Nurses: Failure rate of courses perplexing - Jackson Clarion Ledger

rdop5388 · Jul 9, 2007

All that I can say is you are so right. Amen.

RNfinally · Jul 9, 2007

As I said at the end of my first post there needs to qualified instructors, not yo yo's.

If the instructor is not giving instruction then you should go to the dean of the nursing school or the college and file a complaint. Go as a group if you need to, that is the one agravation with nursing is it seems like we can't stand together for the greater good of our selves and our profession. What the instructor is allegedly doing is not right and does not qualify as a qualified instrucor in my mind.

eldragon · Aug 12, 2007

Well, at the end of our third block, we are down to 9 original students out of 26.

We lost 7 very capable students last block.

Complaints have been made to the dean, and to the president of the school.

Our final in pharmacology had 100 questions - 30 were choose all that apply. While I had studied all night (that's right - we had one night to study for our final because we had unit exams, injection and other med check-offs and other class finals every day for almost 3 weeks...) and felt confident about the material on the test. I sludged my way through that test in mourning for the students I knew needed to make an excellent score to pass the class/block.

The final was as every other test that "teacher" gave us - clearly too hard. Two students failed with a 79. That's January - August of hard work - long clinicals down the drain. All those mornings of showing up at 5:45 Am and working free for over 12 hours - down the drain. All the classes they studied and passed - done. None of the classes have transferrable credits.

Sick describes how I felt when I learned that the two students had failed that test - failed. They were very competent women.

So - we're down to 9 students now, with two more blocks to go. Who will be next? It's obviously a sick game for the one teacher - the more students she flunks - the better she feels.

All our elected officials were eliminated last block. Our president, VP, treasurer and secretary - none made it.

This program has turned into a sick game. Who even wants to be a nurse now???

RNfinally · Aug 12, 2007

What questions were too hard, for example? I want to understand better what you are talking about because nursing classes are very hard anyway and should be. The responsibility and liability you are undertaking is great. I am just trying to gauge wether the instructors are really being unfair or if the students are just very under prepared, and I don't mean that in an offensive manor, many students are under prepared for even simple college courses thanks to our school systems and so forth.

eldragon · Aug 12, 2007

We had less than 3 weeks to learn our 700-page pharmacology book. We had 7 unit exams, one final and check-offs for all injections as well as other meds including ng tube, (none of which were demonstrated by our instructors,) and had to TEACH OURSELVES dosage calculations in less than 3 weeks.

As an intelligent person, I wasted a few weeks actually trying to learn the stuff. I studied after school until I fell asleep, and woke up at 6 Am and studied all morning - 7 days a week - for three weeks to pass that class. I was not happy with my exam grades and realized that trying to learn stuff was a waste of time, what I needed to do was cram / memorize stuff. Understanding was not an option.

Of course, pharmacology was only one class we were taking. We also were finishing up maternal child / pediiatrics, and had bi-weekly exams in that, as well as two finals.

The tests are much harder when there are choose all that apply questions. Instead of one choice, you have 5 to choose from - and any number of variations you can get right/wrong.

Every pharmacology unit exam had 17-30 choose all that appy questions on them, and the majority of the class failed those questions every time.

So it's not that the students are dumb, or weren't studying, but that the odds were against them test-wise.

As I said - I'm intelligent- I have a 33 on my ACT scores - reading area. I studied and slept when out of class. And I feel lucky to have passed the course.

I know many of the students who have failed so far

would have made fine nurses.

Nursing requires a certain type of personality. Caring, compassionate and intelligent are good. Punctual, dependable and dedicated are good, too. Genius-level IQ's? You tell me.

lovenursebeing · Aug 15, 2007

I just wanted to post by way of experience, especially dealing with Hinds nursing program. I started out at Hinds, very competent, intelligent, mature and ready for the LONG HAUL, didn't take anything, I mean anything for granted. Anyway I failed 1st sem. by 1 point , yes, like the student said, up at 4 or 5 in the morning, at the hospital, studying, reading, asking questions that you really didn't get "good" answers- you got the instructors answers- we, well, I needed textbook answers, because that what NCLEX test on, not instructor q and a. anyway, I took 1st semester over, finished with an A, went to second semester, finished with a B, went to third semester and failed by 9 points , I knew how hard nursing school was before going in and I studied my butt off, I am no dummy- I feel, believe, and know I will make a great nurse- even some of the instructors who were honest told me so, perfect if I should say so myself in clinical, yes my problem was test taking, but they don't do enough to help you in that area, yes, a lot of students make it out- but guess what they don't know their head from a hole in the ground.

Thank God, I had another option, I went to Excelsior College of Nursing, yes its online, but I have learned more there that helps me to be a better, different nurse than at Hinds- Hinds did give me my foundation, but Excelsior really made me feel and really believe I could be a nurse.

Actually, I started this program in Jan 2006 after I failed at Hinds in Dec 2005- I am proud to say that my conferral date is August 17, 2007 this Friday- I will recieve my Associate Degree In Nursing

Sorry so long a post, but I just hate when some people finish and try to make it seem like the ones that fail, that it's their fault or problem- in some cases, it may be true, but not in all cases. I know how hard it was, I would try to encourage any student and motivate them-sometimes thats all thats needed- in other cases, yes, you need some study skills or test taking skills, and yes Competent Teachers who don't act like they were once students- I hate that.

