Crying, Cursing in Class and other Drama

NCINDASUN · Mar 9, 2004

It's midsemester and people start to get really stressed. I too have seen the "drama" increase in the last weeks of a course, people start to panic.

Yep, it's mid-semester! I just had my dosage calculation test and burst into tears when I found out I passed with the required 100%. Not too tired..... :bluecry1:

As one of the "old goats" in my class I've seen the same kind of behavior in my former career. Everyone acts differently under pressure. My husband laughs in uncomfortable or stressful situations. (You can just image how I reacted when he started giggling during our first few fights! :angryfire )

You have two options, and which you choose really depends on how YOU handle stress. 1) You can try to see if there is anything you can do to diffuse some of the tension and help these poor women thru this tough time or 2) Stay as far away as possible so you don't get sucked into their bad place.

Whichever you choose remember, there but for the grace of God...It could be you next time (minus the cursing).

RNSuzq1, RN · Mar 10, 2004

Since she didn't have to time to fix it, she starts cursing and yelling at the teacher, who promptly threw her out.
Then, in another class, a girl starts crying because she flunked. It's always a little uncomfortable when people cry in class.

Hi Lizz, Besides you, several other people here mentioned students crying in class and I was wondering if this is a "Nursing School" thing? I went to college years ago for Business and honestly don't remember anyone ever crying, cursing or carrying on in class - Junior High maybe, but not College. I can understand someone being very upset if they flunked an exam - but most adults don't have outbursts like that in school.

The one thing I'm curious about is - if these people become so upset about an exam - how will they control their emotions when dealing with patients in very stressful situations? Have the students you were talking about been in a clinical setting yet and if so - did they argue with your instructors, etc. Just Wondering....

jaimealmostRN · Mar 10, 2004

Having just taken our 2nd (midterm) exam today, I can truly say that there were many tension related issues.... We had a few "quiet" criers (which I think is OK as long as your not throwing a trantrum, etc), and a few little arguements break out after the exam r/t lack of sleep,hunger. Before our 1st exam this semester, I was extremely stressed and ended up saying something really mean to a good friend. It wasn't personal, but just really obnoxious. I felt very bad afterwards and vowed to manage my stress better this time around.

I think that (in my class) emotions can run high, b/c a lot of us have a lot to loose if we don't complete the program. Some only have a limited amount of $$$ that is available, some are in the middle of raising a family and have said, if it doesn't work out this time (if they fail) they can't go back until their kids are older. IMO, don't get mad at these people, stress can turn a normally nice person into a real b****! One person in my class who has cried more than once is an excellent EMT who has dealt with some odd and stressful situations with grace. Somehow work- related vs. school-related stress envokes different responses. JMO!

Sheri257 · Mar 10, 2004

Hi Lizz, Besides you, several other people here mentioned students crying in class and I was wondering if this is a "Nursing School" thing? I went to college years ago for Business and honestly don't remember anyone ever crying, cursing or carrying on in class - Junior High maybe, but not College. I can understand someone being very upset if they flunked an exam - but most adults don't have outbursts like that in school.

Yes, it's college, although I guess you wouldn't know it sometimes. The woman who cursed the teacher is actually older, at least mid 30's, probably older. But she's always been kinda weird. The girl who cried is much younger, and I did think her younger age was a contributing factor.

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Mar 10, 2004

gotta love them drama queens

LeesieBug · Mar 10, 2004

I agree that sometimes it is simply the added pressure nursing students can have. We are often in "do it right or flunk" situations, and depending on the situation that can really get to a person. There is no middle road when dealing with people's lives. I consider nursing school good practice in handling stress for later in our careers.

We don't generally have outbursts in our classes...everyone basically keeps it together. However, a friend of mine had trouble a couple months ago with a sterile technique practical exam. She kept contaminating her sterile field, and she was at the point where if she falied one more time, that was it ....she failed the entire course ( which was just two weeks away from being over). We have three shots to pass each practical, so after failure #2, all she could think of was that she was going to fail out of nursing school because she couldn't put on a pair of sterile gloves! All that time and money down the toilet. So there she was, this 34 year old, usually calm woman, bawling in the lab. The instructor wasn't quite sure what to do with her. :chuckle Anyway, they got her calmed down and she did fine on trial three...then felt like an idiot for breaking down like that.

