I know some of these things are things that all students complain about, so they're not stupid. They just need to realize that it's not only our school that makes you do these things. Most are the standards for every program. But some of these are just dumb, I'm guessing because they just didn't know how intense a nursing program is, especially since our school has pretty easy admission compared to others (3.0 gpa and 75 overall on HESI A2)
1. The Community Nursing class/clinical is a waste of time.
2. The clinicals aren't in anything I want to specialize in.
3. Too many classes each semester. (It's a full time program where all your core credits have to be completed beforehand so there are 4 nursing classes a semester, 3 in the last semester)
4. You have to take med math tests every semester and pass with a 90.
5. Having to write research papers.
6. Leadership Management and End of life care class aren't easy A's.
7. Having to take exit hesi's every semester. (I think the minimum score you can get on it is 800 and if you fail you take a remedia class).
8. Making careplans.
9. You need 100 hours of community service before graduation.
10. The lecture exams are too hard. (I wouldn't say this is dumb but some students say this and then laugh about how their books are still in the wrappers they bought them in.)
I'm in a BSN program, I haven't taken Community Health, none of these complaints are mine, but my classmates. What I mean by they don't have "clinicals" in anything they like is that the clinical rotations weren't in anything that interested them. Most hated OB, hated Peds, hated Psych.
Our program has med math I think every semester, if not every semester 3 semesters out of 4, we don't have a critical care/ICU rotation, just two med/surg and the usual OB, Peds, Psych, Community and Geriatrics.
The 100 hours of community service is also something that our school just came up with lol. We have HESI exits every semester before you can go onto the next semester.
Our program has med math I think every semester, if not every semester 3 semesters out of 4, we don't have a critical care/ICU rotation, just two med/surg and the usual OB, Peds, Psych, Community and Geriatrics.
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Med math is every semester and you must get a 100. Depending on where you do your med surg clinical and whether or not you and your clinical group advocate for yourselves (and of course, whether or not the facility allows it), you may get some time in the ICU. The best weeks of my med surg rotation were in the ICUs. The nurses there are wonderful. I saw a lot, learned a lot and did more tasks in the ICU than the nurses on our main floor allowed us to do.
Med math is every semester and you must get a 100. Depending on where you do your med surg clinical and whether or not you and your clinical group advocate for yourselves (and of course, whether or not the facility allows it), you may get some time in the ICU. The best weeks of my med surg rotation were in the ICUs. The nurses there are wonderful. I saw a lot, learned a lot and did more tasks in the ICU than the nurses on our main floor allowed us to do.
Thanks lol I knew it was either all 4 or just 3. Someone said you could get a 90 the first semester but knowing the school they probably raised it to 100 lol. That's where you're wanting to preceptor right? ICU? I'm petrified of ICU lol
Most of us loved the ICU, not sure where I'm precepting yet, still waiting to hear back but will let you know.
ETA: Also rotated through the OR, ER, recovery etc...It's very important that your clinical group advocate for yourselves to get the most out of your clinical experience.
Thanks lol I knew it was either all 4 or just 3. Someone said you could get a 90 the first semester but knowing the school they probably raised it to 100 lol. That's where you're wanting to preceptor right? ICU? I'm petrified of ICU lol
1. The Community Nursing class/clinical is a waste of time.
Nursing does not start and finish in the hospital. Nursing is more homeopathic than ever before. You have to look at the global picture of the patient. Community Nursing is as important as ICU Nursing, every specialty has its place.
2. The clinicals aren't in anything I want to specialize in.
Registered Nurses are not task masters that are allowed to specialize in only 1 thing. You must be versatile and flexible. Just because you only like L&D does not mean that a Tele patient won't get preggers. Just because you only want oncology does not mean that the patient won't have a broken leg. To think that you should only focus upon 1 specialty and only 1 specialty is as short sighted as it is dangerous.
3. Too many classes each semester. (It's a full time program where all your core credits have to be completed beforehand so there are 4 nursing classes a semester, 3 in the last semester)
Boo hoo, life is hard, NS is hard...the end.
