Are "real" nurses as mean as my future instructors?

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Obviously the title is meant to have a little humor to it, but after today I'm questioning that. I had orientation for a Community College RN program and the instructors were VERY unprofessional. It was 2 1/2 hours of them huffing and puffing like 6 year olds toward us, and basically acting like we were below them. I posted a more detailed explanation of todays events in the "student" section, but I'm just wondering if this type of attitude is something I can expect more of in my new career? I come from a field where from the get-go everyone treats each other as a professional and there is a lot of support and encouragement, and after today I'm hoping I don't have to prepare for the exact opposite of that. Give me some hope people! lol

believe me, nobody asked any stupid questions. can you ask a stupid question? anyway, in all honesty it was just very strange. The 10 people in this orientation were older, more professional people. Looked like a bunch of career changers, nice respectful people. Of course one girl did come about 1/2 late, but they didn't really give her any trouble because of that which surprised me. They did huff-puff when she asked for a pen though, lol. But seriously, the huff-puff eye roll is just childish.

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

you will find nursing school is a whole different kind of animal.. it will contuine to be strange for a long time... that girl that came in 1/2 late and the one without the pen .. that will change... i hate to say it .. but yes sometimes people do ask stupid questions... we ave alot of students at our hospital .. and they do ask stupid questions.. bless their hearts.. the poor girl last week asked ... which way do i put on a 4x4 it was adbomen dressing ? then the other question was .. can you start over i missed what you said? ( during report) no i didn't start over .. you snooze you loose.. oy .. the instructor told her to stop talking to her friends and maybe she would know what was going on.... yes there are some dumb questions... one student tried to tell one of my coworkers that blood is hung with d5w not 0.9n/s ... she got told off by the nurse to mind her own business.. good grief .. and i could go on and on .. so yes there is stupid questions ..... yes these are people's lives and you can kill them so huff and puff eye rolls will be the least of your worries.... this is serious business.... you will see alot of eye rolls and huff and puffs and you will not care because it is trival compared to what you will be learning and will need to know.. it is petty to worry about those little things when half your class fails or gets kicked out of the program .. then you will be happy to see the petty things.. who cares if they huff and puff they are only human .. and it's not hurting anyone .. so get over it... just make the grade and get through the program and pass boards .. then you can be a real nurse...

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
believe me, nobody asked any stupid questions. can you ask a stupid question? anyway, in all honesty it was just very strange. The 10 people in this orientation were older, more professional people. Looked like a bunch of career changers, nice respectful people. Of course one girl did come about 1/2 late, but they didn't really give her any trouble because of that which surprised me. They did huff-puff when she asked for a pen though, lol. But seriously, the huff-puff eye roll is just childish.

Whoever came up with the saying that their is no such thing as a stupid question, probably asked a lot of stupid questions in their day.

I am a firm believer that everyone deserves a level of respect to start out and I believe respect goes both ways. I also believe there are ladders of authority that should be respected.

That said, so far I have met just about all our instructors we will have throughout our program and have yet to see any mean ones. Some aren't as "friendly" as others, some don't sugar coat like others, but all have been approachable and seem to want us to succeed.

That said, I have also seen that perception is a powerful thing, I have been totally shocked at what some of the other students have had to say about instructors, I have been totally shocked about the lack of respect given in the classroom to certain instructors a group of students don't like. These students seem to want everything sugar coated and spoon fed to them and I with these 2 particular instructors were mean because the students behaviors and lack of respect in the classroom was totally appalling to me. These students even planned on starting a petition against this instructor and I was blown away as to why. A group of us could not understand how they could dislike this instructor so much. They would have never pulled half the stuff they did with one of our other instructors, this teacher was nice but no nonsense and wouldn't have tolerated the disrespect.

Another teacher we didn't have until the past few weeks didn't have the warmest of personalities, and also was not one to sugar coat anything, but she was not mean in anyway. The other day she was barely a foot out of the door and a student blurts out "will we be filling out an evaluation on her like we did everyone else, because I want to" a few other students piped up in agreement. I sat there looking at my friend like what the heck, this instructor didn't do anything wrong.

I am nervous for next semester, my med surge teacher I have heard is hard core and can be very intimidating in clinicals, at the same time I think he probably turns out some kickorifice nurses so I am also excited for the challenge.

I think a lot of how one percieves their teachers has a lot to do with their own attitudes and sometimes some teachers just suck!

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
believe me, nobody asked any stupid questions. can you ask a stupid question? anyway, in all honesty it was just very strange. The 10 people in this orientation were older, more professional people. Looked like a bunch of career changers, nice respectful people. Of course one girl did come about 1/2 late, but they didn't really give her any trouble because of that which surprised me. They did huff-puff when she asked for a pen though, lol. But seriously, the huff-puff eye roll is just childish.

I dunno, student came pretty late and unprepared, I probably would have signed and rolled my eyes from my seat lol

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Specializes in CCU,ICU,ER retired.

