What To Do When A Professor Is Insensitive

[gatitasrn]

My first year in nursing school began with high hopes. I'm passionate about helping those in need. My motto is "we are all here to serve each other." I thought that I should become a nurse because so many nurses that I've met in hospitals are generally caring people who give all of their attention to me and the people I accompany to the hospital.

Discouraged By The Wall

Imagine my surprise when the first course in nursing school (after the 18 months of pre-requisites like Philosophy, Writing, Math, A and P, Biology and the HESI entrance test were behind me) was to hear, "I am the CEO of this classroom!"

Professor Christine (I'll withhold her last name) has been teaching for 11 years. She was teaching my first course, Fundamentals of Nursing (introduction to nursing), for only the second year. Most of her teaching career had been in higher level courses. So when she was assigned the entry-level students, she treated us like higher-level students.

"I'm here to facilitate you. Not teach you. You need to read and figure things out for yourself. That's called critical thinking."

She assumed that giving a lecture about how to build a "Plan of Care" was enough. "When I don't finish a chapter, because I run out of time, I expect you to cover the rest of the chapter by reading. Then you will be ready for the exam."

Instead of giving us practice questions to assist in preparing for the exam, she highlights the parts of each chapter (the "learning objectives") and then created detailed questions "click on all that apply" ... and if we get 3 out of 4 correct, the entire question is marked incorrect.

It's like she has built a tall wall and she's waiting on the other side of the wall to see who gets over. When one of my classmates wondered aloud, "I wonder what sign of the zodiac she is...", another classmate muttered, "The dragon."

Readers, this is when it's a good idea to take a deep breath and look at the options. There is little use in asking to switch to a different professor... Professor Christine is the only professor for the entry level course. (2) There is little choice but to drop the class and try again next semester... (3) transfer. Yes, there is power in strategic quitting. The entry level course is typically paired with another course and it's OKAY to focus on one course, rather than struggling to keep up with both courses. This is what it takes to survive a course with a dragon.

Oh, There Are Some Questions That Are Stupid

We often hear that "there is no such thing as a stupid question." Well, Professor Christine hasn't heard that aphorism. "Billy, you are not doing me a favor by showing up today. I don't need any of your questions." Can you imagine what the mood in the class was while she berated Billy?

I decided to take an F for the course and re-take the course later. I kept attending to learn the head to toe assessment. Professor Christine was my evaluator and said, "Oh, since this is not going to count for points, you don't have to do this assessment." ... that distracted me so much, I missed several items that I knew by heart.

In short, she is a person who delights in cutting down students. "I like playing with you all. You know that it makes you stronger." ugh.

Expect More

I'm writing this article for the audience of first-year students. Please don't assume, as I did, that all nursing programs are alike. "We just have to accept what they are doing to us." Don't accept a dragon professor. Go to the program director and share your experience. If you don't get relief, find another school. Some schools tolerate such professors and that is just the system. These are not bad people. W. Edwards Deming, the quality control expert, once said that 94 percent of errors made by a company are caused by procedures and rules. Only 6 percent comes from bad actors. Most mistakes are caused by the expectations of the organization.

I'm shifting to the Chamberlain program in September 2018 in Miramar, Florida. I'm hoping to connect with current Chamberlain allnurses.com readers. Please leave me your comments. a) do all nursing programs have a dragon professor? (I hope not). b) at Chamberlain, is it possible to retake a course if things get tough and I need a re-do? c) If I'm taking a course as an audit (not for credit, just for practice), would any professor say what Professor Christine did? "Oh, since this is not going to count for points, you don't have to do this assessment."

REFERENCES

Appreciation for a System - The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog

[Orion81RN]

Sorry for the harsh assessment but the only problem here sounds like you (the OP). Neither the class nor the professor sound overly difficult.

So what's the problem? She has literally handed you the test on a silver platter. Study the learning objectives then and pass the test. If you are having a hard time with this I would question your studying habits or ability to successfully complete nursing school.

Brilliant.

Her simple comment distracted you that much from doing a simple head to toe assessment? The more you write and the more you say the more Im questioning your ability to be nurse. How are you going to react in an ER or clinic with a patient in pain, upset family members and all the craziness of a busy hospital or clinic?

Have you considered a career in hospitality management?

Please dont. Your advice is horrible.

While I felt like you chewed my head off in another post, this one has me cracking up.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Am I the only one who noticed the OP's signature info. She is becoming a nurse in part because she hurt her back so badly that she can't do medical billing anymore.

Also, her signature includes "rn" at the end, but she is still a beginner-level student.

[elkpark]

Am I the only one who noticed the OP's signature info. She is becoming a nurse in part because she hurt her back so badly that she can't do medical billing anymore.

