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When we become a part of a group, especially a group that is so underfunded and understaffed (like Nurse Educators) it becomes very easy to defend every action and every individual.

(In the past, I have mentioned several things that I feel need to change in nursing education.  You can read about that here  and here.)

This is flawed however, because doing so denies the issues and neglects the need for change.  Rather than keeping an open mind about how to improve, the moment we try to protect or defend an entire industry, we enter into confirmation bias and inhibit our ability to objectively see the need for change.

I know, without a doubt, that whenever I mention the need for change in nursing education we will get an email or two from a professor or administrator ranting up and down saying . . . (my answers below each one).

• “How dare you say there are flaws in nursing education!”
  • It is completely asinine to assume that there are NO flaws in ANY industry, company, or individual.  Hell yes there are flaws in nursing education . . . you know what?  There are flaws with NRSNG and with Jon Haws too.  None of us are perfect.  It’s time to be a bit more humble about what needs to change.
• “You are everything that is wrong with nursing!”
  • Ummm . . . if pointing out areas of improvement and then creating those lifelines for nursing students after the educators they have relied on have failed them is “what’s wrong” with nursing . . .then we have much bigger problems.
• “If students weren’t so lazy.”
  • No doubt, there are some lazy students out there.  However, all 300,000+ nursing students are not lazy just like all nursing educators are not “bad”.   Lazy students do not preclude the educator from educating.   Just as poor educators do not preclude the student from graduating.
• “We don’t know the professors side of your story.  I’m sure you were in the wrong.”
  • I state exactly what I did wrong on this post.  Being will to openly share my failure shouldn’t grant you the right to attack my vulnerability and excuse poor education.
• “Nursing school was hard for me, so it needs to be hard for other students . . . it’s the school of hard knocks.” (p.s. this one pisses me off more than any other)
  • Is this a joke?  Like seriously, is this a joke?  It’s your freaking job to educate.  I would NEVER wish on anyone to work on a floor where this mentality was adopted.  Imagine working with nurses who think it’s okay for other nurses  to struggle just because they’ve had some hard shifts.  Like . . . is this a joke.  If you see a co-worker struggling you just turn your head and let them sink rather than throw them a lifeline.  Get over yourself.
• “We will NEVER share your material with our students.”
  • Thanks.  You just proved my point that nursing education needs to change!  How juvenile it is to deny your students of helpful materials just because your feelings got hurt.  The funniest thing about this email is that they are emailing us AFTER finding AND using our materials.  Then, they get their feelings hurt and refuse to distribute anything NRSNG to their students.  Dude!  You just proved the point. Some administrators have gone as far as to BAN myself (Jon) from physically coming on their campus.  Come on!  It’s time to grow up, recognize the flaws, and provide your students with anything that will help them.
• “You are a bad example of negativity in nursing.”
  • I take offense to this.  Our podcast has 800+ episodes covering an enormous amount of material on positivity.  Our blog has 800+ posts, our YouTube channel has 400+ videos, our Instagram account has 700+ posts . . . 99% of this material is positive to nursing and nursing education.  If I point out one flaw or state that “nursing education needs to change” and you see that a “negativity in nursing”, I fear we are so deep into confirmation bias  . . .