Too many Negative remarks regarding Nursing School here!! Stop the discouragement!!

pagandeva2000, LPN · Sep 3, 2007

well I'm sorry you feel that way. Perhaps you're in the wrong profession. For me, I believe nursing will be a rewarding career with many ups and downs, but when I look back at the end of my life I will have many more smiles than frowns.

Nah...I would not say that. You do not know this person, and even if the career is rewarding, it does have major drawbacks. You mentioned that you "believe nursing will be a rewarding career" making it seem to me that you have not become one, yet. You are right, it can be. However, you cannot predict life, nor if it is the wrong profession for any of us. When you get there yourself, then, judge. Even the best of intentions may have drawbacks.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Sep 3, 2007

Interesting. I loved school anyway, but in retrospect I think Nursing as a profession makes Nursing school look even more like a picnic.

Yeah...that is the REAL deal...trying to PROTECT what you killed yourself for. Sometimes, that is even worse...:angryfire

pagandeva2000, LPN · Sep 3, 2007

I hated nursing school. Loved all of my coreqs, HATED my nursing classes, and mostly because of the teachers. I won't pretend otherwise.

You are singing my tune. I hated the experience so much that I still get angry thinking about that period of time in my life. The program director hated me and tried to get at me from every angle. :angryfire

pagandeva2000, LPN · Sep 3, 2007

Everything, I mean everything you stated was right on the money in my opinion! Nursing school was not pleasent, from the dirty competitiveness it took to get in, the classmates, the sucky professors that gloated on making our lives miserable and the NCLEX process was much more than I can take. I have been a nurse for a year, now, and am still mentally exhausted from the entire process. I was also belittled, mocked and insulted by the program director and I was the top student of the class. I didn't even show up for my own graduation to receive my awards because I was so sick of them. I am not embittered by this, but I would not do it again. And, the environment that we work in does not always make up for the hell I went through to make it here to help people. Kudos for your comments!

Ive read this with interest. Logically I believe there is a need for balance, and self-control because we are in control of how we choose to react.
Nursing school was not pleasant for me. It was not pleasant for my classmates. Was it hell or the hardest thing to do? No. I would think being a single mom with kids, scrambling to make ends meet with no support structure is accurately Hell. Ive had life experiences that far exceed nursing school as trauma.
In my program which consisted of mature students and second career people. We were belittled, mocked, insulted, and at one point one student was practically physically assaulted by a screaming instructor in front of the class. Clinical instructors would comment out loud who they were going to get rid of. There was gender and racial issues. I had one instructor tell she did not believe males should be nurses. I smiled and didnt respond. This instructor most likely had mental issues.
I wont go into details as to how but the class stood up. That instructor was removed, there was an investigation, lawyers consulted and in the end a Dean was asked to leave, contracts for clinical instructors were not renewed and there was restructuring of the department.
Is this the norm? I would say No. There is clinical documentation in journals in history about mass psychosis. The best example I can give here is to look at a lobster tank. When it gets overcrowded and turbid and the environmental stressors increase the lobsters become cannibals. Go look in a tank sometime and you will find a lobster with one claw. I'm sure the lobsters know they are destined for the dinner plate. The rubber bands on their claws are not for your protection, it is to prevent the product from killing each other.
I have two good friends who are nurse educators so I have heard the other side of the debate. Students who are not prepared, who are dangerous, and don't seem to care. I have also heard how the internal academic politics like the corporate crap in offices drove them to tears and banging their heads against the walls. They stay because they love to teach and that one great student that comes along once in a while makes a difference to them. They remain active on the floor nurses in addition to teaching because they are there for the patients. They know some of their peers are Harpies who have no life or outlet and who sharpen their claws daily.
The nursing student environment does get toxic. Fall below a GPA and you are out. Think to transfer to another program to finish out, then think again. You start from scratch. I know because I left one school after one semester (nasty environment where I was one of three males) and went to another program and told I had to repeat first semester despite solid 'A' work in pre-reqs and Fundamentals. Why? "We emphasize cultural competency and each school has a different emphasis."
Overall my class was supportive of each other. Maybe that was not the norm from what I read here. I saw the rage, the tears, the doubts, the frustration, the 'I don't dare talk and just go with the flow' among students.
I'm not bitter. Would I do it again? No. It was a traumatic two years I wouldn't wish it on anybody; and frankly if I were in my early twenties I would have bailed and knowing my disposition then I would not have responded so nicely. I am in my late 30s. The drama and trauma is behind me. It remains to be seen what the job will bring. I will do my best.
I read somewhere 34,000 students were turned away from nursing programs nationally last year because the schools were flooded with apps and short of nurse educators. I know of folks on waiting lists so I have mixed opinions on the "nursing shortage". I believe the American south, poor populated, and rural areas are hurting for nurses.
I am convinced if the American public truly knew the working conditions and why nurses don't stay they would be on the front lawns of the state houses wondering why administrators, big insurance, and pharm companies are making obscene amounts and perks and we work hours that belong to the 19th century. It is (my opinion) OBSCENE that in a country of extraordinary wealth we have homeless and uninsured. Children and the elderly are our most vulnerable populations. The public knows we will all at one time or another be in a hospital bed. I digress.
I am an RN now. Nobody will take that away from me. I know and choose NEVER to subject a student to the behavior. That said nurses show through behavior that they belong to a profession. It is a profession with a history stretching back to medieval times. No place, job or school is perfect but there should be reforms and standardization on programs so we dont have this ASN vs BSN debate and no 'horizontal violence' in the schools or workplaces. There is a lot work to be done in recruiting men into nursing. We should not act like caught crabs in a pail who pull down the one crab trying to climb out of the pail. We are not lobsters and we aren't crabs.
In closing I have told others and I remind myself with the adversities in Life, "Living well is the best revenge." You can decide what that means to you.