4. You have to take med math tests every semester and pass with a 90.
Should have to pass with a 100%, I know my school was 100%.
When you are giving meds MEDS THAT KILL PEOPLE IF GIVEN WRONG should you only be 90% accurate? Are you going to explain to the Board of Nursing that at least 9 out of 10 of your patients survived your care? Medication is not something to be taken lightly, people literally die if you misplace a decimal point...
5. Having to write research papers.
We are a discipline governed by evidenced based practice. You need to be researching, reading studies, and exploring different topics. The ability to gather information and organize them in a coherent organized manner is key.
6. Leadership Management and End of life care class aren't easy A's.
RNs are the literally the leaders of the health care team. Leadership/management classes are needed for obvious reasons.
The end of life process is the single weakest skill set I have seen in many Nurses. Many Nurses are afraid to even touch a dying person let alone identify and implement the interventions necessary to ensure a pain free and smooth transition.
7. Having to take exit hesi's every semester. (I think the minimum score you can get on it is 800 and if you fail you take a remedia class).
Never took the HESI, no idea on the value of it.
8. Making careplans.
I have to make careplans every single day on the floor...ugh. I hate them too believe me but State is all over me like flies on ****. Your practice in school will help you on the job. They are invaluable for identifying and critically analyzing the needs of your patient and organizing the health care teams efforts.
9. You need 100 hours of community service before graduation.
Get used to helping the community...your entering a profession of caring.
10. The lecture exams are too hard. (I wouldn't say this is dumb but some students say this and then laugh about how their books are still in the wrappers they bought them in.)
Grades are on the line now...lives later. There is no such thing as a C in patient care...a C is a loss of limb or risk to life. Nursing a no fail profession.
We do alot of complaining in my program about the fact that they throw a lot of stuff on us at the last minute. Example: we start school tomorrow and they just told us recently that we now have to get a varicella titer to be able to move through clinicals. I hear that it is like this is a lot of programs so we just try to go with with it.
My friend only complained about the titer because getting lab work done is so EXPENSIVE and many nursing students are on a fixed income. She, and many of us had Varciella when we were children and its frustrating to have to pay big bucks to prove we are immune... the younger generation had vaccines which do wear off, or never protected you in the first place, so it makes since.
But its still really expensive, when they tell you last minute they put you in a precarious situation because you don't have time to scrounge up the $$. You can't just say they are complaining, it really is a problem. You can't tell me the nursing school didn't know this ahead of time.
1. The Community Nursing class/clinical is a waste of time.
In school it is important to take advantage of getting a feel for each kind of nursing so you can know which direction to take your career and what things you do not enjoy at all. You get out what you put into your classes/clinics.
2. The clinicals aren't in anything I want to specialize in.
Clinics teach us what directions we do want to go in our careers and what kind of nursing in your career you will want to avoid. It is like getting the variety pack because when you get a job most employers want at least a 1 year commitment.
Also Clinics teach you skills and flexibility. Even if it is not in your chosen field there are bound to be useful things you learn about people (communications), the human body, how the system works (hospital/management/floor), medications and skills (assessing lung sounds, heart rhythms, chemo interactions.. what ever)
3. Too many classes each semester. (It's a full time program where all your core credits have to be completed beforehand so there are 4 nursing classes a semester, 3 in the last semester)
This is hilarious!!!! My first semester of Nursing school I had 9 classes including clinics. School is Monday-thru Monday. If a person can't deal with this go to a school that does part time. I know of at least two programs that are part time. I am sure there are more out there if you do your research.
4. You have to take med math tests every semester and pass with a 90.
Some people do not have good math skills. Giving the wrong amount of medication can kill someone. The math may seem easy or redundant to you, but the goal is that you don't accidentally kill someone giving to much of a medication.
5. Having to write research papers.
This is about two things.
(1) There is a lot of junk information out on the internet and "research" articles. By learning how to do research and how things are measured and recorded you will be able to see what information is accurate and what is B.S. that has been skewed to fit the writers opinion. This can also be helpful when doing patient eduction. Or when your patients bring in articles/research and want to know how accurate the information is. Patients/people are researching their own health care options now. You need to be prepare to converse over new research and how accurate it is.
