LPN to RN ...Nursing school nightmare

Hyper_toph_emia · Sep 10, 2009

I should be starting my my nursing program in January. I read so much about this on here that it's scaring me! I mean I'm sure every school is different in terms of faculty. But is there any way to stand up to them without getting kicked out? I dunno. I just hope that I won't receive the brunt of it being male. But anyways I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this problem. I bet it's especially frustrating since you're a seasoned nurse. Well good luck and I hope it gets better!

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Sep 10, 2009

The corporate culture of every place I have worked was a result of what the administrators dished out - so bad attitudes trickle down just like good ones. They are probably sourpusses because that is the way they are being treated. However, if this helps at all ------ forget reality. When you are in school you do what is necessary to get OUT of school. Forget how it applies to work. When you are out of school you can blend the two, but for now, consider all that stuff as loops to jump thru to get that degree. I saw a lot of LVN's struggle in my ADN program for the same reason - they knew what was being taught did not match practice. Choose your battles carefully. Just do it.

SamiRN · Sep 10, 2009

Classicdame,

You are right in everything you said, I know it to be true....problem is biting my tongue. The teacher I have seems to have an issue with my being an LPN. There are just small comments made but picked up by others as well as myself. Now...I wish she didnt know.I do need to learn to pick my battles.

You are correct, its all about getting through it and yes a bad behavior above does seem to trickle downward.

Why do I have to be under the ****spout?haha.

Hyper_toph_emia,

In my experience in the field and in school, men get treated better than the women. We as women are harder on each other than on our male co-workers,students. Charm of a man seems to work as alittle bit of a buffer....haha so turn it on! lol.

Best of luck to you and dont let me discourage you because as Classicdame said, just get through it, the real world isnt like they are going to tell you it is.

Thanks guys!

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Sep 10, 2009

the good news-----you realize the difference! Have pity on the poor RN students with no medical background. They will suffer the reality shock more than you. A lot of our attitude has to do with our expectations.

newtress, LPN · Sep 10, 2009

You are speaking the full fledged truth. I entered my LPN program as a much older person comparatively to my classmates. Some of my instructors were much younger than me and one or two were older than me. But what I experienced/went through was awful. My academic grades were good. But clinicals with these instructors was a terror. The very same instructors in class and lecture became irrate monsters on the floor. I had attended college and got a degree prior to being accepted to nursing school. If ever any intructor or professor at a university or high school had treated me the way I was by these nursing instructors they'd be out on their ear. Repeated incidences of verbal abuse and by legal definition assault (the touching of another in a threatening manner) took place. It sounds ludicrous that my instructor would grab my hand as I was holding an uncapped syringe after drawing up a med and slam it down on the pyxis cart. Or grab my hand as I was close to darting into my patients arm and proceed to degrade me in front of the patient for having an alcohol swab wedged in between two fingers that weren't between the little finger. Or having the peds instructor slamming her hand down on the MAR in front of the entire nursing staff at the station yelling "READ IT! WHAT"S THAT SAY!" and so many more. I have seen this behavior from a father shaming his son, or a husband denegrading his wife. Degrading, humiliating acts that completely undermine a nursing student. It breeds fear anger and resentment from the nursing student which really effects confidence. I'm 50 years old and I was spoken to and treated like a despised 6 year old. This rotten tradition of riding nursing students hard like that sets things up for more of it when the new grad gets hired and the preceptor does the same thing. This kind of behavior wouldn't fly in most work places for very long if you think about it. Yes is does happen in other places of employment but eventually the offender gets dealt with. If it is still accepted in nursing school as "oh you know how clinical is with so and so intructor, or orientation was hell because she had me so rattled and made to feel I couldn't do anything right" etc. It repeats itself again by seasoned nurses who pass on the same behavior to other new nurses and it is absolutely deplorable. This is an area of academia that needs boundries to completely prohibit this behavior. It would be unacceptable for a 9th grade science teacher to slap a students hand down on a table holding a tube of phosphoric acid as much as a nursing instructor to slam down a students hand holding an uncapped syringe, or become irate about stepping into the linen room to get your patient's bed change and you didn't report off to a nurse that you would be around the corner for 1.5 minutes. Yes I was wrote up for not reporting off for getting linens in plain view with the door open, three steps away from the nurses station. My instructor said she considered it "leaving the floor" She burst into my pt's room as I was getting a manual BP, her voice raised, eyes big as frying pans bellowing "where were you? you are never to do that again without reporting off you hear me?" My patient shook his head and said "that's awful what is her problem." And to top it off, she looked like the Joker from Batman.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Sep 10, 2009

