I don't see much activity on this board, but there must be some nursing educators/instructors out there. We have a situation at the school I teach for. One of the students is very incompetant. She has been placed on clinical, safety, care plan probation. But rarely does this result in dismissal from program--it is actually a joke among the students because they know it probably won;t amount to anything.
This student is a tech at an area hosp. and is like a bull in a china shop--she thinks she knows it all. But when it comes to any nursing interventions, she can't even make a bed correctly. She has a personal vendetta against one of my co-workers. This teacher is excellent. She is very knowledgable and caring. She works hard to make sure the students are safe and knowledgable during clinical. This student has focused in on her--because she was the first to place her on probation. (It could just have easily been me in this situation--but the other instructor had her first)
This student started a petition to get the instructor fired--this inflammed the rest of the students. The petition went nowhere--so now she has filed a greivance with admin about the instructor. I am so sick of the students being able to do whatever they want. We are walking on eggshells because admin wants to keep the census up for the money (all are state funded)
What kind of nurses are we turning out into the public??? Some of these dangerous students will be able to pass boards because they have test taking skills. There have been several times I refused to sign a final evaluation because I did not want my name as stating this person met criteria they did not meet. I have dealt with fights in the classrooms, drug use in clinical, plagerism, cheating of all kinds, incompetance from students and staff at times, and one time had my life threatened by a student who was dismissed from the program because of patient abuse. (I was 8 mo pregnant at the time). The lack of respect I see in the classroom to all instructors is distressing. How can we help a nursing shortage with this behavior that is being tolerated.
I wish I could say that it was due to a certain type of student, but I teach in a rural area and a large metropol. area and the results and behaviors are the same. I would love to hear from other instructors to see if it is occuring elsewhere.
If you managed to read this to the end--thanks for letting me vent