Husband wondering about nursing school failure/dropout rates

[hubby73]

So I'm the husband of a hard-working nursing student who's been at it for the last 18 months at UNLV. All along my wife has done well and passed all of her classes. As a medical graduate myself I know that it can take long hours of studying and working to get by and I've been truly amazed and proud of how hard my wife has worked to get through her degree program.

So why am I here? Because I'm truly angry and frustrated by what has just happened and my wife is too upset even to talk to her family, let alone get on here and vent. Two days prior to her planned graduation, with family all arriving and plans all set, she was told that she has failed one of her courses, by the typical

What truly amazes me is that about 20% of her classmates had this happen. All of these students passed every class up to this point, and then two days prior to graduation they flunked out. This seems like cruel and unusual punishment.... You make people work their tails off for months and then fail them just days prior to graduation! Many of them have children counting on them for support (ie. single mothers) or were in financial hardship just to reach that point, or had long term relationships fall apart due to the hardship of nursing school. All that to fail 2 days prior to graduation. I just cannot believe the lack of compassion of the faculty. Surely it must be possible to "weed-out" those who shouldn't become nurses long before graduation rather than two days prior.... In my schooling it seemed to me that most of the failing occurred within the first few semesters rather than at the end. I suppose the nursing school wouldn't make the same kind of money on tuition that way however...

So what I am wondering is whether or not this is commonplace? Is this something unique to UNLV? Is this something that other people have experienced at this school or elsewhere? Does anyone think this is fair?

Thanks for any comments, thoughts, or anecdotes,

Confused husband

[sbyramRN]

Yes, it is very common. My husband said nursing school was two years of pure hazing. We only graduated 12 of the 50 we started with. I am sorry your wife is going through this. It is horrible.

[CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

"Tremendous ambiguity" is the standard for many nursing tests. I learned to just repeat my magic mantra over & over & over & over: "That's OK". Just nod your head like a dumb little student & keep plodding on. Sorry to hear that your wife got hurt.

I'm lucky in the sense that my accelerated BSN program did a GREAT job of retaining students. We started with 48 people, and graduated 47. The one who left the program seems to have helped himself flunk out more than anything else.

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

Can she retake that class?

[Bobbkat]

It's common. In my program, everything must be passed with at least an 80%. Every semester we have people that flunk courses with 79.3, or something like that. Schools are pretty serious about making sure that everyone knows enough content that they can not just be good nurses, but also safe nurses. It really, really sucks that this happened to your wife right at the end though. Can she retake the course? Usually you can retake things a certain number of times. Either that, or there may be an appeals process that she can go through in order to graduate. Sometimes, nursing faculty can make the decision to 'bend' policy for a student, if they can demonstrate that they really do know the content at the level that they need to. I've never actually heard of this working with any of my classmates, but according to my school, it is possible. I wish her good luck, and really hope that even with this setback she doesn't give up.

Bethany

[Music in My Heart]

We lost 20% of our class but nobody in the final two semesters.

It does suck to get dumped at the end of the program but on the other hand, if someone doesn't meet the requirements then they didn't meet the requirements. It's harsh but everybody knows the rules going in and everybody is playing by the same rules.

Personally, I think the answer is to make it harder to get accepted to nursing school.

Or perhaps the first semester should be extremely difficult and be used as a weeding out process.

[aKyRN81]

My sincere empathy to both of you, but want to reassure you that this is NOT a new situation. I graduated in 81, my family wanted to throw a party and I wouldn't let them send invitations until I was absolutely positive and had confirmation in hand that I had passed the last semester ( and like your wife, I had done well throughout). This same situation of failing at the very last minute without warning has happened to WAY too many people over the years........

Sorry it caught both of you because it is not only a shame that it happened, but it does destroy life plans...

[shoegalRN, RN]

Yes, this is very common. Last year, we had a student who failed her last class in the last semester right before graduation. She had to repeat it again with our class. She had to wait an entire year to graduate. This student had a 74.5% and they don't round up unless it's a 74.6%. You need a 75% to pass the class.

