The most horrible things instuctor's say...

Xevious · Jan 8, 2007

I can endure a lot of criticism, especially if it's going to help me. Our school had a few instructors that had a reputation of making students cry. I was pretty lucky with mine though. The only time an instructor said anything that upset me was during my first semester clinical evaluation. Now first of all, he gave me an A for the course, and we had a friendly relationship. But he told me that he didn't think I wanted to be nurse and that I should consider a different profession. It blew me away that he'd presume to know what I wanted.

cardiac.cure03 · Jan 13, 2007

I was up late one night finishing this huge paper for clincal the next morning, and I overslept and was late for clinical. My instructor has to call me, and I finally make it in... Ooops. But when I get in, she's like "How's come you were so late. Were you out drinking the night before cuz I smell alcohol on your breath." WHAT? Craziness...

sunshinesway · Jan 13, 2007

Nursing instructors are HORRIBLE. They are not supportive and they have no feelings. They're heartless. We may have 1 or 2 good instructors at our school. I DEFINETLY know why there's a shortage of nurses. They think they are just so much better than the students because they have a nursing degree. I had worked in accounting for 25 years before going into nursing school, and I had never treated a person that I had trained at work like the nursing instructors treat their students. They are all a bunch of *******. I have seen so many good people humiliated, embarassed, and belittled by nursing instructors. All the instructors at our school care about is making the school look good when it comes time for the NCLEX (They want to keep their high pass percentage rate on the NCLEX). They DO NOT care about the students.

Freedom42 · Jan 13, 2007

Well we have one girl in our clinicals that the teacher constantly picked on...calling her dumb making these slight comments about her...really made me mad!! The worst was that in front of said student..the teacher made a comment about N---- rigging an IV...OK totally uncalled for no matter the circumstances.

This is sickening. Please tell me this instructor was fired immediately. I can't imagine being "taught" by such an ignoramus.

EnigmaticParadigm · Jan 23, 2007

Nursing instructors are HORRIBLE. They are not supportive and they have no feelings. They're heartless. We may have 1 or 2 good instructors at our school. I DEFINETLY know why there's a shortage of nurses. They think they are just so much better than the students because they have a nursing degree. I had worked in accounting for 25 years before going into nursing school, and I had never treated a person that I had trained at work like the nursing instructors treat their students. They are all a bunch of *******. I have seen so many good people humiliated, embarassed, and belittled by nursing instructors. All the instructors at our school care about is making the school look good when it comes time for the NCLEX (They want to keep their high pass percentage rate on the NCLEX). They DO NOT care about the students.

Do you paint all groups with that broad brush of generalizations? I would say more, but I can see you must be having a hard time with unknown issues, so I will refrain. Breathe deep, follow directions, don't cause waves, pass classes, graduate, and move on. Nursing school should never be abusive, but neither is it all fluffy bunnies and rainbows. Learn to deal with difficult personalities. By your statement, the school has a high pass rate on the NCLEX, so the instructors must be doing something right. You don't have to love the person or even like them; simply learn from them. Their job is to teach. Your job is to learn. Start learning.

thomk · Jan 23, 2007

I had the same experience during my first year of Nursing my instructor stated I too thought to much like I Nursing assistant and she down graded me for that. Further on in Nursing school I was told I was to nice and had points taken off for that. Today I am a RN praised and rewarded for my compassion.

rnsrgr8t · Jan 23, 2007

I had wonderful nursing instructors except for one in nursing school. For some reason, she just did not like me. I had her for two rotations.

During my first rotation which was on a L&D and post partum. In our whole group, I was the only one who did not get to see a delivary, even though I asked several times. My assignment was to watch a 18 year old girl, who had been in for preterm labor. Her contractions had stopped many hours before we got there, but she told me to sit in the room and "watch" her for the whole 8 hour shift. Ok, I just ignored that. Then we had a couple day on the post partum floor. On our 3rd day, I finished my rounds/assessment/med pass/teaching on my couplet (we only had one). I proceeded to ask the floor nurses what they needed help with (my instructor was nowhere in sight). She asked me to change some beds which I proceeded to do for aobut 20 minutes. My instructor came looking for me and started yelling at me b/c she said she could not find me and thought I had left the hospital!!! (Why would I leave?). When I explained what I was doing she told me that was inapropriate! Now, mind you, we had been told at the start of our rotation, to always ask the staff nurses if they needed help when we found ourselves with free time. I had the same instructor during my last rotation in nursing school. I was in a Pediatric Oncology outpatient clinic. These kids were doing well, getting their maintenence meds and checkups. She came and found me one day and yelled at me b/c my careplans (we had to do one every week) where not creative enough. I was seeing the same type of patient every week, I tried to be as creative as I could with the nursing diagnoses, but it was really hard (she was the only instructor that required careplans during our last rotation). She told me that if I could not be creative, I should make the patient up!!! UGGH, what a women.

