[Thedreamer]

The policy in our school is that if you miss more then 4 classes or 1.5 days of clinical you are withdrawn from the term. It also states that if you are absent a day of a test, (which is every class session we are tested), you must make it up with a maximum possible score of 70.

There is a girl in my class, one whom shows no respect to the teachers, is horribly rude to other students and CONSISTENTLY shows up late to class. She has missed 5 days of lecture, and been late to class several others. Three tardies counts as one absence. She also has missed clinical, and when she does come, she comes late. We estimated her total absences to exceed 7, all with no other excuse then "I woke up late"!

That being said, she has missed 5 tests. All of those tests were not only allowed to be made up without her having a proper reason for being late, (she just woke up late ect.), but she has been allowed to take all 5 tests and pass with 70+ points. Basically she takes the tests that we know are going to be very difficult (the ones shes always conveniently missing), and just doesnt come to class. That way she has an extra day to study, AND shes allowed to make higher then a 70 on the test. Yet she always shows up just in time for lecture to start.

Today it happened again. Were lectured on 45 pages AND given 10 drugs to memorize yesterday, for two tests this morning. Guess who didn't show up to class until the tests were over today? You guessed it. So we all just figured the teacher would finally say, enough is enough and kick her out of the program for failing to meet the guidelines and standards of the schools attendance policy.

Apparently that wasn't the case. Not only is she allowed to make up BOTH tests, but she has ALL memorial weekend to study for them! Almost everyone in the class, aside from her 3 friends in the back, were just so puzzled we didn't know what to do. It makes NO sense. We lost 5 people this term because the rules were applied to them TO THE LETTER. Yet this girl, who treats the teacher like trash and constantly is abrasive and rude to other students is immune to the rules?

To top things off, the teacher notified the head nurse at school and they are changing the schools policies for test retaking starting next term for everyone! Now if someone misses a test, for a legitimate reason or not, they will be given a 50-100 question test, all fill in the blank answers. Instead of kicking this student out of the program, they are instead letting her slip by and punishing the rest of us whom might actually NEED to miss a day in the future! I have never missed one class, NOR been late. Yet now I will be penalized harshly if I am because of this students abuse of the system and my teachers allowing it.

I honestly dont know what to do... Some students and I might be taking this to the head nurse at our school and demand some answers. What do you guys think? I need some advice!

[TazziRN]

That's exactly what you should do. If she were the only one breaking the rules it would be one thing, but because others have been dropped for doing the same things, it should be even across the board.

Question: does she have a learning disability? If yes, she may be protected. Just be prepared for that.

[Thedreamer]

No she has no learning disability. She is just a foul tempered girl who for some reason none of us can figure out is getting special treatment. Its just 100% puzzling us. Its almost as if the administration has said to not kick her out because even the teacher says she doesn't like this person. Im just SO perplexed!

[Thedreamer]

It just occurred to me.. Perhaps she isnt failing the student because our program is so small that if she does fail her, it just means she will be forced to deal with her again next term.. So she is doing whatever she can to promote her to the next term to get her out of her own hair.. Which scares me.

[TazziRN]

Another reason this needs to be addressed, then. If she cannot get through each term safely, then she shouldn't be a nurse.

[miss arron]

i can't believe your teacher is letting her get away with that....

even if they let her through this class she's bound to run into someone who won't tolerate that and give it to her good.

[TheCommuter]

If this particular student's issues are not directly affecting you, I would ignore it and not do anything about it. This might sound harsh, but her tardiness and absenteeism is none of your business. Don't waste your energy by concerning yourself with her matters.

Once you graduate and start working as a nurse, you will soon find that nursing is an unfair, politically-motivated field. Some nurses can get away with horrendous deeds, while others are severely punished for unimportant things.

[TazziRN]

So she shouldn't do anything unless she is unfairly bounced out too?

[newlife30]

Actually, you shouldn't worry about it, heard about karma? We had a similar student in our class, who happened to be a transfer from the regular program( I'm in the intensive). I believed she thought that she would get away with her behavior, however, I noticed that she hasn't been present this week. It turns out that her 'transfer" which was approved, ended being rejected. I understand your frustration, in my situation, I just told the other students, who were complaining about it, that the only person who is losing from this opportunity is her ....finally, (in your situation) she may have found a loophole, the administration may be trying to close all ends, who knows...try to ignore it...you don't need the added stress!