Is it possible that your wife can retake the class? Most nursing schools will let you fail one class ONLY and then come back and retake the class again the next year, since most nursing courses are only offered once a year.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

yes it's normal for this to happen, when i gradiuated we started the progam with 44 students and the day before graduation 3 were told they failed and we had a total of 20 of us graduate together...when we began nursing school the first words out of the professors mouth were " look at the person next to you that person may not be there during graduation " then they told us " only the best and brightest will make it " ... ..... back then once you failed you failed and were not allowed to come back in the program ,, and it was hard to get into any other program ..... you were done......

you didn't write what kind of medical person you were , but you understand the competition in the medical field... i wish your wife luck and hope she can get back into her program and finish that class.... please keep us posted .. tell her she will get lots of support here .. the people here are wonderful and can help her get through this....

Robin RN, BSN

[moncj66]

Similar situation happened to me but I was in 3rd semester. Its cruel if you ask me especially if we are seniors! I think "weeding out" should be the 1st two semesters, not the last two. I feel sorry for your wife and trust me I know the feeling! I think I felt every single emotion possible b/c I know how hard I worked. Hopefully she can retake the class, I'm pretty sure most nursing school give student One extra shot.

[Reno1978, BSN, RN]

I'm lucky in the sense that my accelerated BSN program did a GREAT job of retaining students. We started with 48 people, and graduated 47. The one who left the program seems to have helped himself flunk out more than anything else.

This nearly exactly sums up my experience in nursing school. Maybe you're just at the wrong end of the state...I went to UNR!

Sorry this happened!

[Moogie]

I have a real problem with a student failing unexpectedly because I think there should be better communication between faculty and students throughout the semester---indeed, throughout the entire program.

Some faculty are extremely hard-nosed and think students should be weeded out at any point in the program if they can't, for whatever reason, "handle" nursing school. I disagree. As an educator, I want to know why the student is failing---especially if it's a student who has been doing well all throughout the program and then has trouble with the last exam the last semester. I'd want to know if the problem was with the student or if it was with the way I was teaching the course or writing the tests. If the problem is with the student, I'd want to know if there were any life issues or if the reason for failure was that he/she doesn't totally understand a concept. I'd much rather a student know that it's okay to say he/she doesn't know something and ask questions than to pretend he or she does know---and someday put a patient at risk.

I'd also rather see a student fail honestly than cheat to get a passing grade. Which would be the better nurse? I'd take the honest one in a heartbeat over a cheater! Thing is---when there's this kind of pressure on a student---the threat of failing out in the very last semester by a fraction of a percentage or a few points---wouldn't it increase the temptation to cheat?

Another issue here is---what is the real difference between the student who squeaked through a class and passed with, say, 75%, as opposed to the one who failed by half a percentage point? How can anyone realistically say that the student who passed will be a more knowledgeable and capable nurse? Frankly, before deciding to fail a student in his/her last semester, I would want to look at everything---his/her work in previous classes, care plans, clinical competence, even ask him/her what happened this semester to make it so difficult.

And I would look at myself and my own teaching/testing capabilities. I do not believe students should be coddled or spoon-fed their nursing education but, if I have a large percentage of students who have done well academically suddenly failing my class or my exams, it's time I look at what I might be doing wrong. Are my tests worded poorly? Have I spoken over the students' heads in my lectures? Did the reading material and exercises correlate with lecture and clinical or is everything disjointed? Are my assignments relevant or are they bull**** and busywork?

Getting back to life issues impeding student progress through a program---I have had my own life issues so I try to be empathetic with students who are going through rough patches in their lives. However, no good deed goes unrewarded---I had a student my first full-time year of teaching who knew "everything", had a ton of life drama, and was glib and very manipulative. I had no idea I was being played by this student until the middle of the second semester. The experience hurt. Unfortunately, because of that experience, I might be a bit more cautious and hardline myself with the next student who has major life "issues". There is a difference between a life issue or traumatic event being a reason for hitting an academic road block and someone coming up with excuses for his/her failure to learn. When a student has failed six exams or not turned in six assignments, and, each time claim he/she couldn't study because he/she had to attend Grandmother's funeral, it raises faculty suspicions that maybe that student is making excuses. And that's when faculty start getting hard-nosed and ask the students to bring in an obituary notice if they have to attend funerals.

BTW, to the OP---glad your spouse has you for a source of support. This has to be a tough time for both of you but I think your better half will get through this more easily with your help.