The director is the spawn of Satan

[RunsWscissors]

Not really, but she is very clear and intimidating. She is very frank about the percentage of dropouts in our program. I was so excited when I got my acceptance letter in August, and then two weeks ago I attended orientation where she read the riot act (long-winded run while you still can speech) about how students from last year's beginning class are down from 64 to 19. :uhoh21:

I'm a friendly person and people generally like me, but for some reason this woman makes me uneasy. She is positively fake and will attempt to engage you in mock friendly banter. No matter what I do I cannot seem to be natural around this woman. I always shrivel up and feel like I've just gone ten quick rounds with Oscar De Lahoya (sp?). She has her favorites already (program has not even started). [EVIL]Bwahahaha!![/EVIL]

Also during orientation she "pointed out" at least 5 students who are making their second attempt at the program. I felt that was kind of unnecessary. Its not that I think its inappropriate, its just there was a kind of glee in her eyes when she did it. Then she made them each stand and explain why each of them failed the last year. For me that would have been like sheer torture. No one likes failing, much less telling a group of people the gory details.

When the director left the room for lunch I stayed behind because I wasn't very hungry. A few other people stayed and some others returned to the room to eat. Two of the "failures" were in there and a crowd of people were asking them questions about how they didn't make it. Eavesdropping on this conversation I felt somewhat relieved to hear them mention some pretty sensible no-no's. One of them had actually crawled onto the floor to sit while tying restraints. Another had not studied very hard ever by her own admission and a late arrival back in said that he had almost always forgotten not to contaminate his area.

Still, this woman creeps me out. She's like a politician. How can I be friendly with her when she is so quick to take you apart? Any tips? And how can I hope to do well with her breathing down my neck? :uhoh21:

Wendi

[RunsWscissors]

Thanks so much for all your replies. I guess I should have specified that due to a lack of instructors, she does teach classes and is very involved with the clinicals, drug calc (we have to pass a drug calc final every quarter, is it this way everywhere???)

She will be teaching my drug calc class this quarter and she has made it clear that she will be at every clinical site with us and tries to be present at the school labs as well.

I don't exactly hate her, but I get the feeling she makes a mental hit list. She is a close-talker, too. I don't normally mind, but she's always leaning in to speak to me and well, I don't know her that well. When I say lean, I mean share the same body space reserved for myself. i find myself leaning back in the opposite direction.

She has a nasty reputation, but I had been willing to see for myself what she was like rather rush to judgement. Oh well, its only 2 years. :trout: maybe some day I'll look back at this and think what a wuss I was being.

Thanks again for your replies, I'm just incredibly nervous and my first day is tomorrow morning. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Wendi

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

(we have to pass a drug calc final every quarter, is it this way everywhere???)

yes, it is that way at some schools. and, guess what? some employers won't let you start work on the clinical unit until you pass a drug calc test. this has become an industry standard and the nursing schools are merely doing their part in preparing you for employment. you can't blame this entirely on the school. the blame goes to all the nurses before us who made critical and fatal errors that killed and injured patients. medicare tracked these statistics for years (and still tracks them). if you want to learn about how bad some medication errors are, read some of the links to them in the med savvy forum on allnurses: https://allnurses.com/forums/f279/

your director may seem a little harsh or authoritarian. remember that she's got a lot of years of nursing experience behind her and her goal is to try to help you avoid falling into some of the pittfalls she's seen other fall into over her years of experience. working with students is one way to correct problems before they even start. my mother was a harsh authoritarian--judge judy and dr. laura rolled into one. used some of the same phrases judge judy uses too. the idea from back then was instilling fear makes you more careful not to err. it doesn't mean that she is a bad person. it's just her style of how she is trying to shape you as professionals. is it a good approach? there are better ways. don't let her personal style get in the way of you being able to receive the good information that she can teach you. as i said, my mom could be horrid and fearful, but she had great things to teach us as well. but, most of my brothers do not speak and threaten their kids like mom did with us. and, when i first started in nursing and had a little supervision authority i learned very quickly that that kind of behavior didn't work at all. you will work with all kinds of people as a nurse. that's part of the "fun" of nursing. learning to get along with all different personality types is part of the job.

[beachbum3]

My best advice for nursing school in general is keep your head down, do your job (come prepared for tests, demos, clinical etc, complete assignments on time etc) and you will be fine. Keep it in perspective- you want to get through the program, right? So don't pay attention to the drama. Stay out of it. Also, always submit your best work. Our instructors can always tell when we've half-assed something. That irritates them as well.

Its simple. Stay out of the drama, keep your head down, be professional and respectful of your instructors and peers, focus on learning all you can and getting finished. do your best, complete assignments ontime, show up to class ontime. (early is usually ontime for instructors.) Be prepared.

[jdorworth]

I can really relate to the spawn of Satan comment. I am in my first semester, Senior year (I finally graduate in May 08), so it's not that I'm new to the program or what is expected. I'm made it this far, right? So I must be doing something right. Anyway, my clinical instructor this semster is by far the worst women I have ever met. The second night of clinicals she reduced me to a blubbering mess after verbally attacking me for the better part of 20 mintues. Fortunately, this was not in front of the rest of the class. But she acused me of not giving adequate care to my patients (who that night both said how much they liked having me as their nurse). She based her opinion on my nursing note (keep in mind this was the 2nd night of clinicals after a long summer break) and she never even saw my patient to ask how he was. And lucky me, I have her as my clinical teacher from now until December 5th. She's verbally attacked other students as well, but my experience was by far the worst so far (from what my fellow students tell me). At this point I am drafting up a letter to the Dean of the school to address my concerns w/ her. I don't think I'll make it through this semester w/ my sanity if things keep up they way they are now.

