Med-Surg when your teacher can't teach

pmabraham, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2015

Have you met personally, one-on-one, with the professor to go over the exams as well as how you've been preparing to hear the professor's take on what to change and improve?

Natasha, RN, BSN · Oct 9, 2015

Sadly, I had many teachers in nursing school that didn't really lead or teach, just went over some ppt's that really didn't help. Oh yeah, and of course the endless reading!!!! Uggghhhhh!!!!! :eek: So I turned to Saunders NCLEX prep book and was sure to read whatever topics we were going over in class and for the test. I did this EVERY semester in nursing school, plus did all the test prep questions that went with the topics, and it worked great! Good luck :)

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Oct 10, 2015

Some schools are simply poor ones, and do not do well in preparing students to pass the NCLEX down the road. However, you said this was a very competitive school....seems to me, then, that there is a history of having students go through these courses successfully. It is this a new instructor, or new to teaching this course? Might not be a bad idea at this point to have a discussion with academic Dean IF, in fact, there really IS a 75% failure rate at this time.

If this instructor has a history of having students initially receiving poor grades who then "get it together" and do well as the semester progresses, you might need to find out what that formula is for success. If this particular group is having an unusually difficult time....it's important to figure out why that is, too.

cosmicnurse · Oct 10, 2015

Thank you so much for your reply. She is a senior professor, and also has a reputation for being a really difficult. However, and like you say, many students do pass her class, so I agree, I just have to figure out her testing style so I can have I can not let it defeat me. One thing I have learned from the two exams I messed up so far, is that she actually expects us to know all the minute details. As difficult as this is to tackle with the density of nursing school, this may work to my advantage on the long run, so far, since my last exam, I've been working really hard. Detail reading and I plan to finish all my reading well in advance so I can spend a lot of time on practice questions as well. Thank you again for your response, it has reassured me somewhat, that I can overcome this bump in the road.

cosmicnurse · Oct 10, 2015

Yes I did meet with her...she just made it seem I didn't do enough and I by her standards I guess I hadn't so...

Jaykalkyn, BSN, RN · Oct 10, 2015

I am in my last semester, halfway through Advanced Adult Health and my instructor is a butthole. The bad part is we have him for two classes, this one and Research Seminar. He does not teach, is often wrong and is extremely defensive. I am passing his class but so many of my cohorts are not. He does the same thing as you describe, go through powerpoints, gives us a "needs to know" document but then tells us that if thats all we know, we will fail his test. We have absolutely no direction with him.

What has worked for me besides reading and completing objectives of the chapters is watching videos on YouTube, Simple Nursing, Kahn Academy, and any other site I can find. I have gained a better understanding of the information that our instructor did not convey during "lecture" and I practice questions on Kaplan, Quizlet, NCLEX RN Mastery app on my phone, and in the Saunders NCLEX Examination book. So far, the videos have helped and doing the questions has helped tremendously.

Good luck! Its not over yet, just focus on moving forward with the next exam.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Oct 10, 2015

Thank you so much for your reply. She is a senior professor, and also has a reputation for being a really difficult. However, and like you say, many students do pass her class, so I agree, I just have to figure out her testing style so I can have I can not let it defeat me. One thing I have learned from the two exams I messed up so far, is that she actually expects us to know all the minute details. As difficult as this is to tackle with the density of nursing school, this may work to my advantage on the long run, so far, since my last exam, I've been working really hard. Detail reading and I plan to finish all my reading well in advance so I can spend a lot of time on practice questions as well. Thank you again for your response, it has reassured me somewhat, that I can overcome this bump in the road.

There's an old saying, "The devil is in the details". Meaning that success and failure can be found by paying attention to the little bits....you can get tripped up by missing small details. It seems your professor has a penchant for proving this in her teaching style!

In the long run, it really WILL help you. NCLEX questions can trip people up by hinging the answer on one word alone, and if you aren't paying attention, you misinterpret the questions.....and fail the exam.

Nursing coursework is most definitely different than many other (any other?) degree paths. It's not material that lends itself to being open for discussion, or having many possible truths, for the most part. It is what it is...and perhaps your professor is a stickler for being very exact, no guesswork involved, no room for misinterpretation.

