Did/Does your nursing school operate like this??

[Blondie24]

I am currently enrolled in an ADN program at a private school in Los Angeles. I am at the half-way point in my

completion of nursing school. From all of my prior research, this school HAD a semi-prestigous reputation amongst

the medical community for producing excellent nurses; hence, the reason I chose to attend this school.

However, now that I am actually enrolled, I find that this school is very unprofessional, disorganized and unsupportive of their students. It is quite disheartening. They market this program to potential students as being a

nursing program for the working-adult, those with family, etc. Yet everything they do suggests quite the opposite.

Examples are as follows:

1. Last minute notification to students regarding clinical dates (ie. the night before)...how can the working adult (the ones that they are supposedly marketing this program to) make child care arrangements, notify their work, etc. on such short notice?

2. Teachers and administrators working in the Nursing Office do not return emails or phone calls (even after multiple attempts on part of the student), teachers have established office hours that they are never present for....how you arrange meeting during their office hours, if they never return a phone call or email?

3. We are required to take an ATI test at the end of every course. The end of course will approach and the students are told by the professor that they WILL NOT need to complete the ATI exam. Then several days after the completion of the course (and the start of our Easter break, summer break, etc, etc.), we receive email notice for the Office secertary the night before that we need to arrive on campus the next morning to take this ATI exam........its as if the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. There is ZERO communication between the teacher and the administration! COMPLETE DISORGANIZATION!!!!!!!

These are just a few examples of the things that we as students have to deal with. Some students, including myself, have tried to approach the administration with our concerns, only to be told the following ----- "if you're not able to make accomadations, they maybe you should consider taking a semester off or going elsewhere." They (the administration) seems to act like we are not committed to the program. We were told in the beginning they we wouldn't have a social life, which we all openly accept. It's not like we're trying to get out of clinicals, exams just to go out an party or something. We are simply asking for the common courtesy of giving people a little advanced notice to make arrangements for child care, work notification, etc. Am I crazy for wanting that?

I just wonder, after reading this - was/is this your experience in nursing school?

[CASTLEGATES]

just try to get through it and take it out on others once you get into a position of authority. It's the American nursing way!

[elkpark]

My school (the administrators and faculty) was v. well organized and consistent, but they'd been around for 80-some years so they pretty much had the bugs worked out of the system ... :)

[caliotter3]

My program had its good as well as its bad. If the bad had been eliminated, then the program would have been pretty close to perfect. Unfortunately, it doesn't take much bad to ruin the effects of the good. Very rarely in life do we find things to be just plain postive. Good luck making it through.

[christinann]

My school is also like yours.... It is very annoying and sad.

[chicookie, BSN, RN]

It happens; at first my NS was like that and then they changed directors and everything was a very different story.

[llg, PhD, RN]

There are many schools these days that are trying to do too much with too few resources. The only way to achieve/maintain the quality education that everyone wants them to provide is to either: (a) give them more resources, or (b) reduce the number of students in the program. Or both, of course.

But both of those strategies require exceptional leadership -- leadership that is willing and able to acquire more resources and/or make painful decisions about reducing the workload of the faculty/staff until sufficient resources can be obtained. There is no easy and/or pleasant fix for a school that has poor leadership and too many students for its resources.

I see it happening all over the country. It's sad.

[RN <><]

Nursing school is hard enough, I am so sorry that you have to go through that. My school was good overall but at times they were unorganized. When they were unorganized, I felt I was unorganized, which led me to be frazzled and aggravated.

Hang in there and just start predicting the changes. If you do that then you will be ahead of them thereby keeping yourself organized.

[GilaRRT]

My program was well organized, well taught with structure, and overall, a great educational experience. Our class was small at about 20, with about 16 graduating. We had none of the said problems. However, I think the program has changed significantly.

It seems many programs simply cram people in and shove them through with little thought aboout the logistics, clincal experience, or structure. Many new grads are underprepared to the point of being a potential hazard.

[MoLee228]

Yep, my school does it, too. BUT the best part is when you complain about their complete lack of organization and communication, their response is, "WELCOME TO NURSING!" YES we all know that things don't often go according to plan and nurses have to be FLEXIBLE but seriously? Come on. Other important aspects of being a nurse are organization, planning ahead, teamwork, and open communication. They seem to forget this. I have had it up to here :angryfire with my school's administration...only 7 months to go!!!

Oh, and I remember back to my first day of orientation, when one of the professors/administrators said, "And at some point during the program you will all come running to us and saying you know how to run the program better than we do. We've been doing this a long time." Shouldn't that be a sign if every student complains about the administration at one point or another? Hmm...

[luckystudentnurseRN]

What school is this? If you don't mind me asking.

[mesa1979, BSN, RN]

Unfortunately, alot of the private college operate this way. I graduated from Platt College in Tulsa, and I had to hire an attorney to get thru the last quarter of school because one of my clinical instructors stated picked on the students and the director of the nursing program would not listen; she even went as far as to curse a couple of the students out. He was a terrible instructor, and after myself and several other students went to the director of the school, he was disciplined......I made it known that I will not be back to get my BSN from them.......