i am half way done with nursing school and i am to the point where i cannot stand half of my class. i am a pretty average student, not the best and not the worst. i’ve never worked in the healthcare field and the first time i stepped into a hospital was my first day of clinical. i just wanted to share my annoyances…as the student who didn’t have a heads up of what to expect. i wish i was forewarned about the social aspect of nursing school because in reality you would be spending about 2 years with the same people and you are going to have to learn to tolerate them.
i have categorized my “annoyances” from most annoying to least annoying, although some people fall in several categories. (i really do feel like the stressors of nursing school are taken a toll on me causing me to be annoyed about everyone and everything but hey, here it goes)
1. the very competitive nursing students.
you may have been the smartest student in your anatomy class but now there are about 50 of you sitting in that classroom. each and everyone striving to be at the top of their class. a few of them are going to shine brighter than you. it is a very annoying feeling. you will develop some negative feelings towards them and try to find a few aspects of life that you are better at than them. well don't. befriend them, if anything they are a great resource
2. the students who study less but get better test scores.
i sat down to take my very first test in nursing school and i was stressed. i studied every single day since the lecture, i felt like i knew everything. the girl who sat next to me was also stressing but only because she crammed the night before. i got a 70% and she got a 95%. how is this fair? several people have told me that not everyone is a good test taker, i’d rather have a nurse that studies a lot then crams, etc, etc. umm no. she clearly knows what she is doing and her test scores prove it till this day.
3. the complainers. your instructors are people too, with their own personal lives, kids, hobbies, friends and some are still completing some sort of upper division courses for higher education.
teachers don’t get paid well; they don’t do this for money. they obviously love nursing and teaching. they are the most compassionate bunch of nurses you will ever meet. and guess what? at some point they have all been nursing students. it has recently become a pet peeve of mine, when i noticed a trend of several students constantly complaining about how much they dislike their teacher. if you don’t like something, tell the teacher! it's as simple as that. 99% of the time there is a fair rationale as to why they put that question on the test or why they gave you projects back to back or why your clinical schedule is so crappy. and the other 1% of the time? well, human error, don’t hold a grudge. and please don’t complain about teachers to other teachers, so incredibly unprofessional. they are collegues.
4. know-it-all's.
there will be at least one. the know-it-alls are in a completely different category as the competitive people or the people that get better test scores than you. if you state that you are unclear about something they will pull you aside and explain it to you in their own individual way. i know it sounds like they are trying to be helpful...but it won’t feel like that. it will feel like they have officially taken on the role of a teacher without anyone asking them to do so. when coming to class you almost expect them to jump up there and start lecturing. they correct the teacher, they interrupt lectures but most of all they think they are better than everyone. there were a handful of them in my class and it got to the point that when they would start talking i would deliberately ignore every single word they were saying, important or not. and the whole entire time, the only thing i wanted to remind them is that we are in the same classroom, learning the same subject; at the same level of nursing school so please do not act like you are above all. so if i could go back and do it again knowing this what would i do differently? i would ignore their behavior because two semesters later, they have been put in place several times by instructors and one of them failed a semester. (disclaimer: i am by no means happy that they failed out i am just trying to stress the point that even if people act like they know it all, they clearly don’t know it all)
5. those who don’t have to work while in nursing school.
you may come across a few people who constantly talk about how they are so grateful that their significant other is able to support them while they go to school. they can’t bare the thought of having to work while completing their education. and they will verbalize this every single day, after every single test. and here you are working full time because that is the only way you can support yourself. some call them fortunate, i call them annoying.
6. the ones who already work in the health care field.
it’s a tough economy out there. in case you haven’t heard….not many places are hiring new grads. the only worry in my mind at this point is passing nursing school. sooooo with that said….why is it so important to tell everyone, everyday that you have a job lined up for you because the clinical manager loves you oh so very much. if you say it once, that’s great j if you say it again after you are asked, that is awesome. but if you announce this to the whole class during the discussion of what they will do after they graduate… then that’s just boastful. not a single person would say, “hey good for you, look at how fortunate you are” and if they do they are lying.
anyway…well this is my little rant. whether you are in nursing school or waiting to enroll in a nursing program…this is what you should expect. i promise…there will be at least one person in your class that falls in each category…can’t wait to graduate so that i never have to see these people again!
how about everyone else? what is your annoyance with the social aspect of nursing school? i’d love to hear that i am not the only “annoyed beyond belief” one out there.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
That's the thing I've never understood... people who say nasty stuff like, "I bet YOU got an A *again*!!!!" -- why give me crap because I got a good grade?
Do I give them crap because God gave them nice hair (and I got my rusty-brillo-pad version of hair)?
Do I give them crap because God gave them height (and I'm 5'2" and have to climb on the shelves in the grocery store to reach things on the top shelves)?
Do I give them crap because God didn't cover their skin with freckles (and I look like a dot-to-dot puzzle gone haywire)?
I know it's just a coping mechanism for them, trying to demean my A so that they feel better about their B-C-D-whatever, but if it's not socially acceptable for me to rag on them for being pretty ("I bet YOU woke up beautiful AGAIN!!!"), why is it socially acceptable for them to rag on me for being smart?
I don't understand it either. I am truly happy for my friends that get good grades, even when I might have gotten a bad grade, I want to see them do well and succeed and they are the same with me. I don't study NEAR as much as a should. Maybe a couple hours right before a test. Sometimes I get A's, sometimes not so much HAHA. But I would never hate someone or dog them for doing well and I would never take away their glory by making them feel like they can't be happy. It's exciting to get a good grade especially in nursing school where a lot of grade scales are stricter. I got a 100% on my Pharmacology final and I was OVER THE MOON. I was the only one and my friends never once made me feel bad and I was so excited I was "gloating" as some might see it I guess, but I was excited and wanted to share.
Anyway, I don't know why people have to try and trample on someones glory because someone else might not be doing the best. Some people might know how others are doing, some people might get lost in their own excitement.
Would I got into a room full of starving homeless people and say how full I am and how we are adding a new wing onto our house? No of course not.
Should I feel like I had to tread lightly and whisper my excitement of getting a 95% of my last exam to my friends. NO
I do try and be tactful, (if everyone comes out of an exam that I thought was a breeze and they are all saying how hard they thought it was and ask me, I always say, Yeah I dunno how I did, their were a few I really wasn't sure on so will just have to see how I did. I won't be like, Ummmm no it was soooo easy).
I personally feel like I'm tired of apologizing for making good grades and having extra study time because I don't have work, or have family to worry about. I made a choice to put myself in the most optimal position for achieving good grades. I'm sorry if you're not making the grades you want or you don't have enough time to study, but I do and I'm not trying to rub it in your face! And there I go, apologizing again...
I personally feel like I'm tired of apologizing for making good grades and having extra study time because I don't have work, or have family to worry about. I made a choice to put myself in the most optimal position for achieving good grades. I'm sorry if you're not making the grades you want or you don't have enough time to study, but I do and I'm not trying to rub it in your face! And there I go, apologizing again...
LOL...She's not talking about you. Over and over again, it has been explained in this post that she is specifically talking about people who brag about these things. If your not one of the ones who goes around bragging, when other people are not as fortunate to be in your situation then you have no reason to apologize.
I dont understand why everyone keeps getting so offended by this post.
LOL...She's not talking about you. Over and over again, it has been explained in this post that she is specifically talking about people who brag about these things. If your not one of the ones who goes around bragging, when other people are not as fortunate to be in your situation then you have no reason to apologize.
I dont understand why everyone keeps getting so offended by this post.
I think you misunderstood my post. I'm not at all offended by this thread. But thanks for trying to call me out on that...
So, to clarify, the "you" in my post was the general you. I was simply venting about my experience with others in my class who aren't even on this forum! (well, maybe they are, who knows)
I was just adding my own commentary for those "future nursing students."
I had a charge nurse once who told a particularly annoying nurse (who boasted daily about not HAVING to work... she just enjoyed being around people etc. ad nauseum) that she didn't have to work either. She said she worked only because she got so BORED with playing golf and tennis at the country club every day! She said she was so much more entertained by bedpans and applesauce. She cracked us up. But never again did we hear the boasting
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I have to admit, the primary reason I went to work during my last pregnancy is because I loved being around the friends I had there. I didn't need to work, in fact I was on bed rest, (my job was a desk job though and really how can one be on bed rest with 3 children and a husband working out of state). But I enjoyed the social ness of it more. The job was easy a monkey could have easily been trained to do it. But I looked forward to getting to see my go workers/Friends I had there.
I enjoy school for the same reason.
I don't have to work, my husband would be perfectly fine with me staying home and finding hobbies to do. But I enjoy working and doing stuff and being around fellow adults and so on.
Their are other things that come into play for my decision to become a nurse as well. Anyway I just wanted to comment on that aspect of it, (I am in no way entertained by bed pans :| )
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~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN
5,259 Posts
I don't understand it either. I am truly happy for my friends that get good grades, even when I might have gotten a bad grade, I want to see them do well and succeed and they are the same with me. I don't study NEAR as much as a should. Maybe a couple hours right before a test. Sometimes I get A's, sometimes not so much HAHA. But I would never hate someone or dog them for doing well and I would never take away their glory by making them feel like they can't be happy. It's exciting to get a good grade especially in nursing school where a lot of grade scales are stricter. I got a 100% on my Pharmacology final and I was OVER THE MOON. I was the only one and my friends never once made me feel bad and I was so excited I was "gloating" as some might see it I guess, but I was excited and wanted to share.
Anyway, I don't know why people have to try and trample on someones glory because someone else might not be doing the best. Some people might know how others are doing, some people might get lost in their own excitement.
Would I got into a room full of starving homeless people and say how full I am and how we are adding a new wing onto our house? No of course not.
Should I feel like I had to tread lightly and whisper my excitement of getting a 95% of my last exam to my friends. NO
I do try and be tactful, (if everyone comes out of an exam that I thought was a breeze and they are all saying how hard they thought it was and ask me, I always say, Yeah I dunno how I did, their were a few I really wasn't sure on so will just have to see how I did. I won't be like, Ummmm no it was soooo easy).
But I am not going to walk on eggshells either.