Student Mistreatment

[boricualuv4ever]

Hello Everyone,

I warm you now I am writing this thread as a way to vent because I do not want to get depressed again about the professors abusive behavior.

I am currently a junior in college. Just got into the nursing program 1st semester.

For the sake of confidentiality, professor's name is Pac.

This professor, Pac, i have been having difficulty with since day 1 but lately i am at my limit with her. She publicly reprimands me and humiliates me in front of the class. Everyone says she is psycho. Sadly she teaches two of my classes Fundamentals of Nursing and Pathophysiology. Today I had her for patho.

This is what caused me to be upset today :

There was a professor, San, presenting today about the GI abnormalities. He has a minor Spanish accent and me being tired after clinical made it difficult to understand what he was saying. Another added factor was this is a subject the class has not even studied yet for the exam.

He, San, said something that was "eosinogapharengeal", sadly I don't know. I raised my hand and asked if he would spell that word. I was not going to say, i cant understand with you accent can you say that again?

Professor, Pac, says "Who said that? Own it. Who said that?" I raised my hand. Teacher, Pac, "You are supposed to write how it sounds than go home and look it up. Own it. You do not disrespect the professor. Go home and look it up."

Now I am highly upset. I just asked a simple question about spelling, even raised my hand so how am I disrespecting the presenting professor? Of course I stay quiet because if i say something back i get more in trouble.

Another student later asked a meaning of a word. That is a big big no no in the class. She NEVER wants you to say that. Yet!!! She does not reprimand this student.

Another time, a student spoke in my direction and I just raised the book to her face so i don't have to speak in class. Next thing i know is she says, Pac, "I will ask you to step out of class if you keep talking. This is the second time." Mind you I wasn;t even looking at her. For the rest of the class I turned away from anyone that could possibly look my direction.

Now I sit away from people and stare at my desk. I don't raise my hand or even look at her. I am a wall, you do not see me - is my mantra.

I called my fiance to vent because I was so upset and he said pretty much to stop complaining if I'm not going to do something about it. I guess he's getting fed up about me speaking of school, teachers and my weight/body image issues. I don't even talk to him about my weight in a while because now he says the same thing to school.

I just got over my depression that I didnt even realize i had. I used to cry all the time, when i studied i couldnt remember anything the next day. I failed my first two patho test. My second fundamentals test. Enough is a enough.

I finally passed the third fundamental exam yay!! Clinical is the only class i'm doing great in.

I would never recommend this school because of my impression of this semester. Someone help me because she also teaches advanced patho (graduate), patho (undergraduate), critical thinking and another class.

Health: Hypothyroidism 100mcg, low salt diet, fatigue, limited sleep (always take an afternoon nap now), pain from back fracture (spondylisis ?? -> spelling), weaken right knee, sciatica, major allergies (to everything literally, took a test for it, recommend shots), messed up my reproductive system through stupid usage of electrode pads now my ovary area hurts all the time and i caused my cycle to come two weeks early. Right thigh and knee just aches. I know i have circulation issues because I wake up with swollen feet and leg cramping.

I can't wait for this semester to end!!!

[MMA-N-Nursing]

I had a queen ***** of hell as an clinical instructor too, I even yelled at her, saying as I stood up"What The HELL DO YOU WANT!" (with an F word)

as she was trying to talk to me I just grabbed my stuff and left the clinical day.

I wrote an appology letter next day. and then she no longer belittle me. I also accepted that this is her way of teaching.

on the last days of clinicals that queen btch of hell told me. "You are going to be a good nurse, I am so proud of you" and I no longer see her as queen ***** of hell. I see her as a mentor who only tries her best to produce top notch nurses.

Dont do what I did. DONT YELL BACK!

If the instructor say "Look it up" Dont be offended.

The instructor is teaching you to become resourceful. as a nurse, you need to be resourceful and full of knowledge.

If the instructor tells you the answer right away... its just spoon feeding a baby and its likely you will forget. thats why LOOK IT UP is the best way.

[fawnfalls]

I am sorry you are having so much trouble. I understand how you feel about your instructor. I was in my 4th semester of a community college nursing program. I was so happy before the semester began...it was to be my last, after working soooo hard to get into nursing school, it was finally going to be over. 1st to 3rd sem was hard but got thru. So, from the start of 4th semester, I got this instructor who everyone said be warned she is a she devil! Well that is an understatment! She just hated me from the start, during clinicals she would make me so nervous I would drop things when she walked into the room, she called me names, she would tell me I will never become a nurse, she said she would drop me, I was a wreck. I would cry before, during and after clinicals...I felt so broken down, I never in my life felt that way. I didn't do anything wrong. Except for when she made me make mistakes. No one in that clinical group was perfect, but she just had it out for me so bad.

So, to make a long story short, btw, she did much worse to me, just don't want to go into detail. I finally could not take it anymore, I was losing my mind! I decided, I would drop. After wanting this so bad, I dropped. And, I did go to the director of the program, she did nothing about it!

That was in 2007, I was never able to get back into another RN program, I don't know why, So, I decided to get my LVN and try to get in that way.

I test on Dec 7th, I pray I pass, I really want to be a nurse finally.

