Cheating in Nursing School

U.S.A. Pennsylvania

Published

I am new to this forum, but I would like to throw something out there and have some input. I am a first-year, non-traditional nursing student. I am considerably older than my colleagues, at least the majority of them. I am in my second year of school, did one year of gen eds while waiting to get into the program. In the process of waiting, came to be friends with some students also awaiting acceptance into the program. In particular, one girl and I became very close. She and I were in the same classes as well as clinicals. She was great in clinicals, but extremely weak in foundation and was actually failing the one class. Another student, (older male) offered her "questions and answers" to a test that we were about to take, knowing that she was failing and needed to pull a 100 on the next few tests in order to keep her place in the program.

She told me of the situation, to which I told her I did not agree. She stated she did not either, but had them already and was not giving them back. I was not about to loose my position and that of my roommates by allowing her to come study at our house. It caused alot of problems, but the bottom line was this....It put the integrity of the test, as well as our program on the line. I felt it was necessary to speak up, which I did, and our test was not given on the scheduled day. While the rest of the students had no idea who was involved, they were all very angry that the tests that they studied for were not going to be given on that day....they did not understand the situation, or, better yet...did not care about the integrity of the program.

I have been chastised and ignored in this program since. The student that gave the information is still in the program. The student that received the information is no longer in the program, but only because she did not pass the class. Nothing was done by the faculty, other than changing some policies regarding remediation of testing in their offices. Several students have made very derogatory statements to me about the situation, not knowing all the information but just hearing one side. A few students with some bit of maturity have applauded the action. It has been an eye-opening experience, to say the least.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone else that may have had a similiar situation and what they did. Or...it would just be nice to hear words of understanding and support!

My school mate cheated all the way out of nursing school (AAS program). There were rumors all over when we were in school, but we did not have the evidence to come forward. It took her over four years to pass the nclex exam after graduation. By then many of us have earned our BSN and few were working as supervisors in a nursing home. All of those that cheat end up paying the price.

At my school of nursing, the instructors use the same exams year after year, so for repeaters, it is easy for them to pass the test, which they do not share information from the past semesters. My program is also competitive, so you have to be in good with someone in order to get some help on tests or anything dealing with the nursing program. If someone gives you study material, to me, it is not cheating. If they are giving you test questions and answers then yes, that is cheating. I feel people should not cheat because it will catch up with them eventually, hopefully it will not be one of our love ones in harms way.

Specializes in O.R. Nursing - ENT, CTC, Vasc..

As someone else said, usually cheaters come up short in the end anyway, they're just cheating themselves - although if you're a nursing student, you could be cheating a patient later on, too. Depending on what kind of skill you're being tested on.

I usually don't worry about it being "fair" because a person who has to cheat is most likely not doing that well anyway and it will catch up with them.

Pride in succeeding without having to cheat feels a lot better, too. :specs:

I agree with everyone else that you did the right thing. Integrity is lacking in today's society. If I were one of those people who studied their behinds off, I would be grateful that a couple of students who were attempting to cheat were stopped just in time. It wouldn't have mattered how hard or how long I studied, it has to be an even playing field.

Integrity > Friendship

You can always find friends. When you lose your integrity it's always gone...

I say good job. I'd be glad to work with you.

Specializes in Telemetry, M/S.

I agree with those above. We had a few students that were cheating their way through our junior year and when I and a few other high-scoring students found out about it, we were beyond angry. It made us feel as though we had wasted precious hours and day s studying and EARNING our good grades, especially when there was no action taken by the professors. However, we know that we truly know and understand the materials; and the ones that were cheating ultimately failed out of our class and will now spend the next year re-taking the classes. I have, however, lost quite a bit of respect for our instructors. :down:

i have to agree that it comes back to bite. I met one girl in my program, who i later found out was a cheater and funny thing is, she couldn't get through the program. We were in our final year and she couldn't do a simple math cath or administer meds. There are others who've cheated in school and haven't been able to pass their boards since they graduated.

To the OP, i have blown the whistle before and no one realized who blew the whistle. I blew it right in the middle of the exam but i was so subtle about it and the instructor was smart - she waited for sometime after myself and a bunch of other students had gone away from her before confronting the cheaters so it didn't look like i was the one who told on them.

You definately did the right thing, yes people aren't gonna like you for that but in all honesty, you're keeping people who don't know what the heck they're doing from the nursing profession. If anyone wants to get into the profession, they need to work hard and have a good knowledge base. The first time i saw cheating in my program, i was equally appalled and surprised. Someone told me "it happens everywhere", whatever....

My school mate cheated all the way out of nursing school (AAS program). There were rumors all over when we were in school, but we did not have the evidence to come forward. It took her over four years to pass the nclex exam after graduation. By then many of us have earned our BSN and few were working as supervisors in a nursing home. All of those that cheat end up paying the price.
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