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!
Lastly, I talked to my Holistic Health Assessment instructor from previous semester
I think I get your point. And keep this instructor as an advocate should things get ugly. As one who was targeted for failure in nursing school (others in my clinical group told me the instructor was asking me questions that she never asked them- besides the rumors that she flunks someone every semester-didn’t succeed that time) it seems unfair. I did not complain due to fear that it would make things worse. Do keep track of (written) incidents like this. If this continues you will have documentation to provide if needed in the future. It sounds like you are a good student. I hope that this is all there is to the situation. You have discussed this with another faculty so someone else is aware. Don’t make a habit of going there to complain, though….as it will earn you a bad reputation. Think of this as one more motivation to make you the best nurse they have produced!!
"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"
Ha! This is an actual grading point?! How dare she say hello before demanding to know the patient's name and date of birth.......and we wonder why nurses graduate with no critical thinking skills. Welcome to nursing school, check your logic at the door,
Time to let that edge go and move on. Perhaps your instructor saw something that you didn't. It could be an ease in your partner/pt relationship, your partner could have been more comfortable. It sounds like both did very well. Please try not to worry about anyone else or their grades. Just get comfortable and keep gaining the knowledge base so you'll be confident in your own skills
"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"
Ha! This is an actual grading point?! How dare she say hello before demanding to know the patient's name and date of birth.......and we wonder why nurses graduate with no critical thinking skills. Welcome to nursing school, check your logic at the door,
... I think the point was that they didn't introduce themselves, like one should before doing anything with a patient. Hence the OP saying that they missed an objective.
OP, I get what you are saying. I think I still have PTSD from my nursing school experience myself. Some of it due to these types of things.
Here you reached out to AllNurses for some perspective and a lot of these folks are dismissing your feelings and at best minimizing them. Some of this is patronizing! Come on Nurses, let’s do better for our future.
it’s NOT the grade itself, it’s NOT the principle of the other student, it’s the shakiness of this grading system.
When you contacted your professor, the purpose wasn’t to nitpick but to bring light to what is a systematic issue in nursing school.
(This kind of stuff bothered me too!) How are we supposed to learn/grow from criticism if it’s all, well, random ? Unfortunately it’s not just your school or your professor. This is likely to happen again and again. Take ALL your grades with a grain of salt.
I was really disheartened by most of these posts to you. Maybe people forgot what nursing school was like because it’s just been that long or blocked it out of their memory ? Try to reckon with the randomness of the grading. As monumentally important as it is while you’re there, once you finish these grades won’t matter ONE BIT! Then you’ll be singing the tune of these responses.
Sending you lots of love! It will be over soon, I promise!
OP, I get what you are saying. I think I still have PTSD from my nursing school experience myself. Some of it due to these types of things.
Here you reached out to AllNurses for some perspective and a lot of these folks are dismissing your feelings and at best minimizing them. Some of this is patronizing! Come on Nurses, let’s do better for our future.
it’s NOT the grade itself, it’s NOT the principle of the other student, it’s the shakiness of this grading system.
When you contacted your professor, the purpose wasn’t to nitpick but to bring light to what is a systematic issue in nursing school.
(This kind of stuff bothered me too!) How are we supposed to learn/grow from criticism if it’s all, well, random ? Unfortunately it’s not just your school or your professor. This is likely to happen again and again. Take ALL your grades with a grain of salt.
I was really disheartened by most of these posts to you. Maybe people forgot what nursing school was like because it’s just been that long or blocked it out of their memory ? Try to reckon with the randomness of the grading. As monumentally important as it is while you’re there, once you finish these grades won’t matter ONE BIT! Then you’ll be singing the tune of these responses.
Sending you lots of love! It will be over soon, I promise!
I'm a nursing student right now. Second career, adult learner. The unfairness of nursing school is real.
Example - during med surg, I had to miss one of my clinical shifts because I was with my mom in the ER because she had a new onset of confusion. I communicated extensively with my instructors during that time and also asked if I could come on a different day that week (they had multiple clinical shifts on this unit). I was told that this was never allowed and I would need to do the clinical makeup paper instead (some 4 page paper on nothing important, APA cited of course).
The very next week, there was some random nursing student from our program that was working the floor with us during our rotation. I asked our preceptor (who wasn't involved in telling me no) who she was and I was told "oh she's just making up some clinical time".
Do you know what I didn't do? I didn't pester multiple nursing instructors to tell them how unfair that was and that it shouldn't have happened, no matter how true that statement is.
There may be a time when I ACTUALLY need to stand up for myself, and I'd rather have a reputation of putting my head down and doing the work instead of complaining over little things that don't matter in the grand scheme of things.
When I was in nursing school, there were rumors going around that one clinical instructor outright told all the exam answers to her students (they all became straight "a" students overnight). I was working then about 60 hrs per week, while going to nursing school full time. I had to spend many sleepless nights to study. It felt demoralising to know that someone came in into exam room with all the answers ready. But I kept my eyes on a prize, and tried to not dwell in neg emotions too much.
