My nursing program is horrible!

Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN · May 1, 2019

On 4/29/2019 at 8:16 AM, Kat05 said:
Has anyone else had a bad experience with their nursing program/faculty?

We had a professor that kept coming in late,or not showing up and the subject matter alone caused enough stress.,sometimes her breath had alcohol.....we would sit and wait and then they would decide to move us to double up with another class already in progress.The nurses were resentful of the intrusion,disruption of their class time,and their prof would be so angry and mean.We were paying for a complete class that we were not getting.

We organized a protest letter,(in sympathy we left out the alcohol breath part )got signatures,stormed their administration.Soon we were back to normal with a competent instructor.

Needless to say we became known as the troublemakers and none of us got any prizes at graduation.It didn't matter , we were happy to be done with it all.

Columnist · May 1, 2019

Unfortunately, this is a common in nursing programs. It was well predicted retirements among nursing faculty will leave gaps in nsg education. The "fired" situation is most likely due to tenure and it less money to hire another faculty member than to tenure faculty- especially in community colleges. I taught at a small rural community college and loved it. My evaluations were positive, no write ups or issues and was up for tenure. My contract was not renewed (a.k.a fired) 3 weeks before final. I taught a medsurg course with 48 students and was not allowed to complete semester. What hurt me is that this occurred on a Friday and students had a major test Monday. I heard they just pulled a previous semesters exam and gave it to the students. My heart was truly broken..... I was replaced by nurse who had never taught. It is unfair..... but it is not specific to your program. Good luck!

NormaSaline · May 2, 2019

Hello,

About 5 years ago, I posted something similar.

Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · May 2, 2019

On 5/1/2019 at 1:27 AM, Leader25 said:
We had a professor that kept coming in late,or not showing up and the subject matter alone caused enough stress.,sometimes her breath had alcohol.....we would sit and wait and then they would decide to move us to double up with another class already in progress.The nurses were resentful of the intrusion,disruption of their class time,and their prof would be so angry and mean.We were paying for a complete class that we were not getting.
We organized a protest letter,(in sympathy we left out the alcohol breath part )got signatures,stormed their administration.Soon we were back to normal with a competent instructor.
Needless to say we became known as the troublemakers and none of us got any prizes at graduation.It didn't matter , we were happy to be done with it all.

ruby_jane, BSN, RN · May 2, 2019

Yes. Most of us remember nursing school as difficult-to-horrible with little chunks of goodness sprinkled in like the cheapest store-brand chocolate cookie ever.

There are a variety of causes, but it seems to boil down to too many programs trying to crank out nurses in the fastest way possible.

It is not yours to worry about the dean or staffing - that's just borrowing trouble. You will get through this. Because you do worry about this, you'll probably become an excellent nurse.

studentnurseASN · May 2, 2019

I can relate to this. It is common in many programs because staff try to say afloat with accreditation and state approval to keep the program going. It becomes more of a priority than the students. Sometimes more than the faculty.

My suggestion is to find some good nursing tutors. They can help you develop good critical thinking skills as you progress through your program. Use them also to set up your day for labs and clinical. The money is worth it.

Invest in Saunder online, or a Lippincott nursing book. Most nursing instructors use these to write the exam. You can purchase an old book online at Amazon.

Find some people in class to exchange numbers with. You don't have to be buddies with them.

Focus on content that will help you answer questions for exams, labs, and clinical. For labs, focus on big steps before a procedure, during a procedure, and after a procedure.

For clinical, understand the schedule. Med passes are often done around procedures and meal times. Find out how the meal or the procedure affect medications given. Write down concepts that you gather after reading about care before a procedure, or after a procedure. ATI books are good for this. You can print them from the ATI website.

For exams, I would suggest a tutor, who can help you develop critical thinking skills. Use the ATI books first as study content.

Make your life easier by understanding the nursing routine. It'll help you through the day no matter how you feel. PM me if you need additional help.

Oldmahubbard · May 2, 2019

The quality of my psych NP program was highly questionable. I have written about it before. Our department head believed mainly in Freud. That is too sad for words, but it ended up being the best thing that could happen to me.

I learned how to identify bull malarkey.

By this point, I was an adult in my early 40's and I learned that there is a huge disconnect between what might be on paper, and the reality of a job.

Also, you are going to have to make the material your own. Very independently. No one will spoon feed you.

In nursing, generally you will be asked to do the best you can, in much less than ideal circumstances.

In a way, bad instructors might do you a favor. They introduce you to reality.

Wlaurie, RN · May 2, 2019

6 hours ago, ruby_jane said:
Yes. Most of us remember nursing school as difficult-to-horrible with little chunks of goodness sprinkled in like the cheapest store-brand chocolate cookie ever.
There are a variety of causes, but it seems to boil down to too many programs trying to crank out nurses in the fastest way possible.
It is not yours to worry about the dean or staffing - that's just borrowing trouble. You will get through this. Because you do worry about this, you'll probably become an excellent nurse.

Haha, that's a good analogy of nursing school. And I don't like cookies so that's even better ??

studentnurseASN · May 3, 2019

3 hours ago, Oldmahubbard said:
In a way, bad instructors might do you a favor. They introduce you to reality.

I had this experience with bad instructors.

Apple-Core, ASN, BSN, RN · May 3, 2019

We had some changes in our program early on, and I was irate at first. After huffing and puffing for a few weeks, I realized the only person I was hurting was myself - wasting time on huffing and puffing instead of focusing on my studies. I decided to redirect my energy back to my work. Rather than hone-in on all the problems with the program, I changed my mind-set to be "this is what it is, deal with it". That sounds a bit harsh written down, and I don't mean to come off that way - but I honestly believe if you just accept the situation and redirect your energy onto passing, you'll do much better.

Yes, it sucks. But you have to get thru this regardless of whether it sucks or is awesome. Don't waste time on the crud. Think of yourself and your end goal. If that means teaching yourself, so be it. Does that suck? Yes. But - oh well, that is what it takes to get thru it so just do it!

AC

ruby_jane, BSN, RN · May 3, 2019

11 hours ago, Apple-Core said:
Rather than hone-in on all the problems with the program, I changed my mind-set to be "this is what it is, deal with it". That sounds a bit harsh written down, and I don't mean to come off that way - but I honestly believe if you just accept the situation and redirect your energy onto passing, you'll do much better.
Yes, it sucks. But you have to get thru this regardless of whether it sucks or is awesome. Don't waste time on the crud. Think of yourself and your end goal. If that means teaching yourself, so be it. Does that suck? Yes. But - oh well, that is what it takes to get thru it so just do it!

Great perspective! @Kat05 I hope this is helpful. 95% of nursing is how strong your mindset is. Be the student that asks the questions, or better yet, be the student who researches how to do stuff before and asks for clarification. Hang in there. Right before everything comes together sometimes everything falls apart.