[Nursing News]

Nursing a grudge against NVC
Napa Valley Register, CA - 2 hours ago
... requirement is unfair because it is not spelled out in the college’s nursing course curriculum. “It’sa true shame that we’re crying for nurses and NVC ...

Two Napa Valley College nursing students are prepared to take their school to court. Unhappy with the way the college uses a standardized test, the students have hired legal counsel in an effort to make sure they can walk with their classmates during graduation next month.

Students Ashley McManus and Christeta Amoren-Gonzalez are protesting the use of Assessment Technologies Institute testing. The ATI tests are used to determine the skill and knowledge of nursing students and to assess how a student will do on the nursing state board exam.

Students are disqualified from the NVC program if they score below the 50th percentile nationally on the test. Student may, however, retake the exam in order to graduate.

McManus — who said she’s had nothing but A’s and B’s in the program — said she passed the test, but did not receive the score the college requires.

“What (the college) is doing is just not fair and no one has ever questioned it,” she said.

McManus and Amoren-Gonzalez filed a grievance with the college. According to Chris McCarthy, NVC president, this grievance led to an investigation by the administration.

The administration concluded that nursing faculty have the right to use the ATI standards, and the two students appealed the decision to the vice president of instruction, and eventually to McCarthy. McCarthy upheld the decision to use the ATI as a standard.

“State law gives faculty the right to establish grading standards ... and use them in concert with local health care requirements and the mandates of the accrediting agencies,” McCarthy said.

More... Nursing a grudge against NVC

[wjf00]

Will these students 'sue' when they fail the NCLEX? Give me a break, try studying.

[Sheri257]

I'm not sure it's worth a lawsuit but ... the students may have a valid complaint there.

My school is in the process of switching from ATI to HESI because the ATI deviates quite a bit from the way they teach nursing at my school. HESI is actually based a lot more on the textbooks we use than the ATI.

To say ... "try studying more" is oversimplying the problem. The fact is: when you do study you can go to three different textbooks and get three very different answers to the exact same question. Nursing academia is rarely consistent in giving students the "right" answers to test questions, even when you do study.

However, having said all of that ... the same problem happens with the NCLEX. And ... whether we like it or not, no one can challenge the varying testing styles on that exam.

So, I guess we just have to deal with it.