(2) Advancing the field/professionalism of nursing. This is also preparing you for a master's program if you choose to continue your education. Ask any other major; most masters programs require students to do research.
6. Leadership Management and End of life care class aren't easy A's.
Why should they be easy As? End of life care is some of the hardest most emotionally/ energy draining Nursing there is. How would you feel if a loved one was dying and you loved one's nurse just wanted to do as little as possible for that family member?
As a brand new ( one month) charge nurse I can tell you "leadership" or management is not easy. I am sure if you want to go into administration in the hospital it gets even harder.
7. Having to take exit hesi's every semester. (I think the minimum score you can get on it is 800 and if you fail you take a remedia class).
Sad, but it is about making sure you will pass the Boards when you graduation and helping improve the statistical pass rates for the schools.
8. Making careplans.
I think every one hates doing these. However they are actually important for a few reasons. Setting up a group plan (with Pt/OT, MD's, Nurses and family) about what we are going to do to get the patient better and on there way home. For legal reasons we need to show what we are doing, it is very important if the patient re-lapse and things go wrong. Last, but my least favorite for insurance reimbursement. (this means so you get a paycheck and the hospital gets it $)
9. You need 100 hours of community service before graduation.
Nursing historically is based on helping people and community service.
10. The lecture exams are too hard. (I wouldn't say this is dumb but some students say this and then laugh about how their books are still in the wrappers they bought them in.)
Maybe they need a tutor or group study. Everyone has different learning styles. You need to find what works. the point of school is to learn. Not pay money to be given a degree !
In school Everyone is stressed, tired and frustrated. I know I ******* about things in school. Some of them are still valid for me to ***** about. Other things as a more experienced nurse I can see the value now.... 2 years down the road.
I'm in a BSN program, I haven't taken Community Health, none of these complaints are mine, but my classmates. What I mean by they don't have "clinicals" in anything they like is that the clinical rotations weren't in anything that interested them. Most hated OB, hated Peds, hated Psych.
Our program has med math I think every semester, if not every semester 3 semesters out of 4, we don't have a critical care/ICU rotation, just two med/surg and the usual OB, Peds, Psych, Community and Geriatrics.
The 100 hours of community service is also something that our school just came up with lol. We have HESI exits every semester before you can go onto the next semester.
My second Med/Surg was great. The hospital was small so they couldn't put all of us on the Med/Surg units. So we rotated around to see Cardiac Cath, PACU, Endo, Peri Operative... cant remember what else.
Med/Surg is so broad spectrum, you should be able to find a patient with a disease process your interested in... Then follow that patients treatment, for example: if the have a heart block and need pacemaker - you get to see that. You do most definitely have to advocate for yourself tho, otherwise you'll passively sit on the floor.
ICU experience is a must! I can't believe you don't have that. We were supposed to see the ER in my ICU rotation, and I was really disappointed that the hospital wouldn't permit us to go down there. One of my class mates passed out during clinical, so I did end up in the ER for a little while, but not the way I wanted to be. I missed out on alot of IV starting in the ER.
You know, you can volunteer in the hospital, possilby answering phones on a unit your are interested in - not sure if that counts towards 'community' hours. My instructor, in Houston, suggested that we help these programs that send medical supplies to other nations. That was quite interesting. Other suggestion were to do emergency runs with the fire department. There must be some cool things you can do.
4 care plans a week, going to the hospital on the other side of town 4 times a week, paying $12 for parking everyday and having to cover more babysitters was absolutely exhausting. However, it is so much better to do some research and find someone your interested in for your clinical the next day, and even better to be prepared to take care of them!
My biggest complaint was that no matter how involved I tried to be in NURSING, the things that require a license, and coordinating care, all the documentation... is that the nurse would be doing these things without you, while you bath and hand feed the patient. It wasn't till my management class that I had to care for 4 patients (basically by myself) and was able to say that "I can't do that right now, could you help me?" - to the CNA who was assigned to that patient.
