_Kaneohe

Kimmy, First of all, I am so sorry to see the sarcasm in the responses to you. This is not helpful, obviously, and reflects the "dark side" of nursing (characterized by bullying, judgement, lack of support for each other). Also not helpful are the people encouraging you to lie to your instructor, especially when nursing is known to be "the most trusted profession". You were smart enough to get into nursing school and it doesn't mean you will not be an amazing nurse because your family is your #1 priority. You will unlikely be on your own deathbed, one day, wishing you had studied more... you family SHOULD be your #1 priority. That doesn't mean, though, that you are able to be there all the times they want you to right now, which I am sure you fully understand. Having said all of this, unfortunately your instructor may be an amazing nurse but she doesn't sound like an especially amazing EDUCATOR. You should be able to seek guidance and encouragement from your faculty. If she were encouraging you to tap into spiritual beliefs as a source of support during school that would be one thing... to imply that you carry too much guilt because of some preconceived notion on her part about Catholics is ridiculous. Unless she is a psych NP she has no business speculating on why you feel bad about spending less time with your kids or have "a lot" of guilt. You have choices to make, as do all of us. Unless you are about ready to flunk out of school the likely "best" choice is to do what you need to do to graduate. Yes, you will miss birthday parties and bedtime stories. That's hard. However, Sometimes getting a "B" because you choose to stop studying and spend an evening with your family is worth it. There is probably a tolerable balance in there, that allows you to finish school and also feel like a good mom. I wish you all the best and am sorry that our colleagues or future colleagues were not more positive in their responses. There are undoubtedly many, many students who come through your instructor's office who do NOT have what it takes. Their priorities are sports teams or boyfriends or something other than school. If you were consistently performing poorly or she had to seek you out to discuss you test that would be different. She is probably sick of feeling like students are not "giving their all" to the program (and, especially, HER class). I am sure that is frustrating for her. There are other ways to encourage, motivate, and challenge besides being rude, disrespectful, or generally negative... thus the saying that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Good luck at home and school!

You're awesome :) I wish I had clinical with you.

I am a non-traditional student (I have an MS in another field and have been working for many years) returning to school to study nursing. I have been truly shocked by the lack of willingness of some nurses at clinical sites to share information, allow observation, or merely interact with students. While I have heard the "nurses eat their young" nonsense, this needs to change. The most trusted profession! Perhaps the most caring! Yet modeling lack of respect, judgment, and intolerance? What?! We are not stupid and we are not lazy. We want to be like you! We want to know what you know! On the other hand, of course, are those nurses deserving of special gratitude this Thanksgiving. Thank you, so much, for explaining what you were doing so we could connect the dots between the textbook and this amazing field! Thank you for allowing us to watch when you performed a simple procedure that was new to us! Thank you for telling the patient that she was "lucky" because we were there to help take care of her that day! Thank you for the patience that it took to walk us through and observe our first injection! Thank you for the smile! Thank you for the words of encouragement! Thank you for sharing the story of your own nursing school days with us! Thank you for not treating us like children when we ask "stupid" questions or start putting the patient's briefs on backwards. Thank you for allowing us to perform the controls on the glucometers at the beginning of your shift... yes, we are impressed that you can do it so much more quickly but it gives us confidence to even do simple tasks around the unit. We want to feel valuable! And the hugest thanks of all goes to the nurse "aides" who are actually RNs who can't yet get nursing jobs. You seem to be most humble, kind, and willing to teach us. Thank you so very much. We hope that as you move up that you retain that kindness. It means so much to us. Ironically, you are the nurses- not even working as such- who often model the values of nursing best. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Thanks for such great and rapid responses,everyone! I think we can make a wonderful gift basket combining these things. Hope any students with whom you are working read this and get these great things for you, too! :)

Hi. I am a student and we would like to thank the nurses, aids, and others working where we are doing our current clinicals. I would rather not just keep bringing more baked goods to these sites. Granted many of these folks like "treats" but the holidays are already approaching and I am sure there will already be too much sugar and fat around. Any thoughts on what you would appreciate from students you help? (It goes without saying that we don't have much money but would love to share our heartfelt appreciation). Thanks much!

At least your brother, Nurse Bob, covers his ink with a lab coat. No wonder you can't get a real job!