Group work stinks

Hi everyone

I am in my 1st semester of school. Is there supposed to be a lot of group work in nursing school? Noone in my groups will doing anything. I have 3 projects right now, all group work, and a ton more work that I have to do on my own for regular classes etc. I don't have time to do all of the work involved for these projects as well as my regular homework. I could not pick who I got stuck with. Their laziness affects my grade. What am I gonna do? Will group work ever end? I hate it! I wish my fellow students would open a book. I wish they wanted to be a nurse as much as I do. I don't understand why they stay in this nursing program if they don't want to be nurses. that is what nursing school is supposed to lead to - being a nurse! HELP PLEASE!!!

[iliel]

no one likes group work. you will often find that you are the only one doing the work and it does suck, but i try to look at it like this...the more work I do, the more I know. The ppl who don't do the work will weed themselves out and it will show on their tests. Just do all you can do and try to CYA!

[bluesky, BSN, RN]

Well in my program each class except the clinical ones have group projects. Who you get in your group is the luck of the draw so maybe next time you will fall on a more studious bunch.

I have to admit that I myself like to work on projects at the last minute- this may seem irresponsible to the more disciplined people but I always do well anyway....

Sometimes when I have a lot of work (as you do now) I just bite the bullet and do most of the work on the first project without complaining. The other group members then feel guilty and put more energy into subsequent projects.

In a way I think these projects are preparing you for getting used to working with people that have a different way of doing things than you might. That is the great challenge of teamwork in any setting and we all know nursing is all about teamwork. You may be the disciplined one but they may have other skills that you lack in. This might be a good opportunity for you to hone your leadership skills- can you motivate them to participate?

That said, I would have to say that I did alot if not most of the work on all my group projects over the years and in the end it has benefited me most because I really really know how to use powerpoint now! It's not fair, but it's life and complaining about it to their faces in the wrong way will only alienate you from them even though you are right (unless you want to try the leadership route...)

I wish you the best of luck in nursing school.

[mawbellRn2Bn04]

I am in nursing school in an associates program.. we do not do group work in our program. Iliel is right, group work can suck, but hang in there and do what you gotta do to get where you gotta go. Its not gonna last forever and those that dont do the work will weed themselves out. I have found this out with our program here in TN as far as the weeding out process goes. Some are not willing to do an sacrificing, and they will be gone soon. I attend Roane State Comm. College in Harriman.

take care and good luck, Tracy class of 2004

[#1rnstudent]

Hi everyone

Thanks for all of your fast replies. If this board were not here I would probably go insane because I cannot vent out my frustrations on my group. I try to encourage them to do anything, I still be nice, I ask them if they'd like to do certain parts in particular and it is like pulling teeth with no analgesic. One of our projects is due in a couple of days and all of the parts I said I would do are done. It really ticks me off when people say they will do something and never do it. My group tried to shaft me with the rest of the project but I declined. How are they ever going to learn if they don't try it out themselves? I don't mind helping out people who are not as smart as me IF they are trying, but my group doesn't even try. I am gonna go comfort myself with some halloween candy. Thanks again everyone!

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

That's why i hate group projects, i'm all for teamwork, but the whole team needs to participate for TO BE teamwork. Our education project last year, we had to tell a person in our group why they were getting a 0, but it had to be done. She didn't put forth any verbal input for it, we never received her emails or phone calls about any of this, and finally we just finished it without her. She was royally mad, but we busted our butts for it, and she did nothing, never even asked what she COULD do.

[LydiaGreen]

Group work does suck. Big time. Took me three semesters and way more lost sleep than my other group members to figure that out. Finally, in fourth semester, I found a like-minded individual to work with... hard-working, wanting to maintain her 4.0 GPA just like me. All of my instructors knew that I had done the entirety of group projects without the other members' help and stressed to me to not work with them, stop carrying them through the program etc. Worked with an awesome group partner in fourth semester and then in fifth semester they tell us we can't choose our groups anymore, they will be picked out of hat! How crazy is that!?! Tell me not to work with those people anymore and then make me do it through a random draw?

FIY - on a pathophysiology paper (46 pages including appendices), that I did entirely on my own resulted in one grateful partner who thanked me for carrying her load, and one who wanted to know why she was stuck with an 86% on the assignment I did for her!?! Can you believe it!?!

[lehua]

Group work: sometimes fun but usually a burden on the person who wants an A. I like to take charge in group projects so its nobodys fault when I end up doing most of the grunt work. Try doing a forty page paper as a group and presenting the finding to the class when one of the three speaks mostly in japanese, with a heavey english accent, and another has a cleft palate and speaks very softly. I certainly learned patience if nothing else. Theres always an opportunity to mentor others if they are willing. And, always give input to the teacher on the groups progress. The teacher will then know who is pulling their own weight, (hopefully).

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

I hate having to depend on other people for my A. Like last year a girl in a group waited till the DAY OF THE PROJECT PRESENTATION to type up the written report. Pizzed me off.

[SmilingBluEyes]

i hate it because there are always those lazybutts who ride on the coat-tails of the workers. always.

most the time, i find it useless...i could do the work myself in 1/2 the time. hang in there.

[EyesForward]

Oh, boy do I know where you're coming from on this! I have always been a leader, not a follower, but in groups I try to not expose this right off the bat or even go for that role,. I try to let the group dynamics develop as they will, but after a certain amount of time, which I cannot stand to waste, I always seem to be the one to get the ball rolling, drawing up the master plan, doing most of the talking, and eventually most of the work. I definitely like to work alone, because I can usually do it faster and better without baggage. Every once in a while there'll be a pearl in a group, though, who jumps in there with you, and the two or three of you are really doing well together, and those are the people I usually exchange email with, befriend, and count on for networking.

[wonderbee, BSN, RN]

Group work sucks for sure but I have to admit, I have learned from the experiences. I've learned to let go of some of my academic snobbery. My partner in one of my classes is on the opposite end of the learning scale as me. But what she lacks in academic ability, she makes up for in heart and effort. I've learned the art of learning to see the whole person. She's probably an overall better person than me, even though I made it into the program and she did not.

My group is rather large with 3 sets of partners. One of the sets has failed to contribute to the last two assignments. I learned to be direct about my concerns and confront them in as professional a manner as I could muster flat out telling them that it's not fair that the rest of us should pay the piper for their lack. We have quality control checks on each other's work that we have to sign off on. My quality control comments on their work was short, sweet and to the point. It raised eyebrows of one of the partners who did not contribute and she was obviously not happy with me but everyone signed off in agreement. Professor was advised and the points will not be assessed against those of us who worked. This was probably what a charge nurse or nurse manager would have to do in the field. It wasn't fun and not a pleasant thing to do but groups do produce leadership abilities.