Grade inflation. (I'm against it.)

I love education—always have, always will. I love being a student. Learning new information, writing papers (yes, I actually enjoy writing papers), discussing with classmates interesting topics—I love it all.

In recent years, I have discovered my love of education from the perspective of an educator. I enjoy creating exams, suggesting curricula changes, and mentoring students. (I tend to have more of a love-hate relationship with grading papers, but that is neither here nor there.)

I get it!
Working as a teaching assistant is interesting, because I am neither the student nor the faculty member of record. I get to see things from both sides. I am closer in age to most of the students than the faculty members are, and, in all of my TA experiences except one, the faculty members are further removed from nursing school than I am. That said, I understand student anxieties and frustrations. “Honestly,” I tell them, “I get it!”

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What I don’t “get” is the overwhelming desire to achieve perfect grades. As an MSN-prepared nurse educator, I appreciate an exam that yields beautifully shaped, bell-curve scores. I understand that not everyone can or should receive a top score. I recognize that, on the NCLEX, more than one answer may be correct but candidates are examined on their ability to choose the best answers. I realize that the drive to have a perfect GPA should never supersede one’s drive to acquire excellent nursing skills.

I will admit that, as a nursing student, I loved it when an instructor granted extra points to compensate for a poorly written exam question. I even had one professor who gave an extra point to anyone who discovered a grammatical error on exams she gave. Free points were an unexpected surprise. However, as an educator, I do not agree with this practice. I think students should receive only the grades they earn. Call me Nurse Educator Hatchet, but I am not a fan of grade inflation, and I have no plans of contributing to it.

Once, after being questioned about the legitimacy of a grade I gave, I sent the following email to a student: I understand, trust me. I once cried in a professor’s office after receiving an A- instead of an A on a paper. I get it. I have also been a nurse for nine years, so I understand the insignificance of grades in “the real world.” Your worth as a nurse will not be rooted in your GPA. To be frank, your worth as a student isn’t, either. You are so much more than the grades on your transcript. Striving for excellence is always the best way to go. As a PhD student, however, I’ve learned that the pursuit of perfection can actually cause more harm than good. You all did a wonderful job in class. You received a well-deserved grade in a fast-paced course with material that is very different from what you are used to. Please don’t be too hard on yourself.

The bigger picture
I sincerely hope this student took my words to heart. We are not the sum total of our GPAs! We cannot allow ourselves to get so caught up in getting the best grades that we miss the bigger picture of getting the best education. As students, we don’t pay tuition with the expectation of buying a stellar GPA. We pay tuition with the expectation of being well-prepared to take the NCLEX or an advanced practice licensing exam.

I have witnessed, via social media, the disrespect of students unhappy with their grades. They say things about their instructors that I’m sure they wouldn’t say to these men and women in person. It seems that they think life is over if they don’t earn an A on every assignment or exam. I remind my students that I have never been asked to show my transcripts during a job interview. No one cared whether I received an A or a C in pathophysiology or pharmacology. In the real world, nurses are judged on their ability to provide appropriate care and to do it with a smile. On the hospital unit, grades are a nonfactor.

It's not just students
Students aren’t the only ones obsessed about grades. Some educators also obsess over whether they are perceived as a friendly, likeable instructor or a hard-grading one. Obsess as we may, we are not here to be our students’ friends. It is unethical to give exams after we have already given the answers to them, or to reward students with grades that don’t match their academic or clinical performance. We need to be supportive of one another and ensure that students actually learn the material we are required to teach. We are not in a profession where we can afford to allow students to enter the workforce unprepared.

I implore educators to take a good look in the mirror. Are we helping students by giving away unearned points? Should we continue to send nursing graduates into the workforce with an unrealistic assessment of their abilities by padding their grades? Are we doing the next generation of nurses any real favors when, to quiet the voices of students disappointed with grades they have earned, we change those grades? Are we giving outstanding students in our classes an opportunity to accurately represent themselves when we inflate grades of students who should be receiving median grades? No, no, no, and no!

I believe the answer to the current obsession with grades is to move from a letter-grading system to a pass-fail system. If grades were given in the same manner as NCLEX scores, students would not have to worry about their GPAs. I honestly believe such a shift in grading would do wonders for the morale of nursing students. Until a shift to a pass-fail grading system occurs—or if it never does—nurse educators must work to ensure students are given the grades they earn, while doing their best not to break the students’ spirits in the process. We need to build up nursing students, while helping them understand that their grades do not reflect their future careers as nurses.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.