Also, her signature includes "rn" at the end, but she is still a beginner-level student.

Good catch. Someone whose back is so bad s/he can't do a sitting, paperwork-type job wants to become an RN? That usually works the other way around.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Am I the only one who noticed the OP's signature info. She is becoming a nurse in part because she hurt her back so badly that she can't do medical billing anymore.

Also, her signature includes "rn" at the end, but she is still a beginner-level student.

I missed this also.

OP, perhaps you didn't read the agreement completely when you signed up here on AN. It is against the terms of service to include titles in your screen name that you have not yet earned. You can email an Administrator and ask to change your user name, since you are a student and not a registered nurse.

I will echo what the others have said. This instructor didn't sound all that bad to me. You may find that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence.

[Orion81RN]

Am I the only one who noticed the OP's signature info. She is becoming a nurse in part because she hurt her back so badly that she can't do medical billing anymore.

Also, her signature includes "rn" at the end, but she is still a beginner-level student.

I thought that, too. Then I thought about my own back issues and how painful it was in my last private duty nursing case where I sat for hours. The back pain I have is actually relieved by being up walking a lot. I feel a good stretch.

However, as we all know, it's not just being on our feet. As much as it helps that we have hospital beds that raise and lower, it still hurts moving patients. Underpads help with turning patients to an extent, but yep, it still hurts a bad back. Then there are the uncomfortable positions we have to get in for dressing changes...etc.

OP is in for a shock.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

Tacomaboy3 said:

Besides the comment to Billy, I think she sounds like a reasonable instructor.

To me, it sounds like an instructor who owes me whatever it cost to take that class.

When did college become about just handing over money so that you can self study? Am I seriously the only one here who sees the lunacy in that? You're paying to take a class and be taught. The second she refused to answer Billy's question is when she should have been fired. If you're not going to teach, you know, do your job, then get a new job.

And no, it's not acceptable to hold the student responsible for reading and understanding material and then testing them on it, ever. You're REQUIRED as a teacher to give your students an opportunity to approach you with questions. There's no expectation that you're ready for the exam by reading the chapter, that's not how this works.

Stop rolling over and accepting this? Seriously, have any of you ever had a job that you're allowed to just decide "I don't feel like doing it" and you get to keep it and keep getting paid, at someone else's expense? Grow a backbone, that's great training for the reality of working in healthcare, you have to stand up for yourself, because everyone else will throw you under the bus to protect their licenses.

You're PAYING to be in school, start holding your school, and even your coveted spot in that nursing program to higher standards.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

tonyl1234 said:

To me, it sounds like an instructor who owes me whatever it cost to take that class.

When did college become about just handing over money so that you can self study? Am I seriously the only one here who sees the lunacy in that? You're paying to take a class and be taught. The second she refused to answer Billy's question is when she should have been fired. If you're not going to teach, you know, do your job, then get a new job.

And no, it's not acceptable to hold the student responsible for reading and understanding material and then testing them on it, ever. You're REQUIRED as a teacher to give your students an opportunity to approach you with questions. There's no expectation that you're ready for the exam by reading the chapter, that's not how this works.

Stop rolling over and accepting this? Seriously, have any of you ever had a job that you're allowed to just decide "I don't feel like doing it" and you get to keep it and keep getting paid, at someone else's expense? Grow a backbone, that's great training for the reality of working in healthcare, you have to stand up for yourself, because everyone else will throw you under the bus to protect their licenses.

You're PAYING to be in school, start holding your school, and even your coveted spot in that nursing program to higher standards.

You make some valid points, but totally disagree with this one. This is COLLEGE and is an expectation in most programs, even at the most prestigious universities. Instructors cannot go over every single thing during class. As adult learners, there will always be a responsibility to read and learn material that is assigned but not covered in lecture. I have two degrees from two different universities (and changed my major in my first uni very late, so I had almost enough for a third degree), and it is this way in every class. Both of my Ds are getting advanced degrees (Ph.D from #2 ranked school in the nation and JD/MBA from a top law school), and there are very high expectations of the students for reading massive reams of material, much of which will not be covered explicitly in lecture. Instructors in higher education cannot spoon feed every important concept and detail with the class time allotted.

I do agree that professors should be approachable and willing to answer questions. They should honor posted office hours always. They should be clear about expectations in their syllabus and follow university protocol and policy. They should be willing to consider well supported arguments about subjective material, etc.

