I am new to this forum. I recently encountered an incident that has left me quite disappointed. We had a head-to-toe assessment check off and med check off before we started our second semester for nursing. I made sure to prepare well to do well in both my head-to-toe check off that day as well as med check off.
During our head to toe assessment, my partner that went before me missed several objectives on head-to-toe assessment such as, introducing herself to the patient before verifying the patient information, declaring “lung sounds were clear in all field with no adventitious sounds”, she failed to check my lower back for pressure ulcer, she also failed to check cap refill on my lower leg, and she failed to ask about any blood seen during bowel movement, and she failed to check for normal skin tone whereas I missed asking about “clarity” for urine only.
Although I am happy for my partner, I felt it was unfair she made a 100 with several mistakes. I do admit I was rightly cut off 2 points for forgetting to ask about clarity in urine. I am very happy with my grade. However, I could not be at peace without communicating with the professor the process of the matter as I felt it was unfair. I am sure the instructor’s intention was not as such. After reaching out to my instructor to address my concerns respectfully, she outright told me to “stop being competitive…we nurses need to be supportive of each other”, and she also told me she made the “best clinical judgement” based on our “levels”.
I thanked her for her response and informed her that I and my partner were both in the same level (Level 2). I stated that I believed what I expressed was lost in translation and misunderstood. I never once thought of competition at all. I merely wanted the same fairness for everyone who is on the same level. I never meant to express what I expressed due to the difference in our grades at all. If it was about competition, I would have made sure to say something right then and there. I was absolutely not questioning her judgement. I sincerely apologized if my email ever came off that way. I was merely advocating for myself. We were both in the same level and while I caught several of her mistakes and none of them were accounted for and me being in the same level as her, I made one mistake (missing to ask for clarity in urine) and that was accounted for, I sincerely meant to only advocate for equality and fairness when we are in the same level.
We all work hard to do well in school and we all work alongside each other with our colleagues to help each other succeed. I have always made sure to help my colleagues in any way I can to help them do well in class. This was never about competition. Hence, I took the matter to the instructor rather than talking about it with my colleague who admitted her mistakes were overlooked. I simply praised her for doing well.
However, instead of addressing my concerns, the instructor simply shut down the conversation by saying “you were not being disrespectful at all, we were just communicating… no worries”!
I responded to her email by letting her know that I am relieved to find that she understood my honest intention behind my email. I expressed to her that I sincerely hoped she will address the concerns I have raised. Her previous responses to my concerns were focused on deflecting it towards "competition". I humbly thanked her again for allowing me to express my thoughts and advocate for myself. Sadly, she has not responded to my concerns at all.
Being aware of the hard work we all put in to making a good grade in our class while learning to be a competent nurse, I did not feel at peace encountering such unfairness in grading. I felt more at unease when my instructor focused on being defensive rather than addressing the concerns at hand. This is merely the beginning of the semester and she is my clinical instructor who is in charge of grading my competency during clinical hours. I merely wanted to be assured it was an honest mistake and I will not have to worry about such treatment towards me or anyone for that matter.
Am I dwelling over it a tab bit too much? Should I just drop it and let it go? Please help guide me!
OP, the only grades over which you have influence are your own. Focus on yourself, not what someone else received. It'll serve you well in the long run. What was your goal? To have points removed from your partner's grade when you were rightfully docked points for your admitted error? You were graded fairly, it was your partner who was cut some slack. I suggest you let it go and keep your knowledge about these particular people in the back of your mind if and when you have to deal with them again.
OP, the only grades over which you have influence are your own. Focus on yourself, not what someone else received. It'll serve you well in the long run. What was your goal? To have points removed from your partner's grade when you were rightfully docked points for your admitted error? You were graded fairly, it was your partner who was cut some slack. I suggest you let it go and keep your knowledge about these particular people in the back of your mind if and when you have to deal with them again.
