Curious what your school would do?

[colleennurse]

Ok, I am an RN and I work on a med surg floor. I onnly graduated 6 months ago and I know I would have had an automatic clinical failure for what I am about to explain happened at my work the other day. We get students on our unit. When these students are there, the clinical insturctor picks 2 people each week to pass meds. This particular student was assigned to a patient that my co worker had and this student was not going to be passing meds this day, so obviously it was my coworkers job to pass the meds. The RN had pulled the medication out of the pyxis and checked them, opened them out of there packages and was going to pass them, but must have been sidetracked. So she put them (they were in a med cup) in these cabinets that are outside each patients room, in a drawer and was going to give them when she was done doing whatever. So a little bit of time goes by and the student keeps mentioning to the RN that the meds needs to be passed. These were 11am meds and we have and hour before or an hour after to pass meds. So a little more time goes by and the student goes up to the RN and says, "oh I gave the patient those meds". The RN asks the student if she did it with her instructor, the student says no. (ok in my opinion that is a HUGE no no). Not only that the student gave the patient the meds that had already been popped out of the package, so she had no idea what they were! Also a big NO NO. So the RN told the student that she needed to tell her instructor what she did. The student said she would. So before they leave the RN says something to the instructor and the instructor said that the student not only did not tell her the truth, but tried to accuse the RN of making a med error, (that is another story) and she did not make a med error. So the instructor says she is going to talk to the student. These students have 1 semester left before that grad, I think she should have known better than to pass meds withput her teacher and to give something that you have no clue what it is??? Anyway....the next time they came back, the teacher told the RN that they have 3 times they can get written up before they are failed. Does that sound right? Just curious as I thought that this was a major mistake. Sorry so long!

[HealingHands327]

and also you need a lot higher of a gpa than a 3.0 to get into a community college program for one thing!!! you should really do some research before you open your mouth. very few community colleges if any let students in randomly, most require a gpa above 3.3 if not higher and work on a point system. universities let 18 year olds attend nursing school fresh out of highschool! like another poster said community colleges have the highest nclex pass rate in my state as well!! private universities have the lowest with state universities next in line. hmmm guess it doesn't really matter what the gpa is to begin with it is how well you are taught, although we cant all be too stupid or we wouldn't be surpassing those much better students you presume that are attending a university. . the difference is that some people have the money to go to a university right off the bat and well others like myself who are adults may not be able to afford the high tuition costs. so like another person said you should really change your presumptions before you get gobbled up in the real world of nursing!!

swtooth

sorry i stand by my opinion and of course am entitled to it. i appologize for the original poster since this is a whole different issue. i don't know about other states but i know cali for sure, most schools has randomized selection based on low gpas.

for example

pasadena city college, all you need is a 2.0 and all prereqs completed. then you are in the "random selected pool of applicants"

los angeles city college it is a 2.5 on required courses. then once again it is random.

rio hondo community college it is once again a 2.5 with random selection

glendale community college is a 2.0 with random selection.

the list goes on. the point is there is room for acceptance of substandard nursing students in a a community college in comparison to univ. schools where there are more requirements. not saying you are a bad student or your school has a bad program. but with the some of the schools i've provided as my example, you can see how i came up with this point of view, and it is logical. i think the level of education and standards do matter. would you want such a selection criteria for our pharmacists and doctors? didn't think so. and so i feel the same for nursing.

[shippoRN]

I have no idea why attending a community college or a university would make any difference in this situation or any, for that matter. The standards are the same. Errors are errors, no matter where you go to school or the type of RN program.

I am offended by your insinuation.

I agree and am offended by the comment made. I'm a pre-nursing student, and I currently work with nurses of both CC and Uni caliber and they are all excellent nurses.

[nurse4theplanet, RN]

The only substandard nursing student is the one with a generalized, biased, assuming, and judgemental attitude towards others who obtain their degree in a different manner. I'm sick of the BSN is the best attitude really. Can we please move on?

[marilynmom, LPN, NP]

LOL I can only imagine that the CC vs BSN poster has never set foot in a hospital or worked with real RN's, most of whom are CC grads! I'm in a BSN program myself, I would have been happy to have been accepted anywhere because of how competitive it is to get into. I was just thankful to have a spot somewhere ya know? Also my BSN program has one of the better NCLEX pass rates in the area. But NCLEX pass rate doesn't mean anything if they flunk half the students just to get a good pass rates (lots of schools do that), the schools NCLEX AND retention rate are both important IMO.

