One of my professors has it out for me.....

itsmejuli · Mar 10, 2010

It doesn't sound to me like she's out to get you. Seems to me she's trying to get you to chill out and not try to be so perfect.

Relax and don't take what she says so personally.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Mar 10, 2010

Agreed. You may be overthinking, and making the courses harder than they need to be. If you cut your study time by an hour a night your grades would go down, but it might be worthwhile mentally to think about something other than nursing.

If you noticed in your drug research, antibiotics can cause infection as well as cure it, but we still give them. Advair reduces inflammation in the airways, giving the patient more space to fill with air. But it can also mask a natural immune response so that makes those who take it more susceptible to infection. If someone is in the hospital they should be getting antibiotics for the pneumonia, and I assume they need O2 if they were admitted, so reducing inflammation is a good idea. All medicines require a balancing act between negative side effects and positive therapeutic effects...THAT'S why the Advair was appropriate.

dudette10, MSN, RN · Mar 10, 2010

First off, she's not treating you like a hellion. She's not out to get you. She's not being unfair. Yes, she gave the other students "easier" questions, but when you're in clinicals, some of the students will have "easier" cases than you, and you just have to be the best student nurse you can to YOUR patient.

In fact, I think your instructor actually likes you. :) Her advice to you to "go outside and enjoy the weather" was well-meant, although I can completely understand your embarrassment.

Secondly, my personality is so much like yours. I'm a perfectionist, and I take pride in not only getting good grades, but in constantly learning. I *must* get to a certain level of comfort while studying, otherwise I'm more anxious than I would be if I didn't study as much. (I bet that sounds familiar to you...) I am acutely aware that there is much I don't know, and, since I will be a nurse, that scares me a little bit, quite frankly.

Keep in mind, though, that just because you have good grades and you think everything through doesn't mean that your instructors will always agree with the way you are thinking. It doesn't mean that they should avoid questioning you on material that you *should* know, but that they haven't asked of other students. Look at their questioning and their "grilling" as a learning opportunity...because that's what it is!

Good luck...I'm sure you will continue to do well, as long as you don't judge instructors such as this one as your enemies. She seems like a good one. :up:

Sendana · Mar 11, 2010

Sounds like she think you might actually have some brains and potential.

Good teachers will be hard on you in the right way.

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 11, 2010

I'm happy to see that the previous posters can see that the instructor is trying to help the OP -- though maybe being a bit clumsy about it. Students who are perfectionists and "over-thinkers" often struggle the most with the transition to real-life practice. They are often the ones who can't keep up with the workload or fail to become indendent at an appropriate pace because they are obsessing over everything.

As others have said, I think the instructor is trying to help the OP tap into her common sense and "chill out" a little bit -- in order to see the big picture rather than focus on specific details to the point of not seeing that big picture.

dudette10, MSN, RN · Mar 11, 2010

Students who are perfectionists and "over-thinkers" often struggle the most with the transition to real-life practice. They are often the ones who can't keep up with the workload or fail to become indendent at an appropriate pace because they are obsessing over everything.

Thank you for this. THIS will be my problem, and I'm glad to have instructors--and moderators--point out that pitfall now while I'm in clinicals so I can learn avoid it when I get a job!

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Mar 11, 2010

[color=pink]i know this may seem silly-- but i swear that one of my professors has it out for me. i'm in my second semester of nursing and i work really hard at everything i do.... i don't want to brag, but for the sake of this post i think it's relevant to say that i'm at the top of my class (we have 3 students total that seem to compete with eachother for the top grades on every exam).

after class last week the professor asked me if i understood what the homework was and i stated that i did. it was over a mar and how to properly document everything and to ensure that all the meds listed on the mar was acceptable for my pretend patient to take. so i told her that i understood the assignment but had a question regarding one of the meds, which was advair. my pretend patient was admitted for pneumonia and had a history of dvt, htn, and previous cases of pneumonia. when i looked up advair in class (on my phone) it said that advair would increase the chances of pneumonia in patients with copd or previous history of pneumonia. so i told my professor that i understood why advair was on the mar but didn't think that it was wise that we administer it to my pretend patient. she said i was over-thinking the point of this assignment and then stated, "i don't know what your grades are like-- but in all honesty, i'd rather have a "b" student that was happy rather than a high-strung "a" student...... maybe you should just go outside and enjoy the weather right now". i was completely shocked (i assumed she was calling me "high-strung") because she said it in front of 3 other students and they had a good giggle from it but it embarrassed me. i told her that "i'm half-korean and studying hard is just something i do and i strive to do the best that we can and i just don't understand why we are giving our patient advair for pneumonia if it increases the chances for pneumonia"...... she told me that if i didn't learn how to relax then i was going to be a "burn-out nurse" and then she proceeded to tell me to go outside and "enjoy the weather".

