Ethics

[futurepsychrn, ADN]

So I may be making too much of this, but would like opinions especially from experienced nurses. I was in Fundamentals class tonight and the teacher, who is an RN of course, was talking about ethics, not judging people by the way they look or their actions. All well and good. Then she started talking about a clinical she took her students on to Mental Health. She was talking about one patient in particular (no names of course) but she used words like "crazy", "nuts", "off the wall", "way out there" and was making jokes at the patients expense about the behaviors he had displayed. He has dissociative disorder and schizophrenia.

Am I wrong in thinking that this kind of talk is very unprofessional? I mean it gets drilled into our heads that we must be professional at all times. Furthermore, some of us have family members that suffer from mental health issues. Am I being to sensitive or was this behavior as bad as I thought it was?

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Nothing lke reinforcing stigma and stereotypes. That type of language is disrespectul, inappropriate & unprofessional.

Shes training a whole generation to be dismissive to patients struggling with a debilitating illness

[futurepsychrn, ADN]

She may be training the rest of the class to be dismissive, but Mental Health is where I have always wanted to work. I've seen the struggle that mentally ill patients go through, up close and personal. I have the greatest empathy for them! There were only 2 students, myself and 1 other, who didn't appreciate her lecture. The rest of the class was laughing hysterically. How sad!

[malamud69, BSN, RN]

Challenge the "teacher" always! My "teachers" I mean nclex test preparers always got challenged by me for all sort of absurd BS as you describe...sadly I chalk it up to the dumbing down of our entire education system. ..profits before anything else and true intellectual discourse goes away...have fun!

[futurepsychrn, ADN]

I do challenge, question, and disagree, usually on a daily basis! I'm trying to not disagree too much with this instructor though because she and I do not really click ( why I don't have a clue), and she will be one of my chief clinical instructors. I have heard some horror stories from the seniors about what happens in clinicals if she doesn't really care for you. Just trying to get through this without getting expelled from the program lol. It just made me really angry and sad that she judged those patients so harshly. It shows me what kind of nurse I do NOT want to be.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

It shows me what kind of nurse I do NOT want to be.

As my sweet old grandmother used to say, "Some of us are put on this earth to be examples to others ... one way or another."

Keep your head down, ask for clarifications but not in a smart-alecky way, and get through the rotation. Engage your classmates in a discussion about this, but not your faculty until you have your diploma in your hand. And pay your good attitudes forward when you get the chance.

[ymuhammadusman]

You are right dear

[augurey]

Hi old friend I think GrnTea is right on this. I remember telling you in the beginning that there are going to be a lot of things that we don't agree with, but sometimes we just have to push forward to get the degree and out of there. Sounds like this might be one of those times

The important thing is that you know it wasn't right and that you know it's not the kind of nurse you want to be.

There are people who grow up and do things, saying that "it's how I grew up". Then there are those that were raised one way and are determined to be different, to be better than that. I think this is one of those things, especially if you will have her for you clinicals, especially as your clinicals are just starting.

Keep your chin up. You'll get through it, and you'll be awesome for having done so!