First day of clinicals a doctor walked up to the nurses station and my roomate went to stand up. Our instructor shoved her back into her chair and said "dont ever give up your chair to a doctor" she was awesome.
On the very first day of nursing school, our lead instructor said " look around at your fellow classmates. We all looked at each other and smiled. She then said " half of you won't be here at graduation". She was right, only around 40% of us graduated but I still think that was a rotten way to start off our nursing school experience!
I was told that I would be a good nurse, but that I was a horrible nursing student, and that I needed to stop being so self-assure and assertive, and be more dependent on her.
The program chair told me maybe I should get a job as a CNA for a while to figure out if nursing was right for me... because I was struggling with an OB/peds class during the time that I had just been diagnosed with PCOS. There's a lot of personal baggage that made the diagnosis a difficult one to process, and instead of offering support, she threw me under the bus. She "accidentally" didn't get me registered for the summer class (after someone else dropped it) for me to retake it. If I hadn't kept a constant eye on the enrolled number and pounced, my graduation would likely have been pushed back a year. She said "You're lucky you called me about it when you did. People were already starting to contact me from other campuses wanting to register for that spot." I almost faced a dilemma at the pinning ceremony because I did NOT want that woman pinning me, but fortunately the alternating pinning process led me to someone else.
My favorite instructor made me cry at least once a week.
One time she said "Do you even realize you're talking out loud?" She told me I didn't need help with dressings or skills, but with communication. I process out loud, and she found it really bothersome. It helped me to pay more attention and not process out loud if I didn't need to.
Then there was the time my pants were falling off and I was doing a sterile dressing change, that wen't over well. I had to say something or they were going to be around my ankles. (I'd lost about 30lbs and they were too big)
I still want to cringe when I think about it.
What I loved about her was she would figure out where your weakness was and help you work on it, even if it wasn't directly related to nursing.
Hated her in the moment, but realized as I continued through the program that she liked me.
The best thing she said to me was when I went to her and asked if maybe nursing just wasn't for me. I said, "I know a lot of people just aren't cut out for nursing, maybe I'm one of them" She said "I've never had that thought.....about you"
Nursing school is a bear, but you'll get through it.
I actually haven't had any bad experiences with my nursing instructors so far. My clinical instructor for the hospital portion of fundamentals, during my review, told me I have the perfect personality to be a nurse, that I have the intellect to learn and critically think and compassion for my patients. Said I would succeed in whatever nursing path I chose! Said the woman with over 30 years of experience and the current clinical coordinator at the time. Talk about a great end clinicals for my 1st semester!
I had a wonderful instructor for critical care. In my final clinical eval, she looked me right in the eyes and told me I was going to be a "safe nurse".
Maybe that sounds like a weird thing to say, but it was so reassuring and it was said with such confidence that I almost cried!
We had one particularly ineffective instructor who's favorite phrase was "this is a self-teaching class." The extent of her participation was providing power point after power point. I honestly don't remember a single lecture where she actually lectured. Umm...if it is self teaching class then why on earth am I paying tuition for you to teach me? I still consider it a miracle that almost almost of us managed to pass that class and continue to the next semester, where we were all woefully behind thanks to her non-teaching style of teaching. Fortunately at that point the Dean stepped in and provided a series of guest instructors and free tutoring for those who needed it that got us up to speed pretty quickly. I guess that somebody, or a bunch of somebodies with some clout complained loudly enough to get results.
my first clinical instructor (after threatening us that if dirty linen hit the floor she'd fail us), saw me with an armload of dirty crappy linen and my shoe was sliding and I was trying not to fall or drop the linen told me I was too fat to be a nurse (because I was red faced and sweating). that was nearly 5 years ago and not only did I graduate and pass NCLEX on my first try, I've lost 85 lbs.
Thank you for sharing. Your instructor used sharp words I know where hurtful. May I ask, was her words what helped you lose those 85 lbs? Do you hate her for it or appreciate her direct in your face comment?
Thank you for sharing. Your instructor used sharp words I know where hurtful. May I ask, was her words what helped you lose those 85 lbs? Do you hate her for it or appreciate her direct in your face comment?
Weight shaming has been proven to promote unhealthy behaviors that lead to further gain. Some people might find motivation out of spite to prove cruel people wrong, but that's the exception.
My clinical instructor once told me "there's no room in nursing for men." That was thirty years ago so quite possibly she's dead now. I sometimes wonder that if upon her demise there was room for her in hell.
Probably a room for her with nothing but male nurses [emoji6]
I graduated over 35 years ago and our instructors loved the males in our class--but there were only 3 of them.
Muser69
176 Posts
First day of clinicals a doctor walked up to the nurses station and my roomate went to stand up. Our instructor shoved her back into her chair and said "dont ever give up your chair to a doctor" she was awesome.