not now, RN · Sep 3, 2007

I think what the OP needs to understand is that people tend to talk about "bad" things or "hardships" more than they will the positives in life. Those topics are more interesting (engaging?), they build up inside people and need to be vented as a form of stress relief (and what better place than a group of those who understand?).

I liked nursing school but there were times when I would mumble "just f%#&ing shoot me already" Ya know what? I feel the same way at work. The other day I was on the phone with pharmacy, halfway through my sentence I stopped, paused and said "oh my God I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore." Thankfully the pharmacist just laughed.

There's good and bad in everything. Life sucks...sometimes. It's natural and healthy to vent about the bad but ultimately it's up to the individual to focus on the good.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Sep 3, 2007

life is what you make of it....same as nursing school.

the time, effort and bookwork spent will lead one to fullfill your nursing programs course requests.

[color=#2aa404]every flower that ever bloomed

had to go through

a whole lot of dirt to get there!

[color=#d80a9b]a diamond is only a chunk of coal ...

that made something good under pressure!

[color=#2aa404]adversity is the diamond dust

heaven uses to polish its jewels.

[color=#d80a9b]there is no oil without squeezing the olives,

no wine without pressing the grapes,

no fragrance without crushing the flowers,

and no real joy without sorrow.

[color=#2aa404]"the marvelous richness of human experience

would lose something of rewarding joy

if there were no limitations to overcome.

the hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful,

if there were no dark valleys to traverse."

~ helen keller ~

from penny parker's words of encouragement:

http://www.pennyparker2.com/encouragement.html

there are those who see the glass half empty and those who see it half full. sometimes just changing our mindset, taking a one day or one hour "pamper me" break helps to get over the bumps in the road.

oftentimes doubling the effort to prove the naysayers wrong is our victory in the end. lawyers, engineers and medical school students all seem to have similar sentiments about their instructors/professors if one ever takes a trip through their websites or has conversations with them.

we are not alone.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Sep 3, 2007

well I'm sorry you feel that way. Perhaps you're in the wrong profession. For me, I believe nursing will be a rewarding career with many ups and downs, but when I look back at the end of my life I will have many more smiles than frowns.

Ahhh, spoken like someone who has no idea of what nursing is really like.

Talk to us your first week off of orientation.

Until then, if you don't like the negative comments about nursing, then simple don't read them. Seems like an easy solution.

justme1972 · Sep 3, 2007

I actually ran into the Anatomy and Physiology professor that I had from this summer today (I had 2 instructors, one that sucked, and one that rocked...the one that rocked was actually more difficult, but she was way more organized).

