When ill equipped students affect your grade...

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I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar situation as myself...Here goes: I got docked 5% of my grade because I refused to hold an incompetent group member's hand during clinicals and there seems to be no recourse. Is this what nursing school is really all about? Do I just have to bend over until I graduate? I was under the false impression that we are all responsible for ourselves and that we should be working with a group of equal peers. Silly me.

Our CI has 10 students as well and there would be no way that CI would allow for this person to do patient care without the CI being present for everything. How about fellow nurses at the clinical site? Any of them complain about this NS yet that you know of?

I have not heard if the nurses at the clinical site spoke up or not. It is summed up best by one of my fellow nursing students, "I would not let --- bury my dead dog because they would mess that up too."

It's appalling that the CI is well aware of this student's inadequacy and still gives a passing grade. I would not be able to sleep at night if I knew I put an unsafe nurse out into this world to harm patients.

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Do you have a handbook or syllabus that tells you the grading criteria? If there is nothing in there about being docked for not helping "enough", then you might have a case. If not, I wouldn't pursue it - unless it causes you to fail.

It is just unbelievable that you are asked to do that much for a student. It is one thing to help each other out, but not to carry another person. That instructor is not doing that student any favors.

Sorry this happened to you. :(

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Do you have a handbook or syllabus that tells you the grading criteria? If there is nothing in there about being docked for not helping "enough", then you might have a case. If not, I wouldn't pursue it - unless it causes you to fail.

It is just unbelievable that you are asked to do that much for a student. It is one thing to help each other out, but not to carry another person. That instructor is not doing that student any favors.

Sorry this happened to you. :(

I have the grading rubric and I asked her to point out the part where she felt she could dock me points for this. She pointed out a loose interpretation of the personal and professional growth section. Yes, we are to help fellow students when we have extra time....my mistake was not focusing on her favorite pet NS. It says nothing in the rubric about "You need to pay extra special attention to NS ---"

I agree, she isn't doing this NS any favors. The program will only become more difficult as it progresses and this NS will not be prepared for it.

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How in the **** did the NS even get through Chem 1 and 2 and A & P 1 and 2 with good grades???? If you can't remember how to do a dressing, how in the world did the NS memorize all that crap for the science prereqs?

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
How in the **** did the NS even get through Chem 1 and 2 and A & P 1 and 2 with good grades???? If you can't remember how to do a dressing, how in the world did the NS memorize all that crap for the science prereqs?

Clinicals can be a lot different then class. Many people can memorize things, it's a whole other story when it comes to actually applying the stuff.

I have seen students that claim to be A students end up failing clinicals on this board.

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Clinicals can be a lot different then class. Many people can memorize things, it's a whole other story when it comes to actually applying the stuff.

I have seen students that claim to be A students end up failing clinicals on this board.

I guess that's true. LOL.

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Specializes in Float.

I just finished A&P II and had formed a little 3 member group at the start of the class. One older and one younger than me. I mention age because in my experience, the older students tend to be more focused. The last 2 weeks of the class and after much discussion about getting a study session going, we finally set a date for the weekend before finals. Younger one bailed at the last minute due to an out of town trip. Met with the older one and started our session. Older one was dedicated and serious about 'getting' the material. BTW, the younger one texted the older one the sunday before final lab for the study notes I had e-mailed to her 3 weeks ago. :eek:

In any event I wouldn't want either of them in the same clinicals with me because the younger one came to class most days late, and while I did see her taking notes, it was clear to me that she was still in party mode. The older one because no matter how many times we went over the material, 1 + 1 always = 6! Always! I read the material to her while she concentrated on the pictures in an attempt to help her grasp it. I went back to A&P I material to refresh her on cell structure and function as it related to the chapter we were studying. I took her to the computer and sat with her for a good amount of our time, guiding her through the activities. Questions that she answered right the first time, she got wrong the second time and when I asked her why she had picked that answer, there was no rationale behind it. :confused:

