Ever had a nursing instructor hate you?

kakamegamama · Feb 10, 2011

Did you ask for examples of how you are the least pro-active in the class. As to the talking to much--is it possible that she saw/heard only your responses to the student who is always talking to you & assumed you to be the guilty party? No, it isn't inappropriate to approach her & ask for an appointment in her office, to discuss how your semester is going thus far. Whatever you do, don't get into a confrontational type discussion of her perception of you, especially in front of other students. Why will you have this instructor for the next 2 years? Does she also teach other courses in addition to Fundamentals?

Be professional in how you adress these issues with her. Don't make it a "me against her/them" relationship. Those usually do not go well. Hang in there.

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2011

Document it and tell the instructor exactly what you've told us. If you feel as if you're being picked on continue to document it, and when you have had enough report it to the persons suupervisor if you cannot handle it between the two of you.

I've had lots of people hate me. You get used to it.

lsvalliant · Feb 10, 2011

When I was in nursing school.. getting on the bad side of a teacher would give you a much higher chance for failing if your grades are on the fence. I've seen it happen. Things like care plans can be graded very subjectively and the grades can be skewed. I personally would say if you are in the top 20% of your class, you don't have to do anything to appease her. But if you are a C student I would seriously be kissing some patooty and try to redeem yourself. My best advice to any nursing student is to fly under the radar.

bustthewave · Feb 10, 2011

Did you ask for examples of how you are the least pro-active in the class. As to the talking to much--is it possible that she saw/heard only your responses to the student who is always talking to you & assumed you to be the guilty party? No, it isn't inappropriate to approach her & ask for an appointment in her office, to discuss how your semester is going thus far. Whatever you do, don't get into a confrontational type discussion of her perception of you, especially in front of other students. Why will you have this instructor for the next 2 years? Does she also teach other courses in addition to Fundamentals?
Be professional in how you adress these issues with her. Don't make it a "me against her/them" relationship. Those usually do not go well. Hang in there.

Thanks :), and yea she teaches about everything I think. I mean there are a lot of nursing instructors, so I wouldn't have her for every class, but I will definitely see her frequently. It's a small department.

I should have mentioned this, but I didn't want to go on and on about details but, it was over my skills sheet. They check you off if you perform the skills. Problem is, she has too much going on to check people off or so she says, so she will do it en mass. There are 30 some students, and around 65 skills that need to be completed in a 4 -6 week period.It's a lot of work and pressure on her, but also not fair to me. So I've gotten slightly (very slightly) behind, I was absent one class day (6 hours) because of sever illness (I lost 10 pounds of body fluid in 8 hours... I honestly thought I was dieing, and there was no way I could have made it to class). Though, still feeling like I was going to puke, I showed up the next class period. I did tell her all this by the way.

So today, for the first time in forever, she has us bring up our little folders to check things off. I date everything I know I've done for her, but there are some simple things I can't remember doing for her. I know I've done them, but I can't remember if she watched her not. So I didn't indicate they needed to be checked off (it was weight and measurment by the way... so not a big deal). I also haven't aided in compression stockings. So two or three minor things, largely due to me not being in class that one day, but I caught up about 5 other skills, and she had previously said that she thought I had caught up.

So she looks at the folder and says "How is it every single other person in this class got all this done and you didn't?" "I'm not sure... but what do I need to do to make it up?" "You need to get pro-active and motivated." "uumm... I feel like I am, but you're struggling to give me 5 minutes in a class session to get this done..." "Everyone else was pro-active enough to get this done except for you. You sit in the back and talk to your friends the entire time." "I still don't know what you're talking about, I work hard in this class, and I feel like I'm being very pro-active, and doing a good job... what are my options here?"

Her tone was incredibly strong and demeaning. My tone ended up defensive, because it caught me WAY off guard. And... everyone else (many have told me as much) got the skills done because they lied about doing them... I was being honest because I want to know how to do this stuff for clinicals and for nursing.

So that's, as Paul Harvey says, the rest of the story.

bustthewave · Feb 10, 2011

When I was in nursing school.. getting on the bad side of a teacher would give you a much higher chance for failing if your grades are on the fence. I've seen it happen. Things like care plans can be graded very subjectively and the grades can be skewed. I personally would say if you are in the top 20% of your class, you don't have to do anything to appease her. But if you are a C student I would seriously be kissing some patooty and try to redeem yourself. My best advice to any nursing student is to fly under the radar.

haha great advice! For this class I'm definitely in the top percentage, grade wise. But the tests are really... really hard to study for, and the only graded material. So most people are failing, and I'm getting mid level B. My general GPA is 3.3 at the moment, and I got a 4.0 last semester. So I hopefully wont be scathing by, but I want to get a 4.0 throughout nursing, and I don't want some misunderstanding to get in the way of that.

