Professors of Nursing

Nurses General Nursing

Published

"Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach"

True statement?

Feeling frustrated after just starting my school semester again (MSN) and getting the bios of all of my instructors and finding out the hoops they are going to have me jump through this time around to complete my degree -- when it does not seem like they are experts themselves in the subject area they are teaching. At least, their bio doesn't match the subject area they are teaching.

Examples from my own past:

Had an advanced health assessment prof that was a midwife (CNM) and had spent her ENTIRE career in OB practice. We'd ask questions about adult/geriatric patients and she hadn't a clue, but she sure could rip us a new one if we couldn't do a perfect cranial nerve exam in 5 minutes (of course, she had a reference when she was grading us).

Had a family health nursing instructor that was an ICU nurse his entire career. No public health/community/outpatient background at all.

Had multitudes of clinical instructors that had very limited hospital clinical experience to begin with (20 years as they had been in academia that entire time. I can't think of a single one that actually was a clinical expert in the clinical area they were teaching.

Plus so many of them are just so damnned mean. And rude. And condescending.

Doesn't there seem to be a bit of a double standard there? We (the students) need to be perfect, but they (the instructors) don't need to know much more than we do/would at the end of the course?

So, I guess you just have to settle in for more garbage just for that additional 3 letters, huh.

Specializes in adult ICU.

Apparently, 2ndwind.

It makes sense that the higher up you get in academia, the more specialized the knowledge gets, and there are fewer decent instructors available to teach the courses.

My 1st year of nursing school I wanted to know everything. Two of my all time favorites:

We were in the middle of a cancer lecture. I asked the lecturer the difference between AML and ALL since we were covering the nursing care of/treatment plans for, etc. She didn't know. There were 2-3 other professors in the room, and they didn't know. The response I got: "Read your book." (Wasn't in the book, either.)

1st semester clinicals -- I had a patient on tube feeds. I was asked to check a residual. Before I went in to do it, I asked my instructor how much volume I would be concerned about refeeding (as a refresher) because we had gone through that in class/lab a couple weeks prior. She said, "Read your book." (Really? In the middle of a clinical setting?)

Actually, I am loving my BSN program. The entire push is research/EBP and how to search and some of it is rather basic for me as I was a systems developer and didn't need to learn PICO and writing comes easily to me. However, my instructors have been uniformly knowledgable and enthusiastic and want us to succeed. And I'm learning perhaps not a LOT but I am certainly learning.

So I cite in the discussions. Okay. They want proof that we can use EBP and reliable sources. I'm fine with it.

I'd like to be in a more clinically oriented program but was unwilling to take the few courses I would have needed as pre-reqs. So I'll take them later, before I get into a clinical masters program.

ETA: Most of my nursing instructors have had doctorates and extensive experience in their areas.

Specializes in NICU.

Wow, that does suck, and I would be pretty aggravated. I'm feeling more and more blessed by the program I chose as I read about other programs here on Allnurses.

My community health instructor? She was a community health nurse. My Advanced med-surge course was taught by a team consisting of an ICU nurse and a Cardiac NP (both with extensive experience in med-surg and critical care). Peds? Taught by, you guessed it, a Peds nurse. The only deviation, I suppose, was my OB class. The usual OB instructor (an OB nurse) was on sabbatical, so our OB instructor was a NNP (she usually taught Pharm). She was still very knowledgeable, and I felt a very thorough instructor.

I did have a few duds, like Leadership (really, doing a crossword for 3 hours is a wise use of my tuition money???), but all in all I can't complain.

It really does suck that you are in a program that you feel isn't giving you a great education. I know I'd be pretty upset about that. My BSN cost WAY to much to not get the education I paid for. On the upside, when you do graduate and get a job, you'll be pretty much taught from scratch anyways. As long as you have good critical thinking skills, some basic knowledge (like not to give K+ IV push, for example), and are willing to ask lot's of questions, you'll be alright.

I get the impression from many of the threads on this site that lots of people aren't v. choosy or picky about selecting a nursing grad program. I had excellent faculty in my graduate program, all people who were v. experienced in what they were teaching, v. knowledgeable, and, in many cases, nationally known experts in their fields/specialties. They were also all good teachers. Nearly all of them maintained part-time clinical practices, and were also researching and publishing in their specialties. Nearly all the faculty in my original diploma program were experienced clinicians (in the specialties they were teaching) and great teachers (although I wouldn't go out of my way to brag about most of the faculty in the BSN completion program I attended). There are plenty of nursing programs "out there," at all levels, that make sure they have great faculty and offer a great education -- not all schools are that responsible and selective, though, and it's well worth "shopping around," IMO, before committing to a particular program.

Specializes in adult ICU.

IDK. The program I am currently admitted to is at a large, public research university and a top-50 grad school. No, it's not Ivy League, but it is well respected and has a good reputation. I'm not very far in yet, so I'm hoping that my experiences will improve.

My ADN was from a locally known, well respected private college with good NCLEX pass rates and my BSN was from a mid-sided public state university with a good local reputation as well. I have stayed away from online and for-profit schools and explored all the options I had in my local area for grad schools (not willing to move.)

I think there is some truth to the nursing instructor shortage...it just seems like there aren't enough good ones to go around.

I'm in a BSN program right now. I completed my LPN and my RN in individual steps. I also have a liberal arts degree from a large state university in a completely different subject, so I've been exposed to wide variety of educational environments and styles.

As far as nursing goes, I must say my community college RN program was the best. My instructors wore so many hats: they were part time nursing instructors, and part time nurses. It was in a rural setting, and I expected their knowledge to be lacking due to the small facilities, and was I wrong. Several of them were flight nurses, or worked in all settings at their small, local hospitals. They had a variety of experience, from ED to ICU to long term care to OB, all in one job, due to the lack of resources they encountered in their environment.

I feel like my BSN nursing instructors haven't actually taken care of a patient or even set foot in a clinical setting for decades. Little effort appears to be put into their presentations (some come straight from the textbook manufacturer), and half the time I don't even get my papers back, just a grade. I don't believe they actually read them or critically think about them.

My ADN instructors, on the other hand, were elbows deep in clinical nursing. All of them. They did not have the masters or PhD in nursing ed or administration like my BSN instructors do; they had or were working on their masters degrees in clinical settings. Their practice was current and they had a low bullsh*t tolerance. I learned so much more from them than I am from my BSN instructors now.

My BSN instructors were more interested in keeping their own rear ends away from the department head, as she was known as one of those who destroys all in her path.

My BSN instructors were more interested in keeping their own rear ends away from the department head, as she was known as one of those who destroys all in her path.

Oh yes. The drama, politics and backstabbing in academia closely resemble the politics, drama and backstabbing one finds on the floor and at the corporate level.

It's all the same no matter where you go.

+ Add a Comment