Why so many fail out of our program?

[lizzyberry]

I know I hear how hard nursing school is I know because Im in it. Yeah it is hard yeah theres a lot of work but do nursing schools really need to fail out or "weed out" so many students. In our class only 11 out of 29 students are passing. Why is this normal? And I see on these threads other NS also have this problem. Many of my friends are studying so hard putting so much money into this program, and failing because the questions on the test were so tricky. Why cant these nursing schools and nursing instuctors teach students how to be better critical thinkers and teach students how to take these tests. Why does this have to be normal that so many students are failing just because of these tests. What about more hands on training and more experience to develop critical thinking. If someone really want to be a nurse and put all there effort and hard work into it, it should show. So these nursing tests really determine if we will be great nurses? What happened to experience doesnt that teach critical thinking. Why do Nursing programs or my nursing program feel like they are just trying to weed out so many students because there arent enough teachers? I swear I feel like when I asked my teacher a question after class she is thinking "All right ask what you need to ask and hurry up because I dont have time for this." And then when they ask in class "Does any one have any questions?" There are so many questions I have for them that I cant even think of one. All Im saying is that I dont like the way our program is ran and others as well. Is it just my program or are other programs like mine? Im just so burned out right now I am passing with high C's but I feel bad for my fellow students who seem to be studying just as hard as me but cant seem to pass these test. Who's really failing the instuctors or the students? Sorry if I sound pesimistic but why do things have to be this way?

[coolpeach]

I am just finishing up the first semester in my program and so far we have only lost two people. Both of the people who dropped did so for personal reasons unrelated to the program. I know a couple of people who are at risk of failing if they do not get a very high grade on nexts weeks final. The problems I have noticed thus far are:

1. Things are very confusing, and not planned well.

My syllabus has told me to do work, read chapters etc that we were not supposed to do or read. I was later told it was last years syllabus (sorry). I was given a calander, and days are changed at the last minute. When you have kids, or are trying to work it's very hard to be told that you actually need to be in school tomorrow morning when for months your calander shows you were off.

[CandyGyrl]

So many people fail and the attrition rate is to be expected. Everybody that signs up for nursing school is not ready for nursing school. I know that sounds simple but it's as simple as that. I know its not rocket science or even med school but as a nurse you have to be able to incorporate a certain way of thinking into your job EVERY DAY.

You have to be able to communicate with your patients, and the health care team, interpret lab values, know your meds, why they are given and why your patient is getting them, pay attention to changed orders, changes in your patients baseline status, what cues about their medical diagnosis should be the focus of their care, what are their self care deficits...

You must understand care plans and why we have to do them. The point is for us to determine what our patients self care deficits are so that we may plan and organize care in the most effective and efficient ways using evidence based practice as our platform.

Use the pathophysiology assignments as an opportunity to learn every thing you can about a disease, the s/s, treatments, medications, nursing implications, complications (you can apply alot of this info to your test questions)

And then theres the test questions. I don't believe they try to trick you or make it hard for you... they are designed to make you think like an RN not like what you think would be the best intervention or most appropriate response:

A 78 year old man has confusion and temperature of 104 F, He is a diabetic with purulent drainage from his right great toe. His assessment findings are BP 84/40; HR 110; Resp 42 and shallow; CO 8L/min; and PAWP 4 mmHg. This patients symptoms are most likely indicative of:

A. Sepsis

B. Septic Shock

C. Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome

D. Ststemic inflammatory response syndrome

Following admission of the postoperative patient to the clinical unit, which of the following assessment data requires the most immediate attention?

A. Oxygen Saturation of 85%

B. Respiratory Rate of 13/min

C. Temp of 101.4

D. Blood Pressure of 90/60 mm Hg

These are really not that challenging but you have to understand the mere basics in order to fully answer the question(s) with confidence and accuracy allllllllllllllllllllll the way through nursing school. REMEMBER we are only learning a SLITHER of what we need to know as nurses. No school can teach everything we need to know so its extremely important that we are able to somehow grasp the bare minimum before we can move on to real world scenario's when we actually have 6 or 7 individuals lives in our hands and having to put it all together x 7.

I appreciate everything about nursing school, the pace, the complexity it says alot about your profession when you can graduate knowing you were the Crem de L' Crem. I would want nothing less from the person caring for myself and especially my loved ones.

[lovehospital]

Usually people fail because they dont study and a lot of them lie saying they didnt understand the material,yeah right nursing isnt a rocket science,you wont make me believe this lie.

