Nursing school too hard on purpose?

eroc · May 3, 2015

Sad thing is most great nurses never become educators.

Now there are plenty of my old nursing professors that could not do my current job, no matter how hard they triedâ€¦.which are the same ones that tried to give the students the most grief. Heck, I run into a old nursing co-worker that was fired do to negligence, and is now a clinical professor at the local ADN program now.

I have found a large % of nursing professors became "educators" because it was easier than actually being a nurse. And students never know the difference as to what their instructors competency level is. NOT all though, there are some amazing competent instructors, also.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · May 3, 2015

One question I would like to ask the OP, was your school a for profit school? The reason I ask is because I had a friend who went to a for profit school and it was very much like you described. I think the issue was their NCLEX scores were horrible and they were having trouble with accreditation so their solution was to be horrible to the students and make them tow the line so to speak. And if they didn't think you were material to pass the NCLEX first time, they found things to kick you out. Instructors were constantly changing, and they would find physicians to teach certain classes which I didn't think was a good idea because they think differently than a nurse, and they made things very difficult.

Always, always, people research your school before attending.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 3, 2015

Sjalv thanks for taking the time to year apart my post and show people an example of nety.

NETY? You are making the most incorrect of assumptions at the present time. Sjalv is a male in his early 20s, as well as a new nurse, so he is not NETY (a.k.a. a Nurse Eating The Young).

pitt81 · May 3, 2015

I can say from my experience that not all schools are like that. My schooling was great. My professors were on top of us and expected a lot from but they were very supportive. Also not all nurses don't give students the time of day, In my unit we welcome students and we def don't try to intimidate or ignore them. You obviously were in a really rough school that seemed to be over the top, but you should not make such general negative statement about all nursing programs solely based on your experience.

umbdude, MSN, APRN · May 3, 2015

My program isn't like that either. Expectations are high (on the knowledge and hands-on performance), but instructors are very reasonable. Habitually late or irresponsible students will suffer consequences but those are few and far in between. Occasional mishaps happen to everyone and instructors don't make a big deal out of it. Sorry you had such bad luck!

brandy1017, ASN, RN · May 3, 2015

I did appeal, didn't win. They refused to let me back in, refused to write a letter so I could join a sister school and start in second semester again, so I had to change schools and go back to first semester because they claimed they were a different curriculum. All in all, it took me 5 1/2 years and I came out with an LPN. So, yeah I'm bitter.

Sounds like a for profit school. Someone I know is going to one and they changed the curriculum and are now demanding she pay for a medical assistant program before they will let her graduate with her RN and apparently her nursing courses do not transfer to other schools so she is screwed!

brandy1017, ASN, RN · May 3, 2015

Just my opinion, but schools make it easy harder than it has to be. You can't be a minute late, your uniform had better have 1980's creases, your hair band has to match your hair, some require you to make cards for the drugs you give, you have to plaster on a fake smile, and Heaven forbid you question someone. We had to call everyone at the college by their last names, even classmates. Its ridiculous. Nursing isn't what it was back in Florence's time. Nurse rarely get respect, I've seen doctors and surgeons literally cuss nurses into a corner and nothing is done. Why would anyone want to be a nurse? It's all about covering your butt and throwing others under the bus. Where I work, nurses all seem to hate each other. Constant negativity and complaining about everyone else. Can we please have a nursing school that focuses on the important things, such as giving medications, knowing correct sites for injections, drugs, antidotes and what drugs do to the body, instead of worrying about not having the proper colored hair tie? I had an instructor literally grab my cartilage ring one day because it is small and I had forgotten to take out out. Can someone please explain why it is important to remove an earring to take a test? I've seen people kicked out for forgetting a paper in their vehicle. It seems it would make more sense to allow a person to retrieve a paper from a vehicle than to ruin their career plans because an instructor is on a power trip. Nursing school is no joke, it's cut throat and I don't feel it has to be. You spend way too much time stressing over non-profit critical things and way too little on the big stuff. We were never taught how to do a medication pass, told nothing about narcotics and counting them, not taught how to call a doctor, not taught how to handle families, but we were taught how to "be professional". It's insane how much unnecessary stress is placed on nursing students and how many have been kicked out over small trivial matters. It makes me sick.

Sounds like you are stuck in a bad program. It seems overzealous, maybe they have had a problem with young students slacking off in the past and they want to make sure everyone takes classes seriously. You can either stick it out or switch schools, but they would be more expensive and time consuming. If nothing else it will prepare you for the real world where punching in one minute late is counted as half a sick day in some places!

