Am I just being anal or is this really BAD??

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okay, this has been bothering me for some time but finally i think i have to do something about it. i'm going for my adn at a community college in new england, and this is an actual email we received from our clinical instructor:

"hi everyone,

attach is a copy of the rotation schedule and the assignment for this passed sat. it will be do sat. if you want to e-mail it feel free."

does anyone else see the problem here? we are taking instruction from this person in a field where accuracy counts. this woman has a master's degree in nursing!!! my 2nd-grade daughter writes better than this 20-something y.o. woman with an advanced degree.

and it's not just the clinical instructor: our lecture professor's "study guides" are riddled with errors: in the latest on cardiac anomalies, she wrote about the "eusebnebger complex" and even mentioned in class how she could not pronounce it. after reading the chapter, i think i found out why: she was actually talking about the "eisenmenger complex"! there are errors all over the study guides (which i tend to ignore now and make my own), the tests, everywhere.

so --- do i send an email to the don of our school? i'm having a real hard time taking instruction from these people.

and please note: it's not like these 2 professors are so wonderful in other areas that it makes up for their spelling and grammar shortcomings. in their case, i think the old adage is true: "that those who can't, teach."

Specializes in Maternity, quality.

I think everyone else here has made the right point. I have one professor who holds a PhD and her comments and assignments are practically unintelligible due to the lack of proper punctuation and spelling. Do I think that this is lazy? Yes, I do. But I am only going to complain about it to myself. I might make a comment at the end of the semester in our anonymous course evaluations, but I'm certainly not going to say anything to her personally, though it bugs the heck out of me that I spend a bunch of time and effort producing papers for her to read and she can't be bothered to double check her brief comments in return :uhoh21:

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Specializes in LDRP.
okay, this has been bothering me for some time but finally i think i have to do something about it. i'm going for my adn at a community college in new england, and this is an actual email we received from our clinical instructor:

"hi everyone,

attach is a copy of the rotation schedule and the assignment for this passed sat. it will be do sat. if you want to e-mail it feel free."

does anyone else see the problem here? we are taking instruction from this person in a field where accuracy counts. this woman has a master's degree in nursing!!! my 2nd-grade daughter writes better than this 20-something y.o. woman with an advanced degree.

and it's not just the clinical instructor: our lecture professor's "study guides" are riddled with errors: in the latest on cardiac anomalies, she wrote about the "eusebnebger complex" and even mentioned in class how she could not pronounce it. after reading the chapter, i think i found out why: she was actually talking about the "eisenmenger complex"! there are errors all over the study guides (which i tend to ignore now and make my own), the tests, everywhere.

so --- do i send an email to the don of our school? i'm having a real hard time taking instruction from these people.

and please note: it's not like these 2 professors are so wonderful in other areas that it makes up for their spelling and grammar shortcomings. in their case, i think the old adage is true: "that those who can't, teach."

yeah, that would drive me nuts. in our program you must be able to communicate well through writing--it's pretty essential in nursing to be able to write accurately. geez!

that said, i wouldn't comment on it until evaluations at the end of the semester. you don't need any enemies in nursing school! ;)

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To the orginal poster, as a recent graduate nurse, you will have to know a few things in the real world..Not all nurses are perfect..Sometimes, they forget to do things or sometimes they leave things out that they suppose to do..Sometimes they write something wrong..It is appropriate to report the person? Nurses who worked for years, will say not to report unless it is life threatening...Well, I learn something new everyday...If you want to survive as a nurse in the real world, you cannot go reporting every imperfection you see..If you do that, enemies, wolfs, and man eating sharks will end up in your work place..

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Of course all nurses aren't perfect. But this instructor isn't working in a health-care setting. She's teaching at the college level. She's expected to be able to use proper English, and her students are paying tuition with the expectation that they are being taught by an educated person.

I'm baffled as to how some of the posters on this thread could attribute her use of homonyms to typographical errors. The instructor doesn't know what words she's using. It's got nothing to do with anyone's typing skills.

So no, OP, I don't think you're being anal. You are, however, highlighting the continuing decline in reading and writing skills in our country. I would probably wait until after completing a course to forward a sample of the instructor's writing to a department head.

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Of course all nurses aren't perfect. But this instructor isn't working in a health-care setting. She's teaching at the college level. She's expected to be able to use proper English, and her students are paying tuition with the expectation that they are being taught by an educated person.

I'm baffled as to how some of the posters on this thread could attribute her use of homonyms to typographical errors. The instructor doesn't know what words she's using. It's got nothing to do with anyone's typing skills.

