This is a VENTING Post!

Specialties Educators

Published

Disclaimer: This is a venting post only and may very possibly irk/irritate/anger nursing students. Please don't post about how mean and unfair I am or how I don't understand how difficult it is to be a student. I'm just frustrated and need to vent, period.

I'm an instructor in nursing and teach a lab to new nursing students. Recently we had the first set of check offs which included vital signs and some other basic stuff.

There is one student I'm very worried about. He isn't in my clinical group (we did check offs with about four other groups). Anyway, he has been quite clueless all semester and pt care begins next week. What I'm frustrated over is his lack of preparartion. He KNEW we had check offs and was told what they would be over as well as what equipment would be required to use during the check off. Student are also given LOTS of lab time to come in on their own, to learn how to manipulate the equipment.

So what happened? When he got to me to check off on the thermometer, he didn't know how to turn it on! He was nervous, so I did feel sympathetic for that. But the reason he didn't know wasn't because he was nervous, it was because he never practiced using the equipment (he admitted to this to me). I had to fail him (he will get two more chances to pass). The thing that really burns me is that he never PRACTICED. He just came in (I think he knows he is a weaker student- and I believe he tries very hard) and attempted to check off. I really don't think he has what it takes, though I would love him to provde me wrong, I just doubt that will happen. It is SO irritating to think that he has taken up a spot in a program and that there is some other potential student out there waiting who would be more successful!

Please don't come after me with torches. I am a nursing instructor who loves my students and I care about them, just sometimes my patience gets very thin!

Specializes in Pediatrics.

Thanks for the supportive comments. The student passed the skill just fine the second time around.

Now I have another student who didn't show for an exam nearly a week ago, claiming a family emergency- but came to a class on campus, 25 feet from my office two days following my exam. But didn't bother to stop by- even though I had office hours right after her class let out. I've attempted to contact her several times and she just now left me a message on my work phone. These past few weeks I am feeling like the "difficult" students are attracted to me like a moth to a flame!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.
Thanks for the supportive comments. The student passed the skill just fine the second time around.

Now I have another student who didn't show for an exam nearly a week ago, claiming a family emergency- but came to a class on campus, 25 feet from my office two days following my exam. But didn't bother to stop by- even though I had office hours right after her class let out. I've attempted to contact her several times and she just now left me a message on my work phone. These past few weeks I am feeling like the "difficult" students are attracted to me like a moth to a flame!

It sounds to me like they are pushing their limits with you...walking the line to see how much they can get away with.

I would definitely confront this student with this issue, making it clear to her what you expect. In my school, if you can miss only one exam, you must call ahead, and you have to make it up the day you come back.

I hope things get better for you. Like they say, "A few bad apples can ruin the whole bunch."

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics.

Of COURSE they are testing me! I know what I need to do, and am very comfortable doing it. I just need to go somewhere to complain about it! :nuke:

I am going to allow her to make-up the exam, but it will not be without consequences. She has lost 3 letter grades on whatever grade she makes at this point. Meaning if she gets a 100 on the exam, she really only gets a 70 (being late with the make-up, non-university excused absence, etc). And she will not get a 100. Make up exams suck because they are usually way more difficult than the original exam.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in cardiac.

Scribblern,

After reading this thread, I realized what my previous instructor's probably went through while teaching our classes. It's gotta be tough! My hat's off to you!:bowingpur

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Of COURSE they are testing me! I know what I need to do, and am very comfortable doing it. I just need to go somewhere to complain about it! :nuke:

I am going to allow her to make-up the exam, but it will not be without consequences. She has lost 3 letter grades on whatever grade she makes at this point. Meaning if she gets a 100 on the exam, she really only gets a 70 (being late with the make-up, non-university excused absence, etc). And she will not get a 100. Make up exams suck because they are usually way more difficult than the original exam.

It's either complain or explode. lol

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Almost everywhere.

