Do nursing schools actually conciously REALIZE they are being ridiculous or is it a..

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a matter where they are doing the best they can, and it just works out that way? Let me give you one example. My wife had over one thousand pages of reading due THE FIRST WEEK back from Christmas break. Her first test in Med/Surg last week included approximately 2,200 pages if you count the handouts, and assigned articles. What is more, her exam had six questions that were NOT EVEN COVERED in the assigned readings (they apparently used a test bank designed for a different text). The class average was a 70% with few or no A's. When the students tried to complain they were told they would have to set up private appointments with the instructor who maintains a grand total of TWO HOURS a week in office hours.

This school has one of the best reputations in the area. Do they do this deliberately? They claim to be reasonable people doing their very best to provide an excellent education. Don't they realize that this sort of thing makes getting the grades for graduate school almost impossible!

Peeps: Why do you post here? You've had nothing positive to say about nursing for a long, long time. Move on, all ready.

Roland: Chart review (referring back to one of your earlier posts) doesn't just require an RN...you really, really need to know your stuff.

I don't get you...you want to limit the competition, but when it hits home, hubboy, that's a different story.

BTW, I graduated in the Dark Ages, and the ratings for schools were readily available (and this was way, way before the internet). No excuse now that there's an internet.:rolleyes:

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"Virtually"????? If the school in question is similar to ours, and I am sure it is, they are not "saying" anything other than "nursing school is hard, we won't allow 'anyone who is not qualified' to pass and if that is not ok with you then go somewhere else."

I refuse to "pass" a student just because they try very hard and they were an "A" student before the nursing classes. That student may someday be taking care of me and I don't want a nurse who isn't qualified taking care of me!

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So many nursing students expect A's because they made them before nursing school. Sorry, nursing school is so different than any other degree program. A's are a whole new story in nursing school.

Roland, you seem very focused on the material aspects of life for you and your family. Your children need your time, love, discipline, and guidance more than all the money in the world. No matter what degree you or your wife hold or how much money you bring home at the end of the week, don't forget about the things money can't buy.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
Originally posted by Roland

I care because her future intimately affects my future. If she cannot go to graduate school and become a CRNA or NP then I will have to work more hours, retire with less, and my son will also have less. Of course there are no guarentees in life, but I expect, no I demand to be abjudicated by at least of modicum of fairness and due process. Is there no outrage against professors who don't care about these values? What would YOU do if your grades were deliteriously effected by test questions not covered in the lectures, book, or other assigned readings?

What would I do If my grades were deliteriously affected - I would decide that maybe grad school is not in my future.

And since "her future" so affects your future and this is so important to you, maybe you should have waited until she got her degree to marry and have children...so you could guarantee a good future. Or marry someone else.

There is no outrage because when you graduate, you will frequently be handed off patients, whose diagnosis is something that you know little or nothing about. You will maybe get 5 minutes of report about them. They may not be listed in some book or infodex. But you will be required to take care of them like you are an expert. And when something goes wrong, you will not be able to say, "But it wasn't in the book/notes". You will also not have hours to research to care for them, but will still have to cope.

Life is not fair and neither is nursing.

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Specializes in OB.

I was told when I started nursing school that I would not get A's in class just because I was an A student before nursing school. And they were right I got B's. I was also told that they were training us to be self learners, nursing is an ongoing education, there is always something to learn, so in order for us to be "good" nurses we needed to be able to teach ourselves. The term "critical thinking" was drilled into us. We could not just read the material, memorize it and expect to pass an exam. We had to be able to apply that knowledge and think through a situation critically. That is what nursing is all about.

So, based on the information that you gave, I have to disagree with you about the tests being unfair. They are not trying to make people fail, nor are they trying to keep your wife out of grad school, they are trying to make self learning, critically thinking nurses out of thier students. It may not seem fair, but learn from it and move on.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Originally posted by caroladybelle

Life is not fair and neither is nursing.

We need Tshirts with that line printed on it.

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By fab4fan

Peeps: Why do you post here? You've had nothing positive to say about nursing for a long, long time. Move on, all ready.

I was being positive :chuckle

Besides, since I can remember your screen name, I can't recall you ever being positive. I do recall you being very unpositive to quite a few folks. I have dismissed it because of the enviroment you must work in every day. After being on the BB for over 3 years I've had the opportunity to read about what nurses are saying about thier work enviroments and at times paralelling what I have said in mine. I'm certain that at sometime you were agreeable and we must have been in a good exchange of deep thought sometime, I just can't recall.

