In my school you can NEVER EVER challenge a professor and have a smooth sail onward. One thing i've noticed is that the faculty will always support their own before they support the students. In other words you cannot challenge a professors' competency and expect the faculty to take sides with you, the student. IT''S UNHEARD OF. I've had so many horror stories in my school, it's ridiculous. There was a student that was picked on so much by a clinical instructor. The instructor would go as far as asking the other students to challenge her competency and how unfit she was to be a nursing student. One day, during our clinical rotation, the professor (who was obviously having a bad day) kept criticizing the student and embarassing her. The student looked the professor in the eye and said..."you have always wanted me to fail and no matter what i do, i will never be a good student in your eyes. and for that i quit"....The student walked out of the hospital that day and that was the end of her goals and dreams as a nurse. She never came back to nursing school and chose a different career path.
There was another student who reported a professor to the faculty board and not only did she fail the class, she was unable to graduate with everyone else and while all her classmates her becoming licensed nurses and working, she's forced to wait out a whole semester and take the class over again with her juniors.
In my school people fail in clinicals, not class, not exams, CLINICALS.
Sometimes the issue lies with the students, but sometimes, the issue lies with the clinical instructor and that's the sad part