Clinical Professor From Hell!

elkpark · Jun 7, 2012

My personal experience, both in nursing school and in my graduate program, was that the instructors who were the toughest on me ended up being the ones from whom I learned the most. They were the ones who cared enough to push us and enforce high standards.

KB1975 · Jun 7, 2012

I have no idea, as I am not in clinical yet BUT I am sure someone will reply with, "to help you learn, to make you want to prove them wrong, or to make you stronger".

I say, rude professors have nothing better to do in their lives and dwell on the power they have. I personally have always gotten along well with my professors. But I have seen the same professor that treats me well, answers all of my questions, go and belittle a student in my class. Its nothing new.

fitzy5 · Jun 8, 2012

i attend medgar evers college cuny aas program and we had a clinical professor from hell this past semester. she picked on students & always tried to humiliate us. every clinical session she made it known that she had the power to fail us "evaluation's are comming up and remember it's up to me to pass or fail you". they tend to forget that being nasty to us does them no good. for we also have the power because we, the students, do their evaluation and what an evaluation she got. during our practicum she was oh so humble, lol. one day she gave us our patient's but the computers were down so we did not know what meds they were getting or what was even wrong with them. my patient's chart did not have all the info i needed, just got on the floor, so i had to rely on his pmhx and what they told me. she then saw me and told me give the patient his 1000 meds and that i was going to be evaluated. how i disliked that woman. my experience was minor compared to what some of my fellow classmates endured. thanks to nurse archer telling her what a good student i was when dealing with my patients got her off my back but unfortunately for some she lit a fire under their butts. i learned everything from the nurses at the hospital and nothing form my clinical professor this semester. the short of it is why are some clinical professors so crule? did they not remember what it was like?

i sooo feel your pain! we had a professor last semester that failed one person every skills lab. she failed me for skills we weren't even supposed to be tested on!

i find it so ironic that many of us want to be nurses because we care. yet the professors seem to not give a crap about any of us!

some want to make your life miserable because their nursing school experience was.

my supervisor said, " you are not going to school to become a nurse because of your professors." i always keep that in the back of my mind...this semster we have yet another difficult professor...and i'm just counting down the weeks for it to be over.

good luck and as the old expression goes, "don't let the bastards get you down!"

OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN · Jun 8, 2012

Well, I used to read these posts and think, "wow really?" Now last semester I had 2 great instructors and one absolutely horrid. As far as people that say, "oh its okay because they make me a better nurse blah blah...." I don't agree at all. I have had instructors that are a little difficult and intimidating and one in particular that was very ahrd and I did learna ton from her and greatly appreciate her but I think there is a big difference between that and just down right nasty instructors like the op is talking about which I did have this past semester. SHe embarassed students regularly, harped on people so bad that there hands would be shaking and they would make stupid mistakes. Nothing was ever learned because we spent almost all of our time on the floor sitting in room listening to how wonderful she was. She would laugh and make fun of us at the nurses station and the nurses would just have these awful looks on their faces. It sucked, was a waste of time, and I learned absolutely nothing, except how much I appreciate all my other clinical instructors.

Stephalump · Jun 8, 2012

I attend Medgar Evers College CUNY AAS program and we had a clinical professor from hell this past semester. She picked on students & always tried to humiliate us. Every clinical session she made it known that she had the power to fail us "evaluation's are comming up and remember it's up to me to pass or fail you". They tend to forget that being nasty to us does them no good. For we also have the power because we, the students, do their evaluation and what an evaluation she got. During our practicum she was oh so humble, lol. One day she gave us our patient's but the computers were down so we did not know what meds they were getting or what was even wrong with them. My patient's chart did not have all the info I needed, just got on the floor, so I had to rely on his PMHx and what they told me. She then saw me and told me give the patient his 1000 meds and that I was going to be evaluated. How I disliked that woman. My experience was minor compared to what some of my fellow classmates endured. Thanks to nurse ****** telling her what a good student I was when dealing with my patients got her off my back but unfortunately for some she lit a fire under their butts. I learned everything from the nurses at the hospital and nothing form my clinical professor this semester. The short of it is why are some clinical professors so crule? Did they not remember what it was like?

Why? Because professors are human, and some humans are cruel people. Your examples were so vague and unlife-altering, I have no clue if this professor was indeed cruel, or maybe just too tough for your liking, but either way, you survived! Hopefully you have better luck this semester!

♑ Capricorn ♑ · Jun 8, 2012

I can't speak for every clinical instructor and I have yet to attend clinicals. So, I do not have no real knowledge or experience to back up my opinion. You can correct me if I'm wrong. But, I will say that maybe some instructors act and say what they do, because they have found a weakness and want to strengthen it, or maybe they are testing your character, or maybe they are just having a bad day. I doubt he/she has forgotten what it was like to be a student. I think being an educator in a school reminds him/her of it daily. It may not only be your skills and knowledge that is being tested, but what you are made of and how you handle it. Because, we all know what types of stress and pressure is put upon nurses.

I do hope you have a better semester next one, and good luck. :)

OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN · Jun 9, 2012

I'm sorry but I really dislike the fact that people repeatedly say that its okay to be this way. There is a huge difference between being a hard instructor and being rude, condescending, and abusing your position. I also want to be clear that I have had very good reviews and have really excelled in my clinicals. My second semester I had one of the senior professors/preceptors that was a slightly older and very experienced nurse. She was hard, quized, graded care plans extremely hard, pushed us to practice and do many skills. She also always held us over an hour or more every clinical. I loved her, I learned so much and was able to do so much. She pushed me, have me difficult patients, and I loved her. SHe never made me feel dumb or had to embarass, intimidate, or humilate me or my classmates to accomplish this.

~Trini~ · Jun 25, 2012

[color=mediumblue]tough professors i can handle, i've had more than my share of them. but when one is rude, condescending and constantly belittles others is what i have a problem with. one can only ignore such a person for so long before said negativity slowly erodes the very well-being of the recipient. "vague" and "unlife-altering"? i didn't want to list all the details then whine about it. maybe i should have added it was not only my view but the collective view of all my fellow students and that of some of the nursing staff who came in contact with said person. hey after all is said and done i passed every component of the course and came out with an a.

grpman · Jun 25, 2012

Trini, congrats on the high scores in the class in spite of what you endured. I imagine all of us come out tougher by enduring the hardships of life. If nothing else, you learned how to handle a rude, condescending, belittling professor that users her little bit of authority as a broad sword and you are better for it.

~Trini~ · Jun 25, 2012

Thank you grpman. It was indeed a tough term and I did learn a lot from it.