Nursing course failure may assist the nursing students to future success. Both nursing faculty and nursing students need to look at reasons for a failure. If the issue is the nursing student, the student needs to ask for assistance and change what is necessary to gain success. If the issue is the faculty member, the faculty needs to consider a better way to educate the next generation of nurses.
In nursing programs, nursing students are expected to pass all nursing courses. Many nursing schools have progression policies that insist on a certain grade percentage for the student to pass and limit the number of courses a student may fail. In the nursing student's eyes, failing even one course is a bad thing but can this be the wrong attitude? Compounding this feeling are research findings. Frith, Sewell, and Clark (2005) found failure of a nursing course was predictive of NCLEX-RN failure.
But what if the student can use the nursing course failure to recognize a problem in either his or her study habits, understanding or material, or test anxiety? Could a nursing course failure lead to success of the student? Does the reality of failure actually cause the student to change and to become successful? This nursing faculty performed research which is unpublished that does give some evidence of failure being the impetus for success.
As a nursing faculty member, I have witnessed failure create success and compound failure. The students who change their attitude and study habits may go on to finish the program and pass the licensing examination.
I heard a student in the hallway last semester saying, 'I don't know what I was thinking last semester. Why did I find this course difficult. I know I am going to earn a B this semester.' I am not sure what nursing course it was but I smiled as I walked by. The student was repeating a course and actually understanding the material better. Failure may assist with success?
The other extreme is the failure leading to further failure. For the student who does not recognize a need to change, the initial failure may just compound into future failure. How many failures does a student endure before giving up or finding a new way to proceed? The student may even be dismissed from the nursing program as a result of multiple failures. Which is worse: a student who is dismissed from a nursing program for repetitive failures or a student who is passed through a program and fails the licensure exam?
Even though failure may lead to failure, should nursing faculty pass a student just to be 'nice'? Can the niceness lead to future failure? This niceness then may actually be mean and set up the student for disappointment and future failure.
For the nursing students who may read this, if you have a failing grade, do you blame the faculty member or do you go see them? Do you try to understand why you are failing? For faculty members, if all the students fail or a large majority of them fail, do you question what you could do better?
"As baby boomers continue to age, the need for health care grows" (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011, para 1). With today's aging population, nurses are a necessary resource. Bargagliotti (2009) found as nurses age and retire, fewer nurses are taking their place. The projected shortage involves not only more graduate nurses failing the National Council Licensure Examination- Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) (Roa, Shipman, Hooten, & Carter, 2011) but also fewer nursing students completing nursing school.
For both faculty members and nursing students, the failures should be of concern. Faculty members need to reassess their examinations and other evaluation items. Are they evaluating the students adequately and fairly.
Nursing students need to discover the reason for their failure. Discovering the reason for failure whether it is a nursing course or the licensing exam may assist the nursing student or graduate nurse to become successful in the end.
We need more registered nurses- we cannot afford all of the failures.
Not everyone is cut out for nursing. That's just the way it is. If you can't learn to critically think then you won't be a good nurse. By the time you have done your prereqs and hit nursing school, all of the excuses of bad study habits should be gone. You should weed those out while doing your prereqs. Not come into nursing school thinking you can skate by like you did before. The evaluating of study habits, and how you learn should be done. I know I sound harsh but people in nursing school are not high school students anymore. You are now a seasoned student. Those who aren't willing to put in the time and effort now, probably won't be putting in time and effort on the job and those are not the type of people I want taking care of me.
^^Careful about making harsh judgments.
You simply cannot assume all students fail because they aren't putting in time and effort or that they have bad study habits.
You sound... cocky.
In my humble opinion, failure can be turned into a positive aspect if the person learns a lesson or two from it. The deprivation of failure can build character, instill perseverance, and teach a person to dust oneself off and try again, but this happens only if the individual consciously chooses to evaluate what went wrong.
Some people totally give up after failing. Others address the root causes of their failures, learn from the experience, and eventually succeed.
What would happen if your patient codes ? Don't tell me you will be in control ? I like your thinking but life is so unpredictable. We make mistakes as humans and it's ok , we just learn from it and move on . Life is about living and learning ....it makes u weaker or stronger .
I understand but I rather pass the first time plain and simple. Don't understand what the issue is. Let it go.
I am going through a hard time right now with an instructor who I feel is an ineffective teacher during clinical. I feel she is looking to fail me. She offers little to no instruction and then is aggressive in her expectations. I feel like a blind person just advancing slowly and feeling around to be careful, but getting yelled at for it. I have done nothing to cause poor patient care. I am a hard-working student, successful at my PCT job, and even have scholarships in the program. I would much rather improve to her standards than blame the instructor for failure, but without guidance I feel it is impossible. Clinical is for learning and refining skills, and she makes it feel like a bootcamp. An attempt to discuss the situation with her revealed that she is an ineffective listener and would much rather *prove a point* than understand her students. I have Dean's list grades in the program and have never had an issue with another instructor, but yet I've never felt more desperate. Failure would be devastating more than motivating.
I was in your situation just a couple of weeks ago with a clinical instructor who is infamous for failing students. I had to drop and, fortunately, I did so with a W.
There is a problem and you need to get to the bottom of it. If you aren't cutting it, see if you can get some help (unlikely, I know). If it's a personality conflict, you need to resolve it or it will keep haunting you and may even prevent you from proceeding with your education. Whatever you do, do NOT ignore it. Good luck.
I failed my second nursing course clinical. Theory I was fine. I never gave more effort than required an eventually it caught up to me.
