Thanks Sashibeak and Mitchsmom! Those were well thought out explainations! I appreciate it so much! LPN2B2004, those were my thougts exactly! I am glad I am not the only one who felt she was WAYYYYYY out of line! LOL ~twintoo
I read an article last weekend that was comparing nurse education to medical school. It was written a LONG time ago, but it had a good point. It said that Nurses, in their "training" are taught not to act independently because they will not be able to without an order in the real world. Although we all know this is untrue, because there are plenty of independent nursing actions we can do.......it was probably true a long time ago. The point is that school really sucks sometimes and a lot of instructors make it more emotionally difficult than it is. They are probably trying to make us tough. I have learned to keep my thoughts to myself in most situations related to instructors because in the end they have the power to pass or fail you, no matter how smart you are. (At least at my school.) Things will get better, good luck.
"Gosh, my nursing instructors were so nice; they never would have responded in that manner. My med-surg clinical instructor would have said, "GOOD question!!! Does anyone in the group have an idea why I like MY group to do it this way?"
Thankfully, I think this is more along the lines of how my instructors would have approached the question as well - even if a student were being contentious (which I don't think was the case), it would only make things worse to have a bad attitude back. If you think that a student is wrong, what are you going to do as a professional? Get down on their level and be snippy and make everyone feel snippy, contentious, and disatisfied? Or as a leader and teacher are you going to use it as a learning opportunity to make everyone feel better about the situation and get something out of it? What could possibly be the point of saying "it's none of your business"? If the point is to get the student to shutup, it may work. But the student may never speak again, even when they need to. Even if a topic or approach were truly inappropriate for class an instructor could simply say "Please come to me after class". I do agree with chosing your battles but I also think students as paying customers have the right to have their questions answered in a *mutually* respective manner. I can just see a place with that kind of gulag attitude turning out a bunch of Nurse Ratchets. I feel that if a teacher is secure and knowledgeable in what they are doing they aren't going to have that kind of attitude (and yes, I have been a teacher myself).
mitchesmom,
When I go back for my BSN, will you be my instructor?
My first clinical rotation was with the main instructor at our school. She would call you out, look at you like she hated you (I DID think she hated me!), embarass and humiliate you. I went home twice from clinicals in tears after being blasted for incompleteness in paperwork or not arriving clinically prepared. In one situation, I didn't fill out a square in a clinical prep tool and in the other I hadn't gotten enough required info off of the pts chart. Oxygen order. Knew my pt. was on oxygen and got the oxygen order. However, I failed to get the oxygen status. Anyhoo, blasted twice and felt like a fool.
Thought about each incident when I got home; pondered it long and pondered it hard. Btw, I also had a friend who was constantly telling me (with concern, riiiiiiiiiight) that the instructor "Had it out for me." Hardly therapeutic, right? I felt my instructor not only had it in for me but also didn't care. How wrong I was. Fact is, if she didn't care, she wouldn't have gotten angry. She could have just sent me home with an unsatisfactory. Instead, she blasted me to teach me.
Thing is, I love the instructor. She made me think, she made me aware of not omitting info, of not enough appropriate info on my pts. and their diagnoses. Smeared, streaked makeup washes off. Learning stays with you. I look at my instructor now and am in awe. Mushy, eh? ahahha.
It amazes me how many students do question the instructor in front of the class! Of course they answer defensively, they are on the defensive!
In our school during the first semester of fundamentals there has been an assignment of an exhaustive care plan. You get a scenario with sort of sketchy details, some labs and some history. It is up to the student to research it and work the patient up. It is a major project for students not knowing what they are doing really and it determines much of the clinical lab outcome. Many students through the years have griped and complained about it. (I didn't, but then I love a good mystery and writing a 16 page paper is just my thing!) Well, last week in my fundamentals class one student started griping about it and saying that her clinical instructor, who is the head of the clinicals dept, said it was a waste of our time and would be dropped from the program in the future. She was saying it to the head of the fundamentals program whose "baby" the project is. The instructor handled it very diplomatically... while letting the student know that she was the head of the department and ran the meetings and hadn't heard the the projects would be removed from the curriculum. I just couldn't believe that an adult student could be dense enough to question an instructor in front of a whole class!