10 tips for using Twitter in nursing

I recently attended the 2014 AWHONN Convention and was overwhelmed with joy by the conference’s use of technology. In addition to increased use of technology in the general and breakout sessions, I noticed a large increase in the use of social media—specifically, Twitter. As an avid user of Twitter, I posted more tweets, using the conference hashtag, than any other member of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Many of my tweets were retweeted and marked as favorites by members of AWHONN, members of other nursing and government health groups, and journals. By the end of the conference, several nursing colleagues asked me to help them set up Twitter accounts, because they wanted to tweet as well.

I am not shy about my love for Twitter. I encourage all of my students and coworkers—really any nurse I know—to utilize this social media platform for professional advancement. I first created a Twitter profile in the months preceding entrance into my PhD program, because I wanted to increase my professional presence on the Internet and social media websites. In addition to setting up a Twitter account, I became more active on LinkedIn and created a professional page on Facebook. Since then, however, I have focused my attention primarily on Twitter, because I have found it the most appropriate social media platform for professional development.

Although many use social media to stay connected with family and friends, my use of Twitter is all about connecting with other women’s-health professionals, nurses, and researchers. (I use other social media sites to connect with family and friends.) Because my research focuses on high-risk sexual behaviors, I follow many national health organizations that tweet information related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. As I scroll down my Twitter timeline, I am constantly considering new information to add to the literature review and methodology chapters of my dissertation.

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I also use Twitter for interacting socially with other PhD students and health care professionals. I have made several cyberfriends on Twitter, and I have met some of them at nursing and research conferences. Others, I may never meet in person. We encourage one another in our research efforts, celebrate accomplishments, check in with each other if long periods of time pass, and hold one another accountable for goals we want to achieve. I also check #PHinisheD and #dissertationdefense to gain inspiration and to congratulate newly minted doctors of philosophy.

Since more of you are using Twitter, I want to share a few tips to make your social media experience more beneficial to your professional growth.

Tip #1: Remember that you represent nursing. Whether or not you identify yourself as a nurse, you represent nursing and every other registered nurse. I like to remind my students that being a nurse is like being a member of a sorority. Once you are accepted into our ranks, you represent us at all times, so be careful what you post. Your pictures, statements, and interactions with others—whether or not your account is public—can shine a magnificent light on the profession or act as an unfortunate damper. I promise not to make you look bad. Please give me the same respect.

Tip #2: Interact with others using an interdisciplinary approach. While it’s nice to follow nurses on Twitter, follow other health care professionals as well. Our physician, public health, research, and health educator colleagues are gems. The information they post may not always apply directly to your role as a nurse, but it may be useful, nonetheless. Some of the most intriguing and inspiring tweets I have seen come from non-nursing colleagues.

Tip #3: Interact with health care consumers. Besides interactions that occur between health care professionals, interaction with patients or other health care consumers is also important. Just as health care providers follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (@CDCgov) and researchers follow the National Institutes of Health (@NIH), consumers also follow these and other organizations. Instead of wording your tweets only for other nurses, also interact with the general public. There are hundreds—if not thousands—of support hashtags used by health care consumers. They use these hashtags to connect with one another, but they also appreciate information from health care providers. Tweeting information to consumers helps ensure that the public receives accurate information from licensed professionals and is not simply passing around old wives’ tales or anecdotal information.

Tip #4: Make use of popular hashtags. Using hashtags will not only enrich your Twitter experience, it will enrich the experience of others as well. Twitter creates a list of tweets using the same hashtags and separates tweets into two categories: popular tweets and all tweets. This allows Twitter users to see what others are saying about content at hand. Some of the hashtags I often use include #thePhDlife, #nursesrock, #nursingstudents, and #womenshealth. I encourage you to follow hashtags of importance to your practice or area of research. I also use hashtags to categorize my tweets. I am the only person on Twitter who uses #thePhDlife. Sometimes, when I need a little inspiration or want to revisit my PhD journey, I go down the list of tweets filed under #thePhDlife. You may want to create your own special hashtag so you can do the same.