[senecagirl]

at my school a problem is students just not working hard enough! if you are taking 6 classes and they are hard classes that require a lot of studying, you just dont have time!

[DonMonsieur]

In addition to the above concerns, in my particular nursing school, you are not passing with a 79. You need grades of 80 or higher to pass. I would think this would be a large reason for those students not making it, because they may not be used to the higher expectations of making the higher grade.

[CoCo Queen]

Maybe some of the NS in the program really wern't or aren't prepared for what the nursing program entitles. The difficulty of the whole program I mean. Just becasue you have been wantung to be a nurse for as long as you can remember doesn't mean that everything will come easy to you. That's why we as NS should take advantage of ANY extra amenites that are available to help. I'm mentally preparing myself for the ride, I know I will need all the asisatance I can get in order to be the best nurse I can be. That's how we should perceive it.

AND if you do fail, try and try again untill you get it correct. If it's your passion, nothing will stop you!!:loveya:

[jjjoy, LPN]

Everybody that signs up for nursing school is not ready for nursing school.

I agree here. Though with the current situation of many people competing for one space in schools, schools can be pickier about who they let into their programs. If they are STILL having a *very* high attrition rate, they may need to reconsider their admission policies, their grading and passing policies and the quality of their instruction.

I wonder what the attrition rate is for other clinical programs such as respiratory therapists, radiology techs, PAs, med students, etc.

A 78 year old man has confusion and temperature of 104 F, He is a diabetic with purulent drainage from his right great toe. His assessment findings are BP 84/40; HR 110; Resp 42 and shallow; CO 8L/min; and PAWP 4 mmHg. This patients symptoms are most likely indicative of:

A. Sepsis

B. Septic Shock

C. Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome

D. Ststemic inflammatory response syndrome

Following admission of the postoperative patient to the clinical unit, which of the following assessment data requires the most immediate attention?

A. Oxygen Saturation of 85%

B. Respiratory Rate of 13/min

C. Temp of 101.4

D. Blood Pressure of 90/60 mm Hg

I must say, only a fraction of the nursing test questions I had in school were nearly as straight forward in regard to symptomatology & clinical judgement. And when I read example questions people post to the boards, I'm reminded again of the vagueness and indirectness of many questions, so that one's ability to interpret the question correctly counts as much as on being familiar with the condition being addressed.

Our textbooks and lectures did little to prepare us the test questions. The content was there, but very little in the way of practice questions or example scenarios where we could see if we were "getting it" before being tested on it. And we had only the most cursory of test reviews after the fact. I wish someone had directed me to NCLEX review books while still in school!

I don't expect to be "spoon-fed" but I did (at least initially) expect the test questions to correlate more closely with class materials. But during the short test reviews we did have, looking to the book or lectures to confirm which of the two most likely test answers was correct rarely helped.

[lsvalliant]

Personally, I really feel that the program I went to tried to weed people out. It seemed like if the majority of the class was doing well by midterms, the final would be insanely hard. But if 9/10 of the class was failing, the final would be easier, but not so easy that everyone would pass.

Also, I think it can be hard to deal with the professors (which adds to the drop out rate). Some nursing instructors are crazy, control freak, power tripping individuals. They make it harder than it really is. Learn how to play their game! Even if it means kissing some u know what.

[twow]

in my experience, the teachers are pretty ineffective. worthless lectures, worthless assignments. they really just waste your time.

also like the previous poster said, some of the professors are hard to deal with, especially if they single you out or generally have a chip on their shoulder. before nursing school, i thought the stories about such instructors were exaggerated or misinterpreted. but now i know better...

[CuriousMe]

Wow, reading this thread has made me so thankful for my nursing school.

While of course NS is no walk in the park, our Prof's are wonderfully encouraging and helpful! The attrition in the past two classes has been under 10%. We were told in orientation that they chose us because they think we have what it takes to become RN's and it's their jobs to help us to learn how to do that.

I'm so sorry that so many others have had such different experiences!

[missjennmb]

My school has not been a cakewalk, but suprisingly we have only lost 1 person thus far going into our second (and third - AP) final. There are some hanging on by a thread, but somehow they always manage to get through by the skin of their teeth. We have a student who failed EVERY test this class, and if he gets a good grade on the final, can pass. Teachers are even giving an extra 5 pts on the final exam for bringing 5 cans of canned food for a food drive the school is doing (most teachers at the college are doing it). I really think that they want everyone to pass. I'm surprised though as last year half the class had failed out by the end of the first 8 weeks, and here we are finishing off a semester with only 1 gone and only a handful that have to get 85% or higher on the final to pass.