So no, OP, I don't think you're being anal. You are, however, highlighting the continuing decline in reading and writing skills in our country. I would probably wait until after completing a course to forward a sample of the instructor's writing to a department head.

You are just a student, and you never experienced the "real world." In the real world, misspellings, grammar errors are nothing and secondary to the lives of a patient! So let me tell you this, after you graduate, did not report something as silly as this such as grammar errors..You will be eaten alive..

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Ditto what Iceyspots and Bala Shark have said. It is best to develop your skills in determining what is important and what can slide. That too, is part of critical thinking and will help you get along in the real world of the workplace. Pointing out the imperfections of others in the workplace is not very wise. You tell them privately, about something of importance, so that they are made aware of something that could bring them and the pts grief, and you let the little things slide. Otherwise, you could find yourself the target of your co-workers. Not a good position to be in. Furthermore, there are so many opportunities for boo-boos as well as catastrophes, especially in the written or printed records, that there is not enough time to be perfect, even if being perfect were possible.

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Bala Shark, I strongly disagree about misspelling being secondary - what about the names of meds - some of them are very close and if misspelled can be a fatal mistake.

And the thing is, I'm not asking for perfection. I'm asking for an above-3rd-grade level of English from a college professor.

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okay, this has been bothering me for some time but finally i think i have to do something about it. i'm going for my adn at a community college in new england, and this is an actual email we received from our clinical instructor:

"hi everyone,

attach is a copy of the rotation schedule and the assignment for this passed sat. it will be do sat. if you want to e-mail it feel free."

does anyone else see the problem here? we are taking instruction from this person in a field where accuracy counts. this woman has a master's degree in nursing!!! my 2nd-grade daughter writes better than this 20-something y.o. woman with an advanced degree.

and it's not just the clinical instructor: our lecture professor's "study guides" are riddled with errors: in the latest on cardiac anomalies, she wrote about the "eusebnebger complex" and even mentioned in class how she could not pronounce it. after reading the chapter, i think i found out why: she was actually talking about the "eisenmenger complex"! there are errors all over the study guides (which i tend to ignore now and make my own), the tests, everywhere.

so --- do i send an email to the don of our school? i'm having a real hard time taking instruction from these people.

and please note: it's not like these 2 professors are so wonderful in other areas that it makes up for their spelling and grammar shortcomings. in their case, i think the old adage is true: "that those who can't, teach."

like it or not this woman is in charge of whether or not you pass or fail. i would let it go. nursing school is very political and i would hate to see you become a target over someone elses grammar/spelling inaccuracies. (i do agree that it is ridiculous though!)

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LogCabinMom, does your school ask students to evaluate instructors at the end of each course? My university does and offers an anonymous mechanism for doing so. I'd save that e-mail and submit it along with the anonymous evaluation.

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Bala Shark, I strongly disagree about misspelling being secondary - what about the names of meds - some of them are very close and if misspelled can be a fatal mistake.

And the thing is, I'm not asking for perfection. I'm asking for an above-3rd-grade level of English from a college professor.

In the real world, you cannot read the handwriting of a doctor..In the real world, the doctor will misspell drug names and also write so bad, that you cannot know what he is writing..That is the real world for you..

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
And the thing is, I'm not asking for perfection. I'm asking for an above-3rd-grade level of English from a college professor.
Let's face it. Sixty percent of all American adults possess reading and writing skills that are below an eighth grade level. This figure includes many college-educated people. Virtually any person, including a marginally literate nursing student, is capable of 'sqeuaking' through college-level English Composition class with a 'C' grade. In other words, the problem is bigger than the few semi-literate instructors at your school. This issue is national.

Hence, you must carefully choose your battles. This is an issue that you should not 'battle' until you complete this nursing program, because nursing instructors and DONs have their cunning ways of retaliating against the whistle blowers. Remember that you are replaceable, whereas your instructors are nearly irreplaceable. They'll replace you in a heartbeat if you decide to complain about the poor grammatical skills of an instructor.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I shall add that I regularly do chart checks while at my workplace. Have you ever read consultations that were written by physicians? They tend to be riddled with spelling errors, run-on sentences, and pitiful grammar. Physicians are some of the most educated members of American society, yet many do not punctuate their written communications adequately or write legibly.

Physicians have sloppy writing and bad grammar in the real world of nursing, yet I must fight more worthy battles. I know my employment will be terminated if I complain to my DON about these inconsequential issues. I know that the physician will scream and curse if I attempt to point out that his latest H&P is riddled with mistakes and sloppily written.

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