First week of class wasn't what I expected.

tlandrn · Sep 16, 2010

llg: I am more than willing to deal with people constructively, however I won't pay for education that doesn't meet my standards, taught by instructors who don't meet my standards. That is a complete waste of money. You are right though, I should have simply withdrawn from the nursing program as opposed to being removed by the instructor. However, if I'm passionate about something, as I am about nursing, I feel the need to speak my opinion. I informed the instructor of how I felt about her style of teaching and her class, and she didn't like it. I realize that this may effect my future endeavors in nursing, however I see it as a positive effect. I would not want to work at an establishment that viewed what I did as wrong. I don't feel as if I shot myself in the foot while leaving, perhaps in that College I did, but otherwise no. I thank you for your advice, do take care =).

I think you would benefit from rereading your original post and your responses to some of the comments you received. Your immaturity is definitely showing. What makes you an expert on what is and what is not a qualified nursing instructor? You are not even a nurse yet, much less a nursing instructor. I do not feel that you are going to be open hearted or empathetic if you can not even handle your first week of nursing school and personality conflicts. :eek:

darrell · Sep 16, 2010

Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY has an outstanding Nursing school. I personally respected all the instructors during my time there, although YMMV.

D

survrgrl08 · Sep 17, 2010

Im sorry to say this but honestly, this entire post really sounds like a PI*SING MATCH!!

You can't go into Nursing School with an attitude. NO offense, but it sounded like you did and then you get kicked out by an instructor. Another school is going to look at that and wonder if they should even accept you.

In Order to be SUCCESSFUL at Nursing School, you have to be MATURE and WILLING to deal with people. The world is run by all types and that will never change. Dealing with people is interesting because you may actually LEARN something from them and be able to use it down the road.

But to blame an instructor for a poor attitude and teaching skills, maybe you should look in the mirror. Those that feel the negative about themselves project it onto others so it makes them feel better and are able to "blame" others for "their" Issues!!!

Good Luck :)

mochamonster · Sep 17, 2010

I am curious to know if you have ran into this sort of problem before and if so how you handled it then.

dorrybnursing · Sep 18, 2010

If the OP ever gets through nursing school she will be that nurse that knows everything the first day she steps on the floor. Do me a favor OP find another field I've had my fill already.

chorkle · Sep 18, 2010

(I'm neither a nurse nor anywhere close to being able to apply to nursing school.)

But I'm a Certified Old F**t, and some while ago completed several years as a tech in a large, busy E.R. I talk little, but watch and listen real hard. IMO, the many RNs there ranged all over the lot--in temperament; integrity; attitude; caring about their patients, or their coworkers--or techs; getting the job done; and etc.

One thing I especially noted was that, no matter how the assignments were distributed on any given day, 2 RNs paired for the shift made a monumental effort--if necessary--to get along, for the shift.

One can hardly help but notice the many postings about the apparent ineptitude, or even apparent open hostility, of the occasional nursing or clinical instructor.

My guesses (there are two) would be: as a student--ESPECIALLY as a student--it's necessary to make the herculean effort, if that's what it will take, to try to get along with the instructor, that day. (Tomorrow, even if much like today, is another day.) Second, as a COF, if you can accomplish the first guess here, it may very well be possible to learn smth useful from isntructors about whom you have strongly negative feelings, for whatever reason.

brick195969 · Sep 19, 2010

you ask for advice and then you respond defensively when the advice your given is not in line with what you want. I was harrassed in nursing school because I was an older male, experienced in life and not intimidated by the instructors. I had to learn the hard way that this was their show. I confronted the instructors on several issues and was correct in my interpretation of the situation but that was a mute point. The instructors don't want to be told they are wrong, especially if they are. I had to learn to make adjustments if I wanted to get thru the program. I suffered thru many indignations that were absolutely unjustified but I learned to respond by turning the other cheek.

The instructors were actually very good at nursing and had alot to teach, they had the wrong impression of me and literally spent some of their trying to get rid of me. This was not my imagination, I won't go into detail but this was confirmed several times by fellow students. I refused to respond to the attacks and kept studying and going forward. After nursing 1&2 the instructors realized I was not going to go away and eventually tolerated me.

