Cheating

Nursing Students General Students

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I got a message this morning from a friend/classmate that she "didn't have time" to complete an assignment, so she was messaging everyone to see who had done it and could give her the answers. It was a looong assignment, and due tomorrow so at this point she couldn't complete it even if she tried.

Anyway...I was scared that someone would turn her in for trying to cheat and that the admin would find out I knew about it. At our school, even KNOWING about someone cheating and not saying anything is grounds for expulsion. So I contacted the dean and told her what was going on. My friend (the cheater) is dangerously close to failing this semester, and I think I may have just pushed her over the edge. I keep telling myself that nursing is an ethical profession and that I did the right thing, but my guilt is eating me alive. I wanted to see what the thoughts were from someone outside the situation...???

A student who cheats could become a nurse who cheats. Who wants that? A cheater didn't learn what they're there to learn. You absolutely did the right thing

Yep, definitely did the right thing.

i used to tell my students in clinical that nursing is a collaborative profession, and if they wanted to work on their care plans or journals together that was perfectly fine c me, but they had to put everybody's name who helped them on their work. these weren't joint submissions-- everyone had to turn them in individually, and it was pretty easy for me to tell who did what. oddly, though, (heh-heh) the slackers soon declared themselves by their lack of contributions, nobody would work with them anymore, and they either learned from their peers how to pull their weight or dropped out.

just another one of those learning opportunities that aren't immediately apparent to the student (and don't appear in the curriculum syllabus). faculty can be soooo underhanded :devil:.

if your school doesn't have an honor code that says, "...will not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do," the others who didn't report her are off the hook. but you-- you should be proud and sleep well at night, because you did the honorable thing. when you are a nurse and find someone doing something illegal or immoral (and the general nursing discussion is rife with examples) you will not only do the right thing because it's the right thing, you will be saving your own butt because, believe me, they will find out who else knew and those people will be in a world of trouble.

just another school experience that translates into real-world conditions... sleep well, dear, you earned it. and you got to learn it earlier than most.

We have had several instances of cheating in my program that I know about. Everything from looking at others' papers during tests, to taking pictures of the exams and sending them to each other. Unfortunately, we have another form of cheating that involved our first year instructors. There are certain people in the class who are the teachers' "pets" for various reasons. In each of our classes some of these people have failed and miraculously they are with us when the next semester rolls around. Basically, the instructors were adding point to their test grades in order for them to pass.

A former student went to the higher ups about these instances and although a huge stink was made, in the end that student became the pariah and nothing else was done. We're second year students now and those people are still with us. We have new instructors now so I'm curious to see how they will fare with instructors who aren't going to help and the no cell phone on the desk rule.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

If she was close to failing this was probably not the first time she " didn't have enough time" to do an assignment.

i am against cheating. in nursing school, if you cheat, you are only cheating yourself.

my question though is did you talk to your friend first? or did you just go straight to the dean?

i work in a hospital as a tech and i'm trying to get interview practice questions out of my managers. they are really big on "what if you have a conflict with a co-worker what do you do?" or "what if you see a nurse taking drugs and putting them in her pocket?" the answer is not run and tell the manager. the answer is confront them yourselves and try to make them stop the situation before it escalates.

i'm hoping you talked to your cheating friend first. you could have maybe talked her into changing her ways instead of getting her kicked out. but if she had been cheating all through out the program, then that's a different story.

I commented on this thread a few days ago but just today, I learned of more cheating going on in my program. A former student has printouts of the test info and she is selling them to some of my classmates. These students are ones in particular that I have wondered how they made it this far. Now I know.

I'm going to have to talk to someone about this because I'm sick of it.

Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.
i got a message this morning from a friend/classmate that she "didn't have time" to complete an assignment, so she was messaging everyone to see who had done it and could give her the answers. it was a looong assignment, and due tomorrow so at this point she couldn't complete it even if she tried.

anyway...i was scared that someone would turn her in for trying to cheat and that the admin would find out i knew about it. at our school, even knowing about someone cheating and not saying anything is grounds for expulsion. so i contacted the dean and told her what was going on. my friend (the cheater) is dangerously close to failing this semester, and i think i may have just pushed her over the edge. i keep telling myself that nursing is an ethical profession and that i did the right thing, but my guilt is eating me alive. i wanted to see what the thoughts were from