I'm an ADN nursing student in a community college (of course).
I'm in my last semester.
Here is the breakdown of my education thus far:
Semester 1, geriatrics rotation. Teachers didn't know they were teaching until days before. Given wrong syllabus and then finally got syllabus 2 weeks later... still from 1 year ago.
Semester two. We're in the hospital now. We get to pass meds. We're essentially given our own patients. We have access to the pixis except for narcs. We aren't really shown how to do assessments... we review it briefly in lab and then we have our own patients. We aren't shadowed by a nurse, we don't follow a nurse. Clinical labs are a joke. We're shown something once, and then passed, even if performing the task in a mediocre or poor manner.
Semester three. We can now do IVs, IV meds, IV pumps. Oh, ya... we don't have a pharmacology course in our program. Being consistent, we're shown once how to turn on a pump in lab and then we have our own patients. IVs: we demonstrate how to do an IV on a manaquin arm that has a vein the size of a pencil bulging out with a large hole already in it from the hundreds of previous sticks... pop the iv in once and we're turned loose. Instructors are often not present on the clinical floor working on the Master's degrees homework. Instructors for labs are often disorganized because they usually don't know they are teaching them until hours before.
Semester 4. We're told we would get our clinical assignments in August. Then mid August. Then end of August, then two weeks after that. 50% of the staff had just quit. We often have deadlines that are not met. We complained about this in semester two and were told we need to deal with it, because that's what professional nurses do, is learn to adapt.
My last rotation is in ICU. I somehow lucked out and got a nurse that actually shows me what I'm supposed to be doing. I've learned more in these few days than my entire education to this point. Many other students will not get a nurse like mine and will graduate behind the curve.
Other local colleges require you to demonstrate skills a few times in lab before they pass you. Not mine. Other local colleges actually have a nurse-preceptor for clinicals. Mine technically does, but they usually have their own patients and are off doing that while we practice... um... nursing?.... The clinical instructor is usually off in random rooms, or are studying on their own. They are available should we need them. I can't help but feel that we are students and shouldn't be left to figure it out on our own.
We are NLNAC accredited... not sure how... I'm wondering what I should do. Having a nurse show me basic clinical skills I should have learned a year ago makes me think we're producing unsafe nurses. And many in my class think the same. The program is disorganized, things change on a whim of whoever is in charge. Information is often not known by all the faculty. Staff often finds out late that they are teaching and produce learning material from the previous year, and dated from the previous year. Nothing is stable or solid, we have come to expect random changes. Schizophrenia is the basis for our program.
I would approach the leadership but there is an atmosphere of fear and retaliation. One of the top instructors has outright said she hates conflict and doesn't deal well with it... and has dealt with student that do. People that have spoken up in the past get 'dropped' from the program for various reasons.
People who technically fail a semester are passed on. Students have failed two semesters and are passed on. Apparently 3 is the limit as shown by students who had to drop for failing 1st, 2nd and 3rd semesters. What is the point of having a 75-83 be a C if you're going to pass students who fail.... and why curve it up for students who are actually reading their books and not hoping to get passed on...