In my experience, most doctors treat nurses respectfully. Only a minority cause problems, usually surgeons. As for all the strife between nurses it may come down to the workplace, perhaps the ratios are too high.

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · May 3, 2015

Well, I see both sides of this discussion. First thing I remembered was how I was once told by an instructor that we were being strictly over-taught and over critiqued because we would forget some of what we learned and take some shortcuts after school and at work...so they had to give us the full treatment to get us to be the best we could be. It made sense! However, in my RN program (I had an LPN program and a RN program, respectively), I had an instructor who was extra picky with some students...and I was one of them...probably because I was already a LPN. She was one of the few people I was really afraid of because, if I got on her bad side, she might fail me out of the program just for fun. I thought she was a little emotionally unstable, so I believed she might. I actually had to go on an anti-depressant after a semester or two of my nursing classes largely because of that woman! ugh

canigraduate · May 4, 2015

All of these things that you have listed are pretty standard and do not make anything "harder." What would make nursing school harder would be more work, such as multiple 10-papers and busy work such as guided reading and worksheets.

Compliance with a few simple rules is expected of you as a professional.

The only problem I have is with the teacher who grabbed your ear. That is unprofessional and can be construed as assault.

The rest is penny-ante stuff. You should have a professional appearance at all times. You are representing your school and are on a job interview every day you are at clinical.

And sjalv was by no means "eating the young." He was pointing out the silliness of your post, which attitude I completely agree with. I feel like you are looking for sympathy, but your words are coming across as defensive and sulky.

It may be "easier" for students to not fulfill their requirements for nursing school, but the consequences remain harsh all the same. If a student shows unprofessionalism, such as having wrinkled scrubs, forgetting an important paper, being out of uniform, etc., that student deserves what they get.

I feel sorry for the students who are being held to standards for the first time in their lives, but not sorry enough to relax the standards. Students need to learn to conform to school culture quickly, or they are going to be in for a rude awakening when they get fired from their first job because they didn't learn professionalism in school.

fangirl · May 4, 2015

Let's discuss professionalism for a few. The facility in which I work has all sorts of nurses. One who wears tie dyed scribe everyday, a male who has hair to his butt and a beard who would make the men of duck dynasty blush, a few staff who have more facial piercings than I have fingers, some staff on nights wear jeans and t-shirts, and nothing is said. In my experience, after graduation, professionalism when out the window. Im Not saying it is that way at every facility, just the one I work at currently, as well and the place I precepted. Maybe my facility is too lax. That seems to be the real issue. I had this idea that nurse were professional and people respected them and I had a rude awakening after graduation.

psu_213, BSN, RN · May 4, 2015

One who wears tie dyed scribe everyday, a male who has hair to his butt and a beard who would make the men of duck dynasty blush, a few staff who have more facial piercings than I have fingers, some staff on nights wear jeans and t-shirts, and nothing is said. In my experience, after graduation, professionalism when out the window.

I certainly don't know what happens at every hospital, but I am pretty certain this is the vast minority of hospitals. Just like you did with schools, you have now spread your experience at one hospital and claim that this is the "model" of professionalism at every hospital. If you think this is the way it is at most facilities, then you definitely are in a for a rude awakening.

lardo · May 4, 2015

You've got my attention on this one; I agree with you 100%. Nursing at my school, the Ivy Tech in Richmond Indiana, was difficult because the Dean of Nursing(fall 2011) and 99% of the other nursing instructors were on power trips; rather than concentrating on teaching, they concentrated on doing whatever they could to make you quit or flunk out. Some of these teachers have such massive egos. I think a lot of them have educational orgasms when students get booted out of the nursing programs.

I understand and accept some rules for attendance, dress, and having paperwork submitted on time because you are in a setting that involves other people and any deviation from what is expected could inconvenience the rest of the class. Some teachers do go overboard.

What I hate is the stupidity. 1) During clinical orientation, we were told that no matter how bad the weather got, we could not miss our clinical time. They wanted us to put our lives on the line even if there were a level 3 emergency where you are not allowed on the roads. 2) they should not expect you to put school before your family's welfare. 3)If I am sick, I am not going to be there 4) If my children need me, I will not be there. It isn't as though I was ever looking for an excuse not to go, but life happens. I had a girl in my pharmacology class who had a car wreck because they had her so upset about the consequences of missing or coming in late.

I agree that schools put too much emphasis on the little things when they should be concentrating on better teaching. In the end it is the knowledge that a student has acquired that will make a difference.