Thanks

janiece2003 · Oct 15, 2007

Hi lovenursebeing, how were the online course? Do you think its better being in the classroom or taking the classess online cause i was thinking about taking some online classes and how did your clinicals work out for you and did you make your own schedule?

janiece2003 · Oct 15, 2007

Hi I am very interested to know how the online classes went cause im very interested in obtaining my associates degree in nursing online and how did you do your clinicals and schedule classes?

lovenursebeing · Oct 15, 2007

hi, janiece2003, you have to already be an lpn or a nursing student who has completed at least 50% of a traditional program. i attended hinds up to 3rd semester, didn't pass 3rd semester. went to excelsior college school of nursing and did all the test(at the time 7) online and the clinical is only 3 days, but 3 hard stressful days- no room for mistakes because you're only there 3 days whereas in a traditional program you go every week. there are a lot of nurses here in mississippi as well as in the metropolitan are(jackson, pearl, brandon, clinton) that have gone through excelsior- it's a very challenging program, not too hard, but definitely not easy. you have to teach yourself, have to be motivated. this was my first time taking online classes. i liked it because, i was able to study when i wanted and take the test when i was ready. i have kids so it made a difference, i could do things with them and not worry about a test coming up on monday. you set the test when you want to. the clinicals, you have to go out of state for. i went to plano, tx, there are other sites also. 3 other classmates from hinds, went to new york, and georgia. any way , if you need more info, feel free to ask or you can pm me if you like. i live in pearl.

best wishes

flygirls2, BSN · Nov 3, 2007

I was just thinking about this subject today actually..

I am in the ADN program at MGCCC-JD campus. We started the first semester with 52 students. Only 21 passed level 1. We are now coming up on the end of 2nd semester and we'll be lucky if we have 15 start into level 3. This is far higher than a 50% loss! The students in 4th semester(4 semester program) are down to EIGHT!! They also started with 50-52.

It seems ridiculous to me!! Is my school really hard or is it normal to have 4/5 of your class fail?

lovenursebeing · Nov 4, 2007

Very normal, out of my class that started in spring 2004 with 120, only about 15 actually graduated on time, some were weeded out, some eventually staggered to 4th semester or others just dropped out, because it just seems too much of a hassle really trying to make it when you are doing everything you could possibly do to pass.

vanillavirtue · Mar 30, 2008

I just wanted to post by way of experience, especially dealing with Hinds nursing program. I started out at Hinds, very competent, intelligent, mature and ready for the LONG HAUL, didn't take anything, I mean anything for granted. Anyway I failed 1st sem. by 1 point , yes, like the student said, up at 4 or 5 in the morning, at the hospital, studying, reading, asking questions that you really didn't get "good" answers- you got the instructors answers- we, well, I needed textbook answers, because that what NCLEX test on, not instructor q and a. anyway, I took 1st semester over, finished with an A, went to second semester, finished with a B, went to third semester and failed by 9 points , I knew how hard nursing school was before going in and I studied my butt off, I am no dummy- I feel, believe, and know I will make a great nurse- even some of the instructors who were honest told me so, perfect if I should say so myself in clinical, yes my problem was test taking, but they don't do enough to help you in that area, yes, a lot of students make it out- but guess what they don't know their head from a hole in the ground.
Thank God, I had another option, I went to Excelsior College of Nursing, yes its online, but I have learned more there that helps me to be a better, different nurse than at Hinds- Hinds did give me my foundation, but Excelsior really made me feel and really believe I could be a nurse.
Actually, I started this program in Jan 2006 after I failed at Hinds in Dec 2005- I am proud to say that my conferral date is August 17, 2007 this Friday- I will recieve my Associate Degree In Nursing
Sorry so long a post, but I just hate when some people finish and try to make it seem like the ones that fail, that it's their fault or problem- in some cases, it may be true, but not in all cases. I know how hard it was, I would try to encourage any student and motivate them-sometimes thats all thats needed- in other cases, yes, you need some study skills or test taking skills, and yes Competent Teachers who don't act like they were once students- I hate that.
Thanks

I know that this thread is old, but I would just like to reiterate what you have said. I was also a student at Hinds Community college nursing program, and it was horrible. I understand exactly what you are talking aobut. In a sense, I felt the nursing instructors honestly didn't care if students failed or not. There was never anyone to sit down with you and talk about why you were failing or to go over your exams privately. For the nursing field to have such a shortage, you wouldn't know it, by the way they treat you at Hinds. There were numerous tests that I would study way up into the wee hours of the night for and failed. Alot of the material that they went over in class, wasn't ever on the exam. There were many exams, even if you read all of the chapters, you still wouldn't know where the questions were taken from in the textbooks.

I suggest people to just apply for a program at UMC or MS College. I heard from an instructor at UMC that their program is easier than Hinds. People need to run from Hinds because it is a big waste of time going through their program! This stuff has been going on for years at Hinds, and the Clarion-Ledger just shed some light on it. That is ridiculous for over 100 something people to start out and only 20 something graduate. That is crazy, and it is not all the student's fault. I was a student who studied diligently. I went back to school at MSU and received my bachelor's degree with a breeze, and I know if I'm smart enough to receive a Bachelor's degree, it wasn't my fault with nursing school. So the common denominator in all these failing rates at Hinds are the instructors. Anyway, I've applied for nursing school at another school and decided not to give up on nursing even though Hinds almost made me resent ever wanting to be a nurse. I realized that the coursework isn't the problem, it's just the particular school you choose. I have many friends who love nursing and loved the school they attended and said the instructors actually cared. :heartbeat So I'm going back into nursing with a positive outlook and will be a RN soon! :nurse: