Why do they give so much ridiculous, insignificant homework?????

adnrnstudent, ASN, RN · Sep 29, 2012

Most people I know hesitant to do ADN to BSN program cite bullcrap writing as the reason they don't want to do it.

Most people hate writing papers and the setup of ADN to BSN programs is another thing wrong with nursing today.

commonsense · Sep 29, 2012

I'm in my 3rd semester of a 4 semester ADN program. I feel like we have MORE hw this semester than ever before. Mind you, the answers to the homework are in the back of the workbook, so this just seems like time consuming busy work! Then all the care plans, and concept maps and practice tests. I am the kind of person who thrives on listening and learning so none of these extra assignments help. I may sound nuts, but sometimes I wish lectures were longer and get rid of some of the take home work. Since I go to a private university, I'm taking out my life in loans to teach myself?! I called out of clinicals today, which now means I have to make up the day at the end of the term just to have time to finish a care plan for one class and a concept map and hw for the other.
I am also a divorced mom in my 30's so I have to try to make time for my 5 y/o who has already said she doesn't want to go to college because she sees me doing so much work!!!!
Please someone talk me off the ledge!

They're trying to break you, look for the light at the end of the tunnel and go for it.

WhereIsMyCallBell · Sep 29, 2012

Your mind is being converted from thinking as a resposible citizen to thinking like a nurse. It is not just facts you have to learn. Nursing is a mindset in of itself. You may feel as if it's just busywork. But truly there is a method to the madness of nursing school and the endless homework that comes with it.

newgrandmother · Sep 29, 2012

Come back off the ledge! I remember very well 26 years ago, getting up at 4 am to do my homework and care plans while my children slept. This homework is not insignificant. As you advance your career in the next years you will draw on your previous learning. I am still using the nursing process and plans of care but now also adding concept analysis, care management philosophies, clinical pathway exploration, and value compass design. As an RN with two masters degrees and two national certifications, your work right now is not insignificant.

okranurse · Sep 29, 2012

There are pros and cons. I agree, especially since this is my second degree, that it often feels like busywork. I have two young children, one of which I was breastfeeding my first semester (and part of the second) of nursing school. However, now as I finish my last semester and looking back--although it was difficult--I found that having assignments of different types helped me retain a lot of that information. I have developed an ability to be extremely efficient in my work and studies. I also, as much as I had hated them, believe that I can work with even the most difficult of personalities thanks to my group projects. There are many skills here that we will continue with in our career. And there is a purpose to those papers--we are being trained to think critically. Whether you value it or not, that is a very important skill.

Now granted, that isn't to say that I believe all professors create these assignments with that in mind. When homework is replacing quality instruction/teacher-student time, then I would say that there is also an element of passing the buck going on here. Sometimes, at least, it would seem that way. I had a class that I would argue would have been just as good if offered as a self-paced online course. In fact, we have an EKG interpretation course that is exactly that. But this is easily not the case for most. In regard to care plans, I can also now see the value. My sister, who had been a nurse for a long time before I began my studies told me that it pays off. She said that after a while of doing these I would begin to just look at a person and his/her condition, and all of the nursing diagnoses, interventions, etc. would just pop into my head. And they do!

I would also recommend you having an active student body, such as at my school. We designate representatives and they participate in faculty meetings, and propose changes on our behalf that they will often put into consideration. And make sure you are giving the school consistent, professional feedback at the end of each semester. Often students pass this up, but they actually put thought into what we say. Sometimes my class will even discuss what we want to say ahead of time. If they hear it from enough of us, it is hard to ignore. Just be aware of whether you have truly found a need for change or are just griping--which is perfectly okay because we need to vent and deal with our stress, but it is not going to elicit much more than sympathy from faculty.

Also, in our last semester, with the exception of our management class, our "homework" is based on testing scores. For example, we take a comprehensive exam a total of 4 times. Once at the end of the next to last semester, which determines the assignments and study hours we contract for over the summer (we grad in Dec.). It also determines the homework/study hours until the next test a couple weeks into the last semester and this goes on until the final. Your goal is to get the best score possible, lest you have to do a ton of remediation. The remediation is something you come up with--with optional recommendations from your assigned advisor. The worse you do, the more work and study hours you have to contract for. In this case, we have more ownership over what we do and accomplish.

Wrench Party · Sep 29, 2012

I'm also a second career student, and sometimes I really can't believe a) the way some students act like children and

b) the way some of our instructors treat us like children. I can't say I've ever experienced it 1:1 with instructors,

but I also talk to them like the intelligent adults we all are.

Regardless of all that, once you go through the educational process several times, you'll quickly realize how much of

it is 'busywork' designed to test your perseverance and patience, and how much of it really matters.

"Suck it up, buttercup" is the phrase I currently live by.

Stephalump · Sep 29, 2012

So far ipI haven't run across anything I've found to be totally insignificant. In other courses I've struggled with that, though. I'm in college, not elementary school and I expect to be treated as such. I'm here to learn, but I like shouldering that responsibility for as well. We do case studies and projects on certain populations, care plans and per-lab prep work, but I think I would flip if they required "completion grade" back of the book work or vocab word writing or something ridiculous like that.

I do the practice questions and make flash cards and write out vocab, but its because I'm working out how I learn best. If I don't find something helpful anymore, I can leave it behind and stop wasting time.

windsurfer8, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2012

If it was easy everyone would do it. Would you want it to be "easy"?? Would you like a Doctor who had it "easy"? It isn't insignificant. It shows how bad you want something. And attention to detail is HUGE in nursing. So suck it up and do it. You can cry about it all night long, but the work will still be there in the morning. Or you can just do it and be done with it. It is how it is.

Overwhelmed1026 · Oct 3, 2012

I'm also a second career soon to be nurse. I was a HS chem teacher, but didn't really like it!

PMFB-RN, RN · Oct 3, 2012

Most people I know hesitant to do ADN to BSN program cite bullcrap writing as the reason they don't want to do it.
Most people hate writing papers and the setup of ADN to BSN programs is another thing wrong with nursing today.

*** EXACTLY! I think I actually got dumber going through the BSN program. The level of discourse was a joke and the assingments where silly and easy. They did use up a lot of time though. In no way relivent to my career.

Streamline2010 · Oct 5, 2012

*** The real irony will come when you get your first job and your preceptor is suprised you didn't learn to draw bood or insert IVs or NGs and don't know the appropiate IV size to insert for an amioderone drip vs a fluid bolus. Nobody at your nursing job is going to ever ask you to draw a comcept map or write a care plan.
IMO nursing students are not getting, or demanding enough from their nursing schools.

imo, the EMPLOYERS aren't demanding enough of the nursing schools. If the students complain or petition or otherwise ask for change, RN schools just tell them to stop whining, take personal responsibility for their own success or failure, and sit down and shut up. Student and parent complaints are dismissed or shouted down with "If you don't like it, go someplace else." What it will take to change things is the employers come storming in and demand that the schools turn out (forgive me for calling y'all this) "a product that we can use." I know, people are not products, and I don't feel that nurses are things or products. But the schools are in the business of turning out potential employees, and sooner or later this nonsense of making the employer finish the training that the students really should have gotten in school is going to have to stop. If one year of experience is what you need to be a useful nurse, it seems to me that one year of experience really ought to be in the RN curriculum, and maybe a little less making of flash cards and drawing of 5-color care maps.

CloudySue · Oct 5, 2012

As in all educational settings, nowadays it's all about teaching to the standardized test.