Hmmmmm Why Do Nursing Students Fail?

Despareux · Apr 10, 2011

They fail because they lose focus. The answer is not any simpler than that.

I agree with this completely. I believe that anyone who has made it into a nursing program is perfectly capable of completing it as well. Almost everyone I know who failed the first time, always say they had other distractions and could not make nursing school a priority at that time in their life.

I lose focus from time to time and I always end up so frustrated and feeling defeated, so I buck up and get it together, but certainly not without struggle.

kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 10, 2011

People fail because they don't get concepts. Nursing school is no harder, and no different than any other type of education. A test question is still a test question. If you know a concept or topic, it shouldn't matter how the question is worded. This whole "testing style is different" stuff shouldn't matter.

People also fail because they realize nursing isn't what they thought it was. You hear COUNTLESS times people say "I've ALWAYS wanted to be a nurse". Then they get into school and say "omg I do this and this and this?? I can't just talk to people and care for them??" You should understand what a career entails before you get into it. Go take a peak in the first year after nursing licensure and count the threads that involve "I hate my job, I want to quit, I hate nursing, I didn't think it would be this way".

What you learn in school is important, but more importantly you have to be able to connect some dots and put 2 and 2 together. When you have 5-6 patients all with something different going on, labs out of wack, vital signs doing this, bleeding or other random bad symptoms...you can't pull the whole "well this scenario isn't like what my book said". You gotta be able to put stuff together and decide what to do....and some people can't do that. They want to rely solely on textbook pictures and textbook material. Life isn't black and white, neither are test questions

pockunit, ADN, RN · Apr 10, 2011

I think a lot fail because they don't go for help the first time they fail a test or a check-off. Don't wait to see if you can do better next time; go find a tutor as soon as you realize you need it. My class is losing at least three students this semester because they didn't go for help straight off. If they had, they might well be moving on with the rest of us. It's no guarantee, of course, but you're much more likely to improve your grades if you go to the teacher or a tutor to figure out what you're doing wrong.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Apr 10, 2011

THANK YOU ALL for replying so quickly!!(i love this site)
I agree with all of you But AOX1 I really loved your post being that it's good to know that students dont particularly fail out for not being smart enough!! Sounds like All I have to do to be successful is stay motivated,Stay on top of things..And oh yea STUDY,STUDY,STUDY!! And I'll be just fine! I cant wait to one day be in all of you all's shoes one day!

The best advice I can give you is KEEP YOUR ENTHUSIASM, don't surround yourself with students that do nothing but complain about the program and the teachers and blame everything but themselves. I have seen people that were doing fine get dragged down by these people because when your only surrounded by negativity it's easy to start becoming negative and jaded yourself.

I went into nursing school excited and enthusiastic and I have kept that. Sure it's not all easy and I have had my ups and downs but when I get frustrated or annoyed or whatever it is, I have my little pity party and quickly move on from it. I am almost done and in 2 years of nursing school I can honestly say that I have had a great experience, I have had wonderful supportive instructors that seem to genuinely care about us, (of course the constant negative people in our class would disagree) there is only 1 teacher I don't care for. I have had great Clinical Instructors, and I have had a good experience in clinicals with my co-nurses. Not all of them were great, but I didn't take it personal if they weren't really friendly and I did my best not to than turn standoffish right back to them. It always worked. I almost failed my second semester med/surg class. It was 100% my fault. I let things at home get in the way and it showed on my tests. I listen to some of the students in my class complain and moan about every single thing and nothing is there fault and they have had a miserable experience in nursing school. It's no surprise why and it's definitely not the program, it's the individual. (for my program, I know there are cruddy programs out there).

So anyway, keep the positive attitude, keep the enthusiasm, enjoy life, don't let nursing school only be your life. Go out and have fun and take care of you too. Nursing school doesn't have to be an isolation sentence and don't dwell on something if it starts to go wary, learn from it and fix is and move on.

Trilldayz,RN BSN · Apr 10, 2011

Dipsheet instructors. Never organized, themselves. But they demand that all the students be.

Just had to applause you on this statement.... SO TRUE! :yeah:

ReinventingMyselfAgain, MSN, RN · Apr 10, 2011

The best advice I can give you is KEEP YOUR ENTHUSIASM, don't surround yourself with students that do nothing but complain about the program and the teachers and blame everything but themselves. I have seen people that were doing fine get dragged down by these people because when your only surrounded by negativity it's easy to start becoming negative

Soooo true. As an instructor, you can just feel the negativity brewing from certain sections of the room. It is so unattractive.

What I see as a major contributor is this feeling of "Just being there" is enough. Tooamy students ate trying to squeeze this into their busy lives (in addition to providing for themselves and family). For some there are not enough hours in the day. The class o teach is 9 credits; by no means I'd this considered part time (5 hours lecture, 12 hours clinical per week), but students schedule their lives like it is. And unfortunately? Some will use this mantra throughout their time in school (but I work all day before coming here? But I have 2 kids at home). If it is too much, you need to give up something, you can't just expect that it will all work out.

Andy take on studying: those who memorize the PowerPoints do not succeed. Whole you do have to know your facts, what'sote important I'd knowing what to do with that info. Much easier said than done, I know. But a good program will not be testing you on recall, and this is something that takes getting used to.

inthere · Apr 10, 2011

I don't know why some students fail, but I am sure learning how to think critically is part of the reason...along with learning how to answer nclex style questions....some students after doing poorly on a test need to evaluate why they did poorly and make an action plan to fixwhat went wrong on the next round of tests.

AOx1 · Apr 10, 2011

THANK YOU ALL for replying so quickly!!(i love this site)
I agree with all of you But AOX1 I really loved your post being that it's good to know that students dont particularly fail out for not being smart enough!! Sounds like All I have to do to be successful is stay motivated,Stay on top of things..And oh yea STUDY,STUDY,STUDY!! And I'll be just fine! I cant wait to one day be in all of you all's shoes one day!

I did forget to mention a few things. First, consider selecting a school that has high admissions criteria. Some of the schools that admit anyone who can pay or admit via lottery system to any who have passed prereqs really concern me. Although I suspect some are fabulous schools, admitting unprepared applicants can be a concern. I did work in a school that did this in the past, and do not prefer it. I don't want to see students fail because they are unprepared. These schools are often extremely expensive as well.

As others have mentioned, seek help early if you encounter difficulties. Don't try to "skate by" doing just enough to pass. I see several students try this each year, and it eventually catches up to them in the way of failure. If your school has you take standardized tests such as ATI or HESI, use them to identify your weak spots and work hard to remediate any weak areas.

It may sounds strange, but another factor that I have seen contribute to failure is focusing ONLY on school. Before classes start, put all your due dates in your planner, THEN schedule in some fun. You need time with your loved ones and for yourself. Also, try to schedule your appointments far in advance (annual check-up, hair appointments, dental appointments). Your health is important. Try to get these on schedule for holiday breaks and summer. Plan in exercise as well. It sounds weird, but making your own health a priority, even if it's only 30 minutes a day, can make a huge difference. If you feel you must, record your lecture on MP3 and listen while you exercise or commute. Plan ahead when you see you will have a difficult week (ex- you have a paper and a test due in three weeks. Plan in your study time, and a nice reward for afterwards).

PS- if you have a partner, you can also use Google calendar. My husband is currently doing this. You can both have access to each other's calendar. He uses this to surprise me after I give an exam (yes, this is stressful for nursing instructors also!)

If you have any difficulty taking tests, Nugent & Vitale have a "Test Success" book that is very helpful to many.

dudette10, MSN, RN · Apr 10, 2011

People fail because they don't get concepts.

Agree with this.

Nursing school is no harder, and no different than any other type of education. A test question is still a test question. If you know a concept or topic, it shouldn't matter how the question is worded. This whole "testing style is different" stuff shouldn't matter.

I disagree with this. I've received very good grades in school, but I've still missed questions on concepts that I knew inside and out. In one case, a classmate asked about whether the medication mentioned in the question was IV or oral. It wasn't in the test question, but once the teacher announced which route, it made all the difference to the answer selected! If it doesn't matter how it's worded, why do all of NCLEX preparation guides instruct you on deciphering the wording of a question? We have actually been tutored to pick out keywords in the question to lead us to the right answer.

Yes, people fail because they don't get the concepts. However, I also believe that test questions don't always reflect a student's grasp of the concept, and they sure as hell don't reflect some practices in hospitals.

People also fail because they realize nursing isn't what they thought it was. You hear COUNTLESS times people say "I've ALWAYS wanted to be a nurse". Then they get into school and say "omg I do this and this and this?? I can't just talk to people and care for them??" You should understand what a career entails before you get into it. Go take a peak in the first year after nursing licensure and count the threads that involve "I hate my job, I want to quit, I hate nursing, I didn't think it would be this way".

I disagree with this. Most people don't understand what their career entails before they get into it, regardless of the career. Sometimes, you have to be in the thick of things--experience--to really know, or at least be an incredibly perceptive observer. It's like parenting. You can read all the books and hear how hard it is from other parents, but you don't know until it happens to you. Adaptability, stress management and stick-to-it-iveness is what can make or break a new nurse.

What you learn in school is important, but more importantly you have to be able to connect some dots and put 2 and 2 together. When you have 5-6 patients all with something different going on, labs out of wack, vital signs doing this, bleeding or other random bad symptoms...you can't pull the whole "well this scenario isn't like what my book said". You gotta be able to put stuff together and decide what to do....and some people can't do that. They want to rely solely on textbook pictures and textbook material.

Completely agree with this.

To answer the OPs question: in my school experience, people failed early classes mostly. In effect, they didn't study enough at first, then stepped it up a notch down the line. Clinical failings were unsafe practice on things they should have known but didn't. Others barely scrape by because they barely study while others didn't get the concepts. Others failed because their heart wasn't in it, and they wanted out anyway.

anon695 · Apr 10, 2011

Also -

1. Not following the attendance policy. If your school handbook says that X number of missed clinicals or lectures results in an automatic failure, that's not a joke no matter how good you think your excuses were.

2. Biting off more than one can chew. You really need a great support system if you're going to have a baby during nursing school, but if you don't have people to handle childcare for you while you study and go to school Having a baby, working part time, and going to nursing school full time isn't an easy thing to do if you don't have a really solid support system.

pitaya · Apr 22, 2011

Ok, so I enter the nursing program this fall of 2011 and the truth is i'm nervous and super excited all at the same time!!
knowing myself and that this is my calling I will commit and failure will not be an option! But there is always that thought in the back of my mind of failing out! What do you all think is the primary reason why students aren't successful in nursing programs? Because the curriculum is way too hard?, there unwillingness to commit, lack of studying etc.? What do you all think? Thanks and I look forward to hearing from all 1,056 of you all :)

My friend failed because English was her second language and so understanding the questions was very difficult for her, even though she read all her books and studied all the time.

sandyfeet · Apr 23, 2011

I really think a lot has to do with attitude. We had several students fail this semester because they had bad attitudes during clinical. And by that I mean arguing with patients, being inappropriate, and so on. There is one student in particular that I remember would make SO many rude comments in class. Like if you missed a question he would say "Well, only a fool would forget that". Or make jokes during Psych Nursing lecture about the diseases. Seriously?!? It was only a matter of time before that attitude made its way to clinicals. There was another student who got straight A's first semester and thought "I have this down, I don't need to work as hard second semester". Now he is out too. So I agree with everyone else--don't lose your enthusiasm. I have quotes next to my desk that I look at when I am discouraged, and it helps me stay positive and focused!