Lone Star Posted October 22, 2009 Author Posted October 22, 2009 It is alarming that you have those inadequacies in an instructor. I think firflymedics approach is the best way to handle it and p instructor's first post describes perfectly how your instructor OUGHT to respond. Have you tried talking to her at all? What is it that makes you certain that you risk being booted from the course for asking questions? While in the EMT-B portion of the class (Remember, I had been licensed as an EMT-B for 12 years prior to taking this course), I recieved a 'stern talking to' because I pointed out that the information being presented about the Ryan White Care Act was erroneous. Then I got another 'stern talking to' because I was asking questions that she considered 'too complex' for the class...... So because of that, I'm pretty certain that I'm a candidate for getting removed from the class. You seem to get stuck with a lot of really bad instructors. First a poorly educated Basic instructor, now the same for Intermediate? If everyone is noticing issues, you'd think the facility would step in and make a change. I believe it is the same instructor. You're absolutely correct. It IS the same instructor from EMT-B.
RavEMTGun Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 Why would you take a class from an instructor you knew was bad? I once drove 60 miles to a class to avoid having to take it locally from a known terrible instructor.
Kaisu Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 Let's see - a couple of instances from medic school come to mind. In the pharmacology section, the instructor, reading from a powerpoint slide, says birth control pills are made with "male" urine. He further states that it doesn't make sense to him, but whatever. I immediately speak up and say I think they mean "mare" urine, which was the source for hormones prior to synthesization. This instructor checked it out, and after break said "Kaisu is absolutely correct - it is mare". Good teacher. Was it an important point? No - but is sure did increase everyone's trust in the course and the instructor. Another instructor teaching us ITLS states that fluids in burn patients are really not that important, then pulls out the burn formula, can't do the math, drops 2 decimal places and gets a fluid replacement figure 1/100 of what it should have been to prove his point. I was embarassed by this poor representation of the quality of paramedic education and challenged the instructor, correcting his math. The SOB was pretty upset about it, bad mouthing me behind my back and saying "Maybe she should teach it". I wish he'd said it to my face cause I would have taken him up on it and done a MUCH better job. Bottom line - correcting instructors won't always win you friends, but it does separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to instructors. Furthermore, my work ethic and 4.0 GPA made it pretty hard for anyone to retaliate in a meaningful way. I put a lot of time and effort into my paramedic education. I didn't really care about the marks (except to keep me secure in the program) but I was always deeply aware of the fact that when a patient was in front of me, I better know what I was doing. ALWAYS answer the question with what you know is correct. Do not memorize the stupid wrong answer for the sake of a point or two on some dumb test. 1
Snafu3532 Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 Unfortunately, through out my lengthy scholastic career my outspoken personality has not fared well with the few sub-par instructors I have come across. The upside is I have learned how to bring up an issue with an instructor being wrong without doing too much damage to an ego. The best method is to present her incorrect information as your own confusion...therefore you aren't saying she is wrong, you are merely "having trouble grasping the concept". For this specific example, I would bring it up like this: "I'm having a little trouble keeping the terminology chronotropy and inotropy straight. For instance, the "chrono" prefix usually relates to time. Like chronoic means occuring over a long time, and Chronos was the Greek god of time (you can come up with your own equally nerdy examples). Yet here that doesn't seem to be the case. Is there a reason for this?" This will hopefully get your instructor to question the truth of their own knowledge and they will look into it. If this doesn't work, you could go down the road of bringing in some sources. Hope this help. 2
Dustdevil Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 Excellent response by Snafu3532. Tact and diplomacy (the opposite of me) is most likely to be your best approach here. But I agree with aussiephil and Kaisu too, in that you need to do it in front of the class. Witnesses are good, should you find yourself defending yourself later on. But yeah... this sounds like a typical day in nursing school.
RavEMTGun Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 But yeah... this sounds like a typical day in nursing school. That's not encouraging... can you expand on that?
Dustdevil Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 That's not encouraging... can you expand on that? This seemed to happen weekly in nursing school. Maybe it was just my school, but I suspect not. Egghead nursing lecture instructors tend to just pull shyte out of their arses when asked a question they don't know they answer to. It's as if they just can't stand to admit they don't know the answer to every little question. One I specifically remember was when a student asked why we give atropine pre-op. The instructor made up some nonsense about atropine having a sedative effect instead of just admitting she didn't know. Or even scarier, she possibly actually believed that. But seriously, the students with no background will never know they got bad info if they don't fact-check the instructor, which most won't.
chbare Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 But yeah... this sounds like a typical day in nursing school. No, nursing school is the model for good education and new nurses are educated to the highest standards of progressive medicine and current evidence based practice. Take care, chbare.
Dustdevil Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 No, nursing school is the model for good education and new nurses are educated to the highest standards of progressive medicine and current evidence based practice. 1
Richard B the EMT Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 I can only address to the EMT-B level, where I have been for years. I had an experience with an instructor who made an incorrect statement, at a refresher class. Ever seen 30 EMTs, mostly half asleep at 0730 hours, suddenly sit bolt upright, and collectively imply "WTF" to an instructor? He was a good instructor. He realized he'd possibly made an error, said he'd check it out. In the afternoon session, he came into the room while another instructor was lecturing, politely interrupted, apologized to the class, first for the interruption, and then for the incorrect information, and gave the corrected information to us.
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