maybe that is why she is hiding out in a college rather than on a hospital floor

StNeotser, ASN, RN · Sep 10, 2009

I felt like I'd joined the military when I was going through school but with the added bonus that I was paying good cash for it.

Sorry to hear all the woes, I do sympathize.

Circejane · Sep 10, 2009

I'm in an LPN to RN program right now, and am having a very good experience. Just wanted to throw that in, because there are many kind, dedicated nursing instructors out there, and a lot of students who are getting a great education.

I've seen firsthand that you get out what you put into a program. One LPN who constantly challenges the instructors by saying, "That's not how we do it where I work" and other such statements is fast becoming unpopular with both students and instructors. A little tact goes a long way.

I'm NOT saying that's what's happening with any of the posters here, just that I see a lot of snarking and eye-rolling and "That's not fair!" among some of my fellow students. They do not seem to be having the same positive experience that so many of us are having, and we have the same instructors. A good attitude goes a long way.

iwanna · Sep 10, 2009

I started out to be an RN. Unfortunately, my autoimmune illness started while I was in RN training, and I failed a course. So, I decided to get my LPN instead of waiting a whole year to get back into school. At the time my plan was to get back into RN program. However, I never made it back.

Now, to the topic of RN school. Some of it was awful. There were some really mean instructors and degrading as you described. I was in my late 30s at the time. I had been chastised in front of a patient. The patient happened to be a retired RN instructor, and could not get over the way I was treated. This certain instructor was just downright rude to mostly everyone. I learned later in the program not to take it personally, as the problem was hers, not mine. She was older and disgusting. She used to pass gas freely in class and did not appear to be embarassed in the least. At least, she could have excused herself. She had absolutely no class or manners.

I had another instructor (male) that did not like LPNs. He said that they were task oriented and lacked critical thinking skills. I learned that he was not very good in nursing school, and one of the other instructors helped him out a lot. I hear that he was not a very good nurse, and an example of the saying those that can't ---"teach". He gave students a hard time. Nursing school is not supposed to be easy, as people's lives are at stake. But, he definitely crossed the line with his treatment of students. This just goes to show those nurse instructors that are ridiculous in their treatment of nursing students are the one's with problems.

Also, we had some excellent teachers. But, my RN training was so much more stressful with some rotten instructors. I am 52 and thought about going for my RN, last year. However, I actually had nightmares thinking about going through all of that all over again. I am older now and would not be able to cope well with the demeaning instructors.

It is a shame that students pay money to be treated really horrible by some nursing instructors. However, those instructors got horrible evaluations by some students. It is hard to believe they are still employed. Many of the students are non-traditional students and are paying for their own education.

dazeyl85 · Sep 11, 2009

I was treated like my dirt by one of my instructors every time I had clinicals. It was my second semester in the LPN program. This teacher would degrade me in front of anyone possible(other students, staff, pts.). I was shy and she was also my authority so I took it. Towards the end I hit my breaking point. She started making a spectacle of me in the nurses station and I blew up and let her have it. She ended up apologizing to me and I never had any more problems with her again. I remember when I was accepted into the nursing program. My biology teacher told me how evil nursing instructors were and that I needed to be able to give it right back to them. Boy was she right.

Blackheartednurse · Sep 11, 2009

Nursing school is bad but the hospital atmosphere is even worse.I have been working at a hospital as a transporter for a while now and I see so many rude condescending PTCs and nurses that makes me feel like run away....