Story of New Job Teaching at Unaccredited LPN School

[dirtroadbsn]

On a whim I decided to apply for a LPN teaching job on Craigslist (I had been taking time off- doing other fun things after 23 years and lots of ICU work) I got the job. I have never taught before and was very naive!

Its in a office building in my city- all international staff and students. Overall it feels pretty fly-by-night and disorganized; I got no orientation, no mentor, no job description, no benefits (of course); my salary was put in writing so that was good and I've received the first 2 paychecks hand-delivered. (which funny thing, the receptionist whispers to me- "make sure you go straight to the bank and deposit that- do not wait til tomorrow!")

They promised that the powerpoint lectures were already done; truth: they only have 1 functioning projector and 2 broken ones and there are no such slides in reality. They said all the tests and lecture notes are done for you: truth- the previous instructor's notes are so full of typos and grammatical mistakes that I have to redo them. I teach 5 hours of new content everyday Monday thru Friday which means I have not slept very much- but then the courses only last a few weeks and then I take the students to clinicals and it eases up.

All the clinicals are done at a single nursing home (fundamentals, med-surg, psych, geriatrics) The maternity/peds clinicals are at a day care center. I really feel sorry for these students because they are getting scammed on the clinical side. No real variety of experience at all.

This is one of those accelerated 1 year programs- alot of the students have very low level of English skills so alot of my lectures are teaching English not nursing. ("Involuntary means not willing to do something"- ) The students do work hard- and several will make good nurses but a few need more english training before tackling any more medical terminology.

I had been there for 3 weeks when they asked me to be the Assistant Director of Nursing! What? I said sure why not? I suspect this is probably because the state board is coming to review them soon for accreditation and they wanted a BSN from the US to help their credibility. (?) I have no idea.

The school director/founder drives a slick new black Mercedes. For-profit college indeed! Seriously, you cannot make this stuff up.

Anyway, I've survived five weeks- taught Psych and Geriatrics-(no experience in either); will hang on til Xmas and then bail out before it gets any more bizarre.

Anyone else out there have experience in the tiny for-profit sketchy nursing school world?

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

They are getting a good basic nursing education which will allow them to pass the NCLEX (maybe not on the first try- but most will pass) So I feel like I'm helping them get on their feet and move up in life. (Most are CNA's already)

If the school is not accredited, graduates may not be able to take the NCLEX. If they pass, they may not be able to get a license. A few years ago, my state's BON revoked the licenses of 5 or 6 African LPNs who attended the same Queens nursing school because the program didn't meet state education standards. The nurses had passed the NCLEX, but they couldn't keep their licenses.

[RogerHimelstein]

When I graduated my MSN, I interviews at a "school" like this in Houston. My gut told me is was not on the up and up and passed on the job offer. I got hired by an accredited program for the spring semester. I am very happy with that decision.

My concern for you is that if you leave in the middle of a semester, is that unprofessional behavior? You took the job, and have made a commitment to preform your duties. I would say get out as soon as you can, don't let the school take you down.

Good luck.

[TeachEmNursing]

Sounds like my experience except i stayed for 2 years. I tried to help the students as much as possible (without doing the work for them). I only taught foundations clinical and subbed for a couple of pharmacology classes but I tried to give them advice on books to buy, different programs and ways to get more experience. I felt bad for them honestly....but my sanity prevailed and I had to leave the school.

I would get out ASAP and try to find a job while you still have ppl there to give references.

[dirtroadbsn]

Thanks for all the replies: I gave my resignation notice before Thanksgiving and my last day will be next week.(7 weeks notice) I finished the course I was teaching so it should be easier for the director to hire someone to do the clinical portion of the course. However, the director called me on Xmas break to beg me to stay 'until he finds a replacement'. And I said the magic word 'No'. The rate he does things I could be there this time next year!

In other news- the DON resigned too (my immediate supervisor) so thats why they wanted me to be the Assistant DON! They knew she was leaving, but they didn't tell anyone, she just left for Tgiving break and never came back. (I did get a heads up: when I told her I was resigning she did disclose her departure to me 2 days before she left!)

Earlier in November, the state board came for its inspection. (I know the title of my original post says 'unaccredited' but we do have 'provisional' accred.) That was very revealing too: for example; we continue to send clinical students across the state line for clinicals which our neighboring state banned 8 months ago! As my DON said: "if they find out, we'll be penalized." Great! We also have just one more year to get our NCLEX pass rate up to 80%. What has the rate been the first 2 years of the school existence? 35%!!

Earlier in December a fellow instructor was giving an exam to his students, where was he during the exam? Out in the hallway with the classroom door shut! Patent endorsement of cheating. I just can't take it anymore.

I did give a sermon to my class a few weeks ago. I told them that an 'A' from this school does not mean a whole lot and just because you do well here does not mean you will pass NCLEX and in order to do that, you have devour your textbooks and devour the websites like quizlet and anything else you can get your hands on. You have to suffer for the next 6-8 months if you think you are going to make it and I told them the miserable Nclex pass rate for the school and why its so low. They really appreciated my honesty and I think they took it to heart.

But I feel guilty for leaving them in a lurch but there is never a good time to leave a bad situation.

Thanks everyone and since I will never put this experience on my resume, I think I'll be ok. I already have a little job lined up at a non-profit doing bookkeeping and admin.

Will have to go into any more teaching with my eyes wide open!