I cannot stress this enough, this has nothing to do with what my peer made or what I made in the check off. The instructor responded to me letting me know she knew my peer had missed those things but didn’t judge her harshly because she “thought” my peer was in a different level than me. We are both in level 2. My main goal was to stand up for equality. My main goal was to make sure my instructor was not deliberately being impartial towards her students. My main goal was to be assured that I will not have to worry about being held at different standard amongst my peers. My main goal was for my instructor to acknowledged the problem and address them in a manner that reassures her students that we do not need to worry about her being less than fair to everyone. That’s all! I mentioned the grade and the objectives my peer missed to point out the situation I had witnessed for you guys to better understand the dilemma. The whole point of this topic was to ask if students should speak out if you see your instructor being unfair and impartial. Lastly, I talked to my Holistic Health Assessment instructor from previous semester who outright told me as long as I made sure to ask about the urinary system, they never cut off points for missing “a single word”, which this particular instructor did. Again, you might want to jump into it again and think I’m thinking about the “grades”! It has nothing to do with that! It has everything to do with an instructor treating everyone of her students fairly and not overlooking ones several mistakes while scrutinizing the smallest mistake of another. I had no idea advocating for equality and fairness had only to do with GRADES.
OMG, I had no idea standing up for yourself when you clearly witness your instructor being partial can lead to backstabbing and doing what it takes to look better. The only competition I have is with myself to do better in all aspects of my life. I cannot stress this enough, it’s never and was never about the grade my peer made.
That’s all! I never ask my peers what they made in their exams or tests, I focus on mine. If anyone asks me, I let them know I did well. This was something I witnessed right In front of my mine, the partiality. Hence, I had a hard time comprehending why that was and how that came to be.
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks" is a line from the play Hamlet in response to the insincere overacting of a character, Okay when you get a MSN in nursing education you can come back and tell the instructor what was missed in the grading.
18 hours ago, RoseTh93 said:
So you are telling me, if you are witness to your peer missing several objective and your instructor didn’t care to point out even a single one of them, while she made sure to cut off several points for missing a word or two from the objective of yours, you would simply stay quiet?
Again yes. Someday the tables might be turned in your favor....?
18 hours ago, RoseTh93 said:
I cannot stress this enough, it’s never and was never about the grade my peer made. I
Lastly, I talked to my Holistic Health Assessment instructor from previous semester who outright told me as long as I made sure to ask about the urinary system, they never cut off points for missing “a single word”, which this particular instructor did.
Boy you will not let this go.. Bad move. Do you really think faculty don't talk to each other? Look, the outcome of this physical assessment doesn't mean you or your "sign up genius" lab partner are going to be great nurses. What it can demonstrate however is how you handle patient-focused situations. Pouting and complaining are not good attributes in health care. If you want to be graded for the right answer all the time, get a degree in mathematics.
Standing for yourself is good. As the posters above stated, you focus on your school. If you insist exercising fairness you're looking for, nobody can stop you. You have the right to do so. I hope you get the fairness you're desiring.
Some instructors may give unfair grading and there’s nothing we can do about it. Instructor will not change your grade if you complain. Just worry about your grades and passing your classes. I went through skills check-off and the way they grade us is pass or fail, if you failed the first time you’re given a chance to do it again but if you failed the 2nd time then you’re out of the program.
I have only sent 2 emails in total to the instructor regarding the matter. She herself admitted to not cutting her points off because she “thought” we were in different levels. Therefore, my perspective isn’t incorrect. If only it was as easy as you saying. When you witness the unfairness outright in front of you, I had no idea we are supposed to stay quiet as long as “we pass”. When we see an instructor scrutinizing one student’s small mistake and completely ignoring several mistakes of another is something we are supposed to just stay quiet about as long as “we pass”. Nevertheless, thank you for your insight. It does give me something to think about for sure. We may not have same views and opinion on this matter. However, I do respect your words even if I may not agree on it. Thank you.
Are you guys have the same ethnicity? Use other colors. Don't specify that identifies them.
Was the instructor has the same skin color with the student who scored higher?
Lunah, MSN, RN
14 Articles; 13,773 Posts
OP, the only grades over which you have influence are your own. Focus on yourself, not what someone else received. It'll serve you well in the long run. What was your goal? To have points removed from your partner's grade when you were rightfully docked points for your admitted error? You were graded fairly, it was your partner who was cut some slack. I suggest you let it go and keep your knowledge about these particular people in the back of your mind if and when you have to deal with them again.