Backing out of RN school

[rgodfrey]

Definetly thinking about backing out of my RN program after completing 2 of the 4 semesters...... Probably going to change my major to Physical Therapy and go from there. I love the job, but honestly.... I have a lot of respect for the RN's and the students who put up with it, but I just feel like I lost a lot of respect for Nursing Education and how future RN's at my school at least, are taught. I feel like my program has taught me nothing except how to be a good guesser, and self teacher.

And the exam questions are another frustrating thing, ....its funny because people always tell me, about how you have to apply information we learned and not just memorize...um I think I get that but thats not what I mean when I complain about the exams....... I partly disagree....because I believe there is definetly a memorization component to any RN program, but how can you apply information you never learned?? because at my program we are tested on stuff we never learned all the time, and I'd swear the exams are designed like that so nobody gets a grade higher than a C+ or 42/50 at my school without luck or again being a good guesser. (and only a handful of people get higher than a 42...... My program is also very disorganized, ....the courses are team taught, and judging by exam content the instructors are very out of sync with what we learned....the instructors call it thinking through the question....we all call it at my school, guessing, and again How can we apply knowledge that we never learned, and is also not in the book or notes (i study both i'd know).....?? ....and believe me, ive gotten all the NCLEX review books necessary and let me tell you, are exam questions are much harder than the NCLEX questions,,,

My favorite part about my program is we get no exam reviews and no rationales for the questions we got wrong, and we also cant challenge them. And I also personally love how my instructors just read from sheets word for word when they teach...... this is why out of 100 people I started with at my program we are down to about 60 for level 3 and will likely lose another 20 en route to 4...last years graduating class was around 40 students..... the sad part is...its mostly because of school and work and people struggling to balance it..... I think personally the nursing program im in needs to stop convincing people that they can do it with full time jobs and famlies when you really cant...

Now Idk if every program is like this everywhere, but if you're reading and you have your own experiences please share, but.....all I know is ive really lost all respect for the way nurses are educated, and as much as I love it, I think im just going to go to school for physical therapy

[prettymica, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN, APRN, NP]

I am waiting on my teacher to put up my assignments as we type and read(Supposed to have been put up days ago). My first time around I started with 28 and that was cut to 12 first semster. I put up with disorganization and being tested over material that I never saw in life. Im doing the same in my bridge program. I was told by a teacher that we only teach you 10 percent of what you need to become a nurse and the rest is learned from all the experience you get while working. That teacher was right. Please dont give up you are too close to finishing. Even if you dont use it stay in the field its always a license you will have to fall back on. BIG HUGS!

[MyMystudentRN]

im going to have to agree with slinkyheadcna and jennabean55 it could just be your school i mean ive heard of school accepting 40-50 students a semester but 100?!? doesnt seem that competitive to me that is just my opnion though. why did you get into nursing in the first place? why dont you call around in your area and see if the classes you took are transferrable dont just quit on your career choice because a school isnt organized look for another school.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

btw my school takes 120 for the new students in first semester. However They get thousands of applicants and by the end of the semester there are probably 80-90 left and my school has a 98% NCLEX pass rate. But then again I did my research before I started.

[kaydensmom01]

I don't think that your school sounds that bad. Yes we have to read ourselves and teach ourselves, I am sure that if you don't understand something after you try to learn it, there is someone that can help you. Our school starts with 84 and 28 just graduated.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

IMHO it sounds like y'all just don't like the work. Quit then. But don't talk down on the field just because its not your cup of tea. You need to do your research and not just apply to whatever program is the easiest to get into. It is YOUR SCHOOL that sucks. I have NONE of these problems at my school. But of course I researched all schools in the state before i even started prereqs. And PT requires a Masters degree unless you are gonna be a PTA so thats many moons away before you finish that. Really sit and think whether it is worth it. And if I were you I would be glad that the exams are harder than NCLEX questions because that means the NCLEX will be easy peasy for you.

Im not trying to be rude, I hope I don't come off that way. But you guys seem to not understand what is really important. Self teaching is just a fact of life. And don't be bitter because then you truly will have wasted your life because you will never enjoy what you do if you don't take away anything good from the experience.

We know self-teaching is important to anything. However, when one forks over the dollars and sacrifices something else to return to school one generally expects to receive quite a bit of teaching along the way.

[TnMtnRose]

I just finished my first semester and although there are some quirks about test questions at times, we do get to challenge after review and lots of times we win. But other than that our school is amazing and I am excited to be in the program. I fought hard to get there and I'm not leaving unless they kick me out lol But as for the self teaching aspect, I personally think that its common sense to "self teach". Self teaching to me is simply applying critical thinking which is what they are trying to "teach" us in nursing school anyway. Book learning can only get you so far in nursing. At some point you have to learn to rely on your intuition and common sense. You can memorize all the facts and normals in the books but if you can't think and apply those in the clinical setting then you're in trouble. We sometimes had questions with material we never covered (or so we thought) but when you really read into the question and critically thought it out you could come to the right conclusion and you would see some "base" knowledge in the question that you might not have first noticed. Please don't give up, you have come a long way already :) My friend said something our first day of class after lecture that has become my "motto" for nursing school lol "We made it through the first class...we can make it through the last."

