Anyone else been turned off to academia?

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Hello... I am currently a nurse educator with an LPN program and I cannot wait to find myself another job. I cannot get over the amount of low quality students that are admitted, and the degree of bad behavior that we are expected to put up with. Students are essentially pushed through that have absolutely no reason being there to begin with. In addition, faculty do not work as a team and it's nothing but passive aggressive BS.

Has anyone else found this with similar jobs? I am ready to just head back to the bedside to save my sanity.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I was turned off to academia based on the low pay. That combined with what you describe would be very disheartening.

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6 hours ago, not.done.yet said:

I was turned off to academia based on the low pay. That combined with what you describe would be very disheartening.

I actually make a pretty decent wage. I do believe it to be more than many other faculty jobs (even the knew new director thinks so lol). But honestly, I would not even mind the lower wage if we had quality students and actually spent our time teaching instead of constantly disciplining. It is, as you said, very disheartening.

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I like the schedule and I like creating materials. Working with most of the students is great, but some are very challenging. Personally, I don't think the rigor of school prepares the students very well for practice. We entertain too much griping and whining. Questions must be worded so that they do not use "difficult" words. The students will see technical language in the clinical area, so hand holding will not help them in the long run. Math skills in simple operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are severely lacking for many students. There needs to be more clinical experiences, but resources are limited. It takes students, even in end of curriculum courses, significant time to perform relatively simple skills. Some are timid and many are over-confident. A select few do not accept criticism or suggestion appropriately. It is disheartening. Is some of this linked to safety issues we see with nurses in practice? Maybe? A few faculty favor increased rigor, but many continue the constant coaxing and hand holding. Very frustrating!

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I am happy with my hourly rate. I'm not thrilled that there are several weeks off in between quarters. I work clinicals with second quarter students in a year long LPN program. I think some of the issues mentioned above are related to different attitudes in different generations and from students having different backgrounds. The youngest students seem to think just showing up should earn them an A and get very upset when they don't. And I find that I have to give the same instructions over and over. I am constantly stressing how important daily nurses notes are and after 4 weeks (clinical 2 days per week) some students still didn't hand in nurse's notes. Some students are paying their own tuition and are more invested in getting the most out of it. Just like anything else, nursing schools are looking to make a profit and need to accept enough students to allow that. I find it very satisfying when a student is excited to try a new task, learns a new trick or has a light bulb moment. I try to be fair and treat all equally but mentally I try to focus on the moments when I see the student grow and learn. Any job is going to have frustrating aspects. I've been teaching for 4 years and don't plan to leave any time soon.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.

The burnout in academia is based on leadership decision-making to 1) let students slide through for things that are clearly expulsion-worthy (and stated as such in the student handbook) and 2) leadership decision-making to pass students who objectively did not meet the minimum requirements of the course.

Then, everyone freaks out when the NCLEX pass rates drop. Duh.

But, I do love academia, and I'm very, very good at it. Plus, where I work, I'm very well compensated with opportunities for pay above my salary. Last year, I made over 100K...at a non-profit.

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On 3/31/2019 at 12:19 AM, dudette10 said:

The burnout in academia is based on leadership decision-making to 1) let students slide through for things that are clearly expulsion-worthy (and stated as such in the student handbook) and 2) leadership decision-making to pass students who objectively did not meet the minimum requirements of the course.

Then, everyone freaks out when the NCLEX pass rates drop. Duh.

Yes, dudette. This exactly. Our program was just in probation in 2017. Our NCLEX pass rates are right around 60% right now, yet we continue to push through students who have shown us repeatedly that they are not up to the task. As you said, these decisions are made by administration while faculty are pleading their case as to why the student is unsafe.

Just last term we had a student doing so poorly in clinical that 8 different instructors (full time and adjunct) expressed concern over this student continuing. However, administration passed her along until the school received a call from a clinical site with their own concerns. Suddenly, administration took action. Absolutely no faith in their own faculty.

Unfortunately, I am currently looking for other employment outside of academia.

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Yes, same here. I'm turned off by the low pay and the poor quality of students so I took a break from the academic setting. For right now I'm just working extra hours at the bedside. At the moment I'm trying to figure out how to make money off of nursing students because plenty of them have Androids, I-phones, apple watches, Littmann stethoscopes, etc. I've been really thinking about making teaching videos on YouTube or developing a teaching pod-cast.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Burn/Trauma, Med-Surg, Nurse Education.
On 3/30/2019 at 11:19 PM, dudette10 said:

The burnout in academia is based on leadership decision-making to 1) let students slide through for things that are clearly expulsion-worthy (and stated as such in the student handbook) and 2) leadership decision-making to pass students who objectively did not meet the minimum requirements of the course.

Then, everyone freaks out when the NCLEX pass rates drop. Duh.

LISTEN!! I've been in academia for a year now and THIS has been theeee most apalling to discover. How sway??

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