Incomptetnt instructors (a rant)

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I am in my second semester (junior year)of a BSN program and some of my instructors either are misinformed on many subjects, or just make stuff up as they go along. A few admit that they are limited to their specialty and actually use the term "I don't know" which is much appreciated. Its frustrating. And if with my limited knowledge base I pick up mistakes there must be a whole lot more in the areas I am not so familiar with. Anyone else have this problem?

Np2be,

It's a good policy not to challenge instructors I guess. Just reading the materials that they gave us made me mad enough to throw them:( across the room. The mention of anything medical will get them on the defensive as well. This will be especially true if you talk in terms of medical diagnosis and therapy.

Remember that nursing is a psychosocial approach, which is not medicine at all but rather abstract theory. They don't expect to be blindsided by medical facts while they're teaching nursing theories. It'll just get them all in a froth.

Don't expect NP school to get that much more medical I think. Why would the curriculum of NP school suddenly have a medical foundation if there are 4 years of preparation (BSN) that pretty much dismisses the medical model in its philosophy from the start.

I wanted to ultimately diagnose and treat disease too. I decided that I wanted to get a medical foundation for that so I chose another path. My GPA and my sanity remain intact.

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Remember the old saying: "Those who cannot do teach."

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Specializes in Oncology, Cardiology, ER, L/D.

Interesting thread, I am in my second quarter of an ADN program and I basically like and respect my three instructors but.... I can remember an incident that happened last quarter that this thread reminded me of. We had just had our second exam and we were going over it as a class. Well, a bunch of us had a question regarding why a certain answer was correct and not another one. When we asked one of instructors about the rationale for this and why THAT answer was chosen, she actually said, "I don't know, that wasn't one of my questions that I chose to be on the test"! WTF? Ok, it wasn't one of your questions but aren't you a damn nursing instructor with a Master's degree? Hello? Just because she didn't pick the question, wouldn't you all think she could at least explain the rationale behind it?:rolleyes:

Hey, nursing instructors out there, do you guys have any insight on this? Would appreciate hearing from you all!

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:chuckle

Exactly Navynurse! I questioned about half the answers in any given exam as to the validity of one aswer over another very similar one. I almost always heard, "that's the "abstract" part of nursing theory. You must be able to conceptualize..........blah,blah,blah." Hardly ever was there an answer that connected directly with the material or was made clearer than the other very similar one. It just seemed so arbitrary.

That's the pat answer I always got anyhow.

Boy howdy...............good luck with that business.

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Originally posted by Peeps Mcarthur

Np2be,

It's a good policy not to challenge instructors I guess. Just reading the materials that they gave us made me mad enough to throw them:( across the room. The mention of anything medical will get them on the defensive as well. This will be especially true if you talk in terms of medical diagnosis and therapy.

Remember that nursing is a psychosocial approach, which is not medicine at all but rather abstract theory. They don't expect to be blindsided by medical facts while they're teaching nursing theories. It'll just get them all in a froth.

Don't expect NP school to get that much more medical I think. Why would the curriculum of NP school suddenly have a medical foundation if there are 4 years of preparation (BSN) that pretty much dismisses the medical model in its philosophy from the start.

I wanted to ultimately diagnose and treat disease too. I decided that I wanted to get a medical foundation for that so I chose another path. My GPA and my sanity remain intact.

May ask what you do now?

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bump for peeps

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This is a good one.

After taking a BA in psychology from a major university I found out the only thing I could do was work in a mental hospital. Since I was working in nursing, I figured I might as well be a nurse, so I found the easiest and cheapest way to get a license.

I went through a community college where I had some great teachers and some terrible ones. My 1st semester A&P was outstanding. Andy had a M.S. in the subject and challenged us with the latest from Guyton's medical physiology. I was so turned-on that I memorized ALL of the bones of the wrist, (there are eight, some of them have three names). I can still name all twelve cranial nerves and tell you their innervation. My second semester A&P was a retired nurse. The day she said that erythrocytes were the smallest cells, I whipped out my Gray's Anatomy and read the size, in microns of erythrocytes and thrombocytes (they're a lot smaller). The instructor agreed that she had been mistaken. She went on to comment that I should not be a nurse, but should apply to medical school. I took this to mean that she thought nurses SHOULD be stupid. I have been a nurse for over 20 years. The longer I do it, the more convinced I am that I was BORN a nurse, but in retrospect I'm not so sure she was wrong!

:roll

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Posted by Peeps:

Remember that nursing is a psychosocial approach, which is not medicine at all but rather abstract theory. They don't expect to be blindsided by medical facts while they're teaching nursing theories. It'll just get them all in a froth.

So...one is a reductionistic approach and the other psychosocial?

Is nursing supposed to be different from medicine?

Memorize medical facts versus critical thinking?

What healthcare professional do patients remember the most? Why?

Are theories worthwhile?

If a nurse and a doctor were to parachute naked into a jungle, who could do the most for a tribe?

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Since I am a faculty member, I find your posts to be enlightening...this is what I tell my students...

We are human and make mistakes, we don't know everything and don't think of us as God, based on the number of hours you prepare-I know I study more than you the students, the more you learn-the more you realize how little you know and this is a sign of an intelligent person, if I don't know-I will inform you and research the answer-but, I expect you to do the same, an educator must remain current in clinical practice and when I have difficulty managing a Medical-Surgical caseload-I feel certain that you will as well and I find it a challenge to prepare you for today's world of nursing due to this experience.

Hope this helps students everywhere to better understand their professors/instructors. I find it sad that there is so little dialogue on the Nurse Educator board. I learn most by the students who post here...thank you!

Barbara

;)

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Hi Barb - just curious about this. I've been an RN for 10 years and was an LPN for 2 years before that. I felt that we had wonderful clinical instructors. Also - I have worked in a teaching hospital for almost 8 years and we have many types of students come through the ER for their clinical time (ADN, BSN, EMTs). The instructors are very good. If they don't know what something is (and no one can be expert in everything - lol) they ask one of the staff nurses to explain it. There's nothing wrong with that either. I'm in a BSN/MSN program and am considering teaching clinicals starting next year. I love the clinical aspect of ER nursing, but not sure I could stand in front of a classroom all day. Thanks for your input!

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Specializes in Oncology, Cardiology, ER, L/D.

Thanks for your comments Barb. I would have appreciated an "I don't know but let's look it up" much more than an "I don't know, that's not my question" answer. Again, thanks for what you do, I bet you are a great instructor.

:)

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I would have appreciated an "I don't know but let's look it up" much more than an "I don't know, that's not my question"

During my first semester clinical I had an instructor that answered most questions with "that sounds like a leaning issue, look it up tonight" I now make a point of telling my instructors on the first day of clinical that while I don't know is an acceptable answer, thats a learning issue is not acceptable in the clinical setting.:saint: ;)

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