I understand your frustration, and I am a student. The student needs to be responsible for his or her learning, you are there to guide and not spoon feed. Spoon feeding was going on constantly at the school I attend and I did not realize it until I came from another school and saw the difference. I couldn't believe what I saw. This year, the teaching methods have completely changed. We are to be responsible for our learning, our grade is what we put into it, and let me tell you, the ones there last year who were still being spoon fed are in a world of poo right now and I am not sure who will be left. Your education is what you put into it you needn't get out the fire hose....no torches here and I am on the other side of the fence....the student.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, Education, LTC, Community health.
Of COURSE they are testing me! I know what I need to do, and am very comfortable doing it. I just need to go somewhere to complain about it! :nuke:

I am going to allow her to make-up the exam, but it will not be without consequences. She has lost 3 letter grades on whatever grade she makes at this point. Meaning if she gets a 100 on the exam, she really only gets a 70 (being late with the make-up, non-university excused absence, etc). And she will not get a 100. Make up exams suck because they are usually way more difficult than the original exam.

That is a great idea! I have had the same problem in the past and i am always told to just let the student retake with no consequences.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.

male (2) sleeps during class, does not participate unless required, is late for class, in clinicals is great-answers questions quickly and knows patient conditions, interventions, etc. you might think "he could be a great student if he only applied himself more" but he works 12-24 hr shifts as an emt (which is why he is quick with answering questions, etc.) he is declaring bankruptcy, only has one vehicle (can't get to class until he takes his wife to work) his teenage daughter was hospitalized for attempting suicide, etc. again, you would never know this because he doesn't complain or share what he is going through...never whines or complains...is just simply quiet and withdrawn (from exhaustion probably!)

some of your worst students may just be people struggling with too much at one time...

man, nurses need instruction in intraprofessional conflict resolution. obviously, he's telling someone, hence you were familiar with his conflicts, right? why not tell those [teachers] who can help in resolving the conflict? also, why is sharing a dilemma in crisis with those who are directly involved (instructors) vs. fellow classmates considered whining or complaining? i see nurses do this all the time at work, complain about this p&p or that p&p, staffing, etc. (usually with valid reason) to their fellow coworkers, yet they never present it to mgmt. go figure, it just doesn't make any sense. you can't effect change unless you're part of the solution, instructors no more than managers can read people's minds, ya know?

i wanted to post to remind any educators reading this thread that they don't always know very much about their students and what they may be going through. i am not suggesting this is the case with your student but let me share the stories of two students i graduated with who are now excellent critical care rns....

how can they know when the info's not given? it'd be like an instructor holding a student acct. for material that was never provided in reading assignment or lecture.

oh well, i mean, i understand where you're comin' from, jenny. i totally have compassion when a person is struggling. i know sometimes it's difficult to share those struggles with others. it's just, i don't understand what's admirable about suffering in silence and then feeling like there's been a collapse in justice, you know?

i also understand there are many times when you present conflicts to tbtb and it's received with inattention or even ingratitude. but here's the thing, if it is, why would you want to stay in that environment anyway? this is my thinking, if we can't advocate for ourselves and eachother, how the hell can we effectively advocate for our patients?

just my thoughts, sorry for the ramble...:stone

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am nursing student and I can totally understand where you're coming from (and I think you're being totally fair) I'm in a BSN program (don't know a ton about how hard it is to get in an ADN program so i won't comment on that) but from my experience it was very difficult to get into my BSN program. If someone is in, they've proven they can handle it academically, the question is if they're willing to put forth the effort in their education. Obviously, there are 2 sides to every story and i don't want to totally rant on the student. However, college in itself is a job, and not coming prepared to work in the "real world" will eventually get you fired. Same w/ college, if you don't come prepared and don't do your work, you're going to see consequences. I can imagine that as an instructor who wants to see their students succede, this has got to be frustrating to you. Hopefully the student will see the error of his ways and will turn it around, before it's too late.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in aged -adolescent.

