The most horrible things instuctor's say...

clemmm78, RN · Aug 1, 2006

are you all ready for this one--it is offensive on so many levels, i feel the need to apologize in advance for her...
when i was in my first nursing clinical ever (nur101, ADN pgm) i had to take vitals on my bedridden COPD pt. well he was full of feces, so of course i began to gather the neccessary supplies to change him. i was met at his door by my instructor who demanded to know WHAT i was doing. Duhhh??!! i stated that i had to change him, whereupon she angrily stated, "you have a CNA mentality, you know that????" WHAAAAATTTT??!! what is a CNA mentality?? well, i stood my ground and told her in my most polite but firm tone that there was no way i was leaving him in that mess, no matter what my next agenda was to be (she expected me to be at the crowded station, digging through the chart for info, (i hated that part)!!!!! she just glared at me and walked away, i did my duty and still had all the neccessary info from his chart by the time it was needed. BTW, i was a CNA since 1996, and it was a very rewarding job that gave me the gumption needed for my new career as an RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

did we have the same teacher???

When I was in my second year, my teacher threatened to fail my rotation because I was too task-oriented, she said. She then said that my main problem was that I had a Nursing Assistant mentality (in Quebec, nursing assistants are the one level "below" RNs - I'm not sure what the US equivalent is - but they can now give meds, etc, in many places). Anyway, the teacher told me this at the nursing station in front of others. I very calmly turned around and said to her, "And what - pray tell - is a nursing assistant mentality?"

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Aug 1, 2006

I was working on a Surgical floor during my first year in Fundamentals. My patient, who had undergone a Cholecystectomy the day before needed her pain medication. My instructor, who was basically a *****, was tied up with one of my classmates and would not allow me to give it unsupervised. The minutes ticked by, and my patient was crying in pain. When one of the Staff Nurses offered to give it instead, my instructor bit her head off, adamantly refusing to let anyone but me give it. By the time she got around to going with me, my patient was in a hysterical rage, her knuckles white as she raised her fists at both of us. I thought she was going to hit me before I could give it. My instructor had put her agenda ahead of my patient's needs, and I could have killed her myself. What difference did it make

who gave it, as long as she got it when she first needed it?

That instructor did not return the following school year. I wonder why. :rolleyes:

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Aug 1, 2006

I told a clinical instructor that I had hyperthyroidism. His response: "Well maybe this isn't the right career for you!" I became upset because my tuition was helping to pay his salary.

I have found that many nursing instructors were incompetent in the clinical setting prior to becoming instructors due to personality clashes, lack of critical thinking skills, or other issues. One of my instructors admitted to me, "In the hospital I was always contributing to the problem." Other instructors admitted they took a huge paycut to work at a school of nursing because the work hours were more stable and conducive to raising children.

ShellGVSU · Aug 4, 2006

Gosh you guys seem to have harsh instructors. Ours weren't that bad or I guess I never had any trouble. We did have a teacher she didn't teach clinical but our first semester she told us all that we were the worst class she has ever had.......come to find out she'd tell pretty much all the new nursing students that. Doesn't help she's about 150 years old. Other teachers even said she needs to retire!

LydiaNN · Aug 4, 2006

I've been out of school a long time, but I'll never forget the time an instructor told a student that she was ''pretty wide'' to be a nurse. Said student probably only weighed 140 lbs. (and no, it wasn't me, but I weigh more than that now, so I'm sure she'd call me too wide, too!)

