Well, as my screen name says, I lurk-- a lot! Anyway, I am preparing to write my final paper for nursing school, it is a wrap-up of our final preceptorship and our impressions of the nursing workforce we are about to enter. We are supposed to share our thoughts about furthering our education, how we have witnessed nurses being treated in the workplace, how we felt our school experience was, etc. My paper has kinda veered off on a little tangent (which I am probably going to remove) because one thing that has stuck out in my mind is the way I have seen my fellow nursing students communicate on our class web program, and I see it here on a daily basis as well. I am talking about basic communication skills as far as the written word is concerned.
Is it a trend today, or are my classmates really so deficient in language skills that they can not write a professional, comprehendable sentence? I am not talking about spelling errors, gosh knows we all make those-- I am talking about stuff like this:
"i dont know what u all r talkinabout, but there crazy the way they grade us in nursing school!"
Some of my classmates actually respond to discussion questions from our instructor in this manner. Whatever, to each his own--but my question is, how can a person be taken seriously as a professional if they can not write in basic comprehensible language? And in reading the message board here, I am kinda stunned how many times I just can't understand what the heck someone is trying to say because it just doesn't make any sense!
The more important question to me is this: Do people write like this in real life? Are nurses out there writing notes like this, and communicating with other professionals in this manner? Or is it just something people do on message boards? Do any of you run into this in the workplace?
I'm not talking about simple spelling and/or grammar errors(Tweety, I love your sig about spelling!:)). In fact, in 1st semester my instructor gave me a 98% instead of a 100% on a paper, and she made a note to me that my "grammer was incorrect in one sentence.":uhoh3: Yes, she made a spelling error while correcting me, but I got her point. But if she had written this instead: "ur grammer wuz not write," I probably would have not understood what she was referring to.
So, do nurses communicate this way in the workplace, or is it just confined to the internet?
*** I'm not looking to make fun of spelling or grammar errors, we all make them, I really am just curious if this is the way nurses communicate in real life!***
Specializes in PICU, Nurse Educator, Clinical Research.
I hate to tell the members of the spelling and grammar police this, but I can point out at least one mistake in every one of your posts. Not that I will, of course. I consider them errors, not indications of inferior intelligence, as are my own mistakes.
mercyteapot,
I certainly don't think my posts are anywhere near perfect- I'm sure every post I've ever written has at least one error in it. Personally, I'm not talking about the occasional mistake in a casual setting like this- I'd be the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. I'm specifically talking about the lack of attention to proper spelling, grammar and usage in formal writing.
I have a friend who teaches composition at the college level, and he often returns assignments three or four times before a student actually achieves a passing score. He said that if he didn't do that, 75% of his students would fail the course. The problem, according to him, is that the majority of these students believe it's not important to write correctly.
My gripe isn't with errors in online posting. I have a problem with butchering the English language in formal writing.
I suppose I've gone off on a tangent from the original point of this thread.
Wow, does this hit a nerve with me! I, too, am not going to claim that my posts are 100% free of typos or spelling errors; although I proofread them I still may have something slip by. Not the end of the world, in my opinion.
However, I CANNOT STAND when I find posts full of 'u r' instead of 'you are'. Exactly how much extra time does it take to type out the actual word? Or is "textmes" language now so prevalent that there's some kind of acceptability for it?
I can only imagine one of these students having to send a clear, concise email with a professional tone to an instructor. Would it come with an online slang dictionary link?
As for the misuse of language altogether, it's another peeve of mine, I'll admit. Again, it's not that I'm an elitist, I don't require that anyone type with the proficiency of Dickens, but I *DO* like to find that I'm able to translate whatever the writer is saying without having to read it four times and then guess.
I once assumed that the person with whom I was corresponding was using English as a second language. Had to be, from what I was reading. And yet, sadly, turns out it is the person's FIRST language. I can only imagine her charting skills!
I also like when people claim to get all A's in school, or at least high grades overall, and then write like this. How can this be? What kind of school program allows someone barely literate to get high grades?
Ok, time to move on from this for now...it's only going to annoy me further
Dano, please see some humour in the posts, please! Yes, there is a time and place for "shortcuts"; but in some cases, we do have to wonder.......
Suebird :)
Good grief, people! If there's anyone with a sense of humor (humour?) it's me. The your/you're is just a big pet peeve of mine.
It's all good.
I think we're all having too much fun picking on grammar in this thread. As mentioned time and time again, it's fine to make a couple errors. It's when you make so many that your point becomes lost or your wording is that of the typical 14 y/o kid.
Ok, showing my age, but surely it takes more thought and attention to purposely type U R for you are, l8r for later, etc??
How hard is it to type l a t e r???
Simple typos or misspellings in this forum don't bother me, but those deliberate misuses of the language DO.
Dang, I'm old.
I personally have wondered about the all caps posts...with every word capitalized. Does someone who does this really hit the shift key with every new word or something? I can't imagine doing that, seems like alot of extra work to type. :)
I am a nursing instructor and have had students who are borderline illiterate. One was getting extra assistance with exams, etc because she had a "learning disability". I work for a community college that offers a degree program jointly with a University and the CC is huge on inclusion- they do not want any barriers to admissions. While I am fine with all the extra help anyone needs while in PUBLIC school, once you are choosing a profession you have to play to your strengths. If you are going to mis-spell drug names, take 20 minutes to write a 5 line Nurses Note and it is still riddled with errors, how on earth will you deliver safe care? She failed my clinical course for a multitude of reasons (plagiarism, lied about giving meds to a pt, etc.) and she is now out of the program but she spent 6 years pursuing this. I feel like the "inclusion" rules robbed her of many dollars and precious time. Not to mention forced me to be involved in the unpleasantness surrounding her failure.
I personally have wondered about the all caps posts...with every word capitalized. Does someone who does this really hit the shift key with every new word or something? I can't imagine doing that, seems like alot of extra work to type. :)
That annoys me as well, but I read (on Allnurses I believe) that some people's systems do that automatically. Not sure if it's the computer, the browser, or what.
That annoys me as well, but I read (on Allnurses I believe) that some people's systems do that automatically. Not sure if it's the computer, the browser, or what.
It's a 'sticky keys' option, that winds up popping up if you hold the shift key down for a long time. My desktop computer has it, and it's a pain in the rear, but it's not that hard to fix (takes about 2 seconds).
Anyway, I am preparing to write my final paper for nursing school, it is a wrap-up of our final preceptorship and our impressions of the nursing workforce we are about to enter. We are supposed to share our thoughts about furthering our education, how we have witnessed nurses being treated in the workplace, how we felt our school experience was, etc. My paper has kinda veered off on a little tangent (which I am probably going to remove) because one thing that has stuck out in my mind is the way I have seen my fellow nursing students communicate on our class web program, and I see it here on a daily basis as well. I am talking about basic communication skills as far as the written word is concerned.
rach_nc_03
372 Posts
mercyteapot,
I certainly don't think my posts are anywhere near perfect- I'm sure every post I've ever written has at least one error in it. Personally, I'm not talking about the occasional mistake in a casual setting like this- I'd be the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. I'm specifically talking about the lack of attention to proper spelling, grammar and usage in formal writing.
I have a friend who teaches composition at the college level, and he often returns assignments three or four times before a student actually achieves a passing score. He said that if he didn't do that, 75% of his students would fail the course. The problem, according to him, is that the majority of these students believe it's not important to write correctly.
My gripe isn't with errors in online posting. I have a problem with butchering the English language in formal writing.
I suppose I've gone off on a tangent from the original point of this thread.