By the end of the second day, she had gotten a good enough score on the online review and was satisfied that she was ready. The next day in class, she showed me 100%'s on the activities she had redone at home and printed out. We got the test and she scored a 52% because she had memorized the review questions but had not understood the processes and structures of the system we went over and when we received the test, the questions were such that you had to understand the material in order to answer it. She is a sweet woman and I like her but not all people can be nurses. If I had her with me in clinicals and was responsible for her I would be p***** off because she is hopeless and shouldn't make it in the program anyway. :nono:

I can totally see how people get in who should be passed over because in all of my pre-req course there was a foreign teacher and the foreign students who were doing poorly, cheating (got caught by the professor) and generally couldn't get it were passed with a C. In our school, the criteria isn't GPA based, it's points based and a C would get them 1 or 2 points towards the minimum 7 points. I haven't said a d*** thing because it didn't affect me or my grade, it was none of my business so I focused on me but here you are talking about CI's taking percentages from you for their shortcomings.:mad:

I wouldn't resign to just accepting it because that's the way it is. If we always accepted things because that's the way it's done, we'd still be living in the days of barbarianism, slavery and piracy! Make some noise!:twocents:

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PhoenixTech: You hit the nail right on the head during the bottom portion of your post. Do we go to the same school? lol

Now that it is affecting my grade, darn right it is upsetting. I'm still pondering the best approach to the whole situation.

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Wow, that's sad! I guess I have this pipe dream that people who are incompetent don't make it through the nursing program, much less that they somehow get ahead in the nursing world. I better learn how to cope with frustrations! I just want to kick and scream and say how unfair it is :yawn:

Judging from the tone of your posts, your issue is primarily about your attitude. Expressing exasperation at a fellow student or your clinical instructor is going to get you docked points. Even worse, if you continue to press the issue with your instructor, you will get points docked on future assignments. Whether you feel justified in complaining is irrelavent.

You need to realize that it was not the ill equipped student that affected your grade, it was your response to that situation. If you continue to carry this, "Well, I guess it is my job to cover for idiots" type chip on your shoulder, you should know that if it results in lower scores - it's on you.

Part of the instructor's job is to build nurses out of the shivering masses of jello that show up in their programs. I found that when you do your best to assist them in this endeavor, everyone wins. If you put a sour puss on about it, everyone loses.

You choose.

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Judging from the tone of your posts, your issue is primarily about your attitude. Expressing exasperation at a fellow student or your clinical instructor is going to get you docked points. Even worse, if you continue to press the issue with your instructor, you will get points docked on future assignments. Whether you feel justified in complaining is irrelavent.

You need to realize that it was not the ill equipped student that affected your grade, it was your response to that situation. If you continue to carry this, "Well, I guess it is my job to cover for idiots" type chip on your shoulder, you should know that if it results in lower scores - it's on you.

Part of the instructor's job is to build nurses out of the shivering masses of jello that show up in their programs. I found that when you do your best to assist them in this endeavor, everyone wins. If you put a sour puss on about it, everyone loses.

You choose.

I couldn't agree less with you. Call me a sour puss if you want. If it makes you feel any better, I have a great relationship with my instructor. Just because I'm upset about all of this doesn't mean I lost my marbles in front of her or my peers. This board is here for venting...get off your high horse.

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I couldn't agree less with you. Call me a sour puss if you want. If it makes you feel any better, I have a great relationship with my instructor. Just because I'm upset about all of this doesn't mean I lost my marbles in front of her or my peers. This board is here for venting...get off your high horse.

Given the attitude you have displayed thus far, I didn't expect you to agree at all.

You can't have it both ways. You can bask in your superiority over your peers and your great relationship with your instructor or you can use this board to cry about getting docked by that same professor for your conduct at clinical.

Of course we are all free to come here and vent, but that doesn't innoculate you from criticism over how you choose to do it.

Good luck.

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Given the attitude you have displayed thus far, I didn't expect you to agree at all.

You can't have it both ways. You can bask in your superiority over your peers and your great relationship with your instructor or you can use this board to cry about getting docked by that same professor for your conduct at clinical.

Of course we are all free to come here and vent, but that doesn't innoculate you from criticism over how you choose to do it.

Good luck.

LOL, point taken, feel free to bask in your superiority and criticize away.

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