A thank you to those who hate/hated nursing school!

Nursing Students General Students

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I'm in my first semester of nursing school. I HATE most of my instructors and the nonsense they put us through. It's like junior high + a lifetime movie + MTV all rolled into one. I think all the time about quitting because the catty, cranky, backstabbing, judgmental, hypocritical instructors don't just rub me the wrong way, they bring out my absolute worst.

On the other hand, I LOVE patients. Yes, even the cranky ones that make me frustrated and want to cry, and the ones that I leave at the end of the day and when I come back has passed away since then (making me have to do my care plan and assessment on a new patient again). I love learning the process and I can't wait to finish to go back to school to become an advanced practice nurse. I'm a very critical and creative thinker, so I'm one of those odd people that has no problem understanding HESI style questions, or prioritizing or any of that stuff.

Today I just felt defeated, depressed and down, so I googled "I hate nursing school" and of course there were only a zillion hits of current and former students at schools across the country saying that they hated it too! Now I know I'm not alone, and that my feelings are normal. There are fellow frustrated students that had problems too, but managed to succeed. So thank you, for not covering it with rainbows and unicorns, and just giving me (an admittedly far off) light at the end of the tunnel.

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I am graduating in 90 days (yes 90, I have a countdown app on my phone) and my best advice is to exercise. I picked up running and trained for a marathon during nursing school and it helped me let it all go. I could pound out my frustration on the road and it made everything better and easier to deal with.

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Just an FYI...you're there to learn, whether or not someone "rubs you the wrong way". Also, YOU bring out your worst...no one else, just you.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Throughout nursing school you will find that you will have instructors that you really hate and despise and you will find that you will have instructors that you really enjoy learning from. You also find that you have patients that try your patience and you will have patients that you really enjoy being around.

Also throughout nursing school you will find that it's a real pain in the backside to do care plans. I would venture to guess that doing care plans is pretty much universally despised by nursing students everywhere, I do too. I also find that doing care plans is incredibly useful for learning how to take care of patients. To that and, as much as I hate doing them, I put as much effort into making them as good as I possibly can.

I had the great and wonderful experience of not having a clinical instructor mesh well with me. Yes, I learned a lot from that instructor, but for some reason I ended up having to repeat the course and because I was already knowledgeable about what was coming up in the coursework, I was able to essentially act as a peer tutor. Guess what? Best thing I could've ever had happened to me. Being available to teach my peers also helped me further solidify my skills and my knowledge base. I personally feel like I am very much ready to knock this semester out of the ballpark and in terms of nursing knowledge and education, I am a whole lot better than I was!

Nursing school is not so much about learning how to get along with your instructors, your peers, your patients, it is about learning what you need to do in order to become an effective and safe nurse. It is also, tangentially, about learning how to navigate the politics of the working world.

Learn what you need to learn from the people that you need to learn from, even the nursing school instructors that you hate because they have something that they can teach you.

Good luck!

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I couldn't agree with you more, I am doing the accelerated BSNS program and I am in my second month, the hardest thing for me is to be around my peers. They are very gossipy, cliquish. I have to just deal with it and keep telling myself I only have a few months of it to handle. I am just not used to it, because when I was in Physical Therapy school before I decided to switch over to Nursing, it wasn't like this. For me, it's more or less of my peers than teachers.

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kgh31386 thanks for that. It's pretty obvious that you're one of those people that makes up the instructors we have as well as the majority of poor nurses in the profession that have an utter lack of respect for another human. You know, the ones that come in and just start asking questions or doing a procedure without an introduction or explanation?

It's such a shame that in such a caring profession we have to be so mean to each other, instead of supporting each other as a team.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

I am not sure if this post even needs a response because it is kind of shocking, but everything is almost a 2 way street. The instructors might forget what it is like to be a student, but on the other hand nursing school is not something you prepare for. You are thrown into the water and either you sink or swim. It is harsh and exhilarating all at the same time. Also, last semester my clinical instructor had some serious issues with patience, but this semester my instructor is THE BEST. Even though last semester I did not always enjoy being around the nurses or my instructor at clinical I kept a positive attitude and that got me through with A's. Everything in life will probably not always be handed to you, but it makes such a difference when you have the right attitude. (Think KSAs)

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Specializes in retired LTC.

I hate to say this but nursing school is pretty much a dress rehearsal/prelude to the real work-a-day environment in health care today!!!

As you keep reading the threads & posts here on AN, you'll find posters c/o managers (and PEERS) who are "catty, cranky, backstabbing, judgmental and hypocritical". Also "gossipy & cliquish" and "mean". From my own experiences, I'll add vindictive, retaliatory, petty, soul-less, self-serving, self-important, unsympathetic and a few choice more.

We're required to follow rules & regs, that at times, seem incredulous, unrealistic, downright "nonsensical", CAPITALISTIC, disrespectful, uncaring, near-sighted, etc. And the puppeteers who pull our strings.......... A whole lot of chiefs for the working class Indians!

There's another current post where the OP is upset that one of her managers was so rude to tell her "to suck it up" when she had the audacity (I'm being sarcastic) to complain about working conditions. I think she called it "unprofessional". Well, some bosses are like that. Some just don't mince words, however harsh sounding. That's the reality of today. Be it a work environment or school environment; boss or instructor. Not everybody has politician schmooze skills. And they don't sugar-coat or give out warm fuzzies either.

As you continue along in school for your desired APN, you'll still have to experience the school milieu. It's not going to change much in the next 5 or 6 years. School is just a blip on your radar of life. It doesn't sound like your school program is much different or more difficult than the others out there (and some are worse). The reality is you'll either flow with it or sink or bail out. You're only beginning. So it's YOU who has "to suck it up" (sorry, don't mean to be particularly blunt). School and work are the constants.

Unless you've some system to hit the lottery, you'll have to next face the workplace where all the same silliness happens. Even as an APN, you'll still have to deal with peers and bosses as described. But then there are the good ones..... they are out there. It's just the luck of the draw.

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Specializes in Hospice.

"Hate" is such a strong word. Really? You hate them? I have probably, mmmmm...... six instructors for lecture, labs, and clinical, and I haven't met one I hated yet. Or even disliked. Unless the majority of your cohort also hates most of the instructors, you maybe should figure out what it is about you that is bringing out these feelings. Also, I wouldn't put it on social media if I did hate one of them..... nursing instructors have some vague sense called "intuition"....... I don't know how they do it, but they will find out everything about you one way or other.

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Specializes in Orthopedics.

I TOO GOOGLED I HATE NURSING SCHOOL WHILE IN NURSING SCHOOL! Lol,

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