Programs that don't care about their students.

[Onik]

Over the past decade we have seen a rise in the need for healthcare professionals, particularly nursing. Programs offering degrees leading to RN certification have seen increased applications across the board. While these nursing programs benefit from the added income of more students and use it to build new facilities or acquire new technologies, it seems that the actual students are often the lowest priority. In addition, due to the nature of the profession many of the teaching faculty do not hold doctoral degrees and/or have no formal training in education - which may be part of the reason the academic structure of some nursing programs are lacking.

Everyone knows nursing is hard, but it seems to have been made more difficult arbitrarily. With many nursing programs reporting a 60%+ failure rate, the students cannot be the only issue. Students in nursing programs report bullying and favoritism by professors more than any other major. I have read numerous accounts on this forum of students being denied due process - being dismissed from a program without explanation or being given a poor grade or clinical review without being given a reason why, etc. I have even witnessed this behavior myself. Additionally there typically are much stricter requirements on nursing students. For instance, a student in another department can typically miss a week of class if they need surgery without issue but in nursing that often leads to expulsion/repeating a course. I know nursing students have clinical that they may miss in that situation but other colleges have internships and placements for on the job experience and still do not typically penalize the student for a medical issue.

The nurse practitioner I see for my "lady checkups" has a daughter that wants to go into nursing when she graduates from high school, and she is encouraging her not to because she believes "nursing schools are too corrupt these days". That wasn't the first time someone working in healthcare has told me that. It seems to me that there should be some way to hold these programs accountable when they take advantage of or mistreat students. Unlike what I have experienced in other programs, nursing programs seem distinctly inclined at evading the truth and eluding action against them. I sincerely hope that the situations many of you have spoken about improve and that the mistreatment of student nurses at those institutions declines. I wouldn't want the next generation of nursing faculty and mentors to show as much disdain for teaching and their students as I have seen in the past few years.

[JBudd, MSN]

Nursing programs have different requirements than other programs, even though their work is called "interning". When you graduate from a nursing program, we are guaranteeing that you have had a minimum number of clinical hours and lab time. Missing those hours is a real problem, especially with the accreditation schools must undergo. We are also responsible for knowing that we have not let an unsafe person out, to care for patients who value that "most trusted" rating that nurses get in popular polls. Yes, we are stricter!

There are requirements for instructors educational level. BONs check this as well, my school requires a minimum of a Masters to be in the class room, or within a certain number of hours of graduating with that masters.

As far as bullying and favoritism, well, people are people everywhere. My school takes such allegations very seriously. I think when you are choosing a school of nursing, you have to look very carefully at the reputation, pass rates, hire rates, etc. Let the buyer beware. My school cares greatly for our students, we have student reps at faculty meetings, give people second chances, remediation as needed, but you don't pass if you aren't qualified.

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

I don't know which program you're referring to, but I can assure you that there are still programs that have faculty who DO actually care. And, contrary to the biased opinion you seem to be entertaining, there are students who do actually graduate and go on to be great nurses. The program I am in takes great measures to ensure we are successful and attempts to identify our weak points so they can help us work through it. They have a high graduation and NCLEX pass rate, and they are always looking for ways to adjust the program if there are obvious issues or concerns.

As for the bullying and favoritism you mention, I find that a lot of the posters who find themselves victims of these incidents provide a very one-sided story. It seems they find every criticism or any indication that they are doing less than average in their classes or program as a source of their bullying/favoritism. But of course, you are entitled to your own opinion.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Onik: "Over the past decade we have seen a rise in the need for healthcare professionals, particularly nursing."

Just wanted to address this quickly: over the past decade there is NO particular need for new nurses. The national market is saturated with them; the unemployment rate for new grads keeps growing every year. One look around the boards will show you many frustrated threads, angry posts from new grads who cannot find a job anywhere, and wonder why they were told 'Nurses are NEEDED'!

Food for thought.