Any advice on how to get through such a difficult semester? :uhoh21: I'm doing well on the tests and understand the material. I am also confident w/ my skills thus far and my patients seem to be confortable and happy when I leave them each night. I know I am doing a good job and take pride in my attention to my patients, but my instructor ultimatley has the final say as to whether I pass or fail.

[jla623]

Oh no that is awful! I have had a teacher like that before...For some reason I had the hardest time talking to her because I was so intimidated (and I am not one that usually gets intimidated easily). She is probably just trying to scare everyone. After while I was finally able to talk to her once I found out that she had a slight sense of humor, so I just joked around with her a bit. When I finally saw her laugh I knew she wasn't the spawn of satan! I think it will be okay. Just give her some time to warm up to everyone. I bet she is trying to weed out the weak though.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

(we have to pass a drug calc final every quarter, is it this way everywhere???)i

AFAIK yeah, it is :)

[DaFreak71]

I had a program director who actually was Satan. Luckily I only had to deal with her for the first semester, then she retired. She was phony as could be. Due to her wretched personality, everybody saw right through it pretty fast. She couldn't contain herself for long.

During my first semester, she called me into her office and asked me why I wasn't going to an honor's dinner that my school was holding (this was for general academic classes, not related to the nursing program). I told her that I was busy and couldn't attend. She told me that it was very unprofessional of me to not attend. She then said that if I didn't attend, she would write a letter to the Board of Nursing in my state and tell them how unprofessional I was. All the while giving me that fake smile that she was famous for and speaking in an ever so sweet tone of voice. Due to previous interactions I had with her, I finally snapped. I can't recall exactly what I said, as I was mad beyond belief, but it ended with me telling her that she should take a few minutes and review our packet about effective communication techniques. She told me to get out of her office and I told her I'd leave when I was d@mned good and ready to leave. I then said a few more things, left and slammed the door on my way out. At that point, I honestly didn't care if I got kicked out of the program. With my grades I could get into any school I wanted to and being done with her would be reward enough to make it worth my time to do just that.

She didn't do diddly squat about my outburst because she didn't have a leg to stand on. Threatening to turn me in to the BON (as a student no less!) just because I wasn't going to attend an OPTIONAL honors dinner was absurd and she knew it. If she wanted to take it up the chain, she'd have some serious explaining to do.

Another girl in my first semester was struggling academically and was sent to Satan's office for a conference. After the nicey nice routine, she told this girl (who is Catholic and wears a cross necklace) "I'm worried about you because I don't think it's in your best interest to worship Mary, Jesus doesn't like that and if you continue with this, you will go to Hell". OMG--like I said, she was Satan! (I live in the Deep South where this attitude is prevalent). :trout:

She was replaced by a great program director who has her head screwed on straight and is admired by everyone. Lucky us!

My advice to you is to keep your head down, don't talk poorly about her to other students (some students just LOVE to run to the higher ups and report this sort of thing), be prepared for class, dot your i's and cross your t's. Be respectful despite her attitude toward you. I would NOT recommend reacting the way I did because it could get you kicked out of the program. Satan was on her way out the door anyway so she had very little influence at that point.

The whole speech about how the majority of your class is going to fail is there idea of a pep talk. They try to scare you into compliance and get you to be so afraid of failing that you spend every waking moment of your life studying. Some people need to do that in order to pass, but I'm of the belief that you have to keep a balance in life. Just do your very best. After all, that's all that you can be expected to do, and all that you can expect from yourself.

Best of luck to you!

[MB37]

I've never even personally met our director. Is that abnormal? She spoke at our orientation back in April, and again to our fundamentals class on the first day. She doesn't teach any classes that we've taken yet at least, and she isn't a clinical instructor, at least not for our year. Maybe my program is larger? I don't think I'd even recognize her if I saw her on the street tomorrow. I'm just surprised so many people know their directors well enough to hate them/believe them to be Satan spawn!

[DaFreak71]

I've never even personally met our director. Is that abnormal? She spoke at our orientation back in April, and again to our fundamentals class on the first day. She doesn't teach any classes that we've taken yet at least, and she isn't a clinical instructor, at least not for our year. Maybe my program is larger? I don't think I'd even recognize her if I saw her on the street tomorrow. I'm just surprised so many people know their directors well enough to hate them/believe them to be Satan spawn!

Some program directors make themselves more available to students than others. I wouldn't think it's uncommon for you to have only seen your director during orientation or the first day of class. Satan would call students into her office, she never taught a class or attended clinical with us. When she retired and was replaced by a GREAT program director, she did attend clinical with us and we were all like "Wow, this is so cool that she cares enough to make an appearance when she can". It was fun.

Being a program director involves a lot of paperwork. Their job doesn't exactly allow them much face time with students unless they seek you out or you seek them out. They are busy with other things. Our new program director makes it perfectly clear that if we are having any trouble at all, to come see her. She has an "open door policy".

[ebear, BSN, RN]

Be very pleasant around her always--but illusively distant. She sounds as if she's on a power trip to me. I believe it was totally unnecessary and inappropriate of her to point out the former failing students--and then ask then to comment!!?? (unless she discussed it with them prior to the event) In my opinion, it was still in poor taste and unprofessional.

ebear

[happymamma3]

Wendi,

You are not alone. I graduated back in 87, and I felt the same as you.

I would suggest keeping a low profile and dont worry about not being one of her "favorites". Dont let that uneasy feeling psych you out. That is what they try and do. They want to weed out the weak.

They figure if you cant take it, then there is no way you are going to survive out in the nursing proffession.

Keep your ears open and always watch what you say and to whom you are saying it to, because even the walls have ears!

Good Luck.......Just hang in there, be yourself and remember what your goal is.....to be a Nurse.