SRNA with a problem, need some help fast!

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This is my first time posting so hello to everyone. As briefly as possible I want to explain my situation and hope I can receive some good advice. Here goes: I am a student in Phase I of a didactic program (state editted out to protect identity of program, edit by nilepoc). During the Fall and Spring semesters I had no problems passing the courses. We did, however lose 8 students due to being unable to end up with an overall 83% as a final grade. During Summer I we had a different instructor with different rules for testing and believe me when I say that there were numerous problems with the test questions. For example we were given questions on material that had never been covered in lectures or reading assigments, misnumbered test questions, ambiguous essay questions, the list goes on and on. Sadly, I was told I did not receive a passing grade (missed the 83% by just a few points) and that quickly was gone from the program. I am in a grade appeal process at this moment. My question is this: Is there anyone who may have experienced a similar situation and if so what did you do? Also, if I am not allowed to return is it possible to get into another program considering my situation? Thanks in advance for any responses.

This is a note to explain my need to edit out the identifying information in the first post of this thread. quailoh it is not a good idea to identify yourself in a public forum if you are trying to work with your progam to get back in. It is however a smart idea to seek advice from others, just try and do it more discretely in the future.

As far as your situation goes, you need to be humble as you aproach the apeals process. I was in a very similar situation and am now a CRNA. I worked with the system, and did not lash out at them. There is usually more to the story than can be conveyed in a public forum. You should tread lightly with your program and see if they can work with you.

As far as getting into other programs goes, you may find it incredibly difficult to get into another program, especially if you are seen as a loose cannon. As of now, you have been pretty reasonable, I am just trying to prevent you from damaging yourself in the eyes of the anesthesia programs.

All members of this and other forums need to remember that this site is public and that the schools read it as well. It is not hard to figure out who is who when you give yourself away with specifics of your program.

Good luck in your quest to remain an SRNA. It is possible to get around a momentary stumble, but you need to be careful how you aproach it.

Craig

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Specializes in CV Surgery Step-down.
You arn't speaking about jwk because he isn't a CRNA and he is professional enough to recognize an outstanding resource in another board and not get an inferiority complex while posting there. He's an AA and is the antithesis of a militant midlevel who despises those above him because of an bruised ego.

And how helpful could the 2nd poster be if they didn't even know what a SRNA is and obviously knew very little about the forum topic?

Obviously it was a missed opportunity on all of our parts to help inform/educate someone about the profession. DragonflyRN, the stickies at the beginning of this forum the pre-CRNA forum contain useful information about this type of advanced practice nurse.

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We need an 83% to pass too, but you would think that the school wouldn't want that many people to fail out. Eight people flunking out is a lot, and i would think that would look really bad to potential applicants who were considering attending there. Usually when we have an exam that everyone does poorly on, the instructors do an item analysis and throw out poorly written /ambiguous questions as needed. Maybe you and your fellow students could petition your instructors to do this as well. We are also allowed to retake one exam. I think if you are willing to work with your school then they will probably be willing to work with you as well.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

My program director and faculty members keep a very close eye on everyone's grades throughout the entire program. If they see that you are struggling in a particular class or have gotten a bad grade on a test, they will schedule a conference to find out what is going on and how they can help. If the problem is beyond repair, then they will generally suggest that you "go part-time", which basically means that you can continue taking the general MSN classes, but withdrawal from the anesthesia classes until the following year. By that time, you will have gotten a lot of extraneous classes out of the way (such as health policy, research, anatomy, etc....) and can spend your time next year focusing on your anesthesia classes with a less burdensome workload. Several of our students have taken this option and it seems to work out well. Also, our teachers will analyze and itemize each of our tests and if there is a question that a large majority of students missed, then they will usually throw that question out, because either A) the material was not taught well or B) the question was not well asked. This has been really helpful as well. Hopefully you can work with your program director and let them know that you are eager to succeed and do what it takes to get through the program. Pointing fingers and blaming the instructor will do no good your part I'm afraid. Best of luck to you!!!! :)

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I know of the school in which the poster is speaking and have heard from a couple of people from that program that they are having a pretty rough summer. There is a line between sucking it up and not receiving what you need to do well on the test (poorly written questions and such). I'll leave it at that.

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I appreciate everybody's comments and support. I know I risk being labeled as a whiner/complainer but that is not my intention. I have valid concerns and want to see them addressed. I am still in the fight and will do everything in my power to return to the program that I have worked very hard to succeed in.

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I have a feeling i may be familiar with your situation and even the school you are at. All the #'s are adding up. First of all in response to one of the posters, no one "gets flunked"....they flunk. (I do realize that there are exceptions to this and those should fully be played out in an appeal and any sort of prejudice should come out) As far as the people who failed out in the fall/spring...all struggled or had personal issues, big life events, etc. (and most had at least 1 C in the fall semester) One of the people who is being allowed to come back had significant family issues go wrong and i think that person will be fine if those issues are resolved.