I fell your pain, OP. But it really will do you no favors if you keep pushing it. You have to continue working with the same instructor for at least one semester and she can do your life a lot more difficult, if she so choses. Also, nursing is a small world, you never know if you'll end up working with her on the same floor one day. So my advise is to move on.
I fell your pain, OP. But it really will do you no favors if you keep pushing It.
Yes, agree with this too. This is deeper than just your isolated situation. It is widespread and it will not be changed. I know that doesn’t really give you any grounding but I hope it gives you some perspective. Please don’t forget, none of this will even matter! Once you are licensed, the world is your oyster.
This is just the beginning of the nursing school journey. Unfortunately, "unfair" grading happens all the way throughout the process. Instructors/ Professors are also people who make mistakes, and may become defensive, offended, and judgemental.
Next time, if you need to communicate, do not send a long message, be concise, describe your concerns very briefly, and request to have either a meeting or a phone conversation (Covid has changed our approaches). Written communication often leads to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.
Let your instructor know that your goal is to do your best in their class. Try your best to speak for yourself only and YOUR own success. Grades discussion is not the best approach. Ask Instructor's professional advise and constructive criticism. Talking about other people is most likely backfire - does not matter how fair or unfair it seems.
I see that you are a serious and diligent student. This is all what one can ask for a success in nursing school. Keep your eyes on the prize and do not let anything to compromise your position. If you absolutely have to talk to your Instructor/s, try to avaluate whether they are going to be receptive to your message. If not - it's noth worth it.
Do you typically have a strong sense of fairness and justice throughout all aspects of your life? Can you think of other times you have encountered treatment you feel is unfair? If so, what have you done in the past when encountering an injustice, big or small? I’m curious.
Unfortunately, nursing school is pretty much a place where you keep your head down. I stood up for myself, and it did NOT go well, as many students before me and after me have discovered. You can find many posts of students in similar situations where they are used to being able to defend themselves in other classes. I don’t think it is right, but you have to determine what is more important to you. Graduate or insist on being right when these things come up. That was rough for me, myself. When speaking to your instructors, keep the focus on clarifying what is expected of you. Questioning the judgement of an instructor will only leave them feeling disrespected. After graduating if you want to work to fight the nature of nursing school, go for it, keeping in mind that you want to maintain professionalism. Nursing can be a small world. An instructor can make or break your chances of being hired somewhere in which that instructor has influence. I wish you the best of luck.
Don't make it harder for yourself. Some schools make it two to three instructors because some students accuse their instructor being unfair.
I'd rather have one than 2 to 3 instructors. This can get very intense...made some of my ex colleagues broke down. They had to pass those three instructors!
The grading as you described it was unfair. I do understand feeling annoyed about that. I also understand your frustration over being accused of being "competitive" when you were simply raising a valid point about the lack of standardized grading criteria, or at least the failure to apply them equally to all students.
However, I do think you made a mistake in even bringing this up with your instructor. At the end of the day, you were not graded unfairly, and you received an excellent score. It would be a very different situation if your instructor had unfairly deducted a significant amount of points from your score.
One thing you need to understand about nursing school (and the world in general) is that things are often unfair. As a personal example, I once had a clinical instructor who failed my care plan because she didn't agree with a nursing diagnosis that I had chosen for my patient... even though she was the one who had suggested I use it in my care plan. However, I knew that she was the type of person who would never admit to being wrong, and that by arguing with her I would just be shooting myself in the foot by getting on her bad side. Instead, I brought in my care plan with her comments the following day, thanked her for her feedback, and asked if we could sit down to discuss how I might improve it. After doing this and revising it, I passed with positive feedback. Was I being dishonest by pretending her criticism was valid? Yep.
My point is you need to pick your battles. In general, they aren't worth fighting as a nursing student because we have little to no power in these types of situations. Instructors generally don't like having their decisions questioned by students. Is that the way it should be? Nope, but it's the way it is. Also, did you consider how that other student would feel if your instructor had listened to you and her score had been reduced as a result? How is she going to feel if it gets back to her that you raised this issue with your instructor? Such a minor injustice is not worth putting your whole reputation on the line for. You don't wanna be that person in your cohort.
My advice is to keep your head down, don't rock the boat and don't sweat the small stuff. Remember that nursing school is only a few years of your life, and once it's behind you you won't even remember these things that seemed like such a big deal at the time.
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9kidsmomRN
69 Posts
I think I get your point. And keep this instructor as an advocate should things get ugly. As one who was targeted for failure in nursing school (others in my clinical group told me the instructor was asking me questions that she never asked them- besides the rumors that she flunks someone every semester-didn’t succeed that time) it seems unfair. I did not complain due to fear that it would make things worse. Do keep track of (written) incidents like this. If this continues you will have documentation to provide if needed in the future. It sounds like you are a good student. I hope that this is all there is to the situation. You have discussed this with another faculty so someone else is aware. Don’t make a habit of going there to complain, though….as it will earn you a bad reputation. Think of this as one more motivation to make you the best nurse they have produced!!