A Nursing Student Vents

Nursing Students General Students

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1. I wish that Nursing school could be done at a slower pace, part-time so that we could actually devote time to memorizing the material rather than cramming it in. From what I can tell, the rule that we must complete the ADN in 3 years is that it

would lower the schools rates on paper for what % graduate in that amount of time. I personally, have responsibilities outside of nursing school. I am a full-time mom first, and a nursing student second. I have gotten Straight-As in all college

course work up until this point, but before clinical courses began I was able to devote actual time to studying. The cramming and the stress are utterly unnecessary to the learning process. I would rather have the option of slowing down to memorize the material, even if takes an extra couple of years to get through the program.

2. Why is it that nursing school must grade entirely on NCLEX-style questions that cannot be fully prepared for?

Of course it matters that we pass the NCLEX, but for many that is not the final goal. If nobody will get an "A", and the entire class ends up just hoping to pass, it hurts our ability to transfer into higher level programs later. How does it benefit the image of nurses as highly educated professionals to keep them out of graduate school programs or make their GPAs less competitive? I know that many schools receive funding based on their NCLEX pass rates, but this should NOT be used to justify these grading methods. It harms more students than it helps, especially those with higher educational goals than just getting through the NCLEX.

3. The lectures and the textbook readings should at least moderately relate to what we are tested on. If we are presented with a bunch of NCLEX-style questions, and we were not actually taught that material...do not say something insulting like "Use your critical thinking". Every one of us uses critical thinking, or we would not have made it into the program to begin with. Nursing students are generally adults, most of whom have had prior careers, and we do not benefit from being talked down to. You may mean well, and you may have convinced yourself that this is educationally necessary. Let me assure you that these tactics are insulting, reminiscent of basic training, and not indicative of our learning potentials.

Base your grading on what you have actually taught, not on the NCLEX itself. I don't care about your school's exam %. I do care that I be graded on the material given, and rewarded for effort. It seems to me that schools are so desperate to keep their NCLEX funding that they weed out the students in Fundamentals who aren't already good at this test style.

Those of us who had the highest test scores in the class were the ones who figured out early to focus on NCLEX practice books more than on the assigned reading material. Many of these questions can be answered without memorizing the real material, and that should scare patients. When did the nursing process itself become more important than learning how to heal, and not kill people? It is just ridiculous.

I can do NCLEX practice tests at home in my spare time. That is not what I am paying for.

4. If your school has the audacity to advertise the program to the general scholastic population as a regular major, then it should be an entry level program. Those of us who do not have a decade of CNA experience should not be expected to know how to do things before you teach them. I don't want to watch a short video made in the 1970s and then be expected to perform a procedure. Give a demonstration, and adequate practice time in lab. Remember that we waited on long lists and maintained perfect grades in our prerequisites to get into these programs.

5. Focus on educating us, not on weeding out the perceived undesirables. We lost several people from our Fundamentals class who would have made wonderful nurses. We have kept a few of the less empathetic souls however. society wants empathetic, intellectual, nurturing nurses. From what I have witnessed, those are the students who mostly drop out. The hardened students, and the ones who care only to pass (regardless of GPA) are the ones who make it. Who does that actually benefit?

6. I love patient care, and clinical :heartbeat.

I loved my clinical instructor because she was kind. :heartbeat

Others were not so lucky. I would have a hard time actually respecting a clinical

instructor who was otherwise. Respect students if you want them to respect you on more than a superficial level.

7. I hate long lectures where the professor just reads directly off a Powerpoint first thing in th morning. That is pretty much wasted study time. I can read a Powerpoint online, as I have in many other classes. If you are not going to actually tell us what we need to memorize, and what will be on the exam, there is little reason to wake up at 6am to go to lecture every day. Everything I learned in lecture could have been taught as an online course. Only clinical and lab required attendance. It is hard as an adult student who has taken numerous online classes to not notice that this could be done much more efficiently. In nursing school, efficiency is everything.

8. It is substantially more stressful to take 9 credit courses than 3 credit courses. Why do the ADN programs do this? If you just need to retake a 3 credit course, that is reasonably doable. Too many people in my program have had to repeat the entire 9 credits. It makes me wish that I had chosen to go directly into a BSN, even though my school has a 2+2 transfer agreement. 3 credit courses would have been substantially less stressful for me.

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Wow! You pretty much just summed up many of my complaints about nursing education!

