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| No. 40 | 
Jan 25, 2009, 06:34 PM
 Re: How My Instructor Affected My Life Originally Posted by mb1949  Actually my nightmare instructor seemed to pick on the older students, myself included, so it cuts both ways, I think because she was young herself she saw the older students as a threat or maybe she just doesn't like older students, who knows
Can't agree with you there, that they pick on the younger students. I was the oldest in the group at 33 and I was given an awful time esp. the day I was given 2 total care pts and the rest of the students only had one and were walking the hallway because they were done! No one came to help me and I finally went around the corner and just broke down. We were taught from day one that nursing was a "team effort", where was the team that day?
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Jan 26, 2009, 09:51 AM
Re: How My Instructor Affected My Life Originally Posted by lepew Wow! These are some awful stories. Y'all need to come to the nursing school I teach for. We have a great time. I do not believe in humiliation and belittling people as a way to teach. I believe in leading by example, sharing my experiences and helping my students when they need it! I have seen instructors that are like that-and I have to wonder how they think they are "helping" students. I believe in having fun and making clinical interesting.
I would have given anything to have an RN instructor like you! Even before I was able to start the program I got jipped by the pharmachology teacher. He gave us this huge test only the second time we had class. The test seemed like a test that would & should have been given only at the end of the class to test us on what we had studied.
I could never figure it out that the instructors were "out to get students". Was this some kind of test to see how tough we would be as floor nurses? Seemed very petty to me. I felt "set up" so many times. I was not a kid. I was 33 yrs old with 2 little kids and a husband, so all of this was not easy.
Back to the pham test. When I finally took my last stab at passing pharm math and got my test back, I noticed some of the answers had been erased! But not having any way to prove it, I failed by .3 of a point!!!. The head of the nursing program came out in the hallway where a lot of us were standing and she came over to me and said, "I know you think you passed, but you didn't!" "I want to see you in my office." There she continued to lecture me saying "we all can't be astronauts!". I am thinking just let me out of here, I have had enough and I think that is exactly what she wanted ,yet there are complaints there is a nursing shortage, of course there is.
Anyway I went on the LPN school and passed with flying colors. At my last job, 10 yrs ago, I was a charge nurse on a subacute floor with RNs under me! I was the only LPN working that shift. My supervisor said I was better than most of his RNs because my heart was in my job and I did a better job than they did. All I wanted to do was be a floor nurse.
So eat that, Sharon Davis! You suck as the head of nursing at PCC! Back then that is exactly what I should have said to her, but I am just not like that. I don't want to put myself down there with her. I never knew someone could be so heartless. I guess my heart was in nursing too much. I am epileptic so to be able to go back to school and not be discriminated against, there are no words for the cloud I was on. This was my dream come true, at last I could be the nurse I had only been called by my father.
Now at 55 I only wish all of this anomosity would go away so I could be the happy person I used to be. She has no idea the resentment I feel for what she took away from me. It wasn't necessary. I wasn't even through the program yet. Why did she have to beat me down? I possibly could have failed along the way and that would have been that. Amen.
| | No. 44 |
Jan 26, 2009, 10:27 AM
Re: How My Instructor Affected My Life Originally Posted by PeaceonearthRN My dear future nurse!
Ah, how your article reminded me of a maternity instructor I 'experienced'. Not only did she 'attack' me the first day of clinicals when i expressed fear of the unexpected but she continued throughout the experience. She even lied about 'supervising me' when she was not even in site.
There will be many dysfunctional situations in your career as a nurse. There will also be many situations that involve individuals with integrity and an interest in the 'whole picture'.
Rest assured my friend that you are not alone; however, you read the signals correctly. You continued to forge ahead, learned to expand your abilities and in spite of her attitude you rose like the phoenix from the fire!  No one can keep a good nurse down. I see this happen to people even after they are licensed and working. This is a good experience to identify what to ignore, how to expand your knowledge and increase your self worth and forge ahead! Continue to use their negative energy to fuel your desire to provide good patient care. There are always going to be days that do not meet your expectations. Know this! There will also be days when you walk away knowing you provided the best care anyone possibly could provide.
There are bullies everywhere including education. They are eventually identified as no one can get way with this negativity forever. Keep that in mind next time someone tries to intimate you like this! You will eventually identify their method of operation quickly and realize 'IT'S NOT YOU'..! 
All of this sounds really great, but after working for 9 yrs. I was left on 11-7 all by myself. LPN, with two floors, long-term and subacute!
I called the DON when I arrived at work before taking report. I asked, "are you leaving me like this?" She replied, "Wing it and calm down if anything happens call me I can be there in 5 minutes."
