Unfair Grading

[RoseTh93]

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!

Thank you so much. 

[2BS Nurse, BSN]

Just put your head down and do the work. Fly under the radar as much as possible. These types of evaluations are subjective. They will find a way to fail you if you give them one. 

When you get your first job, you'll realize the workplace isn't fair either.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

On 9/3/2021 at 1:21 PM, Honyebee said:

Anyways, it's painful if we see or perceived "unfairness." Maybe your instructor looked for something you missed. Other instructor avoids asking a student in front of his or her peer(s) while the others do it in front of everyone. 

Pretend she is your parent who has favorite.? 

and that will definitely help

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Your instructor made mistakes and is too much of a jerk to rectify them.

Life is definitely unfair.  Sometimes it is unfair against you, sometimes in your favor. 

People here are not acknowledging that your instructor was in the wrong.  That said, try to put this behind you because I fear that if you pursue it further, you will have unpleasant backlash.

Personally, I agree with you.  But that and $5 will buy you an ice cream cone.

Just chalk this experience up to Instructor Fallibility and move on as best you can.

[ComeTogether, LPN]

On 9/3/2021 at 4:39 PM, RoseTh93 said:

She told me she was glad that the instructor didn’t catch any of her mistakes. I simply told her she did well. My query is not with my peer, she most definitely will not speak up and say “oh wow I know I missed several of those objectives, but thanks”! It tells me nothing about my partner, she tried her best and she passed, I wouldn’t want anything otherwise for her. 

You have to get out of this mindset.  It's not about what other people did or didn't do, or what they do or don't get.  Its about you and what need to do. 

 

Now, while you're in school and later when you are a nurse, you will see this from time to time. Other nurses will get away with things and you won't. it happens.  

 

Just do your job and focus on your patients.  If you have the mindset you do now, you are in for a world of hurt. 

[Closed Account 12345]

Instead of graciously accepting the feedback you've received in this thread, you continue to challenge all responses. Your instructor's replies sound gentle and kind, not defensive. I would encourage you to evaluate your own defensiveness. 

You are an adult in a professional program and still felt it necessary to point out that someone else made more mistakes than you, even though you lost a total of 2 points. Yes, it absolutely appears competitive. Let this go. 

-Your peer's grade is not your concern. Your peer's performance is not your concern. 

-How your faculty grades a peer is not your concern.  Sometimes, failing to identify or recall errors isn't because your instructor is unfair or showing partiality. Sometimes it's the result of briefly zoning out after having watched the same exact health assessment 45 times in a row. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but your instructors are human. Since this was in no way to your detriment, it doesn't concern you.

-Sometimes your peers might have their skills graded by an "easy" instructor who doesn't really know the procedural steps and overlooks errors as a result. Sometimes you might have the "hard" perfectionist instructor who knows a skill well and catches every error. This isn't unfair. It's just the luck of the draw. Sometimes you'll be the one with good luck. 

-If I received a message from Student A about why she thought Student B's performance warranted additional deductions, my response would simply say "Please let me know if you have any questions about your deductions." Yours. Your own. Discussing Student B with Student A is not appropriate. Additionally, as an experienced nurse with a graduate degree and decade of working in academia, I would not welcome grading assistance from a second semester nursing student.

-Your instructor has already replied twice.  Why would you send additional messages about the same issue?  It's time to move on, especially if you don't want her to dread working with you at clinicals.

[0.9%NormalSarah, BSN, RN]

Best thing to do in a nursing program is fly under the radar and do not in any way call negative attention to yourself. Saying something once is understandable, but continuing to email and discuss with other faculty makes you seem like a busy body. It’s just not a good look. I’m not saying it’s fair, but your goal is to prepare to be a nurse and make it through the program. These little issues are just distractions and if you continue to focus on them, you will build a poor reputation for yourself. 

[hungrygirl]

I’ve been there. I learned that so much of nursing school culture is just ridiculous. I used to to try to be assertive but respectful and point out situations such as yours. You’re told to think critically. You’re taught to be thoughtful, ethical, compassionate. I too often observed and experienced a faculty with a do as I say and not what I do mentally. It is definitely not universal, but even those who practice what they preach are not willingly speak up against objectively unfair standards. 

Sadly, I found in the end that situations like yours are not worth the energy. I had to learn to give them what they want even if it doesn’t make sense, is unfair, or even wrong. It’s painful at first, but it gets easy as you embrace the reality for what it is and get through it. Your goal is to finish the program and become a nurse. Keep your eyes on the prize. Take the mental changes that you’re going to have to make as a challenge. Think of it as a game with crazy rules. In the end I found, unfair as it may be, they’re not going to change for you. To succeed and stay sane, you have to change to fit the system that exists. Keep your eyes of the prize. You can do it!!