Best you can do is keep at it, notice the finer points, and be sure you understand what her "think" is when she's going over issues. Make sure you know what her rationales are when it comes to choosing the best course of action/treatment, so you can apply it yourself.

Good luck! :)

AggieRNnTraining · Oct 10, 2015

Thank you so much for your reply. She is a senior professor, and also has a reputation for being a really difficult. However, and like you say, many students do pass her class, so I agree, I just have to figure out her testing style so I can have I can not let it defeat me. One thing I have learned from the two exams I messed up so far, is that she actually expects us to know all the minute details. As difficult as this is to tackle with the density of nursing school, this may work to my advantage on the long run, so far, since my last exam, I've been working really hard. Detail reading and I plan to finish all my reading well in advance so I can spend a lot of time on practice questions as well. Thank you again for your response, it has reassured me somewhat, that I can overcome this bump in the road.

I am a nursing student in my senior year of a traditional BSN program. From my experience, knowing your professor's testing style is critical in passing exams (along with preparation, of course). Some professors will tell you exactly "what you need to know" but then put everything else on the exam. Some will give you a "Study Guide" that lists 14 chapters of topics to be covered on the exam but only focus on 8/14 of those chapters on the exam. What has helped me to stay above water in nursing school is analyzing the first exam. While I am taking the exam, I really assess the content covered and later compare with study guide given, the types of questions and the way questions are worded. If I notice the professor focuses more on the nursing action VS S/S of disorders, then I will spend more time on the nursing process for the various disorders. Because I am in my final year, I already know our questions will be at the higher level (Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis, Application), so I do not focus on trying to memorize definitions and things that require recall (for the most part, I learned that stuff prior to). I said all of that to say, sometimes we can't do anything about our professor teaching style or lack their of, so just try to focus on things that you can do to improve your chances of success...if you see that those things are working for you, then pass the tips along to your classmates!

If majority of the class is failing, you all may need to meet with her individually first, then as a group to discuss your concerns. If this does not address your concerns, then follow the chain of command to voice your concerns as soon as possible (before you end up with a failing grade on your transcript)!!!!

Natasha A., CNA, LVN · Oct 11, 2015

I am in my last semester, halfway through Advanced Adult Health and my instructor is a butthole. The bad part is we have him for two classes, this one and Research Seminar. He does not teach, is often wrong and is extremely defensive. I am passing his class but so many of my cohorts are not. He does the same thing as you describe, go through powerpoints, gives us a "needs to know" document but then tells us that if thats all we know, we will fail his test. We have absolutely no direction with him.
What has worked for me besides reading and completing objectives of the chapters is watching videos on YouTube, Simple Nursing, Kahn Academy, and any other site I can find. I have gained a better understanding of the information that our instructor did not convey during "lecture" and I practice questions on Kaplan, Quizlet, NCLEX RN Mastery app on my phone, and in the Saunders NCLEX Examination book. So far, the videos have helped and doing the questions has helped tremendously.
Good luck! Its not over yet, just focus on moving forward with the next exam.

DItto! I think we ALL attend "GOOGLE UNIVERSITY" lol . That is the new nursing programs logo :)

-->>>>>

teaches nursing process

--->>>>

teaches nursing process

----->>> https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/100-on-my-560985.html read#10 post teaches how nclex questions helped her ace her test

Last tip is understanding the model of the test. If you have a saunders book any nclex book, their is a section called "introduction to testing the nclex examination" look at that and it should be a chart with catergory of client needs "safety and effective environment" , coordinated care, safety and infection control, health promotion and maintenance, psychosocial integrity and physiologic integrity, basic care comfort, pharm therapies, reduction of risk potential, physiologic adaption.

the nclex questions "teach you how to study" . do not just look at the Rationales.. look at what category of client need and nursing process is being used on that question. then you will start to see what is important vs what is not important :)

Beth0504 · Oct 12, 2015

Have you met with the director of your Nursing Program? Sometimes the director can have a positive effect on the prof that is giving your class a problem. I had to do that in our program and helped our whole class. For instance we were able to get our PITA instructors notes BEFORE she lectured. This may seem small but it helped everyone to focus on taking notes instead of trying to write down everything she was trying to say. Most directors want their programs to be successful so therefore they want you to succeed. Good luck and don't be intimidated.