Five sue over nursing-school ouster

Ah yes, the joys of tenure.

I am an RN in the Philadelphia local and my wife graduated from this program infact the plaintiffs in this case were her classmates; as I understand it these folks could'nt cut it. These students were all given a chance to catch up, infact the lead plaintiff." Whitaker" was in this class for the second time and failed the same semester.

In response, they first pulled the race card and got local politicians involved when that failed they went the legal route. I fully ecpect this effort to fail and the twenty two thousand dollars tuition most of it was granted by PHEA Pennsylvania Higher education program infact only five thousand dollars were actually paid by each student out of pocket. I know, I paid my wifes.

While I agree this kind of situation has been too often the case, this situation is an example of people who simply could not handle the rigors of the program and believe it should be given to them as some kind of token.

Who knows what the complete story is. We're reading one carefully prepared public statement.

"Passing" until the final exam can mean just barely passing, and finals are often heavily weighted. Most schools don't offer tuition refunds up until the time you flunk out.

I graduated from a one year BSN program for those with previous bachelor degrees. Along with most of my classmates, I'm well past traditional college age....very well past.

I did take a couple prerequisite classes with traditional-aged students, and the divergence in study habits between them was pronounced. The ones failing were those who took advantage of just about none of the extra learning opportunities the instructor and school provided. I know this because I went to all of them (if I flunked, it would be because I was simply dumb, not lazy) and I rarely if ever saw the really marginal or failing kids.

When they failed, they blamed everyone but the responsible parties...themselves.

No doubt, there are lousy instructors around, but rare is the instructor or boss who fails/fires people for "no reason." There may be a valid argument over whether there was sufficient reason.

I think schools are afraid to act on their concerns about the incompetence or recklessness of future nurses for fear of being sued... Honestly--seeing how often there are incompetent or hateful nurses in practice, I wish we would figure out a better way to "nurture our young" but "remove the bad apples" before any of us are real RNs.

I think the school took their tuition money and robbed them. You see, they probably could only afford to have 'x' number of students, so they had to look for a reason to boot some of them out.
The fact they won't show the nurses their graded exams is very suspicious indeed.

This thread reminds me of my CNA course. It was taught at the nursing school, the instructor was an RN. She was a total witch and wanted to try and "weed" some of us out by convincing us that we "didn't have what it take" to be a nurse aide. I stayed in the course and passed my state exam with flying colors, regardless of her pathetic attempts to get me to quit.

And how can an instructor use a "personal analysis" to decide if someone will fail or pass their boards? Shouldn't they just look at the student's grades? Or are they trying to nitpick at the student's personality ? Its incredibly simple-minded and weak to analyze people simply by how they act or look, without looking at their grades and test scores.

My CNA instructor thought I was too incompetent to be a CNA. Even though I made an A on all my tests. She was just judging me by my personal appearance and demeanor. (I can be somewhat shy and don't look strong enough to lift people, even though I can). I am working now fulltime as a CNA and doing quite well. I get lots of compliments from patients and their families.

Amen!

I was also surprised at the remarkable lack of breadth among some (certainly not all -- some were amazing) of my NS instructors... poor grammar, marginal math skills, suspect reading comprehension, and limited knowledge of chemistry.

It was occasionally frustrating to interact with an instructor who tried to speak authoritatively on subjects in which their knowledge was deficient and yet, due to only to his/her position as a nursing instructor, expected deference to her/his opinion or representation of the truth.

As with any field, one can be a truly excellent nurse without being particularly well-rounded or knowledgeable in subjects outside of narrow realm of nursing.

What is true in all disciplines, and perhaps especially in nursing, is that a PhD is no indication of practical knowledge nor any ability to impart same to novices.

Oops, brain fart!