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To add:

*Why does everyone and thedir brother claim to have a 3.99999 GPA? Gimme a break, and stop the lying. If you say you're so smart, then you should be smart enought to make it through nursing school.

*If it's a waste of your time to sit in lecture as the teacher reads off her PowerPoint, why are you showing up? (And please don't say there's an attendance policy at your school unless you provide evidence).

*Doesn't matter what your major is, "undesirable" students will remain and "otherwise excellent" students will remain. When they face the job market, then "the strong" will make it. Those that think a nursing jobn is "owed" to them had better drop out now.

*The complainers, whiners, gossipers, the ones that think they're still in high school, the ones with the "I'm know more than you because I'm an EMT/work in a Dr. office", the ones that incessantly text in class and clinicals, the eye rollers, the ones that challenge the teacher on every subject, the ones that want an exception to the rules, the ones that use their kids as an excuse, the ones that look like they just rolled out of bed and come to class, the ones that spend more time flirting with hospital staff rather than being busy with clinical, the ones that think their lives are more important than anyone else's, the "phonies", the older students that behave just as bad as the younger ones, the ones that can't live with a 95 on an exam, the foreign students that always brag "How they were doctors in their own counrty" (Then why are you in a nursing program)...........

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This the reason why I'm going the EC route. No nursing school/classroom drama. You read, study and when you're ready, take the exam and that's it. On to the next exam until you reach the CPNE.

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1. I wish that Nursing school could be done at a slower pace, part-time so that we could actually devote time to memorizing the material rather than cramming it in. From what I can tell, the rule that we must complete the ADN in 3 years is that it

would lower the schools rates on paper for what % graduate in that amount of time. I personally, have responsibilities outside of nursing school. I am a full-time mom first, and a nursing student second. I have gotten Straight-As in all college

course work up until this point, but before clinical courses began I was able to devote actual time to studying. The cramming and the stress are utterly unnecessary to the learning process. I would rather have the option of slowing down to memorize the material, even if takes an extra couple of years to get through the program.

Unfortunately this is what's offered. First year classes are all really the same class but with 4 key aspects. Techniques is the physical care, pharmacology is the drugs, assessment is learning to look, observe and understand and concepts is the general picture of how it comes together. You can't take them one at a time. They build on one another like an integrated structure plus you need a certain amount of clinical hours.

2. Why is it that nursing school must grade entirely on NCLEX-style questions that cannot be fully prepared for?

Of course it matters that we pass the NCLEX, but for many that is not the final goal. If nobody will get an "A", and the entire class ends up just hoping to pass, it hurts our ability to transfer into higher level programs later. How does it benefit the image of nurses as highly educated professionals to keep them out of graduate school programs or make their GPAs less competitive? I know that many schools receive funding based on their NCLEX pass rates, but this should NOT be used to justify these grading methods. It harms more students than it helps, especially those with higher educational goals than just getting through the NCLEX.

Because if nursing school wanted robots that could march down a list of chores they would but you must understand the concepts. Be able to spot future issues and prioritize treatments. It's important to treat a slowed heart but if you've got a clogged airway then it does no good whether the heart is pumping or not.

3. The lectures and the textbook readings should at least moderately relate to what we are tested on. If we are presented with a bunch of NCLEX-style questions, and we were not actually taught that material...do not say something insulting like "Use your critical thinking". Every one of us uses critical thinking, or we would not have made it into the program to begin with. Nursing students are generally adults, most of whom have had prior careers, and we do not benefit from being talked down to. You may mean well, and you may have convinced yourself that this is educationally necessary. Let me assure you that these tactics are insulting, reminiscent of basic training, and not indicative of our learning potentials.

Base your grading on what you have actually taught, not on the NCLEX itself. I don't care about your school's exam %. I do care that I be graded on the material given, and rewarded for effort. It seems to me that schools are so desperate to keep their NCLEX funding that they weed out the students in Fundamentals who aren't already good at this test style.

Those of us who had the highest test scores in the class were the ones who figured out early to focus on NCLEX practice books more than on the assigned reading material. Many of these questions can be answered without memorizing the real material, and that should scare patients. When did the nursing process itself become more important than learning how to heal, and not kill people? It is just ridiculous.

I can do NCLEX practice tests at home in my spare time. That is not what I am paying for.

