I'm sure we've all experienced something that shocked us from nursing school. I think I was fortunate that none of them put me in an ethical dilemma, but I could share one story to start.
On my way to school I suffered some car trouble and I ended up being late to a test. I was allowed to take the exam and I finished it no problem and nothing excited happened here. Well after the exam the students had to drive back to the satellite campus where our program was held. When I walked into the building (mind you the hallways of the building) I was confronted by a teacher who gave me a "write-up" for disrupting the class. She said that my being late was the cause for the disruption. Shocked, that I was being written up for disrupting, when the entire time other student's phones went off and others showed up late even after me, I asked her if other students received the same write-up.
Immediately this teacher started shouting at me calling me disrespectful and saying that I was unprofessional and began walking away shouting down the halls. I stood there dumbfounded because I asked a simple question. The entire class heard the commotion inside the halls and wondered what happened. In the end I talked to the dean about the teacher's behavior and she dismissed the write-up. I still have no idea why the teacher didn't just discuss things with me calmly and privately.
I agree with this. And happyinmyheart, you have to look at it this way as well: OP got in trouble. She was late for a test she was lucky to get to take. You heard her side of the story. Did her instructor yell and scream and cause a scene in the hall? Maybe. Maybe not.
A lot of these "horror" stories are people who aren't getting their way or just expect things to be easy for the. Nursing school is HARD WORK. It take sacrifice and dedication. You will have teachers that are harder to deal with than others but you'll have bosses and coworkers that are the same way. There are thousands of nurses here who graduated nursing school and passed boards. Don't let one post scare you off.
THIS!
Honestly, the only people who complained of horrible things happening to them in nursing school were those who always pushed the limits. Same people who complained the exams were unfair when they failed and so on.
I never had a problem and neither did most of my classmates. Don't worry unless you plan on not doing your work
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I personally did not experience any real horrors while in school. Certain level of, let me named this way, non-acceptance happened some times but nothing as bad as I got to see and feel during my first year. But I spoke with a girl who was trown out of LPN program because she found her patient, talking and walking 5 min. ago, suddenly "asleep" and did the only two things she must do: she trew on oxygen and got blood sugar while calling for help. Blood sugar was 15 or so; the guy survived. The nurse who gave wrong insulin still works there. The girl was trown out of the program a few weeks before graduation and reported to Boards for "practicing medicine without license". Thank God, there were some people with brains in the Board committee, but the girl is matriculating to PA school now.
the thing that makes nursing school such a horror (academically at least) is that there really isn't much of anything to prepare you for it. if you've gone through any other medical program the only comparison you can really draw from it is that youll get used to spotting 2 correct answers and you have to decide which is "the most correct" which will drive you up a wall.
having gone through a medic program just prior, the only advantage i felt i had starting off was that i wasn't terrified of speaking with patients like many of the wet-ears in the class, and i held knowledge of many technical skills, though that didn't get me much further than first semester before encountering a slew of things ive never seen before. the information and coursework was almost diametric in comparison to what i learned--had to completely change my view of prioritization.
many lpns ive spoken to don't feel at all like becoming an RN is a continuation of LPN school like most of us would imagine. and the RTs were just riding the wave.
Nursing school isn't easy, its not going to be, and its really not meant to be. So like everything in life, your personal experience may differ, just enjoy the ride.
with that said i do remember an instructor saying we're not allowed to lean on the counter at the nurse's station unless we've earned a doctorate degree. i was at a loss for words with that one haha
Sigh. Kind of like childbirth and root canal stories. If a person listened to all of the horror stories, no one would go through with any of it. Of course, there would be no need for root canals OR nurses because the human population as a whole would die out---who would have a baby after listening to someone's story of 90 hours of labor ending in a C-section with no anesthesia culminating with a 17 pound baby?
You should have foreseen car troubles and slept in the school overnight to avoid being late for your test. Your fault.
I'm kidding, of course.
