Have you had a bad experience during nursing program ?

Nursing Students General Students

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What bad experience have you gone through that would help others students avoid the same situation? How did you and/or your school handled it?

** Please no names of patients, teachers, or schools. **

:headphone:

Sunflower,

Do you mean with doctors at my clinical sites or my own personal doctors? We honestly haven't interacted with doctors at our clinical sites and if we did it was brief. If you're curious about personal experience with doctors I have spent my whole life around them and have worked with them and had no problem letting them know if I disagreed with them and show them what I know. It's alot different when you have a clinical instructor who doesnt have your back then when its a supervisor who does.

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Specializes in Urology, ENT.

If you feel overwhelmed, make use of the free counseling your school offers. I wish I had done that at my first nursing program, but looking at the whole thing, I'm happy I graduated from the second program. Also be certain of you did and didn't do, and regardless of how far deep in the hole you get (like even if you know you're failing), don't get to the point where you feel so self-defeated that you agree to something you didn't do. The last thing you want is something written all over with you screwing up something when you didn't do anything wrong.

They tell you in nursing school to document everything -- when you feel something wrong has happened, do the same.

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Sunflower,

Do you mean with doctors at my clinical sites or my own personal doctors? We honestly haven't interacted with doctors at our clinical sites and if we did it was brief. If you're curious about personal experience with doctors I have spent my whole life around them and have worked with them and had no problem letting them know if I disagreed with them and show them what I know. It's alot different when you have a clinical instructor who doesnt have your back then when its a supervisor who does.

I mean anyone that has more authority than you. If you're so quick to say,

Stay humble admit you dont know anything even if you do.

just because you are frightened of the authority figure (clinical instructor), then what makes a person think that you will not speak up to a physician? It is a nurses duty to provide patient safety, and that includes disagreeing with physicians if you believe something to not be right. If you live your entire life and job afraid of authority and not saying anything even if you know something, you could be charged with negligence. No one said anything about supervisor's being behind you.

Just my thoughts. Not saying you are like this, but making a statement to ignore everything you're taught just so you aren't targeted is blasphemy. It could cost a life...

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Do not get involved in cliques. If students in class begin to gossip about others, keep your mouth shut and RUN in the opposite direction. Do not get involved in any drama. Avoid it at all costs.

I second this. Stay away from the cliques because they're the ones with all the gossip and drama. Lay low focus and do the best you can in your academics.

Also, put on a poker face when you're doing your skills and getting checked off in lab. Don't let your instructors see the fear and anxiety, because they will exploit that.

Leave your problems at the door when you walk in to your classes; your instructors know when you're having a bad and they're assessing you to see how well you do under pressure and stress (meaning walk in with a smile and be kind and polite no matter what).

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I mean anyone that has more authority than you. If you're so quick to say,

just because you are frightened of the authority figure (clinical instructor), then what makes a person think that you will not speak up to a physician? It is a nurses duty to provide patient safety, and that includes disagreeing with physicians if you believe something to not be right. If you live your entire life and job afraid of authority and not saying anything even if you know something, you could be charged with negligence. No one said anything about supervisor's being behind you.

Just my thoughts. Not saying you are like this, but making a statement to ignore everything you're taught just so you aren't targeted is blasphemy. It could cost a life...

I agree with both of you. To an extent. In my college we have some great instructors and some not so great instructors. One particular instructor is a bit extreme and you don't know what you're going to get every day when having her class. She will either be sweet and understanding one day, and the next, absolutely neurotic. I would never dream of speaking out against her, since I have seen many fellow classmates do so who have gotten annihilated by her. She's made some flippant comments in the past that has scared students to even complain about her, or write a review that wasn't so nice. She's punished our classes for doing so.

With that said, I think there are certain cases in which one shouldn't speak up, and there are cases in which one should! When it comes to a life, you're darn right I'm going to speak up, loud and clear if I have to, to keep a patient safe. When it comes to arguing with a professor/instructor why something isn't right when they're unwilling to listen and will brow-beat you and punish you, isn't worth it.

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When it comes to my patient and or client then yes I am speaking up. In nursing school though, like littlebear 23 said, there are some instructors that you just keep your mouth shut, stay humble not cocky. That's all that I was conveying. I have found when the student knows something an instructor does not and you politely let it be known, it could bite you in the behind.

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Just want to share my friend's experience with Chamberlain school of nursing. She failed her Capstone class NR 661 because she didn't reach 70% of APEA predicable exam. She attempted 3 times. She got 68, 69 and 67. The passing score is 70. As the school requested, after she failed the second time, she attended APEA live review class with her own expenses. She got the lowest score ever 67. It is very difficult to swallow the result. Chamberlain told her she has to retake the NR 661 with the clinic rotation. She almost has a nerve break down. It is so difficult to find a clinic site. She questioned about Chamberlain's evaluation method because APEA predicable exam didn't divide ANCC and AANP exam. As she plans to take AANP exam, she didn't study ANCC questions. There are over 10 questions regarding ANCC non- clinic issues. She also told me one of her classmate who just passed her AANP exam yesterday told her the real AANP exam questions are much easier than the APEA predicable questions. I am thinking go back to get my NP myself. I don't want to be stocked in my last class like she did.

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