No Good Very Bad Nursing Instructor

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I am writing this with broken heart .I was recently forced out of my ADN program by an awful evil nursing instructor/clinical instructor. She had been harassing and bothering me since the beginning of the semester in 2014 it began with my first skill check off where she failed me and continued. She would make comments about me being quiet and not answering enough questions im quiet by nature”.

It grew to where she tried to fail me on a dosage calculation and passed another student for the same amount and it was noticed by other instructors and was allowed to retake it without her presence. She is so terrible that about 95% of the 65 member class were terrified when she taught or did skill check offs because we knew someone(s) head would be on the chopping block. She would make and effort for fail people on their second attempt so they couldn't come back. She was even recorded saying to a student that she was stupid and would kill people if she became a nurse. She was even fired from her job at a local hospital as an RN for poor disposition to coworkers and patients and few other nasty things. On my first clinical day I was told by her that I shouldn't be there I shouldn't have made it this far.

I followed the chain of command and she was told by the senior director that anything she said shouldn't have made it to her ears .

In my case with her she claimed that my care plan was not good enough for progression according to her. Even though we were instructed to use our care plan guide book. No one else was told this and was a allowed to continue on in the program. Im not sure of her reasoning for picking and harassing me if it was my skin color or my quietness I never had any problem with any of the other instructors , SIDE NOTE they even ran from her and said we've had issues with her before with her involvement with students.

My question is there any to keep her at bay if I return to the program. Should I contact my states board of nursing? Get a lawyer? SOMETHING!?! . HELPPP!!!

Sometimes, the bottom line is that school administrations allow and encourage this type of behavior from certain instructors because they use these people as their pawns to eliminate a certain percentage of students, for whatever reason deemed appropriate. There need be no justifiable reason. Your goal is to insure that you are not a successful member of the "hit" list. Learn how to stay out of her line of fire in the future, (or anyone in her role elsewhere), and how to "give her what she wants" in order to stay out of her cross-hairs. Notice I did not say, how to meet the course standards, but how to stay out of this person's target area. Two different things.

Specializes in hospice.
Sometimes, the bottom line is that school administrations allow and encourage this type of behavior from certain instructors because they use these people as their pawns to eliminate a certain percentage of students, for whatever reason deemed appropriate. There need be no justifiable reason.

This is 100% true. It is also 100% wrong.

As nurses we are expected to do our very best for every patient, whether or not they rub us the wrong way. I feel that the same should be required of nursing instructors. I intend to become an instructor some time later in my career, specifically to counteract this poison in nursing school.

We are hearing one side of the story here. Playing devils advocate here: [h=1]No Good Very Bad Nursing Student?[/h]

Specializes in Critical Care/Vascular Access.

You will come across all kinds of no good very bad people in the world, especially the medical world. They will come in the form of doctors, managers, coworkers, and patients. Sometimes you will be able to change the situation some how for the better, and sometimes you will have to put on your adult britches and deal with it.

So my advice: take a step back, breathe deep, and think hard about it. Ask some advice from people older and wiser than you. Take the most reasonable, realistic suggestions and see if you are able to better the situation. If the reasonable, realistic suggestions don't work then walk in there with your head up and your brains in place and deal with it. I would make a more specific suggestion for you but I'm quite sure there are important details of the situation we're not aware of from this perspective.

Very few of us were fortunate enough to get through school without any no good very bad instructors. I would dare say NONE of us in the working world have gotten through life so far without having to work with no good very bad people. Consider yourself lucky for having this opportunity to learn how to handle these kinds of people this early on. Get it done. Finish school, and in no time you'll be looking back laughing at those times that no good very bad instructor almost got the best of you.

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

If you return to this school I suggest you speak up for yourself (and make sure your work is close to perfect). If you can't advocate for yourself, how will you advocate for your patients? I had one difficult clinical instructor and I let her know from the start that I would not take any unnecessary **** from her. It ended up being a mutually respectful clinical relationship. I'm in my 40s, so I'm not about jumping through hoops to please people in authority.