However, this was somewhat the mentality at my ADN program. The only complaint I have about my school is how unforgiving they were. For example, if a student suffered a family loss or other tragic event, they suggested you just drop out and try again next year. (not next SEMESTER, next YEAR as nursing 1 and 3 were only offered in the fall, and nursing 2 and 4 in the spring.) No efforts were made to be accommodating, offer help, nothing. I suppose family losses or illness isn't really their problem, but one would think that a bunch of nurses would have a little more compassion.
I had a classmate miss a test due to needing an emergency appendectomy. She considered leaving the hospital and risking a rupture to take the test. They pretty much told her she was SOL and she had to take the zero. They could have offered her a harder, fill in the blank make up test but that would NEVER happen at my school.
I also had a teacher who was especially callous to missing a class due to serious issues. Her rationale was that she had suffered a pretty serious injury at work as a nurse (some sort of back or knee injury or something) and went to class every day and she had a student whose husband died and she was in class the next class despite it, and if she and that student could do it, so can everyone else. That really rubbed me the wrong way.
Other than that, I have no horror stories to share that actually happened to me personally.
I have just finished my first semester, and cannot report any horror stories either, but I was certainly prepared for them based on the posts on AN. I was fully expecting horrible professors, mean classmates, and unbearable workloads. The reality is that our professors are amazing, well organized, and extremely supportive. I truly like each member of my cohort, and even with 5 classes, the workload was manageable because I organized my time and kept up with it. I have maintained a social life, my exercise schedule, my GPA, and my sanity. We shall see what happens this summer, but so far, I am truly enjoying my experience.
Nursing school really isn't all that bad. Some students really don't know how to communicate with authority figures, like they don't know when to bite their lip. So they end up creating their own hell and then complain about how unfair and horrible nursing school is. All you need to do is what is expected of you and take responsibility for your actions.
This thread just terrifies me I know that Nursing School is extremely emotionally and intellectually challenging.... But I hear so many drastic horror stories that I'm scared all nursing schools are like this
Lose the word "terrified" from your self-descriptive vocabulary. I mean it. Never use it again, and if you feel it coming on, immediately replace it with the word "challenged" or "excited!" Challenges you can rise to and meet, but terror is a paralytic. This is an exciting time! Embrace it!
Lose the word "terrified" from your self-descriptive vocabulary. I mean it. Never use it again, and if you feel it coming on, immediately replace it with the word "challenged" or "excited!" Challenges you can rise to and meet, but terror is a paralytic. This is an exciting time! Embrace it!
Thanks GrnTea, I am excited for Nursing School!! I will try my hardest to embrace it :)
I feel like our program is mostly reasonable, though difficult. They do like to use the exams to weed out weaker students.
One thing bugged me a bit though. We had three clinical groups this semester for our class. One of the instructors was the "difficult" one. She isn't a mean person in general, but she wants her students to do everything perfectly and wouldn't allow her students to do anything without her personal observation. I'm thankful I wasn't in her group. Anyhow, one of my classmates in THAT group started getting nervous from all the close observation (understandably), to the point where her hands started shaking a bit. This apparently created a bit of a positive feedback loop where the instructor insisted on watching her even more closely, making the student even more nervous.
From my own perspective, this particular student was one of the more level headed people in our class, but she ended up failing her clinical evaluation for what appeared to be fairly BS reasons. I'm leaving out some of the particulars, but it didn't seem especially fair to me.
For myself, the big challenges have been being nervous about our skills demonstrations last semester, and trying to pass pharmacology this semester. Just need to study my butt off and I'll be fine.
I know that Nursing School is extremely emotionally and intellectually challenging.... But I hear so many drastic horror stories that I'm scared all nursing schools are like this
edmia, BSN, RN
827 Posts
THIS!
Honestly, the only people who complained of horrible things happening to them in nursing school were those who always pushed the limits. Same people who complained the exams were unfair when they failed and so on.
I never had a problem and neither did most of my classmates. Don't worry unless you plan on not doing your work
Sent from my iPhone -- blame all errors on spellcheck