Hashtags are also helpful when attending nursing conferences or other large meetings. For instance, I tweeted heavily during the AWHONN conference using #AWHONN14, and, by observing others using the same hashtag, met several people I would otherwise not have connected with. It also allowed many people to get to know me. As I walked the halls of the convention center, I often heard “Hi, Tiffany!” from nurses I had never met before or “I’m really enjoying your tweets” from others. Tweeting at conferences is easier and more meaningful than taking notes. I can always refer back to my tweets to remind myself of important information shared at the conference. Besides taking notes for my own benefit, I get the chance to share what I am learning with the world—in real time!

Tip #5: Mark favorite tweets for future reference. Marking a tweet as a favorite (by activating the little heart at the bottom of a tweet) adds it to your favorites list, a list automatically generated by Twitter. I go back to my favorites every few months and review the list. It’s always nice to be reminded of important tweets posted in prior months or years. It’s like taking a trip down memory lane.

Tip #6: Participate in Twitter chats. Twitter chats are an exceptional way to interact with others on Twitter. Some Twitter handles are dedicated specifically to weekly or other regularly scheduled chats. Others will schedule and hold chats related to specific content. These chats—heavily advertised—are well attended, even though only a few actually participate. Twitter chats allow users to participate in real-time conversations with government agencies, health care organizations, and other health care entities. If your facility or educational institution has its own Twitter handle, consider holding a Twitter chat for patients, students, or other consumers. To initiate a chat, just let people know the hashtag you will be using, set a date and time, and make sure someone is available to moderate the session and respond to tweets using your hashtag. (Consider using two people to handle these work-intensive tasks.)

Tip #7: Find opportunities to mentor novice nurses and nursing students. I have used Twitter on many occasions to communicate with nursing students. Sometimes, I tweet tips to help them navigate the troubling waters of nursing schools. Occasionally, I interact with students and new grads after they reach out to me. Less frequently, I read a tweet, using a specific hashtag, or see a tweet on my timeline that inspires me to reach out to the author of the tweet. I have yet to have a negative experience in my dealings with nursing students or novice nurses on Twitter. They are always gracious and appreciate any wisdom I have to share. I encourage other, more seasoned nurses to also reach out to newer nurses. You have a wealth of knowledge from which we can all learn. Don’t be shy about sharing your experiences and wisdom.

Tip #8: Stay up to date on current practice. By following certain government health agencies, I am alerted to the newest research, practice guidelines, and population data. Whenever a new report is published, there is a tweet about it. Usually, the authoring organization tweets, and many other organizations retweet the information, or tweet similar information of their own. Twitter was established to serve as a newsfeed, and many people still use it for this purpose. Breaking news—health-related or otherwise—hits Twitter before local news stations or public radio. Folks often wonder how I stay up to date on women’s health issues. My answer is Twitter.

Tip #9: Create lists of your favorite tweeps. In addition to the favorites list generated by Twitter, you can create your own lists. My lists include: Women’s Health, mHealth, Nursing Info, Healthcare Legislation, Nursing Publications, Schools of Nursing, Teen Pregnancy, Nursing Orgs, and Healthcare Info. As I follow various Twitter handles, I place them in the appropriate groups. If I want to know what’s going on in which nursing schools, for instance, I open my “Schools of Nursing” list. This prevents scrolling down a timeline on which I could potentially see tweets from everyone I follow (more than 850 different Twitter handles). If you are going to use Twitter for professional reasons, I strongly encourage you to create lists. It saves times and helps with organization.

Tip #10: Engage in the Twitterverse often. Every now and then, I will come across a tweep I haven’t seen on my timeline in ages. To truly get the most out of Twitter, you have to access the site often, because information is posted constantly. If you wait days or weeks between logging on to the site, you will miss important content. Don’t feel that you have to tweet constantly, however. Some people—we call them lurkers—tweet very infrequently, and there is nothing wrong with that. Just remember, when you aren’t tweeting, you’re depriving others of your knowledge. Even if you have nothing to say personally, you can retweet interesting tweets you come across. You can also tweet online articles, pictures, and websites.

I hope to continue seeing a growing presence of nurses on Twitter and other social media platforms. Engaging with nurses across the country and around the world is something we couldn’t easily do 20 years ago. Today, we can learn from nurses and other health care professionals on every continent. Social media is here to stay. It’s time to embrace it. My Twitter handle is @TMontgomeryRN. I hope to “see” you around the Twitterverse!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.

When to start. How about now?

