Every one is unique and this also applies to nursing students. There are two types of students – ones who take responsibility for their learning and ones who don’t.
I was supposed to guest lecture for a school of nursing on the east coast that made the decision to close when Sandy hit. Closing that evening meant that the next time the students would come to class, they would be taking their exam on the “missed” lecture content. Although they did have lecture the week before, I put together a study guide to support them as they prepared for the exam. I was confident I did everything I could to help them succeed without compromising my integrity.
The night of the exam, I got a call from the program facilitator. I was shocked to learn that the majority of the students did poorly on the exam. Ugh. What to do? While we were discussing options (decided to offer extra credit) my computer started dinging with email messages.
I received two different types of emails:
1. Blaming
Words like, “not our fault”, “not fair” or insinuations that they’ve never done poorly on an exam so it must be the teacher’s fault.
2. Accepting
“I’m angry at myself for doing so poorly”, “Is there anything I can do to improve my grades?” They were taking full responsibility, not blaming the school, the teacher, the weather, the universe, global warming, etc.
One email in particular stood out. A nursing student (an “A”) said this, “I am so grateful for the extra credit. I feel bad about myself for not fairing as well on the test…” Wow. She took ownership of her performance – never once insinuated it was someone else’s fault and showed her appreciation for the opportunity to get a few extra points.
I will do anything for this student. Why? Because she is the type of nurse I would want to work with at 2:00am in a crisis; the one I would want caring for my family and the one I would want representing the health care profession.
Sometimes things happen within or beyond our control. Instead of automatically blaming someone or something, accept full responsibility. Period. Realize that the key to success in anything you do is to take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life.
Categorizing the nursing students can help you determine the right way to deal with them in specific situations.