Nursing school is HARD! And is not for sissies. Instructors start weeding out the ones they don't think qualifies fast. You are learning o keep some people alive and being there for the ones that aren't going to make it. There is a busload of emotions that go with it. One thing they have to do is give 100% of themselves and to candy-coat it would truly be a disadvantage to you. We can't coddle new surse in really bad situations. All nurses are different in that way. Nurses in high stress units like critical care units and ER will take your head off in one clean snap because they just don't have a lot of patience They react fast and have to multitask and react immediately. It may not be the best situation for a beginning nurse to learn in but if you can take it, you will make it

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believe me, nobody asked any stupid questions. can you ask a stupid question? anyway, in all honesty it was just very strange. The 10 people in this orientation were older, more professional people. Looked like a bunch of career changers, nice respectful people. Of course one girl did come about 1/2 late, but they didn't really give her any trouble because of that which surprised me. They did huff-puff when she asked for a pen though, lol. But seriously, the huff-puff eye roll is just childish.

as other posters have said, the reason that instructors may raise their voice, "huff and puff", etc. is that nursing involves people's lives . . . so just learn the basics of nursings and don't get your feelings hurt by the antics of the instructors, no matter how "childish" you may consider it.

just wait until you're pushing drugs in a code and the doc is yelling at you . . . the "huffing and puffing" will seem like nothing

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I get what you're all saying. I guess I can't explain it well enough and I'll just rack it up to "you had to be there" situation. I'm not talking about them being a rough instructor, I'm not talking about them being a no nonesense instructor, I'm not talking about anything like that. those things aren't a problem with me in the least. The tougher you are the better I react. I'm talking about a person acting like a tween valley girl, that simple. Thats what it seemed like. Worst part is it was from a person of authority. I think that type of attitude will breed more people who are just the same. If the instructor acts like that what type of student do you think that will produce?

Again, this isn't about them being tough...they could be yelling at me, picking on me, and pretty much acting like a fool toward me and I wouldn't much care, whatever they thought would motivate me to do better, go for it. but, the loud huff-puff eye roll crap is chilidish. defend that all you want. its childish. Also, I realize this was just one day so maybe they were having a crap go of it today...we'll see how it goes.

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Yeah, maybe it was childish . . . but, you're 47, I was 52 . . . let it go . . who cares!

Actually, most of the "huffing and puffing" that I saw from the instructors was just an "act" for the reasons stated previously. When they tried it on me . . .it was mostly "wink, wink, nod, nod"

One thing, though . . . don't worry about trying to change the nursing program . . . maybe the methods are childish, silly, whatever . . . they graduate good new grad RN's . . . who will learn nursing in their first couple of years on the job

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Welcome to the wonderful world of nursing. ;-)

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I in no way expect to be just given respect, I just don't believe a person in any position such as theirs (any professional person) should act like a two year old. Rolling of eyes, huffing and puffing is NOT professional. I don't care what field or situation you are in. It could be a social situation and it wouldn't be accpetable to act they way they were. I come from an aviation background, and when I say we were treated like professionals from the get-go I mean that we were never give any slack. You are expected to know EVERYTHING and to perform flawlessly at ALL times. From the beginning they expect you to act like an adult, and to act professional. In that expectation they treat you as such. If an instructor, I don't care what field of study, wants you to be a professional they need to treat you like one. You don't treat a person like a child by yourself acting like a child, this is unacceptable. This IS unprofessional. Of course you have to earn respect and trust but you shouldn't need to earn professional courtesy be it a peer or an instructor. Maybe I expect too much.

p.s. obviously I was joking about nurses being mean ;)

I disliked most of my nursing instructors. But I had some that rocked!

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Wow, what you are describing is something I haven't seen. Tween Valley Girls? By huff and puff do you mean they are sighing loudly in Valley Girl fashion? That is weird. Now, as for the tough "battle-axe" type, I actually have grown to love these nurses. Yeah, they're rough, but their bark is worse than their bite, and they have some really amazing stories to tell. If you show them you are up to the challenge and then some, they will, well, maybe not warm up, but they will find a way to let you know they approve of you, even if it sounds kinda like a growl :chuckle

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I consider myself a nice person, but I have high expectations of others and myself. Therefore I may come off as being "mean". Some students are willing to learn and work hard and I can appreciate that. Others I have serious doubts about. Would this scenario not make you livid? Recently I had this one particular student had no work ethic/accountability whatsoever. Neglected our patient all day and later I found out she was in the lounge all day surfing the net by a colleague?! All the time I thought she was busy with another pt. All she did was the vitals and even that she couldn't do because she never charted them after she showed them to me?! I did all the care w/no student in sight. She happens to show up after I am done the wash or the dressing change and says "oops I'm late again". Honestly it was such a crazy day I didn't even realize until the end of the day that she never reported off to me. Like there was anything to report anyway other than her absence. I spoke to her instructor but I have a feeling it was not addressed. She is going to get a BIG reality check if and when she graduates which is supposed to be this year. I was even debating if I should notify her instructor. She even had the nerve to ask why I was "angry all the time". Because of people like you who don't take their job seriously and expect everything to be handed to them and feel they are somehow entitled. The RPN students work 10x harder than the RN students. It amazes me.

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