Why do teachers think they're all that and we're beneath them?

Specialties School

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Not all of them ,of course, but the ones who like to either put us down, act like they know it all, blame us for stuff we have no control over, etc. What is their deal? I get so tired of hearing how easy we have it compared to them or how much more money we make (which we sure don't in the school system!). I don't see them treating the speech therapists or guidance counselors this way so why is it ok to treat us with a lack of respect? Most of the teachers are nice and supportive but every school as some of "those" ones. I just wondered why they are that way. And why does it not bother them to bring a kid into us from the playground with a very minor scraped knee as we're obviously eating lunch and feel perfectly justified in just walking away stating here comes some more like we're being lazy taking a few minutes to eat a bite of food. Can the school not function if the nurse isn't constantly available? Why does everyone think it's perfectly fine to tell us what to do or how to do it? When did this ever become ok? What are ways you have tried to deal with these certain ones and what has worked? I find my claws start coming out when this happens and getting angry does NOT make the situation better! I can handle the clueless teachers that truly believe every one of their students could be ill and need to see the nurse every day (in case it's something life-threatening) better than these mean ones!!

When I did my ADN program, I had a group of very intelligent, but very nasty, rude, unhelpful instructors. All they talked about was "Me! Me! Me! And oh by the way...did I tell you about...well, ME!"

Seriously...it was the most miserable two years of my life.

Then when I went to my BSN program...the instructors were AMAZING!!! Helpful, kind, would bend over backwards for you, etc. I still keep in touch with a couple of them. I had ONE nasty, arrogant instructor. She was fired 1 1/2 years later...for cause.

I think the lower the pay at the school, you get nurses who cannot make it in the work force, but just happen to have a master's degree. When you get into your higher paying instructor jobs, then quality gets better.

PS: Before it even starts I'll nix it...I'm sure that some of you had WONDERFUL program instructors at the community college level etc. I am sure that some of you who teach at community colleges are amazing instructors and really do help your students. However, I am only speaking from the area I live in, the school I went to, and what I have heard from other nurses who have graduated from other programs in my area.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

I am sure that teaching can be frustrating. In elementary school you have a class of 18-22 students (in some places more!!) that you are with all day long except for lunch and preps. In secondary ed, it's dozens of kids. But as school nurses we are responsible for hundreds, sometimes thousands of kids. We need to have their basic med info straight, need to know who the medically fragile kids are off the top of our heads, need to keep these kids safe, secure and healthy. I think some of it comes from the fact that teachers will walk by and see moments that our offices are empty. Not realizing that even though there may be scatter moments that i don't have students in my office (5 minutes here, 10 minutes there) I am still working; I am catching up on charting, entering immunizations into healthmaster, filing, getting the kindergarten registrants ready, processing sports physicals, processing the endless field trip requests, doing an ounce of CE, (sneaking in a bit of allnurses time),etc. Lunch is still a joke for me around here. But watch and see what happens if you disrupted a teacher's lunch or prep (which i don't get despite being equal to a teacher).

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To those who took offense...my bad of course you have stress too just a different type. I meant no harm were all about nursing here.

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I also disagree, just speaking from 1.5 years of school nursing!!! Now THAT'S bad.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical Telemetry.

My ADN program had crap instructors as well. And they treated all the nursing students like garbage - because at least 1/2 my class was from a foreign country, they didn't know any better and they took the abuse. I got in trouble on more than one occasion when I would speak up for the entire class (I had been to school before and had a bachelors and masters degree in another subject prior to nursing school). I knew what was happening wasn't right, and I was vocal about it as well. I sort of became the class leader (which bit me in the butt on more than one occasion).

I have come to believe the saying "you pay for what you get" was true at my local community college.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical Telemetry.

I am supposed to get 50 minutes of duty free lunch/prep time daily. What a joke! I never leave my office, ever. When I go to the bathroom, I can hear the little voice saying "where's the nurse?"...I had one student today who was asking me why I was late to work today because he was in my office at 8:15am with a bloody nose (school doesn't officially start till 8:30am). Meanwhile, I was up speaking to a student and the teacher during this time.....I told him I wasn't late and I was working, and that nurses get to leave their offices! (I should've told him to mind his own business....)

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

My teachers in my LPN program were all amazing I had three to about five different teachers. There was maybe one I didn't get along with too well, but otherwise all great. I owe a great deal to those lady's! Im starting my bridge in about three weeks and I hope its the same this time around as I will not be at the same school =(

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