Having a hard time with the people in my nursing school...

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Dec 13, 2016

You're there to get a nursing education. Stay focused on your studies and avoid the drama. If this was only first semester I guarantee a fair number of these people won't be there to the end. By then maybe there will be a core group of people you can have a professional relationship with.

Davey Do · Dec 13, 2016

I am sorry this happened to you, tbnurse, but you know alcohol magnifies emotions and impairs judgement.

I can identify with you, in that during my LPN program I was unanimously elected class representative and by the end of it there was talk of tarring and feathering me. I recall one classmate breaking down into tears and sobbing openly in the classroom because she got a B on a test!

It was a stressful time, the nursing program.

Keep your chin up. Someday this will all be a memory and maybe you' ll be able to laugh it off.

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Good luck to you, tbnurse!

CalArmy · Dec 13, 2016

Wow I'm so sorry that happened. If she got kicked out of the restaurant it sounds like she has serious issues. It stinks because you need to have someone to lean on during nursing school. Just focus on your studies and yes like stated above a lot of them will be gone come winter semester.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Dec 13, 2016

Hi there! I guess I came on here to vent since I'm not sure where else to go for advice or a nursing vent sesh. I'm a first semester nursing student and I find myself really disliking a lot of the people I go to school with. Everyone is very dramatic, two faced, and back stabbing...you can't trust anyone!
We took our final today and about half half of us went out for happy hour at a local restaurant. One girl in my program had a little bit too much to drink and started crying after she got kicked out of the restaurant. I went up to her and asked if she was okay or needed a ride home, she then shoved me into a wall and cussed me out. Other people in the program had to hold her back so I can walk away without her attacking me!
On top of that all year I've been hearing nonstop trash talking about other people in the program, people trying to rat other people out to the professors, and just overall nastiness. Is this what the nursing world is like?
It's really discouraging to see these are the type of people that want to be nurses. In a sense it kind of makes me sad. so here I am reaching out to all the fellow nurses and nursing students. Are other nursing programs like this? Can you help shed some light on how to make the next year and a half with these people not so...awful?
Sorry for the vent. I needed to let it out somewhere!

Sorry, but I don't believe that "everyone" in your class is a bad seed. There are always a few (maybe even several) jerks in every class, but if you truly believe you are the only decent, good, trustworthy person in the class, then you could well be part of the problem.

Alcohol can be a problem for some people. The crying drunk will not likely make it through the program much longer anyway.

Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP · Dec 13, 2016

Look at school as experience for future jobs. These people are not your friends, they are your future coworkers (co-students). You are there for one thing only so my advice is to put on your professional face, don't tell anyone anything personal, and be the best student you can while remaining professional 100% of the time. What if someone from school had seen her pushing you and tarred you with the same brush? You might have been labeled as the one drunk in public and got thrown out of class. People can assume all sorts of things in those kind of situations. Stay away from people like that and concentrate on your studies.

tbnurse1 · Dec 13, 2016

I don't recall saying I was the only "good seed", don't twist my words! I have a group of friends in the program, i just was not aware of how dramatic nursing school was...

Libby1987 · Dec 13, 2016

I don't recall saying I was the only "good seed", don't twist my words! I have a group of friends in the program, i just was not aware of how dramatic nursing school was...

Horseshoe didn't twist your words but I'm bolding the descriptions that indicate your friends are included in your claim as well as having your own dramatics.

Everyone is very dramatic, two faced and backstabbing...you can't trust anyone!

Embellishment and exaggeration without accuracy is going to stand out to a forum of nurses trained otherwise. It could also impact your interaction and response from others in your program.

Cowboyardee · Dec 13, 2016

We took our final today and about half half of us went out for happy hour at a local restaurant...

Try making friends with that other half of your class who didn't attend the happy hour gathering. I'm sure some of them are more laid back. Nursing is more or less like anything else - some people are melodramatic, some are laid back. Some are conniving, others are non-assuming. Some love drama, others love peace and quiet.

Don't go expecting sainthood out of your fellow classmates or your future coworkers. Nurses ain't saints, and every once in a while that comes as a shock to new nursing students with unrealistic expectations. But by the same token, don't go out of your way to hang out with the most melodramatic cliques in your school or future jobs and then assume based on those experiences that the whole field must be melodramatic.

It's possible that your particular school is shifted a bit toward the dramatic side of things. Bad luck. But you're there for education - happy hour is not a curriculum requirement. And anyway, the worst of the ridiculous stuff will pass once the works gets a little harder and people are spending more energy just trying not to flunk out.

caliotter3 · Dec 13, 2016

Well, now that you know how dramatic nursing school can be, maybe you have figured out how to keep out of the drama. Study, work hard, and leave the drama to those who have not yet mentally left middle school.

allnurses Guide · Dec 13, 2016

I went back to school at 38 after having 3 kids and waiting until the youngest was in 1st grade. I had a college degree but was fortunate to stay home with my kids.

I did see some drama with some students and not just younger student with no spouses or kids. But I had a focus and that was to learn, study, and get home to my family. I didn't socialize with my fellow students.

There were many other students like me. I'm not into drama and I wouldn't go out and drink like that.

One thing many nurses do not like is stereotypes or blanket statements . . . you did say the following when you only went out with half the class:

Everyone is very dramatic, two faced and backstabbing...you can't trust anyone!

I'm not being all hoity-toity . . . just consider that you are there to learn to be a nurse and that in every group of people the world over, there will be drama-queens and kings.

Stay focused. Leave the rest behind.

Palliative Care, DNP · Dec 13, 2016

OP: Do you really want advice or do you simply want to vent? You come across as defensive to some replies. Maybe just read responses and take in what is offered to reflect upon. There will always be dramatic people in school and the work place. You can not change others but you can change your reaction to them. As previously mentioned, nursing school and the work place are not the places to look for friends nor people to hang out with. In my opinion and experience, considering coworkers as friends is a large mistake. I do not share personal information at work. If others want to tell me everything going on in their lives that is ok but it is not because I asked. I attended nursing school for my career and I go to work to do my job. I do not hang out with coworkers and I may speak to 3 or 4 people that I attended a program with. Only you can decide your priorities.