Life is life.. you are going to get terrible instructors. Unfortunately this will happen. I had an instructor that had it out for me because I reported her for unethical behavior (she made me take patients who didn't want a student nurse and then when I told her it was against patient rights to force me on the patient she said it was my fault that I wasn't "confident" enough, she made me miss lunch so I could do physical therapy with my patient - fine and good - but then afterwards I told her I needed to eat because I am diabetic, she shoved me in the nutrition room and told me to eat some of the food they give out to patients, she also would scream at my classmates on the floor, belittling them in front of patients and staff alike, among many other horrors). What did she do then? She held onto a paper I did for 7 weeks. She held onto it until ALL of my grades were put in, and then put my grade in failing me by 0.5 points. That's right, I failed a clinical rotation by 0.5 points. I told my husband I was quitting school after that, because honestly why pay another $10k to a school that supports that kind of demonic behavior? My husband told me he would support me and told me whatever I chose to do he would be there for me. In the end after taking a break between semesters I decided to enroll again and try again - this time I was not assigned the abusive instructor.

Bad instructors exist. Then again, so do bad nurses, so do bad coworkers. I wasn't going to let them pee on my dreams. In the end I will never have to see her again, I will never have to work or do business with her again. I reported her all the way up to the dean of nursing. Nothing ever came of it. Now she's stuck in repeat mode all day every day, trying to find a target to be a part of her little game, but you know what? Not my problem anymore. I've gone on to bigger and better things, and in the end I look back and laugh at how miserable her life must really be to pick on others. I mean seriously - you're going to throw away everything you've worked for because one woman/man has permanent sand stuck up their genitals? Not even worth it.

Just sayin' ... As an instructor once I failed a woman with a different skin color from mine, and she told everybody I hated her because of that. No, I failed her because

-she was always late for report (and the nursing staff noticed that)

-never got more than 2/5 right in the 5-question med math quiz I gave all my clinical students while I wolfed down my sandwich in 5 minutes at the beginning of clinical post conference (they got a lunch break, I didn't),

-never had med cards (a required element for clinical in our school)

-couldn't tell me what congestive heart failure was or what a patient's CBC meant in her last semester

-turned in her final big semester care plan ten days late (and it really, really sucked)

-didn't do one thing on the performance improvement plan that she signed when put on academic warning at half-term ...

Need I go on? I could. But she told everybody within earshot it was because I hated her because of her ethnicity and picked on her from the first week. I will cop to telling her in the first week (and a few others) that they had to have their med cards and they had to know their pts' diagnoses. Everybody else stepped up, but she wouldn't.

Not saying you're that student, and not denying that there can be bad instructors.... but it sometimes isn't always the way one person tells it.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
We are hearing one side of the story here. Playing devils advocate here: [h=1]No Good Very Bad Nursing Student?[/h]

True, but there have been instances where there have been over the top instructors, I can't ignore that, since I have had the issue in the past.

If this is true then the focus should be on helping the OP realize that they have to advocate for themselves appropriately, whether it be changes; if there was documented evidence of issues that don't adhere to rules that they have, they should use every avenue possible to repeal or report this. :yes:

We are hearing one side of the story here. Playing devils advocate here: No Good Very Bad Nursing Student?

And that very well may be. However, when one is paying tuition for an education, I think that every effort needs to be made to accommodate a style of learning that may not be the "norm". And whether the nursing instructor "likes" you or not should be a non-issue. We are all not there t be liked or lack thereof.

With that being said, if one is not upholding the standards of practice, then it needs to be thoroughly explained why, and based on school policy. Otherwise, give me my money back and I shall take it elsewhere....

Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

Here is the thing...in life there are people we don't get along with. I GUARANTEE you will work with nurses and docs you don't get along with. You know what..you figure out a way to survive. If the teacher wants you to speak up then by god speak up. Part of school is learning how to accomplish what the powers that be want done. Have you ever served in the military? If you had you would know that sometimes the people in charge we don't agree with or even like, but we get the job done the way they want it done. Toughen up and instead of fighting her figure out what she wants and expects from students and DO IT. Stop blaming others for problems. If you are truly being treated differently than others than report to head of department with QUANTIFIABLE information. Not "she doesn't like me"

I have dealt with this as a nursing student before from more than one instructor. Most of them ranting about how tired they are about the nursing profession while not teaching.

I was also a minority among my student peers. It sucks to deal with negativity in a classroom setting. Don't let that discourage you from seeking help and guidance from others to excel. I hope you can still learn your skills well, master your documentation, and learn to work with people as well as you can. I realize that having a rapport with people does help. It does not have to be a perfect one. None of your rapports will be perfect when asking for letters of recommendation or references for work.

From my experience it can be tough. I am giving myself a second chance as I continue my nursing education by teaching myself to be a nurse. It is overwhelming but I decided to do it again.

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