[ObtundedRN, BSN, RN]

If you can't ask questions during class, then how are you supposed to learn? I understand they want you to know how to look up things on your own, but, I've always had the thought that a lecture class is a two way communication between the teacher and the class. The teacher is there to convey the information, but the class should be allowed to ask questions.

And what is with the phrase "Own it?" lol.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

Yeah I don't understand the whole "own it" comment either. Didn't seem right for the situation.

[MrJake]

Nursing school sucks, but if you can't cope with a difficult professor, how are you going to cope when you have crazy/difficult/rude/mean patients? My advice is to just do your best to study, graduate school and take control over yourself. You cannot control how others behave, only how you react to them.

[leslie :-D]

if there's anything i learned in nsg school, i learned to suck it up.

it doesn't matter if they were wrong/rude/patronizing/belittling, etc.

i learned there's more than one way to skin a cat.

and that's what 'they' want you to learn...

to be resourceful, take initiative, be creative, independent...

because once out in the real world of nursing, you are indeed, going to have to learn the aforementioned.

otherwise 'they' (drs, pts, families, coworkers) will chew you up and spit you out.

seriously, learn to "suck it up".

otherwise, you have little chance to survive once you graduate.

you can do this, and you'll find a way to do so.

wishing you the very best.:)

leslie

[efda3]

Welcome to nursing school. It only gets worse from this point on.

[Scrubby]

if there's anything i learned in nsg school, i learned to suck it up.

it doesn't matter if they were wrong/rude/patronizing/belittling, etc.

i learned there's more than one way to skin a cat.

and that's what 'they' want you to learn...

to be resourceful, take initiative, be creative, independent...

because once out in the real world of nursing, you are indeed, going to have to learn the aforementioned.

otherwise 'they' (drs, pts, families, coworkers) will chew you up and spit you out.

seriously, learn to "suck it up".

otherwise, you have little chance to survive once you graduate.

you can do this, and you'll find a way to do so.

wishing you the very best.:)

leslie

I completely agree with this. Sometimes you just have to bite your tongue, keep your chin up, and keep going.

I used to be a very sensitive person, after 5 years in nursing I've had to develop a tough outer shell. Sometimes things get to me but I have had to learn to choose my battles and let things go.

Best of luck to the OP

[indigonurse]

Have you been examined by a health care professional? Are you healthy enough to continue? Unfortunately you have no control over your nursing instructor. Might be best to focus 100% on showing up to class on time, doing all of your home work, passing your tests and graduating. Best not to talk to anyone in class for any reason or ask questions. I am sure you are beginning to learn how mentally and physically demanding this profession is. I had one of my kids start out in the CNA class. 1/2 through he said 4 get it, he did not care for all of the responsibility. Better that he found out now before he invested anymore time into it. He is now considering pharmacy tech.

[-nurse-]

This is the nursing world for ya! It's pretty sad & pathetic. Behavior like this is widely accepted. It's not normal, natural, healthy, or professional. There's a HIGH rate of it in the world of nursing. Make a decision to keep your happiness or continue to dive deeper into the field, but just know that this is EXACTLY what you can expect in this field. You will encounter it often.

[infermierequebecoise]

Been there, done that... I had a teacher who was known for picking one student per clinical group and making their lives hell, then failing them. I learned pretty soon that I was the 'chosen one'...

She did the whole belittling me in front of patients thing, and when I politely asked her in an empty room if she could say things like that in private, not in front of patients, since it affected my therapeutic relationship with them, she only got worst. I went to the student advocate, the nursing program advocate, I spoke to her in her office to ask specifically what I needed to do/improve to pass. She told me there was nothing I could do, that although I had an 80% average on all exams, she was going to fail me in clinical.

Luckily, like you, I had medical issues I had seen a doctor for. My school has an option to take a medical incomplete for a course, drop it, and take it again next semester, and they couldnt give us the same clinical teacher twice.

So my two suggestions are these.

1-Just like you would do with a difficult patient who just has a big 'Im going to have you written up' tattooed on their face, DOCUMENT. Document everything she says that you believe is not right, her exact words, tone of voice, location, witnesses, time, etc.. That way, if she fails you, you can possibly go to the Dean of the program and claim psychological harassment issues, which MIGHT get the failure stricken from you file.

2-SEE THAT DOCTOR!! If you have the option to take the medical incomplete for the course, you need to have been seeing a doctor. That way, if all else fails and she really wont help you help yourself, Id take the incomplete. 'You can't fire me cuz I quit!!'

Obviously what helped me is that I had always had good grades, in previous semesters, all other classes, and even my exams for that rotation. If you want to be given some credit, you need to work your butt off and get good grades, that way they cant just say you're looking for a reason to explain your failure without accepting responsibility for it.

[canigraduate]

Well, I am going against the tide here.

I don't think you did anything wrong. If anything, the professor was rude for interrupting the presenter's session by butting in. The presenter should have handled the situation.

Also, you are being bullied. Take the professor aside and talk to her. If that doesn't work, document what she does with direct quotes and dates and go over her head.

Don't sit and be passive. That just paints a target on your head. There are many websites about how to be assertive and solve conflicts. Just do a Google search for "bully".

Your medical issues are separate and don't have anything to do with this. They just make it harder for you to deal with things. You should get together with your PCP and work on them.

Good luck!