Students who don't come to class

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 12, 2005

There is a student in my program who never comes to class, except on days of tests and presentations, she even has other students drop off her assignmnets. She was at one Patho, and one mental health class the whole semester. I don't know how she passes (I know that she does with very poor marks). I was wondering if there are other students who you know of who do this.
I know that every student misses class on occasions, but not every class. She has never missed a clincial day.
She was almost caught last year when she was not signed up for a group and met with the program co-ordiantor in which she outright lied to them and they bought it.
How condifdent would you be with her as your nurse.
Just venting,
Kristen

Wow. In my program, after two unexcused absences, the instructor will begin dropping a student's grade by a half (ie: student was earning a B+, but now gets a B; student was earning a C but ends up failing with a D).

They say they can also remove you from the program, but frankly, with enough absences, it's so very simple to just fail you out!

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Aug 12, 2005

It used to be at the local CC, students would only show up on test days and skip the rest. They recently had to state a policy about only missing X amount of days.

How confident? I would see this as someone who's doing the bare minimum, and wonder what else they do that with?

Alloramadai · Aug 12, 2005

Lowering grades? Oh no...... In our program, two absences or five tardies will get you booted from the class. We're allowed to retake two classes during our entire nursing school.

Tardies are my pet peeve. How dare the same students arrive late to class - to an auditorium-style classroom, and disturb the rest of the class. Grrrrrr. :angryfire

RedSox33RN · Aug 12, 2005

There is no set policy at my college, but one would miss so much information in lecture, there would be no way to pass. They do say that a lot of unexcused absences will affect a student's financial aid, and generate a warning and a required meeting with your Academic Advisor. But they don't say how many lectures can be missed.

However, NO clinicals can be missed. We're charged $50 for a missed clinical, which is not payable by any financial aid one may have left over, plus there is one clinical make-up day at the end that you have to attend. If you miss more than 2, especially for no good reason, you can be dropped from the nursing program. I have a friend that missed two due to severe illness both times, but she was able to schedule a full weekend of clinical, but not with our regular instructor and on a different floor of the hospital.

krob0729 · Aug 12, 2005

if we were tardy the time was written on her little calender or if we were absent the amount of time was written down. We have 24 hours that we can make up at the end of the semester. If you've missed more than that...well TS....you're out. :uhoh21:

truern · Aug 13, 2005

We sign an attendance sheet each and every class, and if you're absent so many days or tardy so many times, "official" policy is you're dropped.

Most instructors, though, aren't that strict about attendance if your grades are decent, but just TRY talking to them about your grades if you haven't been to class! :rotfl:

sbic56, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2005

If she's able to get the concepts and pass the exams, then she has proven herself as well as the peer that gets poor grades and sits through every lecture. This program obviously doesn't have a policy saying she needs to attend classes, so if she can do it by reading the textbooks, well more power to her. Some learners get little out of lecture. I wouldn't feel I could base her nursing abilities on class attendence. I never missed a lecture, but rarely studied or took notes; that's how I learn best. Maybe her way is to read on her own. I can see requiring clinical attendence, as that is the only way to gain that experience and she does that. (I'm sure there are strict attendence policies for clinical.) I think adults should be able to decide what is best suited to them as learners. To each his own!

suzanne4, RN · Aug 13, 2005

As stated above, each person has their own learning curve. As long as clinicals are not missed and she passes the exams, then it is her problem not anyone elses. But she should take the responsibility forgetting her own assignments turned in.

And to be very honest, I rarely went to class my first year except for clinicals and exams. Of course that was many, many years ago. But I had already had the same classes at the university at a more advanced level, my program just would not give me credit for them.

So unless it is influencing your score, it should not concern you or any of other students.

Momto3andNurse2B · Aug 13, 2005

The only times that it really bothers me:

a) when it's me they are asking for notes/help (I have enough on my plate, thank you very much)

b) when they complain about how "unfair" it is when they don't do well (sorry, I don't have time to listen, I have a class to go to)

It's annoying, but just realize how much more you are getting out of the class than the students who don't show up.

Catys_With_Me · Aug 13, 2005

I could actually care less. I attend every class just because I'm afraid I'll miss something that could help me to do well on the exam... but we had some who were moms of little ones that were dealing with sick children, or had no sleep the night before etc.. etc.. or felt like their time was better spent studying than it was sitting in lecture. Who am I to tell someone else how they should prioritize or run their life? I can tell you when they were in class they were pretty sharp and on the ball and they were passing their exams just like anyone who was sitting in that classroom day in and day out.

That example aside I'll admit that some other students that didn't attend often did fail out. Of course, some students that attended every day failed out too. I guess the longer I'm in nursing school the more I hate this tendency some students seem to have for passing judgment on who they think will or will not be a good nurse for this or that reason-of-the-week.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2005

Just a thought, we had a couple kids in some of my core classes that had some learning diabilities and there were given alternatives to learning the material the way the rest of us did. Not saying that is right in a nursing program, but it could be there is an arrangement that has been made previously with the department to accomodate an issue.

Actually i think we did have a couple students in my nursing program that were allowed to take tests away from the group due to test anxiety or something. I just remember they were allowed to sit in the next room by themselves to take tests.