Just because students pay tuition doesn't mean that they don't share responsibility with the institution for their learning.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

Horseshoe said:

You make some valid points, but totally disagree with this one. This is COLLEGE and is an expectation in most programs, even at the most prestigious universities. Instructors cannot go over every single thing during class. As adult learners, there will always be a responsibility to read and learn material that is assigned but not covered in lecture. I have two degrees from two different universities (and changed my major in my first uni very late, so I had almost enough for a third degree), and it is this way in every class. Both of my Ds are getting advanced degrees (Ph.D from #2 ranked school in the nation and JD/MBA from a top law school), and there are very high expectations of the students for reading massive reams of material, much of which will not be covered explicitly in lecture. Instructors in higher education cannot spoon feed every important concept and detail with the class time allotted.

I do agree that professors should be approachable and willing to answer questions. They should honor posted office hours always. They should be clear about expectations in their syllabus and follow university protocol and policy. They should be willing to consider well supported arguments about subjective material, etc.

Just because students pay tuition doesn't mean that they don't share responsibility with the institution for their learning.

But did you read the next sentence about giving your students an opportunity to come to you with questions and clarification BEFORE testing them on the material? Your job is to teach. To put it into persepctive, them not answering questions and not even giving you an opportunity to ask before being tested on it is like you being a nurse and refusing to give meds.

You have to teach, that's your job. ANY student that's tested on material without an opportunity to come to you with any questions, shouldn't have to pay for your class, period. I'm not talking about spoonfeading all the information on the test, I'm talking about doing the most basic function of your job and being the student's teacher for the class that they're paying money for you to teach them.

Again, start holding colleges to higher standards. It's unbelievable how many people are willing to go $30,000+ in debt to self-study, you can do that at home for free. If that's what you have to do, then it should be an online class.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

tonyl1234 said:

But did you read the next sentence about giving your students an opportunity to come to you with questions and clarification BEFORE testing them on the material? Your job is to teach. To put it into persepctive, them not answering questions and not even giving you an opportunity to ask before being tested on it is like you being a nurse and refusing to give meds.

Ummm, yes, that's why MY next paragraph was as follows:

Quote

I do agree that professors should be approachable and willing to answer questions. They should honor posted office hours always. They should be clear about expectations in their syllabus and follow university protocol and policy. They should be willing to consider well supported arguments about subjective material, etc.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

tonyl1234 said:

But did you read the next sentence about giving your students an opportunity to come to you with questions and clarification BEFORE testing them on the material? Your job is to teach. To put it into persepctive, them not answering questions and not even giving you an opportunity to ask before being tested on it is like you being a nurse and refusing to give meds.

You have to teach, that's your job. ANY student that's tested on material without an opportunity to come to you with any questions, shouldn't have to pay for your class, period. I'm not talking about spoonfeading all the information on the test, I'm talking about doing the most basic function of your job and being the student's teacher for the class that they're paying money for you to teach them.

Again, start holding colleges to higher standards. It's unbelievable how many people are willing to go $30,000+ in debt to self-study, you can do that at home for free. If that's what you have to do, then it should be an online class.

I assume you are using the word "you" in general, as I am not a professor, so I don't "have" to do a darn thing.

[Neo Soldier, BSN, RN]

tonyl1234 said:

You have to teach, that's your job. ANY student that's tested on material without an opportunity to come to you with any questions, shouldn't have to pay for your class, period...start holding colleges to higher standards. It's unbelievable how many people are willing to go $30,000+ in debt to self-study, you can do that at home for free. If that's what you have to do, then it should be an online class.

It would be nice for professors to take out their time to teach, and facilitate understanding, but in the real world, some couldn't care less. I had two professors that literally read from their PowerPoint. I could have stayed home and studied but I had to graduate so I would hoist myself out of bed at 430 so I could be at school before 715 AM to take a meaningless class.

But how fortunate are we that we have YouTube, libraries, etc to make life easier for us. There are countless nursing videos online, free practice tests, so many resources, and of course we have clinical where we can practice what we have learned.

We need our school more than they need us and unfortunately, we are just one of many students they have to train. Sometimes it's not personal, it's just life.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

Neo Soldier said:

It would be nice for professors to take out their time to teach, and facilitate understanding, but in the real world, some couldn't care less.

And because, as a country, we've become so indifferent, they're allowed to keep their teaching job, even though they don't teach.

It's our fault. We've created an environment where it's actually accepted and expected that your teacher might decide to spend the whole class talking about their new dog, and that's fine, you better have studied for the test on the chapter you should be going over in class.

How long do you think these "teachers" would last if almost every one of their students are going to their department heads and complaining that they're not teaching the material? Or that they're refusing to answer questions?

We're all paying thousands of dollars for school. People in masters and PhD programs are hitting up to $100k+. Get mad when your teacher isn't at least giving an explanation of the material. Seriously, letting teachers get away with this is like buying a brand new Ferrari, and being OK with the fact that it doesn't have a motor.