So I have heard time and time again from nursing professors and clinical adjuncts that "4.0 students often have a hard time transitioning to the floor, B or C students make better nurses". While I totally get that there are some people out there that are so cerebral that they don't do well on the floor, I think this blanket statement is a bunch of bunk.
I bring this up because I am a 4.0 student. I am also involved in clubs and student groups, volunteer outside of school, and often get complimented in clinicals. However, even with that I still hear the comment over and over that A students don't make as good of nurses as B and C nurses.
What do you nurses who are actually out there on the floor think?
Most of us "hit a wall" at some point in our lives. For some it is nursing school: for others it's the transition period: etc. The fact that it happens is not what counts -- but how we react to it defines who we are.
Thank you for the articulate and thorough reply. I especially like the bold part, as I agree that people tend not to deal well with adversity until they have experienced it. I think A,C, and D may apply to me, at least in part. But, it is good to think of those things now so I can start to address them and try to make my transition easier :-)
I wrote a post but for some reason said I wasn't logged on.
So instead of a long post ... which may be considered tr;dl, I'll try to sum up...
Nursing school isn't about getting all As. You can know every disease process and every drug therapeutic and adverse effects. But how do you react if a patient refuses, becomes violent, bites your arm and punches you in the gut? It may not even be that extreme. How do you convince the alzheimers patient to take his or her medications? I know some students in my class who are A students ...and during our nursing home rotation some of them said they hate dealing with the elderly and want to work with children. After hearing that a few times I said, "if you cannot communicate with an older person why to take their medicine, how will you handle a child with leukemia should says to you - why did God do this to me?"
I think some professors have this wrongful perception that A students are snobbish and cannot adapt well to "on the fly" circumstances. Keep in mind you are one student who may have a unique ability to relate to every person no matter what age with exceptional academic talent....but clinical instructors have seen hundreds of students in their experience.
Secondly, older students (like myself) have a large diversity of experience to bank off of. If I was a single traditional student, I would be involved in student groups and clubs. But they are limited in helping you develop your leadership style and communication skills. Think about it: you are communicating with people your own age in all those groups. In my previous career for 10 years, I had to learn to communicate with children, college students, young dults, mid-life and elderly. Each is very unique group. Young adults, for example, want just the facts. When dealing with elderly, be prepared to listen to a story or tell a story. These are just examples.
When in class, I get so sick of hearing about leadership styles and mission statements and communication strategies. I am in my 40s now....I've had a career that honed in on these skills.
Just an FYI, even medical schools are adapting interview techniques to evaluate how you react to different scenarios. Health care is becoming more about holistic care and relational skills having equal footing with clinical skills.
My instructors have said A students do not necessarily make the best students. That is different than saying they do not make good students.
So to ease any angst or concern, realize the clinical instructors have seen this,scenario hundreds of times. Grades are not as nearly as important as being able to think through complications and how to relate to people on the floor and learning how to build a lot of trust in a very short amount of time. This statement comes from an older student with a 3.5
GPA with a family and a full time job, who is also thinking about returning in a few years for NP.
In my area, most places don't even ask for your transcript as you need to provide it to your board of nursing for licensure. Employers are only concerned with your license and job experience.
I personally had trouble with school because the exams and lectures weren't reflective of my learning style (power point lectures with 2 multiple choice exams for most courses). Regardless of how hard I studied, I only got 'B's. However, many of my classmates turned for me for answers to questions. I was taught to think critically and did well in clinical situations and on papers. This also translated into needing multiple attempts to pass the NCLEX (I over think multiple choice questions that are looking for the standard if A then B format). Despite all that I was able to transition to working as a nurse without too much trouble.
Grades don't directly dictate how one will perform as a nurse. If anything, it shows how well you retain the material and can handle the testing styles. Most professors of large courses don't apply the universal design of learning to their teaching methods. If you are able to pass and practice safely/ competently, that's all that matters. Clinical performance should be 'more' indicative of how a nurse will be professionally starting out than GPA.