I say all of this to let you know, you can make it thru nursing school but you have to adjust. Your and my story are not at all unique. Instructors often make things "personal" in nursing school and can be very petty and you have to learn to eat alot of crow. It will be worth it. I am now an RN and am enjoying learning the business of nursing. I was a bill collector for 20 years and my aggressive, confrontational take charge attitude was rewarded in that business, in nursing it hurt me and I had to learn that. Diplomacy if very important in nursing and in nursing school, learn this and you will make it. I will give you some advise an excellent instructor told me "before you say anything go over it in your mind and ask yourself if it needs to be said or if it is appropriate, if you can't answer yes don't say it, also if you have to ask yourself or anyone else if you should say something the odds are you shouldn't" this advice has served me well. It is not easy but you have "look before you leap" and not just respond immediately to perceived wrongs. good luck

Streamline2010 · Sep 19, 2010

llg: i am more than willing to deal with people constructively, however i won't pay for education that doesn't meet my standards, taught by instructors who don't meet my standards. that is a complete waste of money. you are right though, i should have simply withdrawn from the nursing program as opposed to being removed by the instructor. however, if i'm passionate about something, as i am about nursing, i feel the need to speak my opinion. i informed the instructor of how i felt about her style of teaching and her class, and she didn't like it. i realize that this may effect my future endeavors in nursing, however i see it as a positive effect. i would not want to work at an establishment that viewed what i did as wrong. i don't feel as if i shot myself in the foot while leaving, perhaps in that college i did, but otherwise no. i thank you for your advice, do take care =).

haha! now, did you honestly expect that instructor to react some different way?? the school may not have met your standards, but it's certain that you didn't meet theirs!

"i would not want to work at an establishment that viewed what i did as wrong" -- here's a secret: all workplaces and classrooms are going to view your behavior as highly annoying, if not "wrong." when you are the boss, you get to give orders. but when you are a beginner in the first week of class, or you are an employee, you must take orders. so what if you didn't like the instructor's personal style? you are not running the show.

as far as bad chemistry is concerned, yeah. i interviewed at one school that i was sure i wanted to go to. before we were 3 minutes into the interview, i could tell that we had a case of mutual dislike at hello. the only aspect of it that surprised me was that they even bothered to wait list me for several months and rejected me at the tail end, instead of sending me an immediate rejection. in the meantime, i'd already applied to and had been accepted at 5 other schools, so pffffft on that smalltown housewives' one.

mrbojangles255 · Sep 19, 2010

In response to all who've told me to eat crow, or be the bigger man, or pick my battles. I find this very sad. I'm want to and am going to be a nurse, not just a licenced or registered nurse on paper, I mean a GOOD nurse, with my heart. If I were to simply accept being taught by an Icey woman of a teacher, I would probably turn out like her. So in conclusion: I think those who have the idea that it's important to bend over backwards to be taught by a nursing instructor without passion; raise your standards, because I certainly don't settle for mediocre. K, thanks =)

chansen · Sep 19, 2010

If you want to be a good nurse, then you likely will be. Just because someone's demeanor doesn't meet your expectations doesn't mean you will miraculously turn out just like them simply because they were your instructor. Being able to identify what makes you different is more than enough to keep yourself from "becoming icy."

I'm honestly not sure what kind of replies you were expecting from your posts. You don't see it in yourself right now, but they show you have some growing to do, both in your future career as a nurse and as a person living in this takes-all-sorts world.

You seem to believe that if any one person doesn't meet your expected standards of what a nursing school instructor should be (yet you've experienced how many of these in total, for how long of a period to know what to expect?), that you're making a large compromise in your expectations, education, and future ability as a nurse. Part of being an adult, a good student, and specifically a nurse, is to see those differences between your expectations and reality, not let them cloud your ability to perform, and to still do things to the best of your ability.

Lastly, just because someone appears to have an attitude you don't like does not mean that they are not a qualified or skilled instructor, nor does it mean that they have nothing to teach you. Your dislike of them does not mean they are automatically a bad nurse. Correlation does not imply causation. You feel our advice to you is forcing you to settle for mediocrity, and we're simply saying that one week with one instructor isn't enough time, especially with both your nursing and life experience, to determine that.