That was an interesting time. The CNAs were literally tattling on us to the nurses assigned to those patients. We picked one nurse 'preceptor' for the whole clinical. My preceptor was the nurse manager. She asked me - "Don't you HAVE to do these things?". I had to say, "No, this class (Management) is about proper delegation and learning to manage my time so I can get a handle ALL of the nursing responsibilities." Calling pharmacy about questionable dosages/ medications, calling MDs, rescheduling appointments, researching Meds, teaching, documentation.
I think Management was the best class for clinicals because the nurses trusted us more... we were ready to take the NCLEX, as far as competencies were concerned. So in this clinical we were NOT to do patient care plans the night before, (we did have loads of other assignments to turn in each time tho). So during the shift we had to get patients medical diagnosis, allergies & history, current treatment, assessments, look up meds, do nursing diagnosis, interventions and goals, learn about treatment and patho (if you couldnt remember every detail), during the shift....." not to mention giving the meds and doing patient care, documentation, teaching, discharge papers, ect. Its not surprising we didn't have time to do ALL of the ADLs... They did this to simulate what it was really like to be given patients cold turkey. It made me feel more confident that I was ready (or not) to be a full blown nurse.
Now, I really feel like many teaching hospitals understaff the CNAs because they expected nursing students to do it all. I understand that we have to learn this too, it is part of the scope of nursing - but when do you learn coordination and the stuff that requires a LICENSE when your so busy taking everyone vitals, doing blood glucose checks, changing bed sheets, and passing out trays, ect, ect?
I'm not even in NS yet but just finished up my last A & P class. I hate whiners and overheard this one day, "We'll never need this stuff, my mom is an ER nurse and said she never uses what she learned in A & P." I thought to myself, is he kidding? This is the foundation we will build the rest of our knowledge in NS on! And I also hope to never need an emergency treated by his mother. This is BASIC stuff dude! Needless to say he dropped the class.
I think NS should be hard and I'll welcome the challenge. I don't expect to be put in charge of others lives by sailing through an easy program for 2 years. You just can't enter this profession if you don't take it seriously.
I won't address all of these issues as I went through a BS-BSN program, so my experience is different.
Community and Leadership/Management - these are NCLEX topics, and they cover some important ground. Many of the higher level questions on the NCLEX are leadership oriented. I will also say that you may not currently be interested in community health, but should you, god forbid, find yourself physically unable to handle hospital nursing (and getting hurt on the job is not unheard of), you may end up doing public health or hospice.
Research papers - If you want to actually excel at nursing you need to know how to read and interpret research. You also need to practice organizing information into a digestible and persuasive form, so that you can effectively educate your patients.
Care plans - I hated, hated, hated doing care plans, and in many units you will use a boilerplate pathway or a check-the-box care plan. However, doing a care plan from the ground up helps you see the overall picture of your client's physical and emotional needs. It helps you understand not just the "what" you are doing, but the "why." You will therefore be prepared to think a little more creatively and critically when taking tests and dealing with real patients.
Having said all that...none of these complaints are actually dumb, they are reflective of where you are in the process of learning. And griping about school is a good stress-reliever, and goodness knows nursing school is stressful.
Specializes in Med/Surg, Paeds, Community, Old age home.
I've never heard any of those complaints from my class. Mabye the few that don't do their work and get behind. We have to get 100% on our math tests which rules out any space for med error. Its pointless to get 80% on the math test because you just made a med error. Exams are exams yes some are harder than others. Its mostly the wording not the material that's hard. The clinical's are awesome. It gives the student and idea of what that area of nursing is like so they can make a career choice when they're done.
When we're done we gotta clock 400 hours of comprehensive hours. :| . Its all so we get the experience we need to be confident nurses. The students that complain about this stuff should find another career path. Its for our best interests and for our soon to be patients best interests that they make it hard on us. Don't want a lousy nurse taking care of you.
Nepenthe Sea
585 Posts
We take a Community Health class in my ADN program...in the final semester.