Enlighten me on how to deal with instructor

K205 · Feb 4, 2006

Kim, the CI are forged in the flames of hell. Roll with it, baby. You WILL graduate, and actually be grateful they were so hard on you. Hang in there! Kim

Hi there, I am new here. hi to all. I have a problem and just don't know how to deal with it. I have an instructor who happens to be the program coordinator for the LPN program. She is confrontational, and well I can be as well. Everyone hates to be in her clinical group, and I have yet to have her in clinicals. But today was the 2nd time I have been threatened to be kicked out of test review. When we were going over the test, I had a question about one of the questions and was trying to clarify why I understood that when a pt is on mag sulf, you are to do VS Q hour, i thought it was q15. Anyway, she blatantly ignored me. I happen to sit up front, and said to myself, obviously a little louder that I thought it was. I said, "she just ignored me". Well she called me up after class and said she will not put up with my behavior in test review(next time i will be kicked out), and that I was being passive aggressive. She does not like to be called out, and she had made that clear to me, this is the 3rd time. However, i feel liike I am an adult, and that I should not be treated like a child. I just do not know what to do, i have her for clinicals in 3 weeks, and I am scared to death of her. Please enlighten me.
thanks
Kim

RNSuzq1, RN · Feb 4, 2006

Hi Kim, Re: the Mag. Sulfate, we mainly dealt with that med. during our L&D rotation - don't have my paperwork handy, but the best I can remember, pretty sure we had to do q15min checks because it's such a potent drug and the patient can quickly go bad from Mag. Sulfate toxicity.

However, when we are doing collaboration after tests, we are told/warned each time that once they go over the answers to the tests - if we have a problem with the answers, we are not to voice our opinions/complain, etc. in class. Instead, we are given the opportunity to write out our disagreements and state which textbook/page number or lecture note, etc. that gives what we believe to be the correct answer to the question. This prevents any fights or hard feelings in class. Many times after students have challenged questions (in writing), the Instructors have thrown out questions.

So, it's definitely to your advantage to challenge test questions this way. As they say - you get more flies with honey than with vinegar. Hope this helps...

RNSuzq1, RN · Feb 4, 2006

Kim, I wanted to mention one more thing. You said others complained about this Instructor in clinicals, but you haven't had her yet. My best advice to you is not to listen to the rest of them - wait until you work with her and see for yourself how she is. I was scared to death of a certain Instructor based on what others had said - they called her every name imaginable and I was sick to my stomach the first day I had to do clinicals with her. She turned out to be one of my favorite Instructors - she's a fantastic Nurse and has taught me so much over the last few years. She expects professionalism from her students and as long as she knows you came prepared for clinicals or class, there's never a problem.

My Sister in-law has been a Nurse for 20 years and gave me the best advice before I started school - "Never, Ever" challenge an Instructor in front of others or you will only be asking for trouble. Instead, if you have problems, go see them in their office and talk about it one on one - it will make your life in Nursing School a whole lot easier....

smk1, LPN · Feb 4, 2006

Hi there, I am new here. hi to all. I have a problem and just don't know how to deal with it. I have an instructor who happens to be the program coordinator for the LPN program. She is confrontational, and well I can be as well. Everyone hates to be in her clinical group, and I have yet to have her in clinicals. But today was the 2nd time I have been threatened to be kicked out of test review. When we were going over the test, I had a question about one of the questions and was trying to clarify why I understood that when a pt is on mag sulf, you are to do VS Q hour, i thought it was q15. Anyway, she blatantly ignored me. I happen to sit up front, and said to myself, obviously a little louder that I thought it was. I said, "she just ignored me". Well she called me up after class and said she will not put up with my behavior in test review(next time i will be kicked out), and that I was being passive aggressive. She does not like to be called out, and she had made that clear to me, this is the 3rd time. However, i feel liike I am an adult, and that I should not be treated like a child. I just do not know what to do, i have her for clinicals in 3 weeks, and I am scared to death of her. Please enlighten me.
thanks
Kim

my mantra is cooperate and graduate. You have to give her what she wants. If that is not to be questioned then so be it. She may be a jerk, maybe not, in any case you have to learn how to put your personal feelings aside and behave in the manner that is going to be for your benefit in the long run. I reapeat "Cooperate and graduate!".

EMTandNurse2B · Feb 4, 2006

Kim, I wanted to mention one more thing. You said others complained about this Instructor in clinicals, but you haven't had her yet. My best advice to you is not to listen to the rest of them - wait until you work with her and see for yourself how she is. I was scared to death of a certain Instructor based on what others had said - they called her every name imaginable and I was sick to my stomach the first day I had to do clinicals with her. She turned out to be one of my favorite Instructors - she's a fantastic Nurse and has taught me so much over the last few years. She expects professionalism from her students and as long as she knows you came prepared for clinicals or class, there's never a problem.
My Sister in-law has been a Nurse for 20 years and gave me the best advice before I started school - "Never, Ever" challenge an Instructor in front of others or you will only be asking for trouble. Instead, if you have problems, go see them in their office and talk about it one on one - it will make your life in Nursing School a whole lot easier....

