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!
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.
Specializes in Pediatric HH 3yrs experience, 2yrs acute mental he.
sometimes teachers don't like their mistakes to be called out. Sometimes the 'go along to get along' perspective is important. I always say pick your battles, but the teacher seemed to gaslight you a little and I just want you to know it is okay to speak up. In my nursing school we encountered, teachers who played favorites with some students who could get away with almost anything. Sometimes people are unfair, sometimes they are unintentionally unfair, but how you handle it is the most important thing. In this case, I say let it go and just get through nursing school. Put your energy towards being the best nurse you can be and then when you find injustice in the nursing field fight it with everything you got in your professional toolbox using all the best research and policies. I belong to a lot of nursing organizations and I am fighting for the things that matter most to me (staffing ratios, environmental health, anti-bullying programs)
Begin to strengthen your communication skills and body language skill (yes, even in the digital age it is still important to know how to use your body language) so the next time you are ready to professionally and cordially make your point (not that you didn't this time).
So far it sounds like you are doing a good job, but this is something you will continue to encounter with bosses and coworkers and admins so you need to be ready to handle conflict (even minor disagreements) with confidence
Lastly, there is nothing wrong with being competitive as long as you DO NOT throw someone under the bus. Many accolades and awards exist in nursing to encourage trying to be the best nurse you can be. Also, there are no shortages of "A"s so there is no reason why you both can't have As.
But yes I would let this one go for now and focus on getting through school
Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.
On 9/3/2021 at 5:48 AM, RoseTh93 said:
However, my concern was never about grades alone. It was about equality and fairness. I sat through my peer missing all those objectives as she was performing the assessment on me but the instructor overlooked them all or was not paying attention.
You may remember from your growth and developement class that "It isn't fair!" is a concept that comes to the fore at about age 13... and by the time one is old enough to go to college for a profession, it's usually tempered by more maturity. Let it go. And if you ever have a concern, hold your tongue (fingertips?) until you can speak to your instructor face to face, in erson.
(Obviously not to be applied to actual gross unfairness, e.g., "No Irish need apply," or other more modern examples of real, egregious unfairness).
You may remember from your growth and developement class that "It isn't fair!" is a concept that comes to the fore at about age 13... and by the time one is old enough to go to college for a profession, it's usually tempered by more maturity. Let it go. And if you ever have a concern, hold your tongue (fingertips?) until you can speak to your instructor face to face, in erson.
(Obviously not to be applied to actual gross unfairness, e.g., "No Irish need apply," or other more modern examples of real, egregious unfairness).
I also learned a little about autism, and “it’s not fair” isn’t just a maturity thing.
My peer didn’t reveal her grade to me. We were graded right in front of the professor, right then and there. We went through our head to toe and as soon as we were done, we were handed our paper. She told my peer “you didn’t miss anything”, while she missed several objectives and I was told I “ missed a word and was cut off point for it”! I believe my concern keeps getting deflected towards “competition”. I do not care about the grade she made! I care that we are treated equally and fairly when we are being judged on our performance. 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?
Yes. Simply put, mind your own business, stay in your own lane. If you upset an instructor, or really tick them off, you'll have a huge target on your back. The program will look for a reason to get rid of you. My advice, work hard, keep your head down, and worry about your own grades
Yes. Simply put, mind your own business, stay in your own lane. If you upset an instructor, or really tick them off, you'll have a huge target on your back. The program will look for a reason to get rid of you. My advice, work hard, keep your head down, and worry about your own grades
...and contribute it to an inability to accept ‘constructive’ criticism.
iNurs5, CNA
471 Posts
Best wisdom ever.