My point is that I sometimes it it happens because people are "drama queens" as someone else mentioned, sometimes it happens because the stress just comes to a head. Either way, that's life.

caligirl · Mar 10, 2004

We have at least one person a week cry from some form of stress or another. I admit I even let the stress get to me one day and cried on clinical. I tried so hard to hold it back but the tears just started the flowing. I was having a bad week in my personal life and I was running on about 4 hours sleep. I am an A student and no I am not one who cries over tests. What I am trying to say is that I am not a slacker. I am a wife and mom. I have lots of resposibilities and my body responded to the stress that day by crying. My point is that our instructors are very kind and loving people. When one of the student's is at the point of tears, the instructors offer a big hug and sit them down and find out what the problem is and do everything in their power to lead them in the right direction to fix it.. or even just listening does a world of good. Of course it doesn't surprise me since they are NURSES. That is what they are training US to do. Isn't that what you guys learn in school? I'm appalled that a bunch of nursing students are being so judgemental. We are supposed to be compassionate. We are not rocks that go on the clinical floor and never let it get to us. Even seasoned nurses sometimes go home and break down and have a good cry. You should never lose your emotions and become a rock. However, it does become easier to control the tears. But someone who gets annoyed because someone cried over stress is not someone I want as my nurse...

poe me · Mar 10, 2004

I've seen this happened before. As a matter of fact there was a time that I got very upset over test scores. But nothing like yelling and cursing that's not the way to handle this. What I did was talked to my instructor about getting some extra help before it was to late. I had to reorganize my time and study a little harder to get my grade up. When you take your first exam and you don't do well get some help, its not worth it to yell at the teacher. If the teacher is difficult talk too other students and see what they are doing to keep up in the class.

Sheri257 · Mar 10, 2004

All of this talk about stress has got me thinking about school stress versus job stress. Granted, I don't know what nursing stress is like, since I'm still a student. But I've worked in high pressure jobs as a tv news producer, where you had to kill yourself to get the story on the air on time or you'd be fired. I've actually lived that scene in the movie "Broadcast News" a few times.

While that was a lot of stress, at least it would be done and over with, so I could go home and relax -- at least on the weekends. With school, I never feel like I can totally relax because there's always so much work to do. You're never 100 percent sure if you've got everything covered. I'm always thinking: Do I really know this material as well as I think I do? Should I go over it again? And, of course, free weekends are now a thing of the past.

Or, at least, that's how school is for me. The only time I ever really relax with school is when the semester is over since that seems to be the only time when there's no more work to do.

Sometimes I think school is more stressful than anything else. I look forward to the day I can just go to a job, put my hours in, go home and be done with it. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I hope that day comes.

Nemrac · Mar 11, 2004

A little bit of drama in my school this week, all test related. During one test, one woman realized her answers were all screwed up with only five minutes to go. Since she didn't have to time to fix it, she starts cursing and yelling at the teacher, who promptly threw her out.
Then, in another class, a girl starts crying because she flunked. It's always a little uncomfortable when people cry in class. But then she goes out in the hallway and complains to another teacher (who happens to be passing by) about how bad this teacher is. She did this very loudly and in front of everybody during the class break. Naturally, since she wasn't very discreet, it got back to the teacher.
While I've found both of these teachers to be pretty reasonable, I still don't blame people for being upset sometimes. But these emotional outbursts are a bit weird. Has this happened to anybody else? Or was it because there was a full moon this week or something?

Drama at my school too....In the 5:00 Anatomy Lecture Class someone sat in on test day and tried to take off with the test. The teacher saw him and tried to catch him but he got away. Anyhow, my class - the 7:00 PM Lecture ended up having our test cancelled because the Prof suspected that someone in the 7:00 class was in cohoots with the person who swiped the test from the 5:00 Class. We were all pretty pissed because we had to take the test another day and the new revised test was obviously harder then the one we were supposed to take. Needless to say - High Drama ensued......

On a personal note I just don't understand why anyone would risk cheating like that. I mean honestly, we are all going into a career where trust is one of the main tenants of our Job.....to cheat getting there really makes those of us who work our butts off pissed!!! Who wants a caretaker who cheats!!!!!! ARRRRRRGGGGGHHH.......Lightsaber ignites.......

Sheri257 · Mar 11, 2004

Drama at my school too....In the 5:00 Anatomy Lecture Class someone sat in on test day and tried to take off with the test. The teacher saw him and tried to catch him but he got away. Anyhow, my class - the 7:00 PM Lecture ended up having our test cancelled because the Prof suspected that someone in the 7:00 class was in cohoots with the person who swiped the test from the 5:00 Class. We were all pretty pissed because we had to take the test another day and the new revised test was obviously harder then the one we were supposed to take. Needless to say - High Drama ensued......
On a personal note I just don't understand why anyone would risk cheating like that. I mean honestly, we are all going into a career where trust is one of the main tenants of our Job.....to cheat getting there really makes those of us who work our butts off pissed!!! Who wants a caretaker who cheats!!!!!! ARRRRRRGGGGGHHH.......Lightsaber ignites.......

Whoah! Never heard of that one. A stranger sitting in to steal a test? Running out of the classroom? !!!

What are they going to do next? I guess we'll need campus cops to sit in on tests now.

So sorry this happened to you. Unbelievable!

Nemrac · Mar 11, 2004

Whoah! Never heard of that one. A stranger sitting in to steal a test? Running out of the classroom? !!!
What are they going to do next? I guess we'll need campus cops to sit in on tests now.
So sorry this happened to you. Unbelievable!

Yeah...It happened last Thursday....Now for every future test we have to come in, show our Student ID at which point we will be given the test. It was a really weird experience. All and All our teacher was really cool about it, (other then making the new test harder).....I hope the cheating jerk fails miserably......