Did everyone flunk their college writing courses?

[AZO49008]

I'm probably going to get lashed with a few tons of wet noodles but I can remain silent no longer. Can we all make an attempt to tighten up our communication skills around here? The basic grammar, punctuation, spelling and lack of rudimentary written communication skills on this board just kills me. Didn't we all have to pass college writing courses?

Many nurses claim they want people to take them more seriously as nurses. If patients read some of the written language skills here, they wouldn't let you near them in the hospital. I'm not talking about the occasional typo or misspelled word - we all do that. I'm talking about the epidemic lack of punctuation, typing in all lowercase, and constructing sentences that appear to be written by someone with a 2nd grade education.

Okay, flame away.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

Quoted for truth.

^^^sentence fragment

Did I just get dissed?

[smartnurse1982]

Welcome to the fray.

Poor writing skills don't equal idiocy. They do, though, equal poor education. That poor education may derive from laziness, inattention, learning disabilities, limited intellect, poor teachers, lack of motivation, or many other root causes (likely an amalgamation of several).

The reality is, though, that one component of professional nursing is communication, verbal and written, and someone who is a well-rounded, professional nurse should strive to be properly educated in these areas.

I agree with everything you said. Also,having English as a second language is no excuse, as many have said it is an excuse to use poor grammar. How do these people make it pass English 101 and pass Nclex ? I thought to be a nurse in this country you have to effectively be able to communicate,read,and write in the english language?

[smartnurse1982]

However,one could say some of the posts on here seem elitist.

[mamamerlee, LPN]

It's amazing what draws the most attention on this board!!

The two hottest topics lately have been this one, and the Helen Mirren episode.

Can anyone get a NURSING topic that will draw this much attention?

[deftonez188]

It's an internet message board, who cares...

It IS funny though that so many people rush into the thread to flex their grammatical prowess. As someone said previously, it smells of elitism.

[nursel56]

I don't see how it is elitist-- actually I think it's elitist to have people believe that language skills are permanently joined at the hip with socio-economic status-- resulting in the perception that higher standards in language skills place another burden on the disadvantaged poor, and out of misguided sympathy give them a pass---which severely restricts or halts their upward mobility. That aint good.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Did I just get dissed?

No. :)

[POTR]

Proper grammar, punctuation and sentence structure are important in conveying your intended message to the broadest possible audience, no matter the language.

Правильная структура грамматики, пунктуации и предложения важна в транспортировать ваше предназначенное сообщение к самой обширной возможной аудитории.

适当的语法、标点和句子结构是重要在表达您的意欲的消息对最宽广的可能的观众.

La structure appropriée de grammaire, de ponctuation et de phrase sont importante.

La estructura apropiada de la gramática, de la puntuación y de oración es importante.

La struttura adeguata di grammatica, di punteggiatura e di frase è importante.

Korrekte grammatik, interpunktion und satzstruktur sind wichtig.

적당한 문법, 구두점 및 문장 구조는 중요하다.

Then again, anyone can make a typo or three.