[scribblerpnp]

What about the comments for the OP? I'm fine with you guys wanting to debate CC vs university, but this post is not the place. Open a new thread and put it there. Half of these comments don't even remark on the OP. Can we try to stay on track?

[moongirl]

The only substandard nursing student is the one with a generalized, biased, assuming, and judgemental attitude towards others who obtain their degree in a different manner. I'm sick of the BSN is the best attitude really. Can we please move on?

:) I was in a pt room and the pts wife made a sniff turn up her nose sound at me when I explained that I was an ADN student from a CC near by. this hospital that I do rotations at also has BSN students at it. My primary was in the room at the same time and she looked this woman in the eye and said very quietly, but with force " Well, from what I have seen these CC students run circles around the BSN students,they are further ahead acedemically, and they are taking 3-4 pts while the university students cant seem to handle more than 2." it was a good moment!!!!!!

As far as healinghands stating the low GPA requirements, I am sure they are there, yes, but with the amt of students that apply, I would highly doubt that anyone with a 2.0 would get in.. the selection process does look at GPA, "even" at a CC level

[GeminiTwinRN, BSN]

What about the comments for the OP? I'm fine with you guys wanting to debate CC vs university, but this post is not the place. Open a new thread and put it there. Half of these comments don't even remark on the OP. Can we try to stay on track?

If you look closely at the replies on this thread, MOST of them DO comment directly on the OP's question.

We are trying our best to respond also to healinghands comments, who by her OWN admission has been a "D student as well as an A student" in a previous thread.

[HealingHands327QUOTE!]I've been both an A student and a D student, and the amount of knowledge between the two is profound.:trout:[HealingHands327/ENDQUOTE]

Once again, I will respond to the original poster's question. This error was made and should be dealt with by her clinical instructor. Whether or not we are allowed as 3rd or 4th semester students to pass meds with or without our CI is irrelevent. THIS student was NOT chosen to pass meds that particular day, and did so erroniously on many levels. She didn't pull the meds herself, and didn't have the permission from either the CI or the RN taking care of the pt. to pass the meds. That, coupled with the fact that she then lied to her CI about the circumstances make her errors even more egregious, IMO. Any student in my CC RN program would have serious repercussions!

[CardioTrans, BSN, RN]

Ok, guys and girls.....

This thread was started asking what other NURSING PROGRAMS would have done in this situation. It did not venture into community college vs universities. This is not a debate of which degree is better.... there are many threads already here that cover the thoughts on that.

Please play nice.

[heather2084, BSN]

to answer the op's question, my program would have at least given you and F day, as per policy. 2 F day's and you fail the class. 5 F days during your entire enrollment in the program and you flunk out.

I'm unsure if they would have taken further action against this or not.

I only received one F day my entire time, and that was for overlooking an antibiotic to be hung. The nurse didn't tell my instructor either. My instructor wasn't upset or mad at me, as we both overlooked it that day.

[jam_mom]

WOW...a D student?? I'm in a CC program and we have a 3-D your out policy...

Some students can make straight A's and then make major mistakes on the floor...I've seen that myself

In our program the student would have gotten in to major trouble.

[BoonersmomRN]

At my CC that would be an IMMEDIATE failure....one of which would grant you an immediate trip to meet the program director. Yikes!!!

On a side note....yes my CC says the requirement for admission is a 2.5.....but you will never get in with that. My class was 3.7 and up. Honestly I dont know why they dont raise it...NO ONE HAS A CHANCE with a 2.5

[Ohmygosh]

Just have to add my 2 cents worth on this topic...passing meds without the clinical instructor or primary nurse present is a definite no-no in my Community College ADN program. You would receive at the very least an unsatisfactory for the day --2 "U"'s and you are dismissed from the program. As for the lying to CYA--that would result in immediate dismissal from the program (seen as academic dishonesty - and gross negligence).

As far as the CC vs University debate-- I have to agree with most of the posters here. Community College does not mean poor quality. My state recently underwent a statewide articulation of all nursing programs (CC and University) In other words we all have the same curriculum -- we all have to meet the same requirements to graduate. We all have to pass the same NCLEX.

I can tell you for certain that all of the programs in my state are highly competitive and choose quality students.. most if not all have a GPA requirement of at least 3.6.

And as far as my Community College goes ...our grading standard is higher than general academic courses....93 or above =A and anything below a 76 is a big ol' F A T Hairy "F" (prereq's included)...So I guess with the grading curve we would actually have higher GPA's if we (nursing students) were graded on the same scale as all the other students.

But what do I know... I attend a Community College.