Instructors making up words rant

jakebrewster · Oct 22, 2004

"roundly addressed" hey klone - guess you think I need a spanking.

You're going to make a fine nurse, no doubt. You already have the requisite 'I know what's best for you and everyone else in the world' attitude. Maybe you can be a nursing instructor someday.

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 22, 2004

"roundly addressed" hey klone - guess you think I need a spanking.
You're going to make a fine nurse, no doubt. You already have the requisite 'I know what's best for you and everyone else in the world' attitude. Maybe you can be a nursing instructor someday.

And maybe you should find a different profession if you have such contempt for nurses.

Seriously, with the disdain you're demonstrating here, I'm confused why you're pursuing this line of work.

Nurse GOODNIGHT · Oct 22, 2004

No need to get personal but I do agree this is the philosphy taught and this is why students and graduates internalize and espouse this philosophy. Most nursing students entrance exams show people scoring extremely high on social agressiveness. Of course remember again this is run by a group of mostly women nurses on a " I know best team" or committee as one does not have the wherewithall to do something all by themselves in nursing, it requires a committee.

I believe you can be critical and self critical in order to encourage positive change. I would reframe disdain and label it more of constructive criticism/opinion. I share the same opinions but am hoping to enter the profession and make positive changes in the "good 'ol gal/little knowledge" profession.

Farkinott, RN · Oct 22, 2004

OK, just a little rant here. I know this is nursing, not English, but it bugs me so much when my instructors don't use proper words!! Every single one of them says "malnutritioned" instead of "malnourished," and the other day, one said "ethnicicity" instead of "ethnicity." The worst part is, students are starting to use these too!! There are tons and tons of misspellings on our notes as well. I know these are smart people, but I don't understand how they have masters' and doctorates and still can't use proper English. They even butcher medical terms and then wonder why doctors think they're stupid. Has anyone else run across this type of thing?

For a chuckle try http://www.engrish.com :rolleyes:

kmrmom42 · Oct 22, 2004

I have no idea what the instructors are paid. I do know that I am paying top dollar to attend a BSN program at a private college. There are 40 of us in my cohort. We each pay between $8,000 and $11,000 per semester depending on grant/scholarship status.
I need to point out here that making excuses for the poor performance of others is typical nursing co-dependent behavior. These instructors owe us a quality education. They are not delivering it. If they have issues with their salary, that's their problem not mine. (Obviously it is my problem - but in another sense.)

I don't feel that trying to look at all sides of an issue is necessarily making excuses. As a teacher who, I am sure, makes occasional slips of the tongue I was a bit affronted by how harsh the board was being toward other nurses. (That is something far more "typical" of nurses, eating each other up.) I bring up the pay issue because it is a huge problem with the nursing shortage these days. Teachers are graying (average age 52) and they are paid far less than they would earn if they worked in a clinical setting. That may be why many highly qualified nurses are not attracted to academia. If your school could pay their faculty adequately they might be able to get rid of the dead wood and hire some people who might challenge you. This is a topic of interest to me because, although I am interested in teaching and I have almost completed my second Master's, I am divorced and probably can't afford to leave the clinical setting for academia. I was just reading an article about the efforts that the Governor of Massachusetts is making to try to ameliorate this problem. On the positive side he has earmarked some $500,000 for the Board of Higher Education to develop strategies to bring and retain more nurses into teaching-track programs. Conversely, the Board of Registration in Nursing provided waivers from the master's requirement that would allow nurses with four year degrees to teach under certain circumstances. I can see standards going right out the window here, further deteriorating the situation for students like you. Very interesting discussion all stimulated by the poor speaking skills of some nurse educators!

Maggie in NC · Oct 22, 2004

Of course remember again this is run by a group of mostly women nurses on a " I know best team" or committee as one does not have the wherewithall to do something all by themselves in nursing, it requires a committee.
QUOTE]
"I know best for the team" decisions. I'm just wondering what you think a corporate or collegiate board of directors does? They make "I know best for the team" decisions and are mostly made up of men-almost NONE of which are nurses.
Your comment regarding the need for a committee is grossly unfair. Is it the nursing instructors or nursing boards fault their peers in other areas that work hand in hand with nursing don't take the time to understand what they are doing enough to be able to ask knowledgable detailed questions to assist in making appropriate change?
I'll use the state nursing board as an example. The nursing board sets the standard for nursing care in the state but, how many legislators or college presidents take the time to understand and ask questions about what the nursing board is doing? Unless it directly effects THEIR MONEY OR THEIR SCHOOL, they let the Nursing Board run autonomously with little regard for what they do. SHAME ON THE LEGISLATORS AND COLLEGES! If there were a business board in each state and this happened, there would be an uproar! (Don't make me touch the gender issue...most politicians and college presidents aren't women.)
Additionally, if the questions raised were asked from an outside source, would the Nursing Board accept them? The braoder issue is that standards for testing, teaching, deploying and employing nursing have been set by guidelines that are outdated and not audited appropriately from outside. Instead of making this about gender-"women in nursing", consider it's about politics.
Consider the perception that nursing is "women's work" with low pay (if you compare it against women in business). So why would politicians care about a few women making some, but not alot of money (comparatively speaking) in a profession that still garners little respect in their eyes? Remember, most legislators at the U.S. level are lawyers. And we all know, no one knows more than a lawyer-unless they are a doctor-which on occassion, they will consider their equal.

malenurse1 · Oct 22, 2004

"Blood must be dethawed prior to using"
Dethawed?????????

I guess that dethawed blood (refrozen) is what you give to the patients who have expirienced a febrile reaction to previous transfusions...it must be less expensive than leukodepleted blood. I just wonder how fast you infuse it?

Okay I cna't hold it back anymore...LOL!!!

Nurse GOODNIGHT · Oct 23, 2004

I feel I must respond regarding the issue of pay. So what we are saying is the minimal wage employee who works at MCDs or another establishment shouldn't be interested in customer service? I never believe money is the answer. I was taught to do a great job regardless of the salary and take pride in my work. Again, I see neither in nursing teaching/academia. So what that they are older, that should indeed make them more competent due to more experience. You are intimating that people enter the faculty that are the end of their worklife. This has long been my suspicion that they are entering for an easier time and already burned out, this then would perhaps be a trade off for the low salaries, but doesn't excuse the poor performance.

Regarding the nursing "eating their own young philosophy" I agree that this is a problem, albeit in the workforce. I do not intend my comments or take the board as eating their own young over trivial issues of petty significant as I have experienced by a group of women in the workforce. I believe the comments are legitimate and should be used as a means to reform the teaching/education of those wanting to become nurses. I believe in raising the bar to make us all better and again ,to the inital premise of the thread, more respected by our own peers and the medical community in general.

PS sorry if I went off topic also but I believe the poor speaking skills were/are reflective of the larger issue of lack of knowledge, etc by the faculty. This is not just poor speaking skills per se, but lack of knowledge in general. I would like to have my faculty know more (especially with the yrs of experience and clinical practice/application) than I would as a student just by reading the book and utilizing other sources. For all the emphasis on critical thinking and application, I would expect as a consumer that my "mentors" would utilize this also, but I have found them to be superficial, concrete thinkers that are (as previous posters have stressed) defensive and insecure when approached with more indepth discussion about nursing topics.

jakebrewster · Oct 23, 2004

If these nursing instructors can make more money working as functional RNs, then I wish they would do just that. They are not doing me any favors by wasting my time and money taking up space playing the role of college professor. I believe my eductation would be greatly enhanced by having instructors with advanced degrees in physiology, pathology, psychology, biology, pharmacology, systems theory, etc. and lets just forget about the masters and PhDs in nursing. Maybe have a few really good nurses with current skills help teach the clinicals. The world has been moving too fast to think that these nursing generalists have the skills, insight, training, and brains to teach nursing as an advanced, scientific discipline. Furthermore the local universities seem to have no trouble attracting quality instructors with the education necessary to give us what we need.

Also, this stuff about nurses eating their young. I don't see it. Frankly I don't see enough of it. What I experience is just the opposite. One incompetent and dysfunctional nursing instructor getting support and praise from other nursing instructors for their incompetent and dysfunctional and unprofessional behaviors. Good intentions is not a substitute for ability in my book. If 'nursing' wants to be professionalized then nursing instruction has to become professional. How many of you have experienced the nursing instructors, time after time, missing commitments to their class for one **** reason after another? At my school it is the rule not the exception. If these people had to work a real job they would be out on their ear in no time. I have taken courses at community colleges, state colleges, and at two major universities and never, never have I seen anything to approach the poorly planned and poorly executed classes that I am being subjected to now in nursing school. The 'profession' should be ashamed and embarassed.

There is no place for emotional dysfunction in a profession. Take that **** home and work it out. I don't want to hear about it and I certainly don't intend to forgive it - not on my dime.

Providing support for people who repeatedly fail to meet their obligations is co-dependence almost by definition.

kmrmom42 · Oct 23, 2004

Whoa, tough room.

DidiRN · Oct 23, 2004

You are making sweeping generalizations about the nursing profession, simply from your instructors in your school. I find this incredibly narrow-minded, and even insulting, especially in your conclusions on nurses must be stupid or why "doctors think we are fools".

If you believe that nurses "just carry out doctors orders" then I must say you really haven't learned very much in school at all. Perhaps you need to find another college. Like just about anything in this world, there are good ones and bad ones. I don't know why you would spend all of your money on a place that is as awful as you have been saying here on this board.

Sherri

How about paternal when the instructor must have really meant parental. And, my favorite, impotenance for impotence.
I am going for my RN. But, frankly, if my instructors are any indication, nurses are stupid. At this point, I assume that you have to be ignorant and insecure about it to seek an advanced degree in a joke science like nursing.
Yes. No wonder the doctors think the nurses are fools.
Personally I want to simply carry out the medical orders. That's the job. If I want to give orders or make diagnoses, I will go to medical school. Nursing diagnoses are the system equivalent of made-up words. The are silly approximations of the real thing.
Sorry (a little) for dumping so much into this little response. But I am thoroughly disgusted with the pathetic, ignorant, and unprofessional delivery from my instructors. The bar is set way too low.

cherokeesummer · Oct 23, 2004

That sucks that there are programs out there that are not working for you, for the reasons of teachers, school politics or whichever other reasons. I am sorry that is going on, that stinks! I've been lucky that all of my instructors are intelligent, witty and don't make very many mistakes and if they do they recognize it, laugh with us about it and correct it. Also, thus far my teachers are all still actively rotating so they get clinical skills updated. I'm not saying we won't ever get a teacher that is not what we are looking for but thus far I've been blessed to have great teachers. Some are more difficult than others, i.e. ask more questions (which is good, I know!).

Wishing you the best of luck in finding a good program. There are many out there even if it doesn't seem that way at present.

As for nurses, they are not stupid. It is a profession, much like any - it is filled with humans and humans are different. So there may be smart, stupid, aggressive, passive, etc. nurses much like anything...from the way it sounds in your post, you didn't get much diversity from the school you are in.

Thank goodness for good teachers and great nurses. :):)

Instructors making up words *rant*

Instructors making up words rant