Nursing instructors and heart "palpations" ???

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Feb 26, 2011

People fail to realize that just because someone is an instructor of something doesn't mean they are experts, or even close to being experts, in the field. Some people get into teaching solely because they didn't like doing the actual job. Some people get into teaching because they wanted to be some form of educator. Others may have other motives such as time off from work on the holidays. I love the idea of working five days a week; getting weekends, holidays, summers, spring break, and Christmas break off; and having good insurance and a good state retirement plan via the old state university. None of those are wrong. They're all just a job like anything else. It is, however, highly annoying taking a course with an instructor (nursing instructor) who doesn't know anything more than what the textbook has to offer. I hate it when people get assigned to teach something that they don't know crap about, yet I see it a lot. It's rather obvious when someone has no confidence in what they're talking about.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Feb 26, 2011

Just because someone can't say a word that doesn't mean they are stupid or unable to teach.

I know a nurse who can say "focus".

I cannot for the life of me say fibromyalgia. My tongue just gets tied up in knows everytime I try to say it.

So don't be so quick to judge. You may find she has lots of good knowledge to offer you.

2011NursingStudent · Feb 27, 2011

A teacher that mispronounced the words she was lecturing on would drive me nuts as well.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Feb 27, 2011

Just because someone can't say a word that doesn't mean they are stupid or unable to teach.
I know a nurse who can say "focus".
I cannot for the life of me say fibromyalgia. My tongue just gets tied up in knows everytime I try to say it.
So don't be so quick to judge. You may find she has lots of good knowledge to offer you.

Same here and I was diagnosed with it. I go in for a massage and have to tell them I have fibro whatever it's called LOL. Their are a few words that give me grief.

pitaya · Feb 28, 2011

Oh my goodness, I can't think of what words my med-surg teacher would mispronounce, but she said so many words wrong that I couldn't stand listening to her lectures!! Auugh! To be fair, she is a sweetheart and she really wanted us to do well. But her pronunciations were like nails on a chalkboard.

Bblessing2u · Feb 28, 2011

I am going to comment and then hijack your thread :-) ( forgive me!)

We have two teachers that have trouble pronouncing words. It does make me cringe. I have tried to help one of them out in a nice way...explaining that I used to teach myself :-) She now seems to relish saying things wrong as she looks at me :-)

Now to hijack---- We can't seem to get our tests graded and posted in a timely manner. Since we have to maintain a certain grade, it makes for anxious times waiting to see how we did. The other thing is remembering/caring what you missed in order to pass it come the comprehensive final. No amount of nice words, suggestions seems to matter to the staff. We are left wondering for weeks at a time. Also, since I am complaining, the tests do not seem to match up with the powerpoints or reading in the books. The tests seem to be geared towards someone with a TON more experience than what we have as last semester students.....they keep saying the tests are from the book however I can pass with ease the study guide and NCLEX books covering the subjects.

Thanks for lending me your thread to gripe :-)

JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2011

All I can say is yes, we have one instructor in particular that pronounces words wrong and not medical terms necessarily but she gets those wrong too. It's a little distracting but I understand that not everyone gets the same quality of education or parenting that seems to make a difference in the size of a person's vocabulary.

luv2garden · Feb 28, 2011

Careful what you say, it can be deduced to who you are referring to by your post....and, you don't want to be "that" person! Just sayin....

all4ofus, ASN, RN · Feb 28, 2011

We had one who recorded lectures off of another instructor's power points, and I don't believe she ever actually read them prior to starting the recordings. All she did was read from the PP - verbatim - and if she stumbled upon an unfamiliar word or medication (and there were plenty), she would just pronounce the first couple of letters and then just make up the rest of the word!! Needless to say, I didn't bother listening to most of the recordings.

mama_d, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2011

My favorite (sarcasm here!) instructor @ nursing school came across as a total idiot. We were doing nutrition class and she asked if there was any real difference between white bread and whole grain bread. I answered yes, of course. To which she smirked and said "No there's not". To which I replied that whole grain bread used less processed flour, was higher in fiber, etc. And she still said I was wrong. I offered to bring in a loaf of each so that the labels and ingredients could be compared, and got in trouble for having a smart mouth. The head of the program was more concerned with my "insubordination" in questioning an instructor than in the fact that this woman routinely had no idea what she was talking about. I did routinely get grief for asking too many questions, but every time I pointed out that I was shelling out 15 grand for their program and expected an education that matched the expenditure I was met with vapid smiles and blank stares.

At least I got straight A's with minimal effort.

Not surprisingly, the program couldn't maintain it's pass rate and ended up being shut down by the state.

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Feb 28, 2011

Just because someone is an instructor does NOT make them an expert in the field they are teaching. It sucks. I feel like I can no longer trust my teacher's responses because I have heard at least two blatant errors from her this semester.

However, mispronouncing words is a slightly different story. Yes, they should know how to pronounce medical terms but if they at least know what the term means then you aren't too bad off.