The 3 people who failed the summer all (except one maybe) and that's a big maybe...struggled every semester and were always worried about whether they were going to get a B or C. I know all 3 of these people so this is not second hand information.

CRNA school is about total commitment and sacrifice. If you are not "all in", you are setting yourself up or failure. I don't want to mention too many details as to reveal the program (which in the opinion of most of the passing students) is quite excellent.

Back to the sacrifice and commitment....you can't bring up things about bad questions if everyone else (but 3) passed. I know for a fact (because i am in the class) that the instructor was very FAIR in throwing out bad questions. Even sometimes to my dismay because i usually got those right. (Go figure)

Also, you can't bring up things like commute times, class attendance policies (which are mandated by the federal government if you are borrowing federal funds), or i had to work one day a week to pay my bills. It's not always the right time to go back to school. We are all older, have kids, commitments, mortgages, etc. If you truly had some kind of crazy issue which does happen then the administration will understand. They have in the past. Does this mean that they should allow you to pass if you didn't know the material well enough? No, but i do think they would allow you to repeat. Yea i know it's a lot of money and it totally sucks, but this is life and sometimes crazy things happen that we have no control over it and sometimes we lose a butt-load of money because of it.

Bottom line...other programs will probably accept you depending on your circumstances. Remember this...they will call your director/asst. director because a lot of those people know eachother. So, while you are in the process of appealing, don't be rude, ugly, or burn any bridges. I have been quite disappointed about the way some people are handling things. I think everyone who fails wants to find as many places as possible to place the blame besides looking in the mirror first.

I know the original poster did not mention the school, but i just want everyone to realize that people that post on here aren't always telling the whole story. I am sorry for the rant but, I have just seen several posts sort of like this one and it always raises my suspicions. Now i know to trust my doubt.

If I totally mis-posted here and am thinking of the wrong state and wrong school please forgive, but this sounded all too familiar.:angryfire

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I know of the school in which the poster is speaking and have heard from a couple of people from that program that they are having a pretty rough summer. There is a line between sucking it up and not receiving what you need to do well on the test (poorly written questions and such). I'll leave it at that.

Dude...summer totally bites! I hear you lucky folks have had it quite nice. Good luck at clinical.

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many programs have a baseline avg that must be achieved to continue - i think NOT having one is sub-par ..

now - if 8 people were kicked out of one program in a year - does that need evaluated - yes... but... if you aren't making the grades- you shouldn't be there - my classmates as well as myself were made aware from the get go that we needed to know it all - and saying "i wasn't taught that...or it wasn't covered" is no excuse and will get you into trouble fast.

i hate to be hard-lined here - but it is an elite profession for a reason.

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many programs have a baseline avg that must be achieved to continue - i think NOT having one is sub-par ..

now - if 8 people were kicked out of one program in a year - does that need evaluated - yes... but... if you aren't making the grades- you shouldn't be there - my classmates as well as myself were made aware from the get go that we needed to know it all - and saying "i wasn't taught that...or it wasn't covered" is no excuse and will get you into trouble fast.

i hate to be hard-lined here - but it is an elite profession for a reason.

I agree. What happened to personal accountability and responsibility?

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I now the program that he is talking about. people in the program will recognise me my my user name. But let me just say that some of the people were a little to harsh on the original poster. This program was tough and a lot tougher than anyone ever imagined. CRNA school is tough and not everyone makes it. I think he understands that. Lets be a little more compasionate for our fellow nurses... This dog eat dog and nurse stabe nurse in the back has to stop. We have to encourage and support one another. Being a CRNA and belonging to the AANA is a wonderfull oppurtunity to show how we are different that other RN's in our profesion. best of luck to the original poster and he is not posting b/c he didnt have what it takes or b/c he was dumb. He posting b/c this was probally one of the most traumatic expieriences he has ever been through.

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i believe in my post i clearly stated that the program needs evaluated - ...but i stand by my other statements. it has nothing to do w/ dog eat dog or nurse..whatever... there is a reason behind standard and expectations, and if they aren't met - there should be no "ok...let em by..."

that IS the problem with nursing in general - there either aren't standards for what is acceptable (as far as programs) or they aren't adhered to.

i am all about giving whatever support i can to help anyone along - but i am not going to pretend that i support lower standards.

again - if the facts the OP stated are factual - i completely support someone looking into that - it doesn't sound like it is treating students fairly - however ... if it were looked into and found to be sound in its decisions - then i would say - good for them for adhering to tough standards.

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