Things you would LOVE to say to your nursing instructors...

[Montessori Mommy]

If you could have an open, honest conversation with your instructors - classroom or clinical - what would you tell them?

Here are some of my thoughts:

(1) Please make sure that everyone follows the rules & meets the requirements. Don't let some students make their own rules while others work hard to follow every rule! While there are always times exceptions must be made, the same students are often getting away with everything.

(2) When I'm in clinical, please just step back and allow me to do the task I have to do. Don't stand over me asking questions! Your running commentary makes me a nervous wreck. As long as I'm doing my task correctly, observe & keep quiet! If I do something wrong, please explain it to me and give my another opportunity to prove I can do it.

(3) Please ensure your expectations are clear and consistant. If you want our weekly patient write-ups a certain way, tell us. Don't change your expectations without letting us know!! The bottom line: most of us are working so hard to do our best! Tell us what you want from us and we'll always do what we can to get a good grade!

Staff note: Also, don't miss the Things you would love to say to your fellow nursing students! thread

[Futurenurse86]

Amen! I have a classmate who uses her cellphone at clinical in front of the instructor and nothing is ever said! It isn't break time either.

hey, you dont know that persons life thats not fair to judge. In the real world (outside school) there are going to be tons of distractions and you still have to perform. I know my husband is going to korea and if I get a call (granted my phone would be on vibrate) I would step out to talk to him, and raise hell if I got any crap about it. That person could have sick kids, or whatever thier case may be.

[trepinCT]

wow..some of these are amazingly true and funny too! This is what I would love to say:

do not assign an adjunct who hasn't worked in a clinical setting ever, yet has been an instructor for 20 years to grade me on injection verifications . Thats a joke and makes the school look second rate.

do not debate , during lab, out loud with each other on what the proper way to....(fill in the blanks)..figure out whos right BEFORE class please, thats a great was to screw us up.

whats the point on giving me test questions involving the schools philosophy of teaching, because I don't really care and it wont be on NCLEX, I see it as you took away a valuable question for that crap and it makes me think its only to get the stupid students an opportunity to pass.

To my clinical instructor, thanks for being great and not scaring the crap out of us, but you were almost too nice, next semester I will probably have the evil instructor and cant help but feel unprepared and in deep trouble.

to all - dont forget where YOU came from..you are teaching future nurses, not rehabilitating criminals.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

Fabulous fun thread!

Please don't walk around with a little phone in your ear and answer it every time it rings and have a loud conversation in front of the class.

Please don't tell us to read our student handbook one more time. We know that is your answer for everything but we really don't care and we threw it away.

Please talk to those students personally who are offending you in whatever way instead of lecturing the entire class on something we barely understand because it doesn't really involve all of us.

Lastly, learn to check your moods. We are not there for you to badger, harass, annoy, attack, bait, bother, bug, distress, disturb, exasperate, harry, hassle, torment, vex, heckle, intimidate, irk, irritate, jerk around, perplex, persecute, pester, plague, ride, strain, stress, tease, befuddle or hound. We are human beings with real feelings.

[future L&Dnurse]

The hospital would be an awfully unhappy place if we all wanted to work in the same unit, so please don't take it so personally that I don't want to work in the same clinical area that you chose when you were a new nurse. My career plan really and truly has NOTHING to do with you.

[Ms Kylee]

The hospital would be an awfully unhappy place if we all wanted to work in the same unit, so please don't take it so personally that I don't want to work in the same clinical area that you chose when you were a new nurse. My career plan really and truly has NOTHING to do with you.

AMEN!!! My instructors are critical care and cardiac nurses. NOT where I want to nurse, trust me. Ugh... *Shudders*

[sneakymom2011]

christinen--i was just going to post regarding pp notes. great minds think alike. :)

teachers--pp notes are not as riveting as you think they are. just because you used a crazy font and bright colors doesn't make your notes good. actually, it makes them extremely hard to read, and i want to toss them in the recycle bin. i can look up everything you put on those notes in my very expensive books you had me buy.

*for lecture, please throw in some anecdotes that help us remember material!

!

ugh. i have a teacher who reads pp notes word for word. i could have stayed at home and done that! and if you do use them, could you try to have them follow the book instead of jumping all over the place? that makes it next to impossible for us to use them as study aids (which is why we get them in the first place).

beyond that, i love all of my instructors this grading period. they are so patient with us, and do a very good job explaining things when it comes to skills lab! skills days are the days i look forward to!

