i'm in my 4th yr of bs nursing & i will be graduating this may 2006 (woohoo!) now my thread is: i have this classmate who has been passing our nursing subjects not with high grades but not so low grades either. and several instances during our clinicals, she would be asking me or some other groupmate some questions such as: (remember she is a graduating nursing student)
a. what is a diuretic?
b. what does dyspneic/tachypneic mean?
and many instances, she has been really incompetent and uncomprehensible when giving rationales or explanations on different diseases/cases. she doesn't even know what the normal range for fasting blood sugar is!:uhoh21:
i know she shouldn't be allowed to graduate and i, for a fact, would not want to be hospitalized and be under her care (i think i will die!)...
should she be allowed to graduate? should we (me and my other groupmates) bring this up with our level head or dean or someone concerned? i mean, poor girl she's worked so hard. but goodness, poor patients if she will pass the boards eventually (she loves memorizing, w/o understanding anything!). :uhoh21:
Specializes in Happily semi-retired; excited for the whole whammy.
There are already plenty of "concerned" people who have the responsibility for whether or not this girl passes. I doubt your observations will come as news to any of them. IMHO, you'd do better to concentrate on your own studies, and let the instructors (who are, after all, getting paid for this!) worry about who passes and who fails.
Who are we to decide who is cut out for nursing, and who is not? That's why we have licensing examination - to make sure all candidates are safe and educated practitioners. By the way, I've heard a lot of times - to not offend anyone - that Bachelor's degree graduates are book smart, but not able to put all their knowledge together and apply it in real world.
I agree with the first part of your post that its not up to the students to decide if the person in question should pass BUT then the second part of your post... If you even have to say "not to offend" then its probably offensive and sterotypical.
Saying the bachelors degree holders aren't able to apply knowledge to the real world is offensive.
I agree with the other posters that say MYOB. Hey--she's passing! Clinically she may not be up to snuff YET but who knows--perhaps her instructors have spoken to her already about this and she's just nervous. Maybe she has caught on to you and other classmates talking about her. If you went to the powers that be and mention this: (1) it's not your job; (2) I would think it would make you and the other students who feel this way look bad. She could have low self esteem about her clinical performance and just need a lot more reassurance and practice. That certainly doesn't make her a failure or incompetent nurse-to-be.
I would allow her to fail on her own. If she is stumbling through chances are her instructors have noticed. If she doesn't pass the NCLEX maybe she will take classes and actually learn the information. Maybe someone in your class could offer to help her, she may be going through a situation that you do not know about.
I agree with the first part of your post that its not up to the students to decide if the person in question should pass BUT then the second part of your post... If you even have to say "not to offend" then its probably offensive and sterotypical.
Saying the bachelors degree holders aren't able to apply knowledge to the real world is offensive.
Specializes in OB, ortho/neuro, home care, office.
thanks for all your replies... and you are right, it's not really my business, although at the same time, i feel it is bec i have been with her for almost two years and she still doesn't get most points. it's not bec she blanks out--it's bec she has poor comprehension i think. there'd be times when i have to explain something to her 3x when she asks me something.
i just feel sorry for her bec she really works hard. as for our instructors, there have been some who have noticed her lack of aptitude. i just hope that they can do something about her very soon...
one time she asked how to apply a hot compress--"do i do it for 12 hours?" so i said what was the compress for; usually for a sprain, cold compress is applied inthe 1st 24hrs then hot compress thereafter. and she said, "for 12 hrs?" no, no, no, i repeated the whole spiel again, and she kept on saying "for 12 hrs?" aaaahhh!!!
This is totally off topic: i know of someone who passed the english exams and he totally cannot speak english: do you even understand this:
"don't small me, i'm not small"
"keep your work" (told to a student who scored well in her exam)
hahahhahahah!!!!!