the next week we had clinical skills lab and it was to be checked off for medication preparation. the same professor asked the girls in the group ahead of me simple questions like "how do you apply desitin to an affected area?"..... when it was my turn she asked me what coumadin was, how it worked, if it was proper to give my patient coumadin, what tests i would run before administering it (apparently it's a ptt..... although i said "blood test" because we haven't learned about ptt yet in pharmocology, but she kept asking "what kind of blood test?"), what all the adverse side effects were, what would i look for in the patient, and this literally lasted for 7 minutes...... then when i was pouring my tablespoon of robitussin she asked "how much did you pour?" and i said "1 tablespoon" and she said "are you sure? are you willing to bet your life on it?" and i said "yes, because that's how much i poured"........ later, when i had moved on to another skill she walked up behind me, patted me on the back and said "i don't want you to think i'm being mean to you. i just want you to use the common-sense that i know you have".......

i truly felt that she was grilling me on the the questions and didn't find it fair that other students got easy questions, yet she expected me to spout out taber's medical dictionary's explanation of coumadin. am i just being paranoid? or is she really out to get me?? because truthfully, even though everyone says she's the nicest professor out of all of them-- she scares the hell out of me. should i say anything to her? what do i do? i'm so confused because i'm a really good student but she's treating me like a hellion

a few things,

the first bolded part i don't get, if she doesn't know your grades why would she make the comment about rather having a b student over a high strung a student??

on the second, i am not sure what you being half korean has to do with anything??

anyway, those are just two things that through me off.

as far as the rest, coumadin is a very high risk and important drug to know about. it requires the nurse and the patient to be very educated on it, if the patient is going home on it the nurse will have to do a lot of teaching and it's seen a lot in the hospital. so it may have been a harder question, but it holds a lot of value.

it sounds to me like the teacher is wanting to challenge you more, which is a good thing. although i don't agree necessarily with all her methods. ( i am not a fan of public humiliation when it comes to education) so i felt that was inappropriate. but as for the rest, i would actually try and take it as a complement. one of my children is extremely gifted and they don't have ap classes yet in his grade, so his teacher sends him home with accelerated homework packets much harder then what the other kids have. it's good for him, he doesn't need to practice the stuff he already knows and we have had problems with him not even wanting to go to school because he is bored. so his teacher is challenging him.

it sounds like your teacher is doing that to you, what you describe in a lot of the things (except the one i pointed out) seems more like she wants to make you the best you can be. she wants you to start thinking like a nurse, and sees you might need more challenging questions. it sounds like she sees something in you. take it as a challenge, next time you are grilled on something you're not sure, tell her, i am not sure, but i will find out and get back to you. show her that you are wanting to learn and try not to take it negatively. :)

HyperSaurus, RN, BSN · Mar 11, 2010

Please relax. Something I learned, regarding your question of why give advair to a pneumonia pt when it increases chances for pneumonia, is A. they already have it, so that's sort of besides the point. B. sometimes the benefits outweigh the risks.

Also, it seems you should be flattered that she asked you a harder question than everyone else. It shows that she thinks you are working at a higher level, but also shows that you are a BEGINNING student. You don't have to know everything yet.

Again, relax. You'll go insane if you don't "enjoy the weather" as she put it.

MiaNursingStudent · Apr 7, 2010

Actually, everyone was right. About two weeks ago the professor asked me to speak to her in her office.... she said she wouldn't push me so hard if she didn't think I could handle it, and that she and the other professors had high hopes for my success, but that they didn't want me to burn-out so quickly and especially not in nursing school. Apparently it's ok to make B's and life won't go to hell in a handbasket if I do. So I have been enjoying the sunshine lately, and for spring break I actually avoided anything related to nursing studies :) I guess I was more-or-less humiliated by her "high-strung" comment and by the other girls giggling at it..... I'll admit it- it hurt my feelings.

Mommycakers · Apr 7, 2010

Just so you are ready if you are quizzed again on Coumadin. The labs for Coumadin are PT and INR. For Heparin it is PTT (Think of it like the two T's make an H for Heparin). :)

Moogie · Apr 7, 2010

The first bolded part I don't get, if she doesn't know your grades why would she make the comment about rather having a B student over a high strung A student??

I think this is a very wise instructor. Too many students focus more on the grades than on the knowledge and they can do little but regurgitate information on tests and papers. Then, in a clinical setting, they find that the never did learn the information in the first place---they just stuffed it in their heads, spit it out for the papers or the tests, and they don't retain what they learned.

What's an "A" really worth if the person has not actually learned anything?

Students should work hard and live up to their potential but not over-do it to the point that they're constantly stressed and unhappy. I think this is what the OP's instructor is trying to say. I am glad the OP realizes that the instructor is definitely on her side.