[Alikatz]

It's too bad that you had such a terrible experience at your school. As others have said, not all schools are like that. I am glad that the school I attended was absolutely wonderful, tough, had excellent professors, and really prepared us well. Pinning is in 4 days! I have to say though if nursing is not for you, then it's not for you, however don't be so negative about a career just because of your bad nursing program experience. Looking down on the field because of a crappy program definitely is not the way to go (noticed that in several other posts from others as well).

PT school is definitely very tough as well. As someone else mentioned, you will need a Masters degree (unless you go for a PT assistant) and I believe there are at least two college's around where I live where they are requiring a PhD now (not sure if that's everywhere, since I never looked into it). If that is where you feel you'll do best in, go for it, however if you really feel like you love nursing, then look into other programs and find out as much as possible about them first.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

DITTO what was posted above.

[rgodfrey]

Well first of, nobody is bashing nursing, but are critizing nursing education at our respective programs which we reserve the right to do.

Second off, yeah, PT is a doctorate or masters program, but honestly..... if im going to work this hard, it may as well be for a profession that pays better, gives me more autonomy and is a doctorate program..... unlike Nursing where I have neither, and I'm overworked, and physically beaten down over time and burned out..... My brother did a PT program recently, and ive seen his material he gets and its nothing like I get....

Yea its hard but its nice to be tested on stuff we actually learned, and by someone who actually knows what they are teaching....

And yea Applying information, yes ..... I get that but you're missing the point, you cant apply stuff you never learned, and this so called intuition one poster says...... if you dont know what a Total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral

salpingo-oophorectomy is, and YOU NEVER LEARNED about out or covered the topic in class so you can read on it more......then how can you use your're magical nursing intuition one poster so speaks of?..... thats called guessing

When you have bullcrap questions like these ones which are just one of many then this is how you get frustrated and lose respect not for nursing, but nusing education and your program:

What is the priority intervention for a patient with a blood glucose level of 55mg/dl

A. Administer 8oz of orange juice

B. Administer 8oz of diet soda

C. Administer 5 peices of Candy

D. Administer 8 oz of regular soda

The Answer is D..... the textbook says A and C would be right, but we cant challenge questions and we get no rationales toward questions.

----and there are plenty more where that came from.....about 10 for every exam and if you got that right you just did what? ......oh yeah guessing?

And lastly., as far as self teaching.....you're missing the point, ......Self Teaching is fine, when your're guided in lecture on what to study and not misled by unorganized, out of sync, lectures that are never clear on what you're gonna be tested on.......But all I am saying in regards to Nursing education is what is the point of coming to class, getting a lecture of an instructor just reading from a sheet so you have to teach yourself everything?

[rgodfrey]

Exactly..............to my nursing instructors " im sorry for trying to make you do your job"

But the textbook should be the lead teacher and the only teacher

[RNGriffin]

Nursing school is teaching you how to become a critical thinker. No one is going to hand feed you the information as a PT or RN. Therefore, if you are looking for a career that does not require you to do your research on your own, you are better off choosing a field as a LPN, MA, or Health Information management( which requires a great deal of critical thinking after you progress through the ranks).

The professors are teaching you how to apply your own critical knowledge to better assist the patient & physicians as a team. No one knows everything! So, don't think you are being taught too little. You have to basically continue to educate yourself after Nursing school.

[TC3200]

Nursing school is teaching you how to become a critical thinker. No one is going to hand feed you the information as a PT or RN. ...

Every time I hear some ditzy repeat of that prattle, AI just have to get out the crowbar and give somebody a few good whacks. Nursing ed is a marvel of drivel and inefficiency. This is especially true if you directly compare it to accounting, engineering, mathematics, etc. The difference in nursing ed is that it's NOT teaching or training students in what they should be learning; it's playing keep-away the entire time and making them do all the slaving work themselves. I actually got thrown out of RN school for telling them that it was a boatload of worthless time-wasting carp, compared to all of the other education and self-training, and personnel training that I have done. And I have done a lot of that, because I have degrees in biz and engineering and tech, and I worked 25 years for a major USA corporation before I tried RN. And don't bother dredging up that "you have people's LIVES in your hands argument." Pee on that, because: IF RN schools were actually teaching their students very efficiently and thoroughly the principles, policies, legalities, and appropriate actions, then the whole entire class would be getting As not Cs and fails on the tests! Do you women see my POINT? If not, then kick out the women educators and replace them with MEN, and you will see some streamlined teaching methods develop PDQ, because men simply WILL NOT waste time on trivia and "the romance of nursing" or anything that does convert students into capable nurses. Think about it: The rn ED NEEDS TO BE OVERHAULED! The ditzy women who can't convey a message to teach a class efficiently need to be tossed out and replaced with people who don't eternally putz around and yak and blather, and all the while leave students to teach it all to themselves. I don't feel bad about getting "kicked out." I had already slammed the door on my way out. Nursing really needs to spiff itself up, find a spine, and take charge. As it is, it's full of weak and subordinate women that we women who've come from "nontraditional" work environments simply can't respect or take daily 6-8 hour worthless and wandering lectures from. Too many of them might know it, but they sure aren't TEACHING it!