Nurses and Nursing Students: what was/is your biggest pet peeve in nursing school?

sunnyjohn · Jul 28, 2005

I hate the phrase "Put on your flexibility hats" which usually means someone in charge didn't get something done right or on time so the students have to deal with it...

I agree. I am a very flexible person and have learned over the years to flow with the punches. But if I was a disorganzed as some of the nursing instructors I knew my employer would have fired me for negligence!!!

If you complain though, they label you a trouble maker or people will think you are a whiner.

I used to get so stressed at the disorganization. Now I just nod my head and smile and keep saying in my head, "You gotta get along to get on!"

It's worked wonders for my sanity!

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jul 28, 2005

Oh, here's another.

We had one girl in class that took any opportunity to repeat the phrase "Document, document, document! If you don't document, it didn't happen!." 3 times in one hour, one day she said it 9 times in a 4 hour period.

Yes, the phrase is definately true, but i think that girl was part myna bird. :stone

oreo75 · Jul 28, 2005

Different lecturers teaching the same module all having a different idea of what is expected of the assignment.

Tutorials for the module the day before the assignment is due.

Lecturers not impressed if you have a difference of opinion there are 2 incidence I can think of. One lecturer said that fluid balance charts are badly completed & I said it depends who's completing them, the ward I used to work on were very good at completing them & other wards I've worked on have been good as well. She didn't like that. The other time was recent when I disagreed with a lecturer when she said it wasn't important to know about peoples culture and faith.

People that chat during lectures & then say they are struggling, I had an argument with a student once about this. I said to her if she is finding it that hard shut up during lectures.

The class I'm in doesn't seem to have a problem with cell phones. We've already been told no cell phones in the exam.

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Jul 28, 2005

My pet peeve while I was in school was holier-than-thou instructors who didn't have a CLUE as to how to teach their subject matter. :angryfire

Honeychild · Aug 1, 2005

It seems that in every class I take there is always someone who asks the instructor a question that EXACTLY reworded what he just said.

The worst case of this was a girl who did this at LEAST three times per class, every class, twice a week, for ten weeks. I wanted to tell her to get a tape recorder or just plain listen.

I'm not against asking questions, but when the instructor says "If you had to describe the job of the heart in one word, it would be pump." She says "So the heart's main job is to pump?" three seconds after he said it. DUH listen!!

The cell phones, the know-it-all, and the talkers are all up there on my list too.

rhapsodyRN · Aug 1, 2005

Ugh, I had that just during orientation. We have a packet in front of us explaining everything and when health forms were due, when we could pick up our nursing kits, etc. But of course for at least a half hour of the orientation people asked questions that were RIGHT THERE ON THE PAPER! And some were things we already went over!!!!

My other pet peeve so far (I don't even start until the end of the month) is people who wonder why we have to learn things for nursing school and ask it out loud. You know the type..

I had someone in my CPR class that spent 10 minutes asking the instructor if we were going to get out early and talking about how we could work it to get out early. I wanted to turn around and say "If you'd f*****g SHUT UP, we'd get out of here a lot earlier!". :eek:

I'm pretty tolerant..but we'll see how it goes once school starts. :smokin:

MustangGirl850 · Aug 1, 2005

wow... I haven't started nursing school yet... but I have been to EMT school... I hate the kids that work in hospitals and think they know everything :madface: They need to be kicked in the face a few good times until their mouths can't move and they are quiet enought so everyone else can learn...

I am alst big on respecting a learning enviroment... Keep the cell off in the back pack or car... who needs it in the class.. unless you are a parent or you are expecting an emergency call.. something like that..

People that eat in class.. omg.. :madface: I can't concentrate while you are crunching on doritos!! THAT IS WHAT BEFORE,BREAK, AND AFTER CLASS IS FOR!!!!!!

AHHHH k. sorry. :) :chair:

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Aug 1, 2005

We were allowed to eat during class (it was in the evening and a lot of people had just gotten off work), but it had to be quiet, non-crunchy or crinkly stuff.

Luv2BAnurse · Aug 2, 2005

I didn't like the intimidating nursing instructors. I learned better by the "nice" instructors. The nurse who was in charge of the school was one of those intimidating types, Good God, I am so glad I did make it through to graduation, she was something else. The instructors who bring students to the hospital where I work are almost too nice and easy going. But the students learn. Who says you have to be so spiteful to teach? heh

oreo75 · Aug 2, 2005

I have another, being told by the lecturers that we were ment to check our email at least once a day (I'm sure they would like us to check it every couple of hours) but they never seem to check it. So far I've been waiting over a week for a check on a report that needs to be resubmitted but have been told the lecturer is still in university.

n8isgr8 · Aug 2, 2005

The student, who had everything! or knows someone who did! said her kids had everything under the sun from brain cancer to deafness, husband had stage four skin cancer that the doctor allowed her to "Watch". Knew every child on the news who was abused. Coached baseball for the daughter, ballet for the son, taught theology, taught sunday school, and was a surroget mom for her first pregnancy at the age of 19! GIVE ME A BREAK! Our whole class was so fed upo with the lies even the teachers would discuss her histrionic behavior lol ..PLUUUUUUSSSSEEEE

S.N. Visit, BSN, RN · Aug 4, 2005

What a funny thread ....... But my pet peaves are not funny .

* After listening and encoding a lecture into my memory, an Instructor would say, "never mind what I told you, I was wrong..this is the correct answer instead."

* People eating chips and drinking pop in class (chomp, crunch, fffssssttt gulp, ahhhh noises)...this goes for instructors too, I had one who would eat corn nuts and drink a bottle of diet pop on exam days!

* The only stupid question is the one not asked.....Not in all cases, I've heard some really stupid questions that have interupted class lectures.

* The studen't who takes up important class time asking the Instructor for medical advice for all her family members ,neighbors & co-workers.

*My biggest one...On test taking day's the student who finishes first, takes their paper's up to the desk..whispers a chatty & giggly conversation with the instructor while shuffling the papers together, stapling, then noisley puts their pen's into a book bag, loudly un zips up every compartment of the book bag and slowly searches for car keys, then zips the bag back up all while they could be doing this out of the room! :angryfire Not only that about 10 others do the same thing in about a 10 minute span. Why o' why can't they pick up their stuff quickly and leave the room, or better yet, just bring their pencil for the exam?