How did she/he get through nursing school?

[Emergent]

I have more than one coworker that I'm amazed that they got through school. I really like them, but marvel at their cluelessness. These are not new nurses, to say the least.

[Davey Do]

Emergent said:

I have more than one coworker that I'm amazed that they got through school. I really like them, but marvel at their cluelessness.

[TriciaJ, RN]

I actually don't get offended with constructive feedback, and have generally had good reception when speaking to coworkers about concerns/ things I've noticed,. Some people do get defensive and po'd, but that is more of a reflection of their personality and maturity in my opinion

Sometimes their personality and maturity (or lack of) is what makes them perfectly satisfied with being substandard.

[Emergent, RN]

I just want to mention, if people don't bring up various subjects here at allnurses, there won't be any discussions. I find it baffling when someone criticizes a thread saying 'why talk about this with a bunch of strangers?'. I wonder why they waste time here if they disagree with the basic premise of discussion forums.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

Honestly, I still wonder how did I make it through undergrad accounting for vicious antiintellectualism of some of my classmates, professors and colleagues.

Being smarter than the majority of people around you sucks, plain and simple. It doesn't make life and job any easier, and there's pretty much nothing to be done with it.

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

I've met nurses whom I was surprised managed to graduate from high school, let alone nursing school. That said, I've also met doctors, teachers, social workers, and people in many other professions that I felt the same way about. One of the frustrating parts of adulthood---there will always be incompetent people in positions they don't deserve, and who usually manage to hang onto their jobs somehow. I think often these peoples' superiors find the idea of actually getting rid of them more trouble than it's worth, or don't have real, concrete fireable offenses to confront them with. Such is life!

[Guest219794]

I have no idea why the OP would get any kick back on this vent. It is obviously true, and can be frustrating.

Q.- What do you call the guy who finished last place in medical school?

A.- Doctor

There is no getting around it. In every field, there are people at at bottom. A guy with an IQ of 130 may sound pretty smart hanging out at the TGI Fridays bar, but over at the Mensa meeting, people wonder who let him in.

Look at it this way: About half the nurse out there are below average. Here is another scary statistic. Think of a unit with 10 nurses- One of those nurses is in the bottom 10%. (Technically, s/he is the bottom 10%.) And, this nurse is responsible for the same level of work as everybody else.

As far as confronting or educating these folks- generally ineffective. Some people simply lack ability, or ambition, and no amount of constructive feedback will change that. And, there is a complete lack of recognition. In fact, the worse you are at something, the better you think you are. This has been studied, and referred to as the Dunning Kruger Effect. This is not a situation amenable to constructive feedback.

If you talk to those folks, the ones you wonder how they even got through school, about school, I can pretty well tell you how most will respond. They will tell you what was wrong with their school, the unfairness of the tests, and the teachers who were out to get them. A lot of focus on external forces. Pretty rare to find somebody who says: "Honestly, I am as dumb as a box of rocks. Also, I am truly lazy. And, come to think of it, I am really self centered."

Of course, I could have this all wrong. Assuming the Dunning Kruger study has merit, and I think it does, I could be one of these people, and there is no way I would know it.

[PiperLambie, MSN, APRN]

In my "previous life" I was a manager for one of the two large delivery companies here in the 'States. Part of my job involved teaching new drivers how to drive the trucks. If I had a dollar for every time I had an employee tell me how nervous they were to get behind the wheel of the truck I would always point out that: 1. this truck is a lot smaller than the big rigs, and 2. have you actually seen some of the folks that drive those big rigs? If they can do it so can you!

Needless to say, as an adult learner studying for my BSN I experienced this in nursing school- "if that person can have an MSN/DNP and be a professor..." as well as in work- "if this person made it this many years as a nurse..." then I think I'm going to be okay.

That said, no amount of preparation can prevent the slight bewilderment when encountering someone else that fits the criteria.

[Alex_RN, BSN]

I dunno. I would personally prefer someone to address me in person if they had concerns about my practice, rather than talk about me to others.

"Hey fellow nurse, I have been doing this for a few years and you have been here for 10 years, yet I cannot help but notice that you totally suck. To what do you attribute your borderline performance?"

I don't think an anonymous post counts as gossiping behind someone's back. Sounds more like venting. I am sure we all work with a nurse like this and probably do what I do: Pay attention, help when you can, be a friendly resource for this nurse, step up if their patient is not getting their pain meds, etc.

[Wuzzie]

"Hey fellow nurse, I have been doing this for a few years and you have been here for 10 years, yet I cannot help but notice that you totally suck. To what do you attribute your borderline performance?"

:lol2::lol2:

[Neats, BSN]

What I have learned about people is there is diversity all the way around. I have worked with competent and not so competent nurses. One nurse comes to my mind when I read this thread was a woman who had been a nurse for 15 years, had always worked in a clinical office setting and has not given a shot in 10 years. She was going to give me my shot because the Medical Assistant was gone for the day, I was hesitant but figured I let student nurses give me shots all the time. This nurse had to give me a kenalog shot ...she did it, I lived.

I do not think she was a bad nurse just stagnant. When you do not keep up your clinical skills or lack knowledge it does not make you a bad nurse just one who needs improvement with their skills. We assume nurses can continue to draw blood, do an assessment, do EKG's, administer IV's and yet there are many who do not know how to do this.

If you are working as a nurse and are preforming a procedure you need to make sure you know what you are doing. There are plenty of nursing schools out there that pump out ADN's who have no clue what to do, it is our job as their peers to ensure patient care is safely provided. Instead of complaining why not become the mentor and teach these nurses so you can be amazed at how much their nursing skills have improved. Go ahead change a life, make a friend, save a patient's life and leave a nursing legacy we all would be proud of.

[Davey Do]

Remember that old Avis TV commercial? Avis was #2 in being the most popular car rental business next to Hertz.

"The 'We Try Harder' ads were an instant hit. Within a year, Avis went from losing $3.2 million to earning $1.2 million-the first time it had been profitable in more than a decade."

Perhaps our underachievers could use Avis' advertising ploy with TriciaJ as their advertising agent?

TriciaJ said:

Sometimes their personality and maturity (or lack of) is what makes them perfectly satisfied with being substandard.

[Have Nurse, ADN, RN]

Typical comment from an allnurses critic extraordinaire!

Now now. Play nicely, Children!