I needed an attitude adjustment and the teacher at the time knew it too. I created my own demise and my instructor told me it would make me better in the end for her to fail me. Oh how I loathed her for a bit after that, but she was 100% right.
My heart broke and I cried and was angry for about 2 weeks then I picked up the pieces and with a new game plan I wanted to become an RN more than ever. And I did just that. Failing that course taught me a lot about both myself and what I was capable of. And hey, guess which teacher wrote me a beautiful reference letter after I passed my boards. Thats right, her.
Life lessons usually aren't learned from positive experiences
Life lessons usually aren't learned from positive experiences
Well said TRUTH...we can cultivate our negative experiences into positives...it's called perseverance...and it certainly builds character, and a firm grasp on empowerment.
I think a lot of it depends on how you react to failure and how you bounce back and not let yourself be totally defeated by it. Yes, I have failed a nursing course. Was that the end of my nursing career or education? No. I am now a working LPN working two jobs and also in an LPN to BSN program. Learn from your failures, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep moving ahead. Take stock of where you are, what you have accomplished, and what your options are. So you hit a bump in the road - go over it and move ahead. Everyone fails at something at some point. Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump are the two more famous examples.
Yes, I understand that this thread is meant to uplift people. But, failing a nursing course is not a positive for me ever.
The failure itself is never a positive. The desired outcome is always to pass the class the first time. But in life that doesn't always happen. So how do you take that negative and turn it into a positive? That's the question. Some people just give up at the first sign of trouble or hardship. A lot of it depends on how much you really want what you are going after. IMO if you want it badly enough you don't let something like that stop you.
I am a second time nursing student after ten years since being in an RN program originally. In my case, I didn't fail out of program but had some serious family health issues that required me to be there for my family in a way I couldn't do in nursing school. I have to say after this little hiatus of mine, it makes you figure out what you want, what you have to do to get it, and what you will sacrifice to make it happen.
No, it's not a bad thing. It can be turned into a good thing. I failed my first peds class. Got a B the second time around. Why? Because the first instructor was a facilitator, not a teacher (her words). Peds is hard in general, and i struggled with so much content. My second teacher was so knowledgeable, she explained things in such a way that I could easily remember....and things I still remember. I passed my ATI exit exam on the first try (we had 3 tries then had to repeat the course if we didn't pass that 3rd time).
I graduated with a 3.7 GPA. Got cocky on my boards and thinking they wanted the answers I had in my head, I gave them those answers. And guess what.....I failed my NCLEX. Then I took 45 days, reviewed books and websites, and passed the second time with 110 questions.
My classmate was failed on our last med/surg clinical and had to retake the course. She also had to take her ATI exit exam 3 times. She passed that 3rd time, and passed her boards on the first try. I remember talking to her about the ATI exam.....she was so stressed out and so pressured, she let anxiety get in the way of passing. I still remember the day we did the PVT for her and she got the good pop up....I can still hear her scream, saying "Oh my god, oh my god, are you serious?" I vented my frustrations to her when I didn't pass my NCLEX the first time. The second time I took my NCLEX, I sat in the parking lot while she did the PVT trick for me, and I can still hear her scream "You got it, you got it!" (meaning the good pop up).
Failure is what you make of it....it can make you or break you. You can roll in self pity, or look at ways to make it positive for you. If I let my class and NCLEX failures dictate my life, I wouldn't be a RN now. Failure does not mean we will be bad nurses....just go to the NCLEX forum and look at all of the "I failed, and finally passed" stories. Tons and tons of them. And I doubt all of them are bad nurses.
Absolutely! This was my purpose in posting the article. Failure of a course or even the NCLEX does not always have to be the end of our dreams- it may make us change something in order to accomplish our dreams like becoming a nurse. As a faculty member, I prefer my students to pass the first time they take a class or the NCLEX but I understand that not everyone will. After the emotions the failure triggers, I like to encourage them that success is still possible. Thank you all for being so honest and willing to discuss.
Great article. I have mixed feelings about this. Someone else mentioned study habits should be in place by the time someone enters nursing school and I agree. I did not find any nursing content hard, so I cannot understand how anyone can fail. My only explanation for that failure is IQ. I have seen it. There were nursing school classmates that just did not have the brain power and I think patient safety was improved when they failed. Also, they would have been the ones who barely passed and then could never get past the NCLEX -- waste of money!
I know, I know! I am being really harsh but the nurses I get along with are all exceptionally smart. We all felt nursing school was easy. I loved what I learned, but it was not challenging.
Call me a snob. That's fine. I consider a B failing and those are the standards I set for myself.
Now, to talk with more positivity. There are a select few who fail due to anxiety and not lack of brain power. I do believe these students need to be identified sooner and a plan put in place. One of my best friends in nursing school was wicked smart but just froze during tests. He finally spoke to the school and they allowed him to take tests in a quiet room by himself. They also suggested he talk to a doctor about anti-anxiety meds. He did and problems were solved. The experience did help him in other areas of life as well. He realized many of his social failures were actually due to this high anxiety level.
So, yes. Students who failed should be evaluated for learning disabilities and anxiety problems. We should not help students who are just unable to grasp basic information pass along. We do not need more registered nurses, we need more smart nurses.
Hygiene Queen
2,232 Posts
^^Careful about making harsh judgments.
You simply cannot assume all students fail because they aren't putting in time and effort or that they have bad study habits.
You sound... cocky.
^^Absolutely!
I wish I could "like" this 100x's.