Sounds like I do need to pull her aside.

kakamegamama · Feb 10, 2011

So, it sounds like her response may have been in part based on the stress of the moment (not defending--just observing). If you haven't ask when you can have her check you off on the things that you still need to. Don't "try to kiss some patooty" but own what you need to own, make every attempt to right what needs to be righted, and move on. Getting a reputation as a brown-noser is no better than having the reputation of a slacker and usually makes a student the brunt of faculty skepticism at the least. You want your name to be associated with quality performance and preparation, maturity, professionalism, for starters. And---move to the front of the classroom, or at least state that you want to move to the front of the classroom...unless you really do sit at the back and talk. That is very distracting to the instructor when trying to teach, unprofessional and rude, to say the least. And....hang in there :)

bustthewave · Feb 10, 2011

So, it sounds like her response may have been in part based on the stress of the moment (not defending--just observing). If you haven't ask when you can have her check you off on the things that you still need to. Don't "try to kiss some patooty" but own what you need to own, make every attempt to right what needs to be righted, and move on. Getting a reputation as a brown-noser is no better than having the reputation of a slacker and usually makes a student the brunt of faculty skepticism at the least. You want your name to be associated with quality performance and preparation, maturity, professionalism, for starters. And---move to the front of the classroom, or at least state that you want to move to the front of the classroom...unless you really do sit at the back and talk. That is very distracting to the instructor when trying to teach, unprofessional and rude, to say the least. And....hang in there :)

Yea I'm going back through the two classes I've sat in the back (for lack of anywhere else to sit), and I can't remember talking. I know I've asked the person beside me to stop talking... and talk to me on break at least twice , but I don't remember sitting and talking during instruction. I know we joke around a bit while practicing the skills while waiting our turn to get "checked off" on it, maybe that's what she's talking about (but I've never gotten the feeling that we're the "Crazy" group... there are plenty of louder groups).

I guess that's all moot though, and the real issue is, what to do about my rep. Sounds like it's a good idea to try and move up front (though actually... all those seats are taken, and since they moved everyone around, it feels like there is some strange politics going on with seating...) though I think the only real thing I can do is pull her aside and see what's going on. I kind of thought my work would show for itself, but there isn't any real work in this class... It may just end up being one of those things where someone doesn't like me, and I can't do much about that.

kakamegamama · Feb 10, 2011

I kind of thought my work would show for itself, but there isn't any real work in this class

Not sure I know what you mean by this statement. "Real work"? Yes, fundamentals IS real work. It's the foundation for the other. You won't always have an aid and will be expected to do some of this "non-real work" for patients. And, you don't pass Fundamentals, you don't pass go :).

bustthewave · Feb 10, 2011

I kind of thought my work would show for itself, but there isn't any real work in this class
Not sure I know what you mean by this statement. "Real work"? Yes, fundamentals IS real work. It's the foundation for the other. You won't always have an aid and will be expected to do some of this "non-real work" for patients. And, you don't pass Fundamentals, you don't pass go :).

Oh please don't misunderstand, I'm very adament about doing a good job on these fundamentals. They are "fundamental." I know that being a nurse means making beds as well as dealing with more complicated stuff. I want to work ICU, and I know they rarely even have aids, so butt washing? Yea that'll be me. This is absolutely real work, and it's really important. That's why I was completely honest about what the instructors saw me do, versus what I know I can do, because I want to make sure I'm doing all of this stuff right and not just getting checked off, unlike most of my class who is saying they've done it, when they haven't (which apparently makes them more pro-active).

The work I'm referring to is graded work. I'm not recieving a grade for any of these skills, it's just getting "checked off." And apparently my enthusiasm to do these skills well isn't getting noticed, nor is my showing up to class early every day. The only work that can really show for itself, that will stand beyond the class, is my tests. THere are three, and those are the only graded work. I meant school work.

Sorry for the misunderstanding :). I didn't mean to belittle what I was learning, or devalue what CNAs do (and I will be doing) because it's valuable, and not "below" a nurse. I do understand that :).

caliotter3 · Feb 10, 2011

One of my classmates told me that she made up almost everything. She said she figured out what the instructors wanted to read or hear, and gave it to them. She was an A student and wore her little honor society pin just to make a good impression. She definitely had the system down pat.

bustthewave · Feb 10, 2011

One of my classmates told me that she made up almost everything. She said she figured out what the instructors wanted to read or hear, and gave it to them. She was an A student and wore her little honor society pin just to make a good impression. She definitely had the system down pat.

Gawd I have to learn how to work in this system... I mean, I typically know how to make teachers like me and think I'm a good student, and I know how to gear my work towards what they want most of the time while doing the bare minimum to get the A, but this is throwing me.

But man if I could figure out how to make this screwed up system work for me... the school went downhill over the past year or so. I got a C in a class last semester that despite endless e-mails, and countless attempts, it still remains a C (when I have all the work and grades printed to prove I earned a really high A). It's happening again this semester in one of my online classes, where I'm getting weird grades I don't deserve, or can't figure out.

Not to mention in every class, it has a feeling of being way un-organized, and overwhelming.

I've been a good student, and am now getting lost in all the transition, and I can't get my voice heard. That coupled with this class is making me feel extremely defeated.