Things are done for a reason. I know that in some of my clinicals we don't do everything that other students do... but I also know that in those areas I do not have that experience. Just think of all the experience you are getting with your patients. It's not just a bath... it can be a great therapeutic communication experience, a good time to do a whole body assessment, and a very special way to let patients know that they are being cared for. Have you talked privately to your instructor to find out what bed baths mean to her? Maybe she has some very good reasons to focus on them... and they may have very little to do with cleaning bodies!
At the very least, I hope that you have learned that in nursing school there are certain hoops you must jump through in order to get where you want to get. That's been what I have learned best... when they say "jump", I just say "how high"... and know that when I have the RN behind my name, others might get delegated to do the jobs that I don't want to do!
I guess everyone has as many different learning styles as the teachers have teaching styles. It is good that many of you have had these experiences and can turn it into a learning experience for yourselves. I'm not sure how I would react. I'm sort of at the point in my learning (second time around in college right now) that I'm like "whatever" - not in a bad attitude way, but more like that I'm more tolerant of some of the little annoyances with college that I think will always be there in one form or another. For example, a bunch of my classmates complain about some of the stuff that they teach that "we'll never use" and I just tend to go with it. I got that with my first degree too and I now realize that they are generally going to give you a well rounded curriculum even if there is some stuff like that... all just part of the game. That's why sometimes college is more an indicator of motivation and persistance than anything else I'm pretty consumed with my life outside of school too and barely have time to think about the necessities so that makes it easier to chose my battles.
I don't know where you go to school, province, state? In Ontario, every patient, in every institution (hospital, long-term care home, etc) receives a daily bath... whether that be a shower, tub bath, or bed bath. It isn't just a chore to keep the staff busy. It is an opportunity to track changes in skin integrity, progression of illness, establish a caring nurse/client relationship etc. But first and foremost, it is every patient's right to be clean. Without a daily bed bath, think of the potential for infection, bacterial growth, etc? The only time a daily bath of some sort is not done, is when the patient refuses, because they have the right to refuse, but that refusal is documented in their chart. I am assuming that when you state bed baths in a nursing home, you are meaning clients who require that the bath be done for them, and are unable to do so themselves. Without the daily bed bath, think of the complications that could arise. And think of the individual's right to dignity... having a bed bath means that they are clean and fresh, and smell clean and fresh. A person with incontinence does not need to smell like they are incontinent. We do a quick wash with each and every change because no one wants to feel like an infant stuck in a wet diaper all day. Being elderly and having your body slowly betray you (that's how clients have described it to me), does not mean that the mind is unaware of it. My clients are appreciative of the effort to maintain their dignity - it gives them the opportunity and confidence to visit with friends and family without feeling embarassment.
In Ontario, all nursing homes (here we call them Long Term Care Facilities) abide by a charter of residents' rights. One of those rights is to be clean. Whether or not your province or state requires daily baths, it should be done for health promotion, dignity promotion, and the competence of the nursing staff. When things are not required on a daily basis, it is easy for the every second or third day routine to become once a week. This is how decubitus ulcers are formed... inattention to the general assessment that should be performed on each shift. When a little bed of red over a bony prominence is noted, rubbing and position changes can prevent it's progression if it is caught early. Not doing a daily bed bath means it will be missed and the client will suffer needlessly.
As for feeling embarassed by the instructor... it happens. During first and second years, my entire class felt as though we were being unduly picked on. Our instructors were real vicious task masters. None of the other sites of our programs had the volume of work that we did... but we are still here, nearing graduation... and many of those at the other sites, have failed out. Sometimes being cruel... is being kind.
I'm pretty consumed with my life outside of school too and barely have time to think about the necessities so that makes it easier to chose my battles.
Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN
12,126 Posts
My goodness i missed this one the first time around. HOW RUDE CAN YOU GET??