No one in life rewards on effort. People reward on results. If they knock you down, get back up, if they do it again, keep getting up. There's some PT in nursing as well as some CT. it's good you've figured out what to study, now pound it out. I watched a friend in basic techniques spend 30 minutes reading the 10 page step by step tutorial on how to give a bed bath. Don't get lost in the details. At the end of the day, it's just a bath.

4. If your school has the audacity to advertise the program to the general scholastic population as a regular major, then it should be an entry level program. Those of us who do not have a decade of CNA experience should not be expected to know how to do things before you teach them. I don't want to watch a short video made in the 1970s and then be expected to perform a procedure. Give a demonstration, and adequate practice time in lab. Remember that we waited on long lists and maintained perfect grades in our prerequisites to get into these programs.

I show you how to do it. Now do it and do it again. and again. Until you can close your eyes and do it in your mind. You know what to watch out for. The instructor isn't going to hold your hand. Unlike previous schooling, you've got to figure things out on your own.

5. Focus on educating us, not on weeding out the perceived undesirables. We lost several people from our Fundamentals class who would have made wonderful nurses. We have kept a few of the less empathetic souls however. society wants empathetic, intellectual, nurturing nurses. From what I have witnessed, those are the students who mostly drop out. The hardened students, and the ones who care only to pass (regardless of GPA) are the ones who make it. Who does that actually benefit?

Sorry but nice people are nice. Mean people are mean. The sun comes up tomorrow. School is about performance, grades, and results. Good intentions and feelings are nice but mean nothing. The person who's had a "rough life" but "has a calling to be a caring nurse" and just can't muster the grades but would be a "really great nurse". There's a long list of people like that in every field.

6. I love patient care, and clinical :heartbeat.

I loved my clinical instructor because she was kind. :heartbeat

Others were not so lucky. I would have a hard time actually respecting a clinical

instructor who was otherwise. Respect students if you want them to respect you on more than a superficial level.

To put yourself on the same level as an instructor "respect" wise shows you don't respect them. They are your instructor not your friend. If they want to lock you in a room with 2 Cdiff patients because you need practice changing bed pans. That's their prerogative. I've never come across one instructor who felt that it was their job to make your life miserable. Especially at clinical.

7. I hate long lectures where the professor just reads directly off a Powerpoint first thing in th morning. That is pretty much wasted study time. I can read a Powerpoint online, as I have in many other classes. If you are not going to actually tell us what we need to memorize, and what will be on the exam, there is little reason to wake up at 6am to go to lecture every day. Everything I learned in lecture could have been taught as an online course. Only clinical and lab required attendance. It is hard as an adult student who has taken numerous online classes to not notice that this could be done much more efficiently. In nursing school, efficiency is everything.

The exam is a random test of your knowledge. It's not "everything you need to know". A slow day watching powerpoints is better than a day with a screaming baby projectile vomiting on you. Patience.

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This the reason why I'm going the EC route. No nursing school/classroom drama. You read, study and when you're ready, take the exam and that's it. On to the next exam until you reach the CPNE.

How exactly does it work? Do you need to be an LPN first? It looks to me like you just need to be half way through your clinicals to transfer to Excelsior. It certainly seems more efficient. Do you know what the CPNE will involve?

Thank you for the advice!

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Below are the other categories in addition to being a LPN you qualify to enroll at EC. I was half-way through a traditional nursing program so I qualify under that category. The CPNE is how EC tests your clinical skills. From what I read on various posts is the CPNE is a 2-3 clinical skills test done at a hospital of your choice and a nurse evaluates you. You either Pass or Fail. Much like in a traditional nursing school but more intense and over a few days. They do offer a workshop to help you prepare for a fee or you can study on your own. Some states like CA don't accept EC grads so you need to check with your state BON to be sure. Hope this helps.

Here is the info off their website: www.excelsior.edu:

Admission to the Associate Degree Nursing Program is open only to individuals in the following categories noted below.

  • Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses
  • Paramedics
  • Certain classifications of Military Corpsmen
  • Respiratory Therapist, Respiratory Technician, Respiratory Care Practitioner
  • Physician trained and/or licensed outside of United States
  • Physician or Physician's Assistant trained and/or licensed in the United States
  • Licensed, Certified or Registered Midwife
  • Students who have successfully completed at least 50% of the clinical nursing credit hours with a minimum grade of C in an associate, baccalaureate, or RN diploma nursing program within 5 years of completing their last nursing course

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Specializes in Neuro, Neuro ICU.

