how do you feel about group projects?

[SC APRN]

I understand working together, but some people always rely on the rest of the group. If one person doesn't pull their weight you have extra work at the last minute or you lose points due to someone else's incompetence. They get the same grade for unequal effort. I guess they are teaching a valuable lesson because its the same on the floors.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

I hate them. I don't mind doing per say and I don't mind doing more than my fair share. But please don't a) do nothing b) complain when I do your work and c) say I wouldn't let you help to cover your ass. If you didn't do b) I would have given you full credit but since you did b) + c) then I'm going to point out a)

So yeah know your ABC's at least.

[caliotter3]

I never had a group project where there was an even division of the work accomplished and equal amounts of common courtesy expressed by group members.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

Hate them..no scratch that, I loathe them! For all the reasons listed by other posters.

[ChrisNZ]

I like them when everyone works together. Sometimes I just want to tell people not to worry I'll do it all. Because it would probably take me the same ammount of time all by myself as it would to coach them through it.

But in saying that, theres nothing quite as great when you have a group that works well together and produces some amazing results.

[ladylysis]

As observed by so many others, group projects kinda suck. Not just for the inevitable person who doesn't want to do anything - we should anticipate that and just pick up their slack. Also, a contribution-oriented citations list goes a long way toward cluing in your prof as to who did the work and who just went to Wikipedia.

No, the reason I don't like group projects is that they mean more work for me. I am not a Type A personality per se, but I am an idealist. I know how to write and how to spell, and I am mortified when the local paper/online news source makes a grammatical mistake for the world to see. This means my standards are usually the highest in the group when it comes to quality, and that therefore I have to put myself in a position where I can influence the final output. Usually, that means that I have to take lead - and that's cool, but more work. Mostly because I am very sarcastic, which doesn't read well in such circumstances, so I have to work to be really, really tactful.

So I'm very much looking forward to nursing school. Hoping, though still will be at a local community college, that I will be surrounded by if not all like-minded people, then at least a higher percentage than usual.

[mpihl]

I despise group work. I have had group projects 3 times since nursing school. The first time it was very easy to separate the work so everyone could just do it whenever but yet nobody did any work besides 2 of us. The third time it was super easy and took like 3 hours to finish so we just all worked together in the library. This last time was horrible. Our project had no way to split up the work. Well, technically we could split up the work BUT our project had many steps so we did not want to split up work like that because what would happen if person doing step 3 decided to wait till the last minute then everyone else had to rush. Since this project was worth 2 test grades it was not a chance we were willing to take. So about 60% of our group did the project and the others are just going to reap the benefits. We tried getting the other members grades lowered but they said they deserved the same grade because it wasn't their fault classes, work, and clinical's got in the way - like the rest of us didn't have the same stuff going on.

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

I get stuff done faster on my own. I don't like working in groups, unless I know the people in the groups are not slackers.

[bigboi]

Haven't started nursing school yet, but group projects are going to be my single most dreaded part of it.

[grpman]

I rank them with BM's. I'm normally just glad when they're done with.

[mindlor]

HATE them

[rvnbabe]

I can't stand group projects. To be honest, I often struggle with the quality of the work that the other people in my groups produce. Instead of dealing with the awkwardness of telling them to fix things, I often redo their work. I've pissed off several different people this way. It's hard because their work sucks, its full of typos or doesn't fit the project criteria. I feel like I'm just being helpful, editing their work, but it really bothers people. I wish I could just do the whole project myself rather than deal with my issues around control. I'm worried that I'll continue this behavior after graduation when I'm working as a nurse.

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

I'm worried that I'll continue this behavior after graduation when I'm working as a nurse.

All through school, instructors commented about how group projects are to teach us to be part of a team in the real world, blah blah blah, but I call BS on that.

In the real world, it's MY license on the line, and *I* am the one responsible for my patients. I'm a team player (honestly, my unit's night shift is incredibly team-oriented, people who float here from other units comment on it even), but at the end of the shift, I don't have to rely on someone else's assessment of my patient or someone else's medication administration -- it's MY responsibility to chart what was done for my assigned patients, nobody else's.

Group projects in school are NOTHING like working as a team on my hospital unit. I'll help anyone who asks for help as long as I am able to without putting my own patients in jeopardy, but my annual job performance evaluation isn't dependent on how other nurses chart on their patients, which is what a group project is like in school.