I do recall you attacking me on several ocasions though. It was when I was trying to decide whether to stay in nursing school that you had the most "positive" impact on me, though I didn't know it at the time. I just kept picturing what it would be like to work with or be someone like that.

If I never said it before, then,.........thank you.

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Originally posted by Roland

civilized society. I went on to explain that by not allowing an avenue for the voicing of dissent however, that it encouraged those types of situations. Nursing school is a very stressful environment under the best of circumstances, even when everyone is doing there best to be fair. However, when they virtually come out and say "we don't give a daXX about your grades so long as we have our NCLEX pass rates, and a reasonable number of students pass with C's" then they are exasperating an already difficult situation.

I have not experienced these problems as much in my nursing school as my wife has in hers, but I'm also not as far along in the program (she only has one more semester). I care because her future intimately affects my future. If she cannot go to graduate school and become a CRNA or NP then I will have to work more hours, retire with less, and my son will also have less. Of course there are no guarentees in life, but I expect, no I demand to be abjudicated by at least of modicum of fairness and due process. Is there no outrage against professors who don't care about these values? What would YOU do if your grades were deliteriously effected by test questions not covered in the lectures, book, or other assigned readings?

Roland;

Your wife may be one of those nurses taught to be submissive, but from you not her instructors. You sound like a pretty domineering husband to me. Your wife's a big girl is she not able to come to the board and speak for herself? I think we are losing too much in translation. She seems to have a lot more trouble going on with school than I'm sure she's really having. I'm a little worried after your last post though. Does your wife want to be a nurse or do you want your wife to be a nurse? It sounds to me like it will get to be very difficult for you if she fails nursing school and all. It may be easier for you to just divorce her and marry one with a proven track record than for you to work a little more

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Roland, I know nothing about your personal life or relationship with your family. I'm currently in my last semester of nursing, having several prior years of higher education, including my degree from the UK. I have to concur with everything that you have written - I have never been subjected to such an incompetent system of testing in my life. Many test questions are based on incorrect factual information, typos, grammatical errors - you name it we've had it. The instructors only throw out a question if the vast majority get it wrong - regardless of whether it's a valid question or just plain wrong. I have complained and won individual points on several occasions. If I hadn't complained, the questions wouldn't even have been questioned - some people fail because of one or two points - how can this be right?

The only reason people could possibly condone this kind of system is because they have never experienced education the way it should be. If it is so important to test critical thinking, then they'd better get rid of invalid black-and-white multiple-choice testing and institute essay questions, where you can easily evaluate a student's knowledge. To the best of my knowledge that's the way nursing school is in the UK. Peeps McArthur, I'm with you as well!

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Peeps: Then you have a selective memory; there are several posts right now I made that are positive.

You still didn't answer the question...why keep posting in a nursing BB if you have no interest in being a nurse? That's like putting your hand on a burner, finding out it's hot, then touching it over and over but complaining about it hurting.

Good luck in your chosen profession.

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Peeps: Then you have a selective memory; there are several posts right now I made that are positive.

I only see the ones you make to the threads I post on. Maybe we both see our posts selectively, in a positive light.

You still didn't answer the question...why keep posting in a nursing BB if you have no interest in being a nurse?

There's a broader picture here I think. Just because I no longer want to become a nurse doesn't mean I no longer have an interest in what nurses and nursing students think. Just because I chose another allied health profession doesn't mean this one won't impact me in some way in the next one.

I'll still be working with nurses, just not as a nurse. I have contact occasionaly with people on this BB that need to know about my experiences because they find they are like minded and have nobody else to talk to. I've helped several people through with the transition to a place in life where they truly belong. I was lonely and suffering wondering why all I got in return for my honest questions about why I didn't seem to fit in nursing school were more attacks. Tried to express what I was feeling...attacks........tried to phrase what I was thinking into argumentative structure so it could be discussed so I could understand it....attacks.

True, I'm done working it out and I no longer think I want to be a nurse, but there are more here already and coming here in the future that still haven't worked it out or don't even know why they don't fit. When they get attacked because they want to post thier feelings, I want them to have someone like me to talk to.

Does that answer your question?

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Ehm...I guess.

It's your right...I can't imagine, for exaple, going to a BB for resp. therapists and ranting about how awful that job is. But you certainly have a right to say what you think.

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