[NooNieNursie]

Semester one professor: I didn't appreciate your teaching style at the time, I mistook your casual approach as indifference...but in hindsight... thanks. It woulda been really cool to have you for semester 4 instead, I'm sure you could have taught us a lot of really interesting stuff about medicine given your NP (info that we couldnt possible handle in semester one).

Semester two professor: You made every one of us feel confident and comfortable. Not only that, your clinical skills and teaching style is excellent, and preconfrence was so educational; you made sure that we were able to integrate patient signs/symptoms with interventions. I had a wonderful time and learned a lot.

Semester three professor: I wish you didn't make things more difficult for nervous students like myself than they already are. It is a challenge for me just to get out there and deal with people PERIOD due to social anxiety, nevermind in the function of a student nurse in a hospital. Honestly, I felt bullied.

Other students felt the same way. Other nervous students were, for lack of a better word, "picked on".

I was blamed for poor clinical practice, in a way that was either untrue or unfair. This happened not once, but several times. You were unwilling to hear my side or be reasonable.

Problems extended beyond clinical practice. Your exam questions are insanely obscure, subjective, and/or barely disccussed in lecture.

You were extremely disorganized and your mood as labile as a borderline.

I am glad I do not have you for semester 4, and I feel bad for my classmates who do.

[vashtee, RN]

I would have liked my earlier clinical instructors to tell us exactly what to do at clinicals: how to pick a patient, how to get the RNs to want to work with us, what to do during report, what the nurses would expect of us, etc. It also might have been nice if she had defended the young nursing student who was literally *pushed* by a grouchy RN.

I don't think my OB/Peds instructor even knew me at all, although I suppose she might recognize me if she saw me walking down a hall. I don't know how she felt good about writing my performance evaluation, which BTW looked like it was written for another student. :)

I would like to thank my med-surg instructor. Almost everyone was afraid of her, but I loved that she trusted me enough to not hover over me, and that she left me alone except for when I asked for help. Her confidence in me made me feel more confident. Yes, I was scared of her too, but I'd take her again because I learned a lot. And BTW - those students that she flunked out? I didn't blame her. They WERE weak students.

[kxvc]

1) Please don't confuse me with the other student that is of the same descent when you know everyone else's name.

2) LIAR! That is SO not how it happens in the real world! And I know you know it because you're really smart and have a ton of experience.

3) Don't respond to my question like I'm stupid only because you think I should know it with my background and experience; I have heard you respond much better to simpler questions.

4) Please don't treat me like I'm invisible just because I don't get up early to do my hair and make up for your class. I'm clean and neat, that should suffice.

[Pretty in Ink]

If your going to give extra points on a test for a majority who missed those answers, give the points to everyone. It's not fair I get a 90 and only get 2 points extra for missing one of the wrong questions while others who made a 86 or 84 missed all the "right" wrong questions and get a full 10 pts addedd to their test and make a better grade than I did because I didn't miss the right ones, why punish the ones who made a better grade in the first place????

[CiCigirl]

please leave your attitude at home.

i know that you are the all-knowing, all-seeing, omnipotent nurse (with an infinite, whole, entire, 3 years experience) and i am but a lowly amateur who you have benevolently sought to teach out of the goodness of your heart, but please remember that nursing is not my first career, that you and i are the same age and that although my nursing experience is minimal at best, i have a wealth of experiences in other areas. perhaps some that you have no knowledge whatsoever about.

and that if the tables were ever turned i would know how to teach you without condescension, apprehension or even being the least bit full of myself.

please remember that knowledge and humility are not mutually exclusive qualities. they can exist together in the same body.

whew! that felt good. now i don't have to say it in class...:wink2:

[mamabeans]

Do not hold "special" study groups that are not open to all. This is known as discrimination. Having favorites is one thing, but when you mock some students and ignore others (we all paid the same tuition) you are unprofessional and a disgrace to your profession. How one instructor can take a cohesive class and cause such divide, hurt and pain among the students is beyond understanding.

To the rest of the staff you are a wonderful, supportive team. You go out of your way to help us to learn, understand and respect us as the adults and professionals that we are. I am grateful for your support.