Are most nursing programs a hot mess or is it just mine?

Is this a private for profit school? No this is not the norm. Skills lab should be equipped with high tech Sim Man, there should be enough supplies for each student to practice but you may have to re-use some supplies, (gloves, 4x4s, syringes etc ) . Some schools the students buy a  kit that includes for example NG tube, Foley catheter, IV bag/tubing, etc for basic skills. And no, the scheduling should not me a moving target, it should not change except for an emergency event such as bad weather. I  taught for 10 years in a BSN program and we stuck very closely to the scheduling. Then I taught at a for profit LPN school that charged 35K, the equipment was ancient, beds did not work & yes they limited the supplies in practice. They just went out of business (Vista College), same thing with scheduling, the director of the school would make changes to nursing classes without consulting the faculty! Have you/classmates discussed the issues with faculty? Are you the first cohort? What’s the NCLEX pass rate?

It shouldn't be like that, but unfortunately a lot of them do run that way.

14 hours ago, LittleCa said:

Don't even get me started on SIM and Skills lab. Do all of you get to try all the skills? Because in our skills lab you get put in groups and each member of the group gets to practice one skill and the rest watches

Are you able to then go into 'open lab' times to practice the other skills?

No, this is not normal, and I would be very upset.

On 12/5/2021 at 8:37 PM, LittleCa said:

Mind you, this is a respected university rumored to be one of the best in the state, but geez are they lost. 

They aren't lost--they have made very bad choices for the sake of profit (regardless of their tax/business status).

This sounds off the rails. ALL institutions who operate this way no matter what their status or who/what they are affiliated with are running a racket on the back of this profession.

On 12/6/2021 at 10:36 AM, londonflo said:

Are you able to then go into 'open lab' times to practice the other skills?

No, that is not a thing. We had a meeting with the program coordination and the dean and they were all like, "oh really, we were unaware. You guys need to speak up." So yes, we are pissed off. And yes we are speaking up now. Hopefully, things get better next term. 

On 12/5/2021 at 8:50 PM, PollywogNP said:

Is this a private for profit school? No this is not the norm. Skills lab should be equipped with high tech Sim Man, there should be enough supplies for each student to practice but you may have to re-use some supplies, (gloves, 4x4s, syringes etc ) . Some schools the students buy a  kit that includes for example NG tube, Foley catheter, IV bag/tubing, etc for basic skills. And no, the scheduling should not me a moving target, it should not change except for an emergency event such as bad weather. I  taught for 10 years in a BSN program and we stuck very closely to the scheduling. Then I taught at a for profit LPN school that charged 35K, the equipment was ancient, beds did not work & yes they limited the supplies in practice. They just went out of business (Vista College), same thing with scheduling, the director of the school would make changes to nursing classes without consulting the faculty! Have you/classmates discussed the issues with faculty? Are you the first cohort? What’s the NCLEX pass rate?

It's a private for profit school. I'd be totally fine reusing supplies just to get a change to try. We got that kit with some of those supplies but never got a chance to use it except for the foley catheter one.  And thank you for saying the schedule should not be a moving target. Some of our professors use the excuse of "nursing is chaos" so we should get used to things changing all the time. It drives me insane. 

Like I mentioned on another reply, we recently met with the dean of student's affairs and the course coordinator and they acted like they were surprised. They brag about doing this program for 30 years now and the traditional nursing program for 50. I legit wonder all the time if this is the first time they have ever done this, because that is what it looks like. 

I've been talking to my classmates to speak up on their course evaluations. I feel like I was the only one who did it for last term. Hopefully, with that and the meeting with the dean, things will get better. 

Thank you all for the replies and support. The reason I asked was because I thought we were being gaslighted, since they always say "that's how nursing is." I wanted to make sure that it's not.

Thanks again!

1 hour ago, LittleCa said:

Some of our professors use the excuse of "nursing is chaos" so we should get used to things changing all the time.

Well that's just evil. 

And here so many of us working nurses have wasted time and emotional health wondering why nursing admins are willing to tell us absurd things right to our faces. The part of nursing that is actually chaotic is that way because of the same types of players.

This BS excuse is completely unacceptable.

And in the case of students it seems somehow even more absurd--like maybe they better review who is paying whom. You are not just a student, you are also a person paying for something.

6 hours ago, LittleCa said:

It's a private for profit school. They brag about doing this program for 30 years now 

 

Yeah I was pretty sure it was a private for profit! And I call BS on 30 years  of having Accelerated BSN, those have only been around for about 10-15 years. And just what are they “bragging “ about ? It sounds like they are new to running ABSN, after the first 3-5 years it should run smoothly.

6 hours ago, JKL33 said:

And here so many of us working nurses have wasted time and emotional health wondering why nursing admins are willing to tell us absurd things right to our faces. The part of nursing that is actually chaotic is that way because of the same types of players.

This BS excuse is completely unacceptable.

Ever since the beginning of my program, I felt there were things that were needlessly painful merely because “that’s how nursing school was for us, so that’s what we’re doing to you”..

10 hours ago, JKL33 said:

Well that's just evil. 

And here so many of us working nurses have wasted time and emotional health wondering why nursing admins are willing to tell us absurd things right to our faces. The part of nursing that is actually chaotic is that way because of the same types of players.

This BS excuse is completely unacceptable.

And in the case of students it seems somehow even more absurd--like maybe they better review who is paying whom. You are not just a student, you are also a person paying for something.

That is so true. Maybe do your staffing by acuity and not simply numbers. And far as school goes, they are just breeding that mentality. 

13 hours ago, LittleCa said:

It's a private for profit school.

OP, LittleCa, I say cut your losses and move on. From reading other posts of yours, you are only on your first semester......Don't throw good money after bad. Continue with that waitlist for your Community College. I bet this program has an exit exam that prevents you from graduating and keeps their NCLEX board failures to a minimum.