Is it just me?

Nursing needs compassion. Military needs blind obedience. It is not unusual for 1/2 the class to flunk 1st semester in ASN programs. Many of the young students are not prepared for the difficulties of nursing school. They slack off in the beginning of the semester and are never able to catch up as things become even more difficult.

My friend...the military world and the civilian world are light years apart. It took me some time to adjust as well...it is of a different mind set. Give yourself some time to adjust as well. Also, many go into a nursing program not having much of a clue what they are getting into. It is not high school...it is college, which plays by different rules as well. Many are just not prepared for it or for that transition. And no doubt, any entry level program is rigorous...and it should be. But you my friend, will do well. I have no doubts.

Nursing classes seem to be run much differently than any other classes I've ever experienced. I realize it is a mainly female field and most students are rather young but the touchy feely way classes are run is really getting on my nerves. When ever we test there are always hugs for the people who do well or badly, tears that are consoled by the instructors when ever someone messes up a check off and constant "buck up you'll get through it" speeches throughout lecture. We even spent an entire 3 hour lecture on ways to stay emotionally healthy through the disappointment of not getting the grades your used to.

It seems to me that they are setting people up with unrealistic expectations of nursing school and nursing in general. After all the hugs and warm/fuzzy "you can do it" speeches we lost half my class in the first semester. Most of these ladies never saw it coming or thought the instructors would make sure they "could make it".

Maybe it is just me. But coming from a military background where nobody pats you on the back every time you do something right it just drives me nuts to see people preparing for what is a high stress field being put into as low stress a position as possible. You can see it at clinical where students are afraid to do anything without another student holding their hand. And then when we get an instructor who doesn't put up with that stuff there are tears all around.