't explain my situation in great depth and give every detail because that wasn't the point. But since you keep bringing up the fact that I left out details, here's how it went:

-we have 2 chances to pass our CPE, I was 20 minutes late for my exam. I spoke with my instructor about it (I had a personal issue that I would rather not discuss),and she agreed that it was a valid excuse and decided to put it behind us as long as I agreed to not be late to another class

-at this point I was a nervous wreck for the exam and I was told I would need to retake it because I missed some range of motion exercises and though my BP numbers were correct, I did it in a way that was uncomfortable to my patient. I also was off on the pedal pulses and forgot to check symmetry of strength in the lower extremities. Several other students told me that they were stopped during their exams and asked to re-do things, some of them had to do BP's/lung sounds/pulses ect...3 times. I assumed that because I was late they didn't do that for me and I was asked to re-take the test.

-I was scheduled to re-take the exam after lecture on Monday and also had a lecture exam that morning. I spent the next week practicing and studying for my tests (I got an A- on the lecture exam). At the end of lecture my instructor announced to my entire class that I had to re-take the CPE (I was the only one) and asked a classmate if she would volunteer to be my patient. We only have an hour break before lab and it's a 12 hour school day, of course this person wasn't thrilled about spending her break helping me and I was pretty embarrassed that she announced to the class that I had to re-take the test.

-I was a nervous wreck, literally shaking through the entire thing. I know that you have to be able to handle whatever is thrown at you and not get all worked up but a lot was riding on this exam and I was embarrassed so I got really anxious. I had felt pretty good about my skills but I was basically having an anxiety attack. When I took the BP I said "I think it's 112/60" big mistake, I should never have let her know I was unsure. She did not use a double stethoscope and she waited over 15 minutes to re-check, she got 120/68 and told me that I was way off.

-When I finished the exam I felt pretty good about it, until we went over it. She stated that I was way off on the BP, I questioned the fact that she waited so long to re-check. She also said that I had left out ROM exercises. I argued that I had in fact done them and she said "oh, oh yeah you did, ok" She told me that she wasn't sure what she was going to do, she didn't know if she could pass me unless she was confident that I could take a BP. I asked her several times to let me do it over and she wouldn't. She told me to come back for lab, go to the hospital the next day, and we would talk about it on Wednesday. So when I came back to class and was sitting in lab with my fellow classmates she came and asked me to come to her office.

-Both instructors were in her office and we went over every part of the test. She accused me of missing ROM exercises that I said I had done and of being "sketchy" on the breath sounds which I argued that PT was fully clothed and I just wasn't sure. I explained to them that I was a nervous wreck and that I was really upset that she announced to the class that I failed my test and asked a student to give up her break to help me. I would have been more than happy to ask my lab partner to help me. She agreed that that was understandable and passed me for that. She then stated that I ignored the fact that my PT had an IV. I did not ignore the fact that she had an IV, I verbalized that I would check PT's IV and what I would check for (I should have physically inspected the IV but I didn't ignore it) and then she went into the fact that I was way off on the BP. She kept saying that she couldn't pass me if she didn't think I could take a BP, she stated that it was the one thing that was keeping her from passing me. I asked if she would get the double stethoscope and allow me to re-do the pressure...I failed the test and because I failed the test, I failed the class

-You are allowed to re-take one nursing class but they told me that they would not allow me to re-take the class unless I re-applied and wrote a letter to the entire department explaining why they should let me back into the program. I fought them as much as I could, I stood up for myself when she accused me of missing things that I didn't miss. It doesn't matter, they ultimately have the final say. I could appeal this and write a letter to the department but it's their department so what's the point. I know a girl who was discharged from the program and when she filed an appeal they told her they weren't even going to read it because there are so many people who want to get in.

-So many other students were allowed to re-do skills they had missed 2,3, and 4 times. I think it was rude and unprofessional of her to announce to the class that I had to re-take the test, and she blatantly accused me of leaving things out that I did.

Say what you will everyone, I don't care who thinks I'm padding the truth to make myself look better. This is how it went and shame on me for being late the first time, valid excuse or not, it was what led up to all of this. If I had been on time and on top of it the first time than none of this would have happened. This wasn't right, I knew it wasn't right when she started saying that I missed things that I know I did. I could have dragged the other student in and I probably would have had I not gotten into another program that very same day, one that I am honored to have been accepted into. I was only in this program for 2 weeks, it was my first class. Doesn't it seem a little harsh to kick someone out and determine that they can't do it in 2 weeks? My grades were pretty good, I missed a BP.

I know this is a lot of rambling and is really irrelevant, that's why I didn't get into every detail in my original post but I figured I put it out there for those people who are being so critical and who obviously didn't see that the point of my original posts was not how unfairly I thought I was treated it was just meant to be a reminder that life's not fair but if you do your very best you'll be okay. I think that telling people to make sure they're always on time, study your butt off, and be confident in your skills is good advice to new students. Of course it's common sense, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded every once in a while, right?

Specializes in Emergent pre-hospital care as a medic.

@bela&jack

Most nursing programs have strict policies. These are in place for a reason. Nursing school is unlike any other program. You know going in that if you're late there are consequences. If they start making allowances for you then they have to do the same for the next person and the one after that. Before long they wouldn't even be able to state it was a policy. They don't have to care what's going in in your life. This is the adult world and regardless of whether or not you're "padding the truth" it's clear that there were numerous issues with your evaluation/assessment. Whether it seems silly or unfair to you it's just the way the real world works.

The point was that I have seen so many people complain of being treated unfairly and in my situation, and probably many situations, if I had not made crucial mistakes to begin with like being late and a nervous wreck the first time around then they wouldn't have had any reason to be like that. I was just saying that it's important to remember how lucky we are to have this opportunity, I know everyone worked hard to get into school but, at least in schools around here, there just isn't enough spots for everyone. A lot of people have worked hard and not gotten in. There were so many students in my class who complained of schedule changes and not getting clinical time at the hospital they chose, saying things like "they can't do that" or "it's not fair", well it's not always fair and they can do that. There were several students who said they missed critical items on the examine and were reminded how to do it and given a chance to do things over and if I hadn't given them a reason to doubt my commitment to the program then they most likely would have done the same for me.

Again, my actions led up to this result, but couldn't be happier about the whole situation. ;) The school that I will be attending in the fall was my first choice and I feel so lucky to have gotten in on my first try. They had over 300 applicants for 30 spots, it's a small, hospital based school with a higher instructor/student ratio and more clinical time. I've worked so hard for this, and am so thankful for this opportunity.

To everyone else...thanks for the encouragement :redbeathe, sorry about all the ranting, I don't know what came over me. There obviously is no reason to try to prove myself to a bunch of critical strangers who have no idea who I am, what I've done, or what my situation is. Life is full of miserable people who think they've seen it all and judge every situation. Best of luck to those people as well, I thought we were all in the same boat here but obviously not.

GOOD LUCK to all of the new students out there, I wish each and every one of you the very best through your journey...congratulations again on getting in :yelclap:

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