I have spent the last 4 years trying to get into nursing school. I had to jump through many hoops and work really hard but I finally made it. While I was going through this process I met many incredulous folks who thought I was a slacker or something. Over and over people will ask "Why did you have such a hard time getting into nursing school when there's a nursing shortage."
I've tried explaining this until I'm blue in the face but people don't seem to get it. I'm not even sure I get it. Anyway, can any of you think of some way I can explain this so that people will understand?
This sounds like my area. For the students that got accepted to start in the Spring 2006 semester 4.0 on prereqs. and 4.0 on 9 credit hours of support classes was the LOWEST GPA that got in.
My school,(one of the top ranked in the country) we had over 250 applicants, only 23 got in. Lowest GPA they could accept was 3.9 because of the demand to get in, but extreme shortage of teachers. One staff member was heard saying " how do you tell someone with a 3.8 they are not good enough to get in?" It's rough all the way around.
riddle me this (an actual question from two tests ago):
your patient has been newly diagnosed with hypertension. in teaching him or her about food choices that are correct you tell them to:
a) stop eating dill pickles
b) eliminate all potato chips
c) reduce the servings of sweets
d) avoid hot dogs
i chose this question because it is typical; not the best and not the worst.
ok am i the only fish to take this bait? i am not a nursing student but this makes me curious. what is the answer? this is how i would think:
hypertension= high blood pressure right? popular advise says to avoid too much salt.
a) dill pickles are salty. maybe this is the answer?
b) some potato chips are low salt or sodium free
c) hmm....... this answer is different from the others, but i don't think sweets cause or aggravate hypertension. remember i am not a nursing student yet.
d) i have been a vegetarian for the past two years. so unless something has changed since then every hot dog i have ever eaten before has been salty. however this choice says to avoid hot dogs instead of not to eat them.
my choice would be a because it specifically says not to eat the pickles. anyone else?
A problem our school ran into when I was teaching clinicals was not just faculty, but enough clinical areas on enough days of the week. We three and sometimes 4 schools w/ various health care majors all doing clinicals at the three main hospitals in the region and we tried not to overlap if possible.
"with a child, 1 medication error can KILL them...99% on a test is not passing!"
That's a little extreme. Technically 1 med error can kill ANYONE, not just a child, depending on what the med error is. Getting people worked up and nervous enough to make mistakes is not teaching, IMO.
a_clay
583 Posts
This sounds like my area. For the students that got accepted to start in the Spring 2006 semester 4.0 on prereqs. and 4.0 on 9 credit hours of support classes was the LOWEST GPA that got in.