:rotfl:
If I didn't know better, I would say we went to the same school. The student in question has been in nursing school for 5 years. At least in my case. She has lost custody of all of her children due to drug use. And she is still getting through nursing school. She is completely clueless. I am not truly sure if this is the same person. I think I would rather die than be put in her care, because the likelihood of survival is slim. Many (seriously) a time there's been a patient who has requested her removal from their room because she was so incompetent. I just don't know. I still think I should say something to the school, because you guessed it, she's STILL there.
Specializes in Happily semi-retired; excited for the whole whammy.
If I didn't know better, I would say we went to the same school. The student in question has been in nursing school for 5 years. At least in my case. She has lost custody of all of her children due to drug use. And she is still getting through nursing school. She is completely clueless. I am not truly sure if this is the same person. I think I would rather die than be put in her care, because the likelihood of survival is slim. Many (seriously) a time there's been a patient who has requested her removal from their room because she was so incompetent. I just don't know. I still think I should say something to the school, because you guessed it, she's STILL there.
I don't understand why you think there is a need to "say something" to the school. If she is incompetent and has had patient request her removal, then the school knows. Surely you aren't the only one privy to this information? If you know it, so do they. Clearly, there has to be more to the story, that they haven't yet removed her.
If I didn't know better, I would say we went to the same school. The student in question has been in nursing school for 5 years. At least in my case. She has lost custody of all of her children due to drug use. And she is still getting through nursing school. She is completely clueless. I am not truly sure if this is the same person. I think I would rather die than be put in her care, because the likelihood of survival is slim. Many (seriously) a time there's been a patient who has requested her removal from their room because she was so incompetent. I just don't know. I still think I should say something to the school, because you guessed it, she's STILL there.
It is NOT YOUR JOB or PLACE to say anything to the school. Again, I repeat: it is NOT YOUR JOB OR PLACE to say anything to the school. Just concentrate on your own studies.
It is NOT YOUR JOB or PLACE to say anything to the school. Again, I repeat: it is NOT YOUR JOB OR PLACE to say anything to the school. Just concentrate on your own studies.
Agree with Suzy. The school may be far more aware than you know and is biding time and gathering doc on this individual. Stay away from this one.
Specializes in OB, ortho/neuro, home care, office.
It is NOT YOUR JOB or PLACE to say anything to the school. Again, I repeat: it is NOT YOUR JOB OR PLACE to say anything to the school. Just concentrate on your own studies.
I have already graduated. I would think that it would be prudent to protect patients from her. I haven't said anything so far, but it won't matter, there were several at that school who (at last report) were going to the dean about it. I wouldn't want her taking care of myself, or any of my family members. I can only hope that you all are right about boards stopping her. Because in my opinion, the school has some responsibility in this.
i'm in my 4th yr of bs nursing & i will be graduating this may 2006 (woohoo!) now my thread is: i have this classmate who has been passing our nursing subjects not with high grades but not so low grades either. and several instances during our clinicals, she would be asking me or some other groupmate some questions such as: (remember she is a graduating nursing student)
a. what is a diuretic?
b. what does dyspneic/tachypneic mean?
and many instances, she has been really incompetent and uncomprehensible when giving rationales or explanations on different diseases/cases. she doesn't even know what the normal range for fasting blood sugar is!:uhoh21:
i know she shouldn't be allowed to graduate and i, for a fact, would not want to be hospitalized and be under her care (i think i will die!)...
should she be allowed to graduate? should we (me and my other groupmates) bring this up with our level head or dean or someone concerned? i mean, poor girl she's worked so hard. but goodness, poor patients if she will pass the boards eventually (she loves memorizing, w/o understanding anything!). :uhoh21:
If you even have to say "not to offend" then its probably offensive and sterotypical. 
LydiaNN
2,756 Posts
There are already plenty of "concerned" people who have the responsibility for whether or not this girl passes. I doubt your observations will come as news to any of them. IMHO, you'd do better to concentrate on your own studies, and let the instructors (who are, after all, getting paid for this!) worry about who passes and who fails.