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.
we all have our little notebook to write notes, patient info, our soapie, and everything. i see her reading all the time, but she just doesn't get it really. she would always say something wrong like an alcoholic will not have a high uric acid--and will stand her ground, "i read it in my book!" and i do believe that she did read something about people who drink alcohol and the relationship with uric acid. but what she reads, she cannot understand.
i know there are students who don't seem to look like they will be good nurses. and there are people here who are like that, but i can see their potential and somehow all they need to do is to mature and be more knowledgable. these things happen when they eventually work at a hospital. but we are graduating soon and i do not see that in my classmate. i do hope that an instructor or somebody high up will take notice of students like her in my batch and try to talk to them...
Try to talk to them? Ah, yeah, I do believe that is kind of what instructors do. Talk, teach, test, assess.... and they have the training, background, experience to do it. The whole point of many posts here, and one which I feel that you are continuing to ignore, is that no fellow student is qualified to be making the kind of judgments you are.
I just think there is way to much to worry about in nursing school then to be investing all this energy into another student. Save your compassion for the patients, they're the ones that really need it. :)
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
Just a little rhetorical question. . .What if this student does pass her boards, becomes licensed and injures a patient. How would you all feel then?
I'll say what I said before. If there is a serious problem, her instructor would have noticed by now. I'm sure many nurses who were the academic superstars of their classes have turned out to be poor nurses. Such judgements should be up to the instructors to make, as they are the ones qualified to do so.
I would not assume that the student is not getting feedback from her instructors. Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It also would be way too much power to give to students to allow them to pick and choose who is competent or not. I guess I'm of the mind that if you see her struggling and you are concerned, offer to help her until she DOES understand and is competent. It might be irritating, but I'd feel much better about helping her to understand and become competent than about just stepping back and watching her flounder and then maybe actually become a nurse! Believe me, I understand your frustration, but it would just not be right for student nurses to decide who goes and who stays.
Try to talk to them? Ah, yeah, I do believe that is kind of what instructors do. Talk, teach, test, assess.... and they have the training, background, experience to do it. The whole point of many posts here, and one which I feel that you are continuing to ignore, is that no fellow student is qualified to be making the kind of judgments you are.
i have not been ignoring those posts and i have no intention of going straight to the dean or instructor to tell on her. that would be so judgemental of me (of which i am guilty of a bit... ). i have no right to say if she should be a nurse, but as a classmate and her groupmate, i am one of 11 of her co-members who see her for what she is. i'm sorry if i sound too harsh about her. but instructors who handle us don't really get to know each and every one of us very well. some have noticed how she is, some have not.
i was just wondering what the rest of this population would do if they are faced with this type of student. but if i do see something dangerous, i would approach her first not go behind her back. i just can't really explain to all of you how she is. sometimes she makes me giggle over her antics, sometimes she irritates the hell out of me, but most of time i feel sorry for her. bec she she really tries very hard.
You mentioned that she only memorizes without understanding anything. From the nursing exams I have seem, it is difficult to pass on the basis of memorization alone. They appear to require critical thinking skills, and an understanding of the subject being tested.
She's probably well aware of your additude towards her.
I went to school with people like her. During my OR training there was one girl in my class who acted like a complete airhead. She had nearly a photographic memory which only served to complicate matters. SHe could memorize complicated facts, but could not grasp the simple hands on-tasks or the critical thinking ideas.
Needless to say sometimes she would make us laugh and sometmes she would make me so angry with what we thought were silly questions.
We pulled her aside and had a talk with her and offered to help her when we could even after class, but told her she had to pull her own weight. We never told the instructors, but one of our hospitals called to have her removed from clinical. The program director had a long talk with her after that and she drastically improved.
I have to agree with the MYOB, however, you and the others do not have to explain things to her on a continual basis. How about responding with "I suggest you ask the Instructor to explain that to you"? You can continue to support her on occas, she is your fellow student after all. Referring her to the instructor most of the time may leave you less frustrated with her and from there it's up to instructors and the boards to decide.
Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN
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