Once again, I hope you do fine a school that meets all your expectations. I just hope you do so before schools begin to find that you're an insufferable student and stop accepting your applications.

nursedora · Sep 19, 2010

Mrbojangles, How about if you inlist in the Army? Sign up for medic, and lets see how far you get in the military world. I'll bet you'll see it's not all that kit and cozy. They don't take you by the hand and sugar coat things. And most of us who've been around for any length of time, have some sort of experience with the military, or know/work with someone who is military. Did you get to know that nurse instructor you so eloquently refer to has icey and uncaring, to see why she is the way she is? Reminder of my first nursing supervisor, who had an exterior of someone who didn't care, but deep down, she did care a whole lot more than that sappy nurse who sugar coated everything.

Quite frankly, if you can't handle the heat, then get out of the kitchen. If you want to be a good nurse, you have to be tough so you can be carring for your patients. This is the toughest field of work, you have to endure long hours on your feet without breaks, you have to be not only a nurse, but a teacher, a confidant, a "Mom" a "Dad" a big sister, a big brother, everything to all your patients. And sometimes that means being ice cold. Tell me, how many deaths have you experienced in your 2 years as a CNA? How many deaths do you think those of us, including your ice cold instructor have experienced in our 20 plus years of being nurses? There comes a time when, if you aren't already toughened up, you have to become toughened just so you can survive to do the job for the sake of the rest of your patients.

With this, I'm reminded of an incident a few years back, I was Charge nurse of a Nursing home unit, 48 residents on this unit. One of our favorite residents died on my shift. It was expected. I was chastised by the CNA's on my unit because I didn't break down and do a blubbering cry when this resident died. I did my job in a cool and proffessional manner. I took care of the rest of my residents on the unit who needed care, I notified the family, as this was a sudden death even though it was expected. And I contacted the funeral director, and excorted him to the residents room upon his arival at the Nursing home. Now, you would probably say that I was ice cold here. But how much care to the other residents and performing my duties would have gotten done had I broke down and did a blubbering cry? As it was, two out of four CNA's had to leave they were so distraught, leaving the care of the other 47 residents for the remainder six hours of the shift to the two remaining CNA's.

So, Mr. Bojangles, you can do your soft shoe right on out of the nursing field if you can't handle the heat, or you can take off the tap shoes and put on a pair of work shoes and get down to business.

And I will kindly thank you for not telling us, with experience that you don't have, and who are what you aren't, to raise our standards. We have a job to do and we do it. One thing you'll notice, quite a few nurses don't car pool. Did you ever wonder why? I'll tell you one reason, that's when we break down and cry. We have to be stoic on the unit in order to get the job done for the sake of the rest of the clients/residents/patients, in the privacy of our cars on our way home is when we do our venting so as not to take our job home with us. If you make it to 20 plus years as a Nurse you will learn that. Maybe.

So, you can take your sarcastic and condesending manner and stuff it where the sun don't shine. Till you have the experiences the most of us have, and what your instructors have, you will always be a cry baby. And cry babies don't make it far in this field, no matter how good you may be in school.

CareteamRN70 · Sep 19, 2010

Just to second Nursedora, but to add my 2 cents...

I am a former Marine..

compared to Boot camp, sadistic DI's, deprivations, mental and physical breakdowns, and biscuits and gravy that could top a war crimes tribunal of inhumane punishment...

Nursing school was harder hands down. It doesn't suffer the weak, those with a false sense of entitlement, the stupid, the undedicated, and it sure as hell it doesn't suffer fools. For the OP's continued blind arrogance...and there is a fine line between pride and arrogance...REAL NURSES know that line and call it humility. Say it with me now...H U M I L I T Y ie being humble be it in the face of the unknown, those who have gone before you, in the face of your religious convictions, or even something simple such as the first time someone says "Thank you Nurse."

I don't look like the humble type...I look like I should be tending bar at someplace with a dirt floor and a collection of teeth kept at the cash register, but every day I get to work alongside other nurses in this profession, get to make the differences we do in peoples lives, and remember what I went through to get there I am humbled.

I don't really have to worry about the OP becoming a Nurse with his current beliefs, he won't make it, plain and simple. And if he does it will only be because he learns his perception of Nursing is askew and is willing to make the attitude changes needed for a "good" Nurse, and I'll be honest I am not one to judge what is a good nurse, being a recent graduate, but I sure as hell know more then someone who gets kicked out of class their first week.