DolphinRN84, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Aug 5, 2006

As far as clinical teachers go, I definitely lucked out...but here is my story. I was in the honors program at my school in the nursing dept. As an honors student, we had to pick a chair person and another faculty member to form a committee. We could also choose if we wanted to do an honors project or write a thesis. I chose to do an honors project and so i talked about it what i wanted to do with my committee. Well my last semester comes by and I had done my project during the winter break and was ready to write up my morificecript and put my artifact together. Everytime i went to my committee to discuss it, they kept telling me that it wasn't sufficient and they needed to see more. This was probably back in April and graduation was in May. So I tried adding more stuff to the morificecript, and still the same response, its not sufficient and with my artifact it was the same story not sufficient. I worked my butt of writing the morificecript and putting together the artifact. At one point my committee just said "if this doesn't improve, we recommend you not continue with this" in other words drop out of the honors program!!!! But i just kept going, because i'm the type of person in that when i start something i need to finish it. I hate leaving things undone. And the nursing honors coordinator sure wasn't helpful at all. I thought she would be on my side in this case...but she wasn't... Since this was an honors nursing project, I had to do an oral defense with my committe present, and usually the defense is three weeks before graduation. Because of all the BS my committee put me through, I ended up doing my defense the day before pinning!!!!!! I worked extra hard that week before graduation, and got my morificecript and my artifact done and it was finally "approved." I was able to do my defense and I passed it and I was really happy. But the big disappointment came when I found out that my committee did not recommend for my morificecript to be archived in the library, and they gave me a B (B+ minimum to graduate with Latin honors). With a B i didn't have to turn in my morificecript, but I did think that they would at least have given me a B+.... I ended up graduating cum laude (which is good but after all that hard work i put in!!) when i really should have graduated magna cum laude. (at my school you have to be an honors student to graduate either magna or summa), but at least i did graduate an honors scholar because I had passed everything. I'm sure if they had had it their way, they would have given me a lower grade....Though i guess one thing good came out of it...my chair person was impressed on how determined i was to get this done....but all the hardwork i put into this...all for nothing. To this day when i think about all this work I did, and all that BS i had to put up with....i still get angry and so sad everytime i think about it.... No student should have to go through that....and from a faculty member either! Imagine....your own committee almost having you drop out of the honors program...such lack of support.

Even worse when the faculty member embarasses you in clinical!!! I can't even imagine.

nursinguy · Aug 5, 2006

Well, it's time to admit it...I'm one of those students who will argue a test question. I don't do it for each test, nor do I mention it infront of any students. I make sure all of my ducks are in a row and the evidence is laid out. I don't feel like I should just "take what I gave you". If you don't want to give me the points, whatever, but I need to know why I'm seeing the answer I gave, and not the one you gave. That said...I argued 2 questions in Pharm, with the teacher saying to me "no credit will be given". End of email. But that teacher actually looked into my response for "why is it this answer" and would ask other faculty. I received an email for both questions I argued telling me I would get credit and so did everyone else.
Then comes fundamentals lecture. I was spot on with my answer, she acknowledged it and said "I will look into it for next semester". Gee, thanks. You tell me I'm right but that you are too (fill-in-the-blank) to give me credit for a CORRECT answer. And you'll make sure not to put it on any more tests. OooooooohKay.
Now I know...one question...whoop-de-doo. But it came down to me only being able to miss 7 questions on the final to keep my A. I did it! But, whooo, missed 7! I would have been furious if I had missed 8!

Instructors don't like to be wrong even when they are. I had several tell me that, I was right but their not given me the points, then I called the dean, and magically I got the points. This might severally piss the instructor off, and might hurt you on the subjective stuff.

katypurry · Dec 11, 2006

During my practicum, weeks before my graduation, where we basically function "like nurses" my instructor said so many things that tore my entire being. Sucked out all the confidence i had (which was not a lot) and made me wanna just get the hell outta there bcoz i couldnt take anymore of the things thats he told me. now, this comes from a very insensitive person in terms of criticism: comes in on one ear, out the other. I was probably having a bad week. I couldnt function at all. She gave me excellent feedbacks in ICU rotation, but for some reason, my performance sucked on med-surg. Here's SOME:

"I cant see you as a safe nurse."

"You're not using your common sense."

"I dont know if i should pass you because you are not meeting the criteria to pass this course."

"It's too late to fail you. Why are you always anxious?? "

Okay. i have to stop, those are one of the most terrifying moments of my nursing school life. i feel weird. Boy, am i sooo grateful to be out of that place.

CarVsTree · Dec 11, 2006

This was not a nursing instructor, but a clinical educator at my hospital during my orientation.

We were practicing phlebotomy on each other and I let my classmate stick me. She had never stuck anyone in her life. Well the educator was doing a lousy job of guiding her (I'd done over 900 sticks by this time as a tech) but I didn't want to interfere. My classmate ended up hitting a nerve and was very upset that she hurt me.

The educator asked her what floor she was going to be working on so she could make sure that her mother would not end up there.

My jaw just hit the floor!

The next time I saw that educator, I told her about her remark and how it made that GN feel. She ended up apologizing, but by then the damage had already been done.

Paleobug · Dec 12, 2006

I remember my asking my med/surg clinical instructor what she believes causes the nursing shortage. She just replied "You'll see".

EmerNurse, BSN, RN · Dec 12, 2006

She was right LOL. Blunt, but right.

S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN · Dec 16, 2006

Had a prof who told one of my classmates who was doing above average in every nursing course we had that "She just wasn't up to snuff. Maybe it has something to do with your advanced age." My classmate was 40! Advanced age? Ya right!