I was left with a man on liquid O2 and I had no experience with this! He ended up pulling his foley catheter out which I left out because he was going fine on his own yet some guy nurse the next morning thought it was necessary to tell me in front of everyone in a really assinine way that I should have put it back in. Go figure. Plus I was written up for calling the DON and talking about the situation in front of the 3-11 who was leaving, she was agency. I guess she said "I scared her into not working there anymore!" That is funny.
I quit nursing that day. I had had enough. By the way, while I was busy giving out meds to the long-term floor pts, a pt whose pacemaker was not kicking in on the subacute floor was dying. Her daughter had came by to feed her and she caught it. I wasn't written up for that, but there was too much craziness for me. Too much negligence on the parts of others that knew better.
The job before that one I had quit too! I had a diabetic pt. She was not admitted as diabetic by someoone else. I was feeding her Jevity Plus per Dr's orders! Her daughter came in the room while I was bolus feeding her mom and asks "how's mom's accu checks?' I about flipped.
Well I called the doc and got new orders and was in the process of recalling him because I could not find the insulin he ordered. This other LPN comes over literally takes the phone out of my hand and says "cancel call". I wanted to slap her!
And the DON was standing there watching her do all of this.
Now how is that negitive energy used? Please tell me. What should I have done? I felt like an idiot. And I was not new to nursing.
This is totally terrible nursing and nothing else but! This other nurse was going home while I was left "holding the bag".
| | No. 45 |
Jan 26, 2009, 09:37 PM
Re: How My Instructor Affected My Life Originally Posted by whiteoleander5 I am terrified to get an instructor like this. I am happy that you found something positive out of it. However, I still would not want someone like that teaching me. Was she nasty in order to get people to learn and be terrified of her? I wonder... Or, maybe that wasnt her intentions and she just hated her job. Either way, there are definately more appropriate, caring techniques to get students to learn the material. I Hope!
Thanks for writing this!
Don't be terrifed of getting this type of instructor, just remember that these witches have an ego problem. It is usually best to avoid them if possible and, if avoidance is not possible, stroke those egos. I've been through nursing school twice (LPN, then RN), my Mom has been through 3 times (LPN, RN, BSN/FNP) and is currently a nursing instructor. We have seen the best, worst, meanest, dumbest, ect. and she agrees with me. When in nursing school, you need to remember only 4 phrases: Yes, ma'am, No ma'am, I don't know ma'am, and I would love to learn that from you ma'am. School is a nursing instructors game, they control the ball and the court and if you want to make it through, it's usually best to go with the flow.
| | No. 46 |
Jan 27, 2009, 09:39 AM
Re: How My Instructor Affected My Life Originally Posted by CheyRN Don't be terrifed of getting this type of instructor, just remember that these witches have an ego problem. It is usually best to avoid them if possible and, if avoidance is not possible, stroke those egos. I've been through nursing school twice (LPN, then RN), my Mom has been through 3 times (LPN, RN, BSN/FNP) and is currently a nursing instructor. We have seen the best, worst, meanest, dumbest, ect. and she agrees with me. When in nursing school, you need to remember only 4 phrases: Yes, ma'am, No ma'am, I don't know ma'am, and I would love to learn that from you ma'am. School is a nursing instructors game, they control the ball and the court and if you want to make it through, it's usually best to go with the flow.
I happen to know now first hand that nasty acting instructors are just that, an act!
I met a nursing instructor not long ago. She is so nice, but to hear her talk she was known as Mrs. SOB! I bet my eyes got as big as saucers! So....I thought to myself...if I had only known that back in the day when I was trying so hard to please all of those nasty acting instructors, I would have found a way to give a little of their medicine back to them in a nice, but meaningfull way. I think that is what they want. Then they know you are capiable of handling the load as a nurse. But after telling her some of my horror stories she did agree they were after me! and that she would have loved to have me as a student! She did make me feel good again....so if you are out there, I want to say "Thanks for making me realize it wasn't me".
So there you go STUDENTS....please read this!!!!
| | No. 47 |
Feb 18, 2009, 10:55 PM
Re: How My Instructor Affected My Life
Bullying is bullying and no amount of excusing it through "wanting to motivate you to be better" is ever going to make it stop. Nursing is a challenging enough career without making our working lives hell with bullies. This instructor needs a good smack - hmm, perhaps not, but needs to do some training on how to teach and encourage without making her students feel like rubbish. Well done on getting through - and if you ever become an instructor, at least she will have taught you how not to teach!!
| | No. 49 |
Feb 19, 2009, 04:09 PM
Re: How My Instructor Affected My Life
I hate to burst your bubble but I had never met so many "stab you in back" women since I started nursing. Meaning a whole lot of nurses act the same way! And if something happens, don't expect them to see your side of the story either, even when you are right and they are wrong!
That is why I quit. I could write a book about "Why not to be a nurse"!
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