Chinchilla54 · Nov 1, 2007

What is the most horrible thing a nursing instructor has said to you as a student???
Here's some of mine...
"After reading your care plans I was wondering if someone had beaten you all with a STUPID stick"
Suck it up and put your "big girl panties" on!!
""From the looks of your exam scores I see that the nursing profession might be in danger!!"

I just wanted to say that when the instructors critisize you, or patronize you, it's a tactical method they utilize so that you do not become complacent. I am a United States Marine, and I just wanted all of you to realize that you have patients LIVES in your hands.....(Their life= your resonsibility). Just like Marines have eachothers lives in their hands. Complacency kills. If you mess up in your clinical, you deserve to be corrected. Remember not to take it personal. If you only knew some of things I was called in boot camp!!!! Understand, you are in training to save, protect and care for lives(which is a obligation for both our jobs)....You are constantly at war with death, disease and pain. When the instructors hurt your feelings, keep in mind that your training to be a warrior/nurse. One, day when you save someones life or have someones life in your hands, you will realize that your instructor did so for the patient's sake; with total disregard to how you feel, and your going to be thankful for that; and that's how it should be.

-Semper Fi

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Nov 1, 2007

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

She was a little rude, but she was right.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Nov 1, 2007

An instructor once shook her fist in my face because she disagreed with what I was saying. She was so nasty to everyone- especially the smart students. I think she was afraid of us.

We knew her lectures were totally out of date, and inaccurate. She would say things backwards and mix things up. If you tried to correct her, she went all postal- just had a totally inappropriate reaction. The students who weren't the brightest often did not realize she was saying things wrong and would attentively write down everything she said. This instructor had a little gaggle of students who sucked up to her.Because they were not doing well academically, they put their efforts into doing well politically. This instructor ate it up. She loved having her ego stroked.

This incident happened to a classmate- she had just received some bad family news and was slumped on a chair. The program director walked by and said "Sit up straight. You look like trash."

This director was later suspended for child endangerment-

A student's husband called and tried to leave a message for his wife to pick up their daughter at school. The director told him "I am not a secretary and I do not take messages for students." (This was in the days before cell phones).

The student did not get the message, and no one picked up her young daughter from school. She ended up trying to find her way home by herself. A stranger picked her up, and drove her home. Thank goodness a pedophile or something didn't try to pick her up.

This one happened to me-

An instructor (psych) said to me "You could not possibly have written a paper this good. You had to have plagiarized it, but I can't prove it so I'm giving you a 'C.'" I burst into tears right there.

I dropped the class, and took it with another instructor. When I got the same assignment to do, I handed in the paper I had previously written. She wrote on it: "This is a perfect paper. May I use it as an example for my future classes?"

My nursing program was pretty awful, and most, not all, of my instructors were total psychos who had completely failed as nurses. They took their failure and disappointment in themselves out on us.

I think that for some who hate nursing, and are not good at it, becoming an instructor is a way for them to still work in nursing, after having spent so much time and money on an advanced education.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Nov 1, 2007

I just wanted to say that when the instructors critisize you, or patronize you, it's a tactical method they utilize so that you do not become complacent. I am a United States Marine, and I just wanted all of you to realize that you have patients LIVES in your hands.....(Their life= your resonsibility). Just like Marines have eachothers lives in their hands. Complacency kills. If you mess up in your clinical, you deserve to be corrected. Remember not to take it personal. If you only knew some of things I was called in boot camp!!!! Understand, you are in training to save, protect and care for lives(which is a obligation for both our jobs)....You are constantly at war with death, disease and pain. When the instructors hurt your feelings, keep in mind that your training to be a warrior/nurse. One, day when you save someones life or have someones life in your hands, you will realize that your instructor did so for the patient's sake; with total disregard to how you feel, and your going to be thankful for that; and that's how it should be.
-Semper Fi

Well, I think you're wrong. I've been a nurse for 15 years now, and a damn good one.

I am not one bit grateful for having paid thousands of dollars to be treated like crap by a bunch of witches in nursing school.

I do a lot of precepting, mentoring, training, and supervising. I learned from my instructors how not to act and how not to treat people.

When I am precepting/training, I go way out of my way to be kind, approachable, and helpful. I laugh and joke with my preceptees. I treat them to lunch. I let my them know that I enjoy helping them and am glad to be working with them.

I have a stack of thank-you cards, and little gifts from new grads whom I've precepted over the years. That's evidence enough for me.

RNDreamer · Nov 1, 2007

:yelclap::yelclap::yelclap: I like that response!

After a particularly tricky gastro test she came in the room and asked "Did every one leave their brains at home today?" seems only 4 out of 30 of us had passed and those 4 were all grades in the 80's. 79 and below was failing in out pn course. Then she went on to say "If I am ever in the hospital and any of you walk in my room I will ask for a better nurse." The class just came back with "Well you taught that lecture so what kind of teacher does that make you?"