[Daytonite]

Originally Posted by Thedreamer

I honestly dont know what to do... Some students and I might be taking this to the head nurse at our school and demand some answers. What do you guys think? I need some advice!

You do nothing. And, I literally mean nothing. Give this student no help whatsoever. If someone is feeding her information about what is going on in class lectures or questions on the test, then they need to stop. If they don't, stop interacting with them as well because they are promoting cheating (at least as far as the tests are concerned). Whatever you share with them, they are siphoning to her second hand.

There's nothing you can do about the people who run your nursing program. They have the power to do what they want. Take this as an example of what happens among the troops when rules are not applied fairly. When your time comes to be in charge, remember that as hard as it is, you can't always play favorites and bend the rules for some people. Then, again, sometimes you are caught between a rock and a hard place and have no choice (see below).

I've just completed a very complicated class in health information management. There was someone in our class something like this. She literally cheated her way through the course by missing days including the day of our big midterm exam. She sought out people and leeched the correct answers to tests off them. Someone showed her a completed spreadsheet project we had to format and turn in when she couldn't figure out how to do it. However, someone else who was very devious and had her trust got revenge on her but good. They fed her some wrong answers to the later tests which she apparently accepted without even checking their accuracy resulting in a low score for her on the test. There was a lot of eye rolling and silent snickers when this person announced her poor grade to the class. Our semester was completed a week ago. This lady was still in the computer lab at school working on homework that was supposed to have been due on May 9th, 2 weeks ago! The reason I know this is because she called me and asked if I would give her the answers to one of the assignments. She said the instructor had given her an absolute deadline of yesterday, May 23rd. "No way," I told her and don't call me again. She had to have been desperate to have called me. We all did the final exam on May 16th and completed the course. I notified the instructor. But, the instructor is the one who allowed her to drag these deadlines out. She'll never be successful at a job because employers are going to be too strict about expecting that deadlines be met. Time = money to an employer.

I'm not advocating that anyone feed wrong facts to someone because it is inherently mean. You also have to be able to be completely closed mouthed about it and never reveal yourself and what you've done. I'm dying to know who betrayed her! However, if this person is sliding through your nursing program the same way, she'll have problems passing the NCLEX. It costs $300 to take the NCLEX that will be a waste of money if she doesn't pass. Also, if she does get a license potential employers are going to ask about her attendance. Her attendance stinks. Even if the school somehow covers up this fact, she'll hang herself at a job with this tardiness and attendance problem. I've said time and again in posts that nursing school should be treated just as if you are going to a job because you are being evaluated for a lot of behavioral characteristics that potential employers are going to ask about. No employer hires a new grad without getting some kind of evaluation from their nursing instructors. Your nursing instructors are the only ones who have been observing you in the role of a learning LPN or RN and can provide that information. What any of you do as a CNA isn't the same although an employer might inquire about your attendance and attitude from another employer. This new grad reference may be the one way your instructors will have to do the nursing world a favor and they will be telling the absolute truth.

I'm thinking that the people in the nursing program know something about this student that is allowing them to let her slide by like this. Is it possible that one of her parents or a close relative is employed by the school or is a local doctor? The way you describe her behavior towards the instructors makes me think she's threatened to sue them or something if they drop her from the program. The school may be afraid of her threats. I had a new grad who started working on my unit some years ago who was the daughter of a doctor who was on the hospital staff. This is how she got hired. How she got through nursing school I'll never know. Her preceptor came to me all flustered one day because she had started to draw up insulin in a 3cc syringe with a 1 and 1/2 inch needle! She hung wrong IV fluids on patients and made a number of med errors that were just unbelievable. Our problem was solved when the grad failed her state board exam. She did us all a favor and resigned voluntarily. I have no doubt that the DON would have let her stay on staff in some capacity if she had not resigned because of her father being on the medical staff. Politics.