:yeahthat: :yeahthat:

I fully agree with this poster. I just finished a clinical rotation with an instructor that we were warned about from day one by the other students. She was honestly the best, most helpful, most approachable instructor I have ever had! Everybody in my clinical group loved her and we all walked away wondering what the others had found so hard! You just can't go on other's opinions, wait until you have her.

Also, never ever challenge an instructor in front of others. I learned that one the hard way and will never do it again! At our school we also have the policy that challenges must be written. Those who refuse to follow that end up in trouble!

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 4, 2006

I said, "she just ignored me". Well she called me up after class and said she will not put up with my behavior in test review(next time i will be kicked out), and that I was being passive aggressive. She does not like to be called out, and she had made that clear to me, this is the 3rd time. However, i feel liike I am an adult, and that I should not be treated like a child. I just do not know what to do, i have her for clinicals in 3 weeks, and I am scared to death of her. Please enlighten me.

While i agree it's rude for her to ignore you, it's not any less rude for YOU to say what you did. What you said doesn't help at all, and it's going to make the problem you say exists worse. Basically, you were interrupting her, and you should have waited until after she was done reviewing to ask any questions you had.

You don't want to be treated like a child, but quite honestly, your comment was inappropriate, and an immature way to handle it (and after that, if i were the instructor, i would have continued to ignore the interruptions). And she approached you AFTERWARDS (i.e. not in front of people) to address this problem, a professional way of dealing with this.

Try approaching her in private after the review with your questions next time. But i surely would NOT ever say "she just ignored me" outloud again. That's pretty disrespectful, and i doubt you'd want the same kind of treatment if you were trying to teach.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 4, 2006

Also, never ever challenge an instructor in front of others.

That, too.

RN@34 · Feb 5, 2006

I am a very outspoken individual, but walked a fine line during nursing school. I decided before I even started school that the two best responses for my instructors was going to be yes mam and no mam. I kept my mouth shut and tried my best not to draw attention to myself. If I had a question regarding a test I went to my instructors in private. I learned early on that they do not like to be put on the spot.

After your last confrontation, you probably have reason to be scared of her. You have put yourself in a prime target position. Heaven help you if you do not learn from this experience. Nursing school instructors can be your worst nightmare! :no:

kimisacowboysfan · Feb 7, 2006

While i agree it's rude for her to ignore you, it's not any less rude for YOU to say what you did. What you said doesn't help at all, and it's going to make the problem you say exists worse. Basically, you were interrupting her, and you should have waited until after she was done reviewing to ask any questions you had.
You don't want to be treated like a child, but quite honestly, your comment was inappropriate, and an immature way to handle it (and after that, if i were the instructor, i would have continued to ignore the interruptions). And she approached you AFTERWARDS (i.e. not in front of people) to address this problem, a professional way of dealing with this.
Try approaching her in private after the review with your questions next time. But i surely would NOT ever say "she just ignored me" outloud again. That's pretty disrespectful, and i doubt you'd want the same kind of treatment if you were trying to teach.

Just wanted to clear something up, I did not interrupt her. I politely raised my hand, and she called on me, I asked my ?, she looked to the left side of the room, and then another student just called out and she interrupted, and she proceeded to help that student, while leaving what I had asked unanswered-it was as if she was glad someone had interrupted so she would not have to acknowledge my question. I was actually being polite. This one girl who interrupted, always monopolizes the class, and is very tacky indeed, and the instructor seems to let her talk all the time....I was not interrupting her at all, so wanted to clear that up...........that is the rest (or almost) of the story.

Kim--I will graduate!

hbncns35 · Feb 7, 2006

Not that this is a thead where we talk about our instructor's follies but I

should say that today I emailed an instructor asking two questions. She

acknowledged the first but what I thought overlooked the second. So then

I replied thanking her for the first answer but asking again about the second.

No Reply about the second question the second time.

so I asked another instructor and she said she didn't know (at least that's an answer) and forwarded me on to the instructor who didn't answer my question on two occasions. Like I'm gonna go back there...

So - I think this is no better than getting a run around from Blue Shield..

I would rather get an answer like "I don't Know" Then not get an answer at all which leads you to think other things.

This teacher I'm talking about will not even answer you if you are the only one talking to her in person. I say get a grip.............Like talking to the wall - no response...:angryfire