2bRNatasha85

Thank you but her office hours are only 30 minutes after class. She's not flexible at all but I do sometimes go late to the other class and try to see her. And really for the last time, I'm not blaming her. You need know the cause of a problem in order to fix it. The only reason I mentioned her in the first place is because I was looking for ideas on how to work with a difficult professor when you don't know how to. I've had difficult professors before. In fact, I have two others right now that I completely dislike (and at the beginning of the semester thought they were going to be my biggest challenge) but I was able to figure out their teaching style so I'm doing well in their classes. My pharm is a little different cause I can't get a good read on how she thinks or comes up with her questions. Instead of criticism, I was hoping for sound advice on how to best prepare when you don't know exactly what a professor expects. Oh, and for the record. I just found out another class of students issued a complaint against thsi teacher. Apparently every student in that class is failing. I know you guys on here want to make it seem like I'm the problem not her. But there's a difference b/w being difficulty for the sake of being difficult vs. being difficult for a reason. I may not like my other two professors but at least I get why they're they way they are.

Thank you. I've actually started doing that and I agree. It's very helpful!

1) I’m tired of people on this forum making it seem like I am blaming the professor. In order to solve a problem, you must first findout what is causing the problem. Whether anyone here agrees with it or not,she is a part of the problem. But I am not new to school, I’m aware thatdifficult teachers exist and I’ve always found a way to work around it. Unfortunately, since she is so new to teaching,I feel she changes her style so much that I can’t figure it out. For instance,I showed her the index cards I made for our previous exam and asked her to go over them with me and see what, if anything, I did wrong. She picked out 10 that she proceeded to angrily tell me that I wasted time making and had I paidmore attention in class, I would’ve known better. However, although she doesn’tallow you to record her class, I secretly do it (I know it’s wrong but I’vefound in previous classes that having them there to listen to over time and time again has greatlyhelped me and with my failing grades in this class, I decided to take this desperate risk). Just to make sure I wasn’t making a mistake, I listened again to those tapes she went into great detail duringthe classes about those 10 medications. Not to mention from day 1, her motto has always been “once it’s in thetextbook, it’s fair game.” As a rule, I tend to take hardprofessors b/c I find it easier to figure out their teaching style than easier ones who try to appease the students. But I can’t figure her out. Which is whyI came to this forum in the first place. I know I can’t be the only who’s everhad this issue. It’s sad that so many here choose to be critical instead oftrying to help someone who is clearly trying to help themselves. 2) You actually did give me some good advice and I thank you. As far as finding anon-nursing book, I’ve actually decided to hire two tutors—one that is a seasoned nursing professor and one that is a pharmacist. It’s too early to tellbut so far I feel like they’ve given me some ideas that can be useful.

Thank you for giving me advice I can acutally use.

She's actually not. I do well on those question bank questions supplied by the textbook. She makes up her own questions.

1) When 7 out of 11 students are failing--two of whom are LPNs & one of whom is in jeopardy of losing her academic scholarship b/c of this one class--then some blame lies on the teacher, especially since she takes pride and brags about the fact that her exams are so difficult that most students in the class are failing. She’s a great teacher and I feel I learn a lot from her in class but her exams are unfair. She herself has acknowledged the fact that when she goes over the exams with me, she can tell that I’ve studied for them and I do in fact know my stuff. 2) I've accepted the fact that I will no longer be a straight A student since it's never enough time to learn all that I need to know for my courses. However, if you think back to your days of nursing school, I'm sure that even you have to find it preposterous for a student to memorize every single medication mentioned in the textbook, even if she did not go it over in class. No nurse no matter what knows every single medication. And this is not laziness on my part since every med I come across in clinical that is new to me, I make index cards with information on them to study from. I have friends in other classes who are told prior to the exams which medications they have to know. That makes much more sense to me instead of stating “there are 100 medications in the chapters. You need to know all of them.” Furthermore, effective learning is diminished when students are more worried about memorizing every single fact about every single medication instead of understanding exactly how it works. 3) While I do admit that I find her exams extremely unfair, I am also aware that I have no choice but to find a way to cope with it. Hence the reason I posted this on this forum. If you knew prior that all you can offer me was criticism instead of looking back at your time and giving me useful advice on how to best cope with my situation, then you shouldn’t have posted a response.

Congrats. I am currently failing Pharm I by 7 points and it is scaring me. I don't like my professor and am overwhelmed by the amount of work I have to do in Pharm, which to me is more than any other class. I can't change these circumstances so I am desperately trying to find a way to work with what I have to get those 7 points. Hopefully, I'll be able to do so.

I'm a first semester clinical student whose average in Pharm I is a 70. I need at least a 77 to pass. I have 2 more chances to bring that up but one of those chances is a cumulative final. I think I know what my two problems are but I need help in figuring out a way of overcoming them. Any advice you can offer will greatly be appreciated as I am really scared that I might fail. 1) My professor is new and is a pharmacist by trade. Judging from comments she's made, I get the sense she doesn't feel nurses are responsible and intelligent. Thus, she purposely makes her exams difficult to ensure those who pass are adequate enough to do the job. While I understand her reasoning, I feel she doesn't calibrate her exams to our level. More seasoned professors of mine have taken into consideration that we are new to this NCLEX style of questioning and calibrate their exams to our level. She makes them so difficult. I tend to do well when I take my study guide questions that come with our textbooks but hers are so beyond hard that I always end up doing bad. 2) There is too much information and not enough time. I have at least one exam per week and b/c I am a slow learner, I need to focus from morning to night on those exams, which leaves little time to focus on Pharm. One thing my professor does is include almost every medication mention in the chapters on her exams so I quite frankly need more time to basically memorize the entire extbook. I would say cut back on studying for my other exams but truth be told, I went from being a straight A student to now being a B- students. I'm afraid cutting back on studying for my other exams will jeopardize my standing in my other classes.

No I definitely need more practice and am looking into getting a tutor to give me more individual attention but I do think the stethoscope I have is just making it worse.

I wish I had time to practice. I'm sure if I did I'd eventually learn the difference but my clinical professor has warned me if I don't have it down by my next clinical day (Wednesday), then she's going to fail me.

The making friends with the floor nurse is really good advice. Thank you. One of the things my clinical professor does that I absolutely abhor is tell us "I cannot show you because I already know but you have to learn." Then she watches us do something and if we do it wrong, the next thing out of her mouth is her fear of you screwing up HER nursing license and she'll stop you and let one of the LPN students do it instead. It's completely unfair! As far as telling someone in my school, I'm seriously considering it.

Is it good for just heart and lung sounds? Can I use it for bowel sounds as well.

Thank you. I was wondering, as a nurse, what do you think of 3M Littmann Cardiology III Stethoscope. Although I do think the ultimate problem is me not being able to differentiate lung sounds, I find that the Littmann lightweight II S.E. stethoschope I have make sounds sound a little muffled.

I've just begun my clinical at school and I have a Littmann lightweight Ii S.E. stethoscope. I find that while it's fine for hearing heartbeats, I have difficulties hearing bowel sounds unless someone has just that second finished eating and I can't hear lung sounds whatsoever. In addition to that, I find the earpiece really irritates my ear, especially the right side. Also, I do have some hearing issues. It's kind of an issue because my clinical professor is threatening to fail me for not being able to hear lung sounds. I've heard that 3M Littmann Cardiology III Stethoscope was a great quality stethoscope but because of the price, I was hoping to get some feedback from nurses who've used it or are currently using it.

I think so.