I am having a VERY HARD time with the skills portion of my nursing program. I'm an A student normally, excellent study skills, responsible, and organized. This is my 1st semester in a RN program, but I feel so lost.
Today, I just finished a clinical lab skills test, and I really did a poor job.... I need help!
The way they do it here is have you buy a textbook and a different company's videos. You're given a list of skills each week. You must figure out where they are in the book/videos and learn them completely on your own, with nobody demonstrating them. The book contradicts the video, and both might be contradicted by tidbits they give us in the lecture class. Then we go in for Test Out and get deficiency points if we don't know the skill well enough. It's as if we're set up for failure, not success.
I can't learn skills from a book. The video is a little help but it doesn't cover all the skills or it shows some things in a different ("incorrect") way.
The lab is open for us to practice on our own. However, in two weeks I've had two different lab partners totally flake out on me. If others want to be C-students and barely squeak by, that's their choice..... but me being forced on depending on uninterested people is killing me.
Is this normal: to send students home with only a textbook, in order to do procedures and hands-on skills?
Is it normal NEVER to demo ANY skills to students first?
I feel a bit resentful and abandoned. If they're not teaching the material they're testing on, why am I paying them tuition? Why should I be scolded by them when I do poorly when questioned?
It also doesn't help that access to their (small) lab is extremely limited, and it's been closed most of the times I've dropped by. It is undersized for the number of students (70) who use it every week. When it is open, sometimes every seat is filled, and we're waiting in long lines for a turn at the mannequin, lift, and other equipment.
I am going to meet with my Nursing adviser for help. I don't want to graduate still feeling I don't really know what I am doing. Any suggestions on what to tell her? Is this just how nursing schools work? Am I wrong for being concerned?