Let's look at this from the students perspective. I finally got through but I was on the hit list by many of the instructors and the other students all knew it too. I thought it might be an aging issue as I was probably the oldest when I started and definitely when I got through. I went well on some of my pracs and other pracs did not go as well. I opted out for a while, went to Arts and finished and then came back and re-did nursing. I was told I was taking the place of a younger person who might succeed. Ouch!! Also because I had a problem in one lab "You'd never forgive yourself if you killed someone." Yes they were tough instructors but some were magnificent. The latter were also wonderful prac facilitators who knew I would never stop trying. And yes one of them had to fail me in a prac and I still have tremendous respect for her. I did spend extra time practising in labs and told the faculty head they should never let anyone progress to the next level before they'd accomplished the one prior as I had been told in week 10 of one term that from week three I had been doing poorly. I asked why they had let me go so far without intervention and if they were setting me up to fail deliberately.? At one stage I was dreaming and just living pracs in my sleep because of nerves, I paced the floor at night, I cried and I tried harder, I think I tried too hard.

However I did get there. One of the chief reasons was I could do obs and other skills at Clinical Prac but in the labs when being assessed I froze. It was the fear of assessment. Maybe your student has the same deep- rooted fear and all that he learns flies out of the window. Can you set aside

an hour a week for him, (one of my lecturers did for me with IV therapy, God love her). He has to meet this appointment and concentrate. He may realise then just how serious the situation is and you'll know you've done everything. Good luck. I realise you have plenty to do but wouldn't it be fabulous if he made it just because you set him a strict agenda? Don't fail him yet. I have seen a lot of students bluff their way through just because they were a favourite of the instructor, they had harrowing home issu es etc and it is unfair. Keep us posted.You're obviously a caring person and the uni and nursing schools need more like you.:monkeydance:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I too was a college instructor. I was teaching my students the art, splendor and fanghood of the operating room environment. I had students that ranged in age from a very young 18 to a lively 53. I too had frustrations with at least two of my students. Being a very seasoned OR nurse for a great many years I am usually very direct, blunt but caring. The medical profession, no matter what facet you teeter on, is tough. Any student of the course really needs to understand to make the cut you better have more brains than brawn and more brawn than brass. We have standards. I try very hard to make my students understand this simple fact. There is a recipe...you cannot omit or dilute the key ingredients or the result will be a fall instead of a rise. There are no 'short-cuts'. You simply meet the criteria...or you don't. The choice always lies in the hands of the student. We encourage and make ourselves available to our students...we send that transmission...some recieve and some don't. Some very simply put are not 'cut out' for this business. It doesn't mean they are stupid or some other degrading label. It just means that maybe they discover through the course of the journey they would be better suited to something else. Sometimes, we have to reassess our students in the same way we do our patients. Some improve and some don't. Maybe that student hasn't stopped long enough to ask himself if he really still wants this? Sometimes a DNR is a helpful thing to offer a student if all other attempts to revive him fail. Just like we give our patients options and let them make the informed decision for their best quality of life, we should also offer the same to our students. I would love to see all students enjoy the greatest of success, but let's face it we can't inspire those who want someone else to do the work for them or make it easier for them or allow them to think that someone will magically come along and save them from the fall. We can care, encourage, pray and teach...they have to do the learning. Take a break teach, you're doing your job...now he needs to do his...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, HOME HEALTH, NURSING EDUC, CASE MGT.

Hi scribblerrn!

My hats are off to you! It seems like you are fair, caring, and sincerely enjoy what you do. To take on new nursing students is definitely a big task at hand! One must have the patience of a saint as one person mentioned.

It is one thing to have compassion and be supportive for the student. I do agree...we all have to held accountable and take responsibilty for what we do.

I was a nursing instructor 6 years for the Army specializing in ICU. I taught both clinical and classroom to student LPN's. However, these students were already 6 months into the program, considered seniors, and the weak students washed out by then. My heart does go out to you. Sometimes, it can be frustrating.

If the objectives are clearly stated, and the lesson plan reflects in the test that are being given, to include well prepared classroom instruction, etc. There is also academic counseling in which the student knows exactly where they stand...no surprises! Most students do well. No, it's not going to be easy. But, it's worth it. Please as an ex-instructor to another instructor...do not compromise academic standards, "spoon feed", or turn your head the other way. There is a limit for everything. By the way, I really loved teaching!!! It was one of the best times in my entire nursing career.

Take care!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment