another one bites the dust...

rdhdnrs · Sep 28, 2001

Tricia,

It sounds like something is wrong at your school if the numbers go from 90 starting to 15 graduating. Nursing is hard but my goodness, I never heard of that rate of drop out. Are the academics really tough? Do you have some professors trying to weed you out? Just curious-those numbers made me do a double-take! :eek:

Genista, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2001

You'll see the same high turnover in the hospital, too. I've been @ my current position 2 years, and have seen at least 7-8 people (CNAs to RNs) leave the day shift on our floor for other floors, other jobs, or just plain quitting nursing. It can be difficult to maintain a positive outlook when everyone seems to be jumping ship! We try & welcome any newcomers & hope they will stay for awhile. I think healthcare in general has a high turnover rate.

trishfish · Sep 29, 2001

rdhdnrs,

Yes, it is one of the better nursing schools in the area, maybe the state. Their NCLEX pass rate is always above 95% except for last year which it went down to 80%. Needless to say the school is flipping out. You can look down through the ages in this school and they graduate a big class then a little class then a big class. I do not know if it is like this in all schools but they can fail you out for your test grades or paper work(careplans) or clinical performance or check offs. It used to be 3 strikes your out, no questions asked. Things changed last year (they loosened standards a bit) and so many people failed the NCLEX. Things are more strict again this year.

lvnmom · Sep 29, 2001

Well I have to brag on our program a little,I am in TX and our school got audited by the state licensing board and got NO recommendations to their program.WOW ,they have also maintained a 98% pass rate on NCLEX.....Pretty impressive if you ask me.

As far as drop outs go or failed students we have a policy-you have to make a 90 on the drug calculations test by your third try each semester or your out,checkoffs you get three tries each semester and if you miss more than 16hrs clinical time each semester you are gone,no exceptions!

pixxel · Sep 29, 2001

As much as I hate to say it, but isn't this what should be expected from such a demanding career?

Don't get me wrong - I totally wish there was a way that people who have family/finacial problems could work something out with schools so that all their hard work doesn't just go to waste, and the world misses out on what would probably be a great nurse! Same thing goes for people who are really truely giving it their all, but are still having problems in a class or two.

But as for the ones that run at the drop of a hat - isn't it better off this way? Do all the people who have worked so darn hard for so long, want to get through school only to have to deal with a coworker that just sorta became a nurse because they were able to handle the curriculum??

I know a girl who was SO CERTAIN that she wanted to be a nurse, got excepted into the what is rated one of the ten best BSN programs in the country - but dropped out in her third semester because she thought A&P was just too hard and didn't like the advisor assigned to her. Well, suppose she did somehow just manage to become a nurse... would she leave a patient in the middle of a procedure because she had to put in more effort than she expected? Or maybe quit a job because she didn't like a coworker or even a particular patient....

Sure, there are lots of people like that - ready to ditch something just because... but we shouldn't feel bad about it. Let's just hope that they go into computer programming or something like that where people's lives and well-being are not at stake.

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Sep 29, 2001

We started out our BSN program with 50 students and we only lost 3 to the "I don't want to be a nurse" reason --and they dropped out after the first semester. We lost 2 more when they got a D one semester, but they returned the next semester to make it up and eventually graduated one semester behind us. Then we also inherited a few students that had failed the semester before us, so I think our grand total was like, 48 students graduating.

I think part of the reason we lost so few is that we weren't admitted to the "nursing program" until we had finished the prerequisite A&P, chemistry, micro classes (and we needed A's and B's in those classes). THOSE classes probably weeded out many of the "just can't hack the work" people. But there's no way of knowing how many because many potential nursing students take the prerequisites at community colleges, then transfer to the university.

lvnmom · Sep 29, 2001

All I can say to you is AMEN!!!!I think people get by with things way tooo often and I don't want a nurse taking care of me who thought it was too hard to help me with a bath or a dressing change or a nurse who missed the lecture on s/s of a heart attack.I can see both view points,I started the nursing program last August(2000)but my appendix ruptured in October so of course I missed too much and had to start over in Jan.I was mad but now that I know more and understand I am a better nurse anyway.

Nurses are a rare but special breed(the god ones anyway)we need to stick together and be able to trust the one working next to us!

ADN 2002 · Sep 29, 2001

In my program we started with 30...

...we lost one girl after the first test

...gained two (from the previous class that had failed) at the start of the second semester

...lost 9 (almost 1/3 of our class!!) at the end of the second semester (med/surg)

...gained 9 LVNs that were coming into our LVN-ADN transition program

And that's where we are now - with about a semester and a half to go until graduation.

Kristin

nurseleigh · Sep 29, 2001

I agree that we dont need nurses like that in the workplace, but dont you think that if the education is so demanding we should be paid more?

Case in point, here in illinois CNA's(i know, not as much college but still) make 6.00 an hour average. I can go to McDonalds and take orders for the exact same money and not have the stress or heavy lifting that goes with the CNA job.

So why is it that our curriculum is so difficult and then we go to work and make the same thing as the secretary down the street who had no education after high school?

I think that this may have something to do with some of the people quitting school.

I know some of you are going to say that we didnt go into this career for the money but it sure would be nice to be paid what we are worth.

Sorry if you feel i got a little too far off the subject here. I didnt mean to.

Traci

pixxel · Sep 29, 2001

Traci,

I don't really think that salaries are a major issue here. Pay varies so much from place to place (you're in central Illinois where the average CNA job pays $6/H, but here in Chicago the average is between eight and nine starting - much higher in certain places) - pay seems to be more of an issue for those who are already nurses, and not as much for students... Sure, we're concerned, but who among all of us here can say that we've been studying all this time just for the money?

I think that the matter comes down to what you said earlier: Today's society has slowly weened itself away from hard work and commitment. It's become too easy to drop a commitment of any kind for the simple reason: "just because." It's become a lot harder to become a nurse over the years, and so maybe that's why there's a shortage of nursing students - They don't want to work any harder then necessary. Combine this with the number of people who are already nurses who almost rightfully leave for better pay and working conditions.. it all adds up to big trouble for anyone who gets ill nowadays....

lvnmom · Sep 29, 2001

I know exactly what you mean,a nurse the other day said her son(no college and 19)was working at Long John Silvers as a asst mgr making 46,000 a yr-HELLO!!!@!!He had only been there 7 months and no weekends.......

SmilingBluEyes · Aug 22, 2002

Our attrition rate where I grad in 1997 was greater than 50%....yea it is pretty horrendous most places,from what Iam told and see.