I agree with pretty much everything on here, except I'll admit now, that I'm occasionally one of those students who looks like they rolled out of bed to come to class. If I'm studying all night & only get 4 hours of sleep, I don't care what I look like while I'm taking my test.

I do find it annoying though when people show up to clinical looking like they rolled out of bed! Its one thing to look like a skank in front of your classmates, and another in front of patients, their families, and hospital staff.

Oh...Another thing I'm guilty of.....I check my phone frequently for the time, because I have an instructor who reads word for word off of the powerpoints. talk about BOOORING. A 3 hour lecture seems like muuuuuuch longer. Its easier to check my phone discretely, than to offend her when turning my head to check the clock on the back wall all the time.

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"Think critically" is the mantra of nursing schools. Whether you were an accountant, teacher, police officer, etc. in your previous life, nursing school exams have a life of their own: you've probebly never taken an exam like that before. So, you're not being talked down to. So after the first exam is administered and the class average is low, and everyone starts whining about thow the exam was "unfair", that should serve as a wake-up call. I've taken many a nursing exam that have had questions that I disagree with, but at the end of the day, those questions were put on there for a reason--to really get us thinking.

Here's the classic example we were shown in class:

For example:

Which of the following is not a shade of blue?

a. Dark blue.

b. Midnight blue.

c. Sky blue.

d. Blue.

Answer is "d"--blue in itself is not a "shade" of blue.

See what I mean?

And what was stated before, your teachers will not tell you what needs to be memorized, and what will be presented on the exam. If you want that, go back to high school. If you're so bent on getting up at 6a.m. for a "worthwhile" class, it sounds like your priorities are not placed in nursing school. Go back to texting about the huge party at Amanda's on Friday night.

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And what was stated before, your teachers will not tell you what needs to be memorized, and what will be presented on the exam. If you want that, go back to high school. If you're so bent on getting up at 6a.m. for a "worthwhile" class, it sounds like your priorities are not placed in nursing school. Go back to texting about the huge party at Amanda's on Friday night.

Honestly, this comment was rather uncalled for. Expecting to be taught what one is going to tested on is hardly too much to ask. I have taken a great many college courses in my lifetime, and in any other program it would be expected that the material would actually be covered. That is why professors are made to write a syllabus. I have maintained a high grade point average throughout school, and your statement that I should go back to text messaging about a party...just because I have the same complaint that has been made by my entire class says more about your ability to empathize with others than it does about me. Do you talk to your patients like that? Furthermore, our exams are written by six different professors who frequently disagree on the answers themselves.

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I'm gonna make a bullet point response. I'm not being mean, rude, disrespectful or anything..I'm just stating some facts along with your comments.

-I'm sure not everyone is cramming. I'm sure many people are able to manage life outside of school along with the studies. Search on here because it's been done before.

-Who says you can't fully prepare for an "nclex" style question. I don't get why everyone keeps making them sound like something special. A question is a question, you have multiple choices and one is correct...sometimes maybe more. If you have the basic knowledge of the topic and some reasoning skills in your head...mixed with some sense, then you can figure out most questions. STOP generalizing because really like we've said before. It's not the WHOLE class hoping to pass. It's been said MANY MANY times that those who struggle with make it sound like the entire class is failing. Just because someone has a higher education goal doesn't mean they'll achieve it. Some people will say allllll the things the wanna do in life, but they can't sometimes.

The part where you mention the lectures...can't talk about that because I dunno how your teachers are. So I'll give you that one because that "use critical thinking crap"..is crap. Thinking is thinking, end of story.

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Oh I forgot to ask

-Again how can you judge which students should or should not be allowed through the program? You may hate someone's attitude, but that doesn't mean they won't be a good nurse. Everyone thinks you have to be so caring and kind as a real nurse. I'll tell you...sometimes you have to put your foot down and be stern with patients and/or families. Some nurses who simply smile and try to be all therapeutic will get eaten in certain situations...nursing isn't about being nice. It's getting a job done and doing what's right for the patient, even if they think you're mean. Now don't get me wrong, being nice in other situations is great. I've had patients compliment me to my bosses and what not about how nice and caring and whatever...but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

-Who said the teacher has to tell you what to study? If that were the case, then why is "your whole class" hoping to pass?? If you don't like class, don't go..

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