I was commenting her on her amazing lecture and instructional abilities, and told her that she, by far, was one of the best ones I had never had. I even told her, "I know the other instructor is a colleage of yours, but he just didn't seem to know what he was doing, confused himself during lectures, and just overall didn't seem to want to be there."

Then she shared a little tid-bit with me that seemed to shed llight on the matter, of why so many nursing school instructors are bad (or instructors of ANY discipline at the college level):

She said, "I have my Masters degree specifically in Biology education. Which means, I have been taught how to teach. Many professors at the collegel level have never had education classes at all, they just have the degree in the field they study in, but it does make a difference in not only how you teach, but how you understand the material yourself."

I was like, "AMEN sister".

I have my first skills test Tuesday. NEITHER ONE of my two nursing instructors EVER demonstrated themselves the proper way to do anything we are being tested on. We saw a video, and then the LPN's in my group taught us and I "learned" by pulling an instructor to the side, and said, "Is this the correct way" and having them watch me.

You have to be very, very careful on "feedback" from other students that say, "oh, we aren't supposed to do it that way". Unless I hear it from an instructor, as far as I'm concerned, I'm doing it the way they saw me and not venturing at all.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2007

well I'm sorry you feel that way. Perhaps you're in the wrong profession. For me, I believe nursing will be a rewarding career with many ups and downs, but when I look back at the end of my life I will have many more smiles than frowns.

I've been in nursing for 16 years and feel as you do. When I look back the last 16 years I can definately say the ups far outnumber the downs, the rewards far outnumber negatives. I hope that is your experience.

Nursing school was the toughest and most demanding experience of my life to date. Fortunately that was not because it was a negative experience, just because it was so all-consuming. The students were good and so were the instructors....but there's always that one.

Am I going to come to this bb and post when I have a negative experience. Of course, just read my blog, it's has the negatives.

I don't live with rose colored glasses on, but frankly given the nursing school experience and careers of some of these posters, I wonder if I could have made it 16 years, I doubt it. And I sometimes wonder as you do if some of them are in the wrong career. So I should count my blessings that my experience isn't theirs. :)

I'll put my flame proof suit on now. :)

Diahni · Sep 3, 2007

I've been in nursing for 16 years and feel as you do. When I look back the last 16 years I can definately say the ups far outnumber the downs, the rewards far outnumber negatives. I hope that is your experience.
Nursing school was the toughest and most demanding experience of my life to date. Fortunately that was not because it was a negative experience, just because it was so all-consuming. The students were good and so were the instructors....but there's always that one.
Am I going to come to this bb and post when I have a negative experience. Of course, just read my blog, it's has the negatives.
I don't live with rose colored glasses on, but frankly given the nursing school experience and careers of some of these posters, I wonder if I could have made it 16 years, I doubt it. And I sometimes wonder as you do if some of them are in the wrong career. So I should count my blessings that my experience isn't theirs. :)
I'll put my flame proof suit on now. :)

Tweety, et al.

Yes, to be sure, the kinds of experiences that nurses have give life meaning and joy. As for nightmare stories of nursing school, one has to make a distinction - it isn't nursing school that sXcks, it's the instructors. My understanding is that this isn't true everywhere, but it is a whole lot easier to switch jobs than schools. I have had a life with more diverse experiences than most people, so I know from whence I speak. Why this is so is a mystery to me. Yet the fact remains I have never encountered such petty, mean-spirited and unconscious creatures as I did as a nursing student. There is no value in the abuse of other people, including nursing students. Amen!

Diahni

treysdaddy08 · Sep 3, 2007

Ahhh, spoken like someone who has no idea of what nursing is really like.
Talk to us your first week off of orientation.
Until then, if you don't like the negative comments about nursing, then simple don't read them. Seems like an easy solution.

And this is exactly what the OP meant by too much negativity. Karen had it right on the money. Life is what YOU make of it. I tell you that Nursing is a rewarding career, that I will have more ups than downs, and you tell me I don't know what nursing is really like. You're right, I don't. But I know what I am really like, and I will not let myself get down because others refuse to let themselves enjoy it.

jmking · Sep 3, 2007

Nursing school was hard work but in the end if you pass the big test you are a nurse, and as a new nurse, it is so worth it!:)

Jennifer LPN