With the beginning of another year, announcements of resolutions are plenteous with many talking about things they are giving up to embrace the “new year, new me” mantra. Intentions to exercise have been renewed, thoughts of going back to school for another degree are proliferating, and there are enthusiastic discussions about new and exciting places to travel. Yet, for the first time ever, I’ve noticed a lot of pushback against New Year’s resolutions.

Many of my friends and followers have expressed, via social media, a shared opinion of resolutions: They are pointless, bound to be broken, and nobody wants to hear them. In recent weeks, this backlash against New Year’s resolutions became so apparent I had to ask myself why some people hate resolutions so much.

Unfortunately, my own track record reveals a plethora of good intentions and broken resolutions. Still, at the end of each year, I am thankful for the newfound wisdom I have gained from mistakes made the previous year, and I look forward to the fast-approaching new year.

The future you are dreaming of is right in front of you!

In attempting to understand why some are so against the changes that come with a new year while others, including me, look forward to each new year, I realized that what I’m actually looking forward to is a new beginning. The opportunity to forget what is behind me and focus wholly on tasks before me is, well, liberating. I enjoy the building excitement I feel as the current year winds down and the next one is on the horizon. I relish contemplating the endless possibilities that a new year holds. I delight in looking back over all the accomplishments, moments of clarity, and even disappointments I have experienced in the previous calendar year. So, I don’t understand why so many people have jumped on the bandwagon to oppose new beginnings.

As I thought more deeply about my own habits, with regard to new beginnings, I noticed a pattern that is probably not unique to me and my quirky ways: I only want to begin at the beginning. Any time I consider change, whether large or small, I want that change to occur at a time representative of a new beginning. For me, that’s typically the beginning of a new season, a new month or a new week. Whenever I want to do something new, I plan to begin the first of the month, or on Sunday, the first day of the week. To me, it just makes sense to let the old play out fully before beginning again at the beginning. In my mind, beginning in the middle of the week just doesn’t make sense, and I have spent many years convincing myself that, to begin anywhere else, other than at the beginning, just doesn’t feel right.

As a PhD student, I’ve allowed this disdain for starting in the middle to add to my list of reasons to procrastinate. Conversations I’ve had with myself go something like this: Yes, I know I need to begin writing the next chapter of my dissertation proposal, but I’ll wait until the beginning of next month to begin. … Sure, today is Wednesday and I don’t have much to do, but I’ll wait until Sunday to call that potential recruitment site. … It’s Friday, so let me end my week the way I want, and I’ll get to my schoolwork again bright and early Monday morning. Before replaying these conversations in my head, it hadn’t dawned on me that, while beginning only at the beginning is great if you have a 100 percent track record of following through, if you’re like me and you come up against a stumbling block every now and then, waiting for another “beginning” can result in loss of valuable time and momentum.

Many times after a fresh start or new beginning, an unforeseen event occurs, and we have to begin again. Instead of looking for the next universally recognized starting point—a new week, a new month, a new year—we should utilize the small fresh-start opportunities we have on a more regular basis. We don’t have to wait for the new year to make significant changes in our lives, because we are constantly given the opportunity to begin something new. If you are like me and you like to start everything at the beginning, start at the beginning of the next hour, or better yet, the beginning of the next minute. Every 60 seconds, there is a chance to begin again.

Do you have an idea for a new research project? Why wait until the beginning of the next month, quarter, or year to start? Why not start now? Have you been thinking about going back to school? Look into your options today! Why wait until the end of the summer or the beginning of the fall to research potential programs or begin working on the program application? Some programs have rolling admission dates, so don’t wait—get to it! While working on the unit, your patient, co-worker, or unit manager may say something to you that really gets under your skin. Begin again! Don’t spend the rest of the shift upset because of what happened in the past. (Yes, with each new minute, the prior minute is, technically, the past.) You can choose to begin again, and you can do it now.

My fresh outlook on new beginnings has helped me see how much time I have wasted waiting for opportunities to begin. Every day, hour, minute, and second provide adequate opportunities to begin. There will never be a perfect time to change bad habits or implement new and innovative ideas, so, instead of filing these thoughts in our mental Rolodexes as to-do items for another season, or worse, as potential resolutions for 2015, let’s do them now!

It’s never too early to begin. Don’t allow setbacks to knock you off the road to your dreams. Don’t waste precious time waiting for another opportunity to pick up where you left off. Let’s stop waiting around for new weeks, months, and years to celebrate new beginnings, and, instead, commit to seeing the possibilities that each second, each minute, each hour holds.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.