thinkingitover

I am, or was, a 33-year-old nursing student at Montgomery College, Maryland. I had a teacher who really had it in for me because I am guy with an education. When I complained to the director of nursing I got nothing but deceit and push back. It's a totally crazy story. I filed a complaint with the college about it last week. It should be posted on www.montgomerycollegenursing.com very soon.

I had a horrible experience at Montgomery College in Spring 2009. I have a graduate degree and several years of professional experience. I was in the first semester and my clinical instructor (Robin Flanary) made it clear that she was going to fail me regardless of what I did. I honestly think it is because I am guy with an education. I finally complained and took it all the way to the director of nursing (Nubile). She gave the me the option of either mediating or allowing me to drop and repeat the following semester (this way I wouldn't have to sit out a semester). So I dropped. When I contacted her over the summer about re-enrolling for the fall I was told that I had "misunderstood." Last week I filed a complaint with the college. A copy fo the complaint is scheduled to be posted on the website: www.montgomerycollegenursing.com in the next couple of days. I think you can probably get a descent education there but you better figure out who to avoid. And if you have problems, don't count on anybody bailing you out.

This is a topic I would love to talk people more about. I began nursing school this past spring and had serious problem with my clinical instructor. I realized she was clearly going to flunk me regardless of what I did. Feeling that I was being treated unfairly I went to the director of nursing who suggested I either have some sort of negotiated intervention with the prof or retake the 8 hour fundamental course the following semester. Under the college's normal policies I would have to sit out a semester and reapply if I dropped but the director offered to put me on a special list which would allow me to retake in the fall. Given that my psyche had unraveled by this point and I had not faith in the negotiation would work out (clincial instructors have all the power), I decided to drop. I contacted the director a few weeks ago to confirm that day for registration to find out she had changed her mind. So now I'm out of the program figuring out my next move. Do you have any ideas on how I might go about telling my story? Who can I complain to?

My experience with nursing school has been awful! I am a career changer and enrolled in an associate's program this spring. Some of the teachers in the program were very nice, unfortunately I drew the clinical instructor from HELL! I realized too little, too late that she was never going to pass and was a master when it came to tearing down people's psyche. She was nasty to everybody but I seemed to get a particularly nasty dose. I think it's probably bc I am guy with an education who reminded her too much of the doctors or some other male figures who had mistreated her. Honestly, it took me a long time to see it, but in retrospect it seems very obvious. Here is my account of the experience from another posting: I'm a 34-yr-old male who has been working on a nursing degree for about the past two years. This past spring I finally started a nursing program at a local junior college but ended up having to withdraw bc I had a clinical instructor who was clearly going to do everything in her power to fail me. Granted, she was nasty to everyone but seemed to get a particularly large dose I suspect because I am an overeducated white guy (Not that I can prove it). For instance, during a clinical exam on wound changing she had my sim-man vomit in the middle of it. No one else in the entire program was given this sort of curve ball nor was it ever discussed during instruction. Everyone else simply had to follow sterile procedure. When I went to re-take the exam, she decided to not record the it (a violation of department practice) and also decided to be in the room with me critiquing me all the way. Like my classmates I was also getting berated for not knowing techniques that we hadn't been taught; sometimes she would blankly walk away and ignore when I was in the middle of a question; at one point she even sabotaged me by giving our strongest student, a paramedic whom she had ordered me with, too much work for us to be able to collaborate. This was the last the straw. It was when I realized she was not going to pass me, or at the very least was going to throw every obstacle possible in my way. At the same time, she could be a good instructor when she wanted to. She really knew her stuff and took it seriously. I toughed which much difficulty early on, but was really starting to crack by the middle of the semester. When I finally went to complain to the administration, I got quite a bit of subtle and blatant push back. I was able to convince them to let me repeat the class in the fall (this was there idea of a concession). Normally, I would have had to sit out a semester and reapply to the program. Of course now there is some question as whether they are going to hold up their end of the bargain. In the end I can say that it was one of the nastiest and most de-motivating experiences of my life. It's odd- I have no doubt in my ability to complete the program; I just feel deflated. The thing is, the more I talk to people the more I hear stories of nurse-bullies. In fact everyone in nursing seems to have had some sort of interaction with a really nasty nurse. It's left me with a frightening insight into the profession: If you're a sadist- someone who really enjoys other people's pain- nursing is great place to hide out; you can be the one who is constantly in control and still live under society's moral cloak as someone who cares for the needy. I do NOT think all nurses are like that. I do suspect it is part of what contributes a power-obsessed hospital culture that inflicts a lot of emotional damage on those who work in it. On a personal level it leaves me posing the question of whether I want to continue my pursuits of nursing. Do I want to suffer two years of insult in a program that seems hell bent on throwing obstacles up at every turn only so that I can be part of what is often a hostile work environment? On a more philosphical level, I wonder how health care and its education system got to be this way. Is it the result of too much stress from the overemphasis on acute care or is it something else?