Published Jun 8, 2012
PacoUSA, BSN, RN
3,445 Posts
Was dying to start a thread on this topic, after meeting someone in nursing school who did not know how to do vitals in clinical ... the semester AFTER we were done with fundamentals (!!!!!!!!!). Don't know how this student is going to graduate!
Any stories of airhead students you know/knew that make you wonder how they got into nursing school? Everyone has at least ONE in their class (unless you're the one, lol).
RedhairedNurse2Be
47 Posts
When I was in MA training there were a few people who could not do basic Math to save their lives, and it wasn't that hard. It was stuff like Bill has an office copayment of $20, and hands you a $50. How much do change do you give back/credit his account. I am horrible at math, and that was a no brainier for me.
There was another student who could not figure out how to turn on a computer in 2009! Last I knew these people are unemployed, and I think healthcare workers everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief. It's people like them that makes entry level workers look bad.
becca001
43 Posts
It's been a few years but we had a young lady that was a constant source of mystery as to how she got in and how she managed to stay in and graduate. Her clinical skills were close to horrible, she hid from the instructors all during rotations, she was still only able to take one patient after the rest of the class had advanced to multiple patients and she was unable to take a manual blood pressure in the last few weeks of school. But...she had a 3.9 GPA and could ace any of her tests. She was extremely book smart but did not know how to communicate with patients or other health care professionals. Now, I would personally rather have a smart nurse than one that is all ooey-gooey sweet without a clue but she just couldn't seem to put it together. Hopefully, she's gotten better.
Punkrocksn
8 Posts
At my school students like this have to repeat the semester. And that takes a full year
jesstrammell
10 Posts
I know I'm a little late to this but I had 2 classmates who REALLY made me wonder.... In the LAST semester my clinical group had to go to separate clinical sites and when our instructor was telling us which clinical sites we were going to one girl in particular started freaking out and asked our instructor "what if I hit an artery while doing an IV??" to which our instructor replied "just apply pressure" and she said "apply pressure? What does that mean??"....
Another girl who also made me wonder, while we did clinicals at the hospital reported her patient's BP on our clinical paperwork as 60/80... Our instructor asked "do you mean 80/60?" and she said "no, the nurse told me it was 60/80". Our instructor told her that was physically impossible and she really didn't understand why...
mariebailey, MSN, RN
948 Posts
I was that airhead student!!! When I had to demonstrate taking a pulse on a fellow student in my health assessment class, I went for the opposite side of the wrist from the radial artery. I've never been a kinesthetic or auditory learner, so my clinical skills came slowly. I learn by reading, & I'm more of a thinker than a doer. Don't worry, I'm in public health.
VictoriaGayle
139 Posts
I had o postpone but my cousin is in the program I was planning to attend. She recently told me a fellow student said something along the lines of "Athiest? Doesn't that mean you're like, against the governmentand stuff?" And this is suppose to be a very exclusive program.
I did some volunteer work for extra credit before school started. The other students seemed very nice, but I got the distinct vibe from a few of them that they were a tad dim.
We had already had our orientation and been informed of the dress code, which was in compliance with the county's public school system dress code. A girl actually asked our instructor if what she was wearing was ok for class. It was a very low cut top that not only showed her chest but her tattoo and piercing, and had off the shoulder sleaves. Which are all things this same instructor had said are not allowed under the dress code.