[iNurs5, CNA]

On 9/5/2021 at 6:58 PM, Kooky Korky said:

and that will definitely help

I have four siblings. ? 

[Mr.Lollercoastr, CNA, LPN]

OP, you would benefit from reading the book "48 Laws of Power."

Just a small excerpt from the book:

"Always make those above you feel comfortably superior."

[valandria75, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN, NP]

Hey,

 

Do not stress yourself over this, I think another person on here said the same thing.  Get your grade and get out of school, because truthfully you’re in for a big disappointment if you believe it will be clear cut and text book style in the field and at the bedside.  You will drive yourself to the brink of insanity if you take note of what everyone is and isn’t doing right.

 

Once your licensed and out practicing it’s an entirely different animals.  Physicians do half *** assessments sometimes, but you will find most nurses and doctors will assess a little longer if they suspect something is wrong.  I was like this when I graduated thinking about the right way of doing things, I do it now and shut my mouth because I can’t fix city hall or a broken system I can’t worry about what my peer is doing or how she didn’t follow the text book.

Your professor gave sage advice, get your grade don’t worry about what the partner did or the grading and leave the professor alone and stop emailing her.  
 

Keep this in mind when you graduate at the end of the day we’re here for the patients:  if you emailed your professor over a passing grade you will do this as a nurse, worrying about what some other nurse did and didn’t do by the book and possibly going to management.  I’ve been doing this for 21 years, when I leave if the patients are alive or out to the hospital or still alive after I clocked out from the hospital then I did my job.  The patient is safe, was my day managed and controlled like a classroom, no ma’am it was not, was my planned routine interrupted, yes it was, did I get a call about something I didn’t do?  If not that was a good day.  
 

Nursing is not about the patient until a gross error is made our job is to prevent it from happening.  That same feeling in your gut that butterfly, nervous feeling and nerves on edge does not leave when you graduate, once you step on the floor in the real world, that feeling returns the minute you clock in.

Nurses that don’t complete the mounds of paperwork once they graduate will hear from management on their cell phones on their day off usually while they’re sleeping as will you because just like your partner, you will be on edge and overwhelmed and pissed off that someone texted you about something you missed, while you were already stressed and just wanting to get through your day in one peace and with the integrity of of your license intact and then you breath and the nervous gut leaves, because you survived.

[stevenking, BSN, RN]

There is one objective: pass. After the course is over none of it matters…

[JKL33]

@RoseTh93,

Various thoughts I hope you will read and internalize:

I greatly prefer fairness, too. Who doesn't? But some of us (self included) can't help but tune in when there seems to be a discrepancy in a situation. There was a discrepancy or degree of unfairness involved in this situation you describe. It's disappointing, not pleasant, possibly maddening, etc., etc.

But then there is the general concept of mountains vs. molehills. And this particular issue that you present here is solidly in molehill (or even ant hill) territory. It just doesn't rise to the level of "egregious." Why? Because you scored well. If you had failed the check-off or received a significant point reduction, then you would have something worth writing a carefully worded and concise inquiry about (not a novel and not an inquiry comparing yourself to another student).

It is important to go with the flow on little things in the course of earning a solid reputation for yourself. Not because nursing but because LIFE. And getting through it without being miserable. Your solidly-built reputation is what you will use, in your favor, when there is a more serious issue that does require you to speak up. If you establish yourself as someone who is bent out of shape about small things, no one will listen to you when you're concerned about much bigger things. This is true in nursing and in life.

Next: Although we shouldn't strive to be the kind of person who just lays down in order to keep everyone happy all the time or martyr ourselves in hopes of never ruffling anyone else's feathers, you must understand that there are people whose ways are pleasant and people whose ways make everyone's day a little less pleasant. People whose ways are pleasant are generally able to use good judgment about the molehills vs. the mountains. And, since there is already enough strife in the world, they don't add to it unnecessarily.

You do need excellent judgment to be an excellent nurse.

It may hurt to hear it right now, or it may upset you. I don't want any of that; what I hope is that you will just calmly and neutrally try to see things a different way. Nursing will be significantly more doable and pleasant if you try to consider the wisdom being given to you. Nurses deal with unfair, conflicted, much-less-than-ideal situations all day, every day. There are those who handle it more or less gracefully and those who really struggle and suffer the effects of not putting things into proper perspective.

I hope you will do well in school and in nursing. Your priority right now should be to learn all that you can about nursing and life. Work to get the grades that you want, and also work on gaining knowledge of interpersonal workings--so that you will be one who can take excellent care of patients and maintain pleasant professional relationships.

Best of luck ~

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