Issues with my school, Samuel Merritt University

[NP-OnMyOwn]

I am a gradate of a Samuel Merritt University.

I wanted to put out on this forum some of my dissatisfactions with the program.

When I boil down what makes me so disappointed is the low expectations we as students are held to academically.

tests that are held online, open book tests, these don't test our knowledge of important medical concepts. they just help us keep SMUs GPA up.

In addition i feel that our primary lectures are lacking a main key ingredient in being a good teacher, the ability to lecture. We were fortunate to have many guest lectures and we not only received good information on specific subjects, but we also were able to see what we were missing. Some of these guests were professors from other programs within SMU. so I can say there are talented people working at the school, they just happen to be working for the DPM, PA, CRNA programs.

and lastly the clinic placements. this is both a disappointment with the school and the requirements set forth by the BRN. but there are no set requirement for clinical placement. in my mind there should be a structure of time spent with FP, Peds, Ortho, GYN, ect. I NEVER was placed in any GYN or OB, as a FNP i feel this is a joke.

there, my vent is done, i would love to hear what others think about SMU, and if other have had the same experiences at other schools.

[NP-OnMyOwn]

Why would you say that NP education here is 23-28 months!! By the time you realize that it really sucks your 1/4 of the way through to withdraw, reapply, etc would seem to be a waste for many.

Thx to the OP for posting another great example of a school that needs revamping!!

It is true, I think that SMU has great potential. I hope to help them both internally, and by raising concern on sites like this one to the downfalls of the education.

I hope to one day see SMU on the same level of graduate NP education as other top rated programs.

[sandnnw, BSN, MSN, EMT-B, APRN]

Sounds like your heart is in the right place, but use your head.

As a graduate of the program, it is your responsibility to help build it up for future students, faculty and community supporters. I believe your frustrations are common to all programs. I attended one of those "top rated" schools and heard some of the same complaints from a few of the students, some of which never seemed to be quite happy regarding anything.

Many of us, while students, coordinated our own preceptors and chose specialties that peaked our interests. Some chose wisely and had very challenging, wonderful experiences, even got hired where they precepted. Our faculty had time set aside where we openly discussed clinic in class, mostly though, we blogged on the digital blackboard in small groups, presenting patients/experiences. Faculty would prompt, but eventually the students lead the discussions (e.g. DDx, approach, tests, Rx). Some of us did not chose so wisely, myself included. One of my rotations, in hindsight, was rather boring and uneventful, a bit too focused in a specific area. Don't get me wrong, my preceptor was very educated and a wonderful person, but when you dig a little too deep into specialty care, the focus becomes quite narrow for a student who is trying to learn broad clinical concepts.

Spewing on web sites such as this is not, in my opinion, helping SMU. I have no idea even where SMU is, other than the one in Texas that has a great football team, but, I'm sure SMU is accredited and respected by many, otherwise it would not remain in business. And, for many reasons, you did chose to attend and graduate.

I'd spend some time thinking about what exactly you were unhappy about and put that down on paper. Formulate the ideas in a professional manner, then get on the Dean's calendar. Of my post-graduate experience, I was impressed that my Senior Associate Dean sent out a packet about two years after I graduated. It asked many personal questions, mostly regarding employment and what if any further education/certification that we had accomplished. As well, it asked information regarding our supervising physicians and assume they received similar packages, literally evaluating me and my performance. For the most part, my reply was positive. Of course, I had a few critical recommendations and suggestions for improvement, but I'm not going to get into that, nor solicit a gripe session about the school.

As I think others have tried to mention, I graduated, quickly passed certification and am on my second job. I have weaknesses, so does the school. As you mentioned, I have worked and continue to study, making myself a better NP all the time. My school gave me the tools, gave me the chances and answered all my questions. I could not ask much more of my school, nor the faculty. I have learned so much since graduating, mainly, precepting NP/PAs is not as easy as it looks. Gives me new appreciation for those who have a "D" behind their name.

So I challenge you to help your school, your profession and the community. You're already well on your way.

[NAURN]

I can understand that the OP was trying to just put it out there to other perspective students her perspective of this particular program. I mean heck, I want to know everything there is to know about the program I choose, good or bad so I can make an informed decision.

I do wonder though, is there really not any standard when it comes to clinical? At the school I have applied to (and one of the reasons why I chose it) is that it requires me to get a certain number of experiences doing different things, anywhere from GYN, peds, adults, antepartum, chronic, acute, etc. It forces me to step out of my comfort zone and experience things that I have little to no knowledge of. Plus they do a clinical site visit prior to clinical to ensure that it is adequate and to interview the preceptor, and again during clinical to assess my knowledge. (And this is all with a distance learning program!) And if I can not get the require experiences in one clinical site, I have to find others as well in order to meet the requirement.

It would be too easy to choose a preceptor (for example a person I might know) and get my hours in and have no structure or variety. I risk coming out very unprepared and in a sense, dangerous.

[SkiBumNP]

As an SMU alum i can see where the OP is coming from. I too feel like allot of where i am today is from the work I did, not what SMU did for me. (and i'm talking basic school duties, like arrange clinicals and teach pharmacology)

I believe the standards of NP schools need to be raised. Gone should be the stupid papers (and oh we had stupid papers) that talk of theory and more time should be spend on pharmacology and treatment of medical problems.