Like the nursing process, you shouldn't focus on generalizations but on the individual nurses themselves and their strengths/ weaknesses :)
Getting straight A's, a 4.0 GPA, being in honor societies is great if I wanna patch up my new grad portfolio and apply for advanced degrees later on, but my performance as a tech at work DURING my program is what will determine whether I'm hired on the unit as a new grad or not.
Let's say I graduated with a 3.0 and now I want to go further with my studies. They usually ask for your resume and a recommendation letter from your current supervisor. I think her words regarding my work ethic would really help me get in as opposed to a 4.0 track record and mediocre clinical performance.
2. Sometimes students are getting lower grades because they're working while in school- often as a CNA or something similar. Meanwhile A students MAY have been able to get such good grades because they focused solely on school, thus, clinicals were their only patient contact experiences.
No truth to it whatsoever. My nursing instructors repeated the same BS, too...except they claimed that A students spend so much time on their studies that they don't acquire social skills; B and C students allegedly take a more relaxed approach and do social things, supposedly making them better with people. Ha! The B students in my class spent at least twice as much time on their homework/studying as I did. Many of them struggled in clinical. And guess what? Many of them either never got jobs as nurses or left the profession within 1-2 years! They were B students not because they were spending time acquiring other useful skills, but because they were struggling to keep up. Sometimes being an A student just means you either get the material with less effort, and/or you are good enough at critical thinking to figure things out with less prep work. It is NOT an indicator that you're too "cerebral" a thinker to work in the real world. Success on the floor totally depends on your attitude, skill development, and work ethic. Btw, your performance in clinical is not a great predictor of your performance on the job someday. Totallt different balls of wax.
I agree it's a persistent misleading generalization.
I was always a high performing student academically and did feel the the sting of this not-so-nice putdown. Even growing up I learned the "smart" kid in class is not always rewarded by their classmates :)
But what is true is that I'm intelligent in many ways. The same smarts that garnered me good grades allowed to pick up needed nursing skills and behaviors quickly on the nursing unit.
I was chomping at the bit to get off orientation because...I was ready. I learned as fast or faster than others how to handle doctors and patients in all ways. Why? Because I observe and learn.
I recognized patterns, such as "hmm... I'm noticing that the hematocrit is always about 3X the hemoglobin" and "my patient's K is rising..they are not on potassium..hmm..it's the ace inhibitor" (at which point I told the nephrologist, who promptly changed his medication).
There are political smarts (necessary if you plan to advance), people smarts, common sense smarts....we are all so unique, and I believe, differently gifted.
I don't like to be painted with a broad brush, so I try not to think that way. Some people who have zero education are far wiser than me. Here's my vote: let's stop this dividing language.
In general, that is usually true b/c people that are good with books don't always do well with hands on and vice versa. Like all blanket statements there are always exceptions to the rules. I was an excellent student and I have been told I am an excellent nurse.
I also hear the same thing from my professor's because I am a 4.0 student as well. I don't think making straight A's makes anyone a bad nurse, if anything it will make someone an incredible nurse who is aware and will question thing's. I have worked as a CNA in a SICU at a Level 1 Trauma center for 4 years now and honestly, I think that's what has helped me the most, but I also study all the time, I tutor for Pathophysiology and Nursing Foundations Lab. I've had nothing but compliments at clinical and two weeks ago, I impressed a Trauma Surgeon by finding things wrong with my patient that had gone undetected by other nurse's. So, to say 4.0 nursing students struggle, is a big misconception. Perhaps if you were a 4.0 nursing student and had no reference and didn't separate "NCLEX hospital" from the "real world hospital", you may struggle a little bit because you'll see things done differently than you had learned. But, I believe if you can critically think and able to apply those amazing grades, then you will make a FANTASTIC nurse. So next time someone says that to you, smile and tell them to "watch and see". Good luck and keep up the strong work!
joseyjo
111 Posts
Thank you for the articulate and thorough reply. I especially like the bold part, as I agree that people tend not to deal well with adversity until they have experienced it. I think A,C, and D may apply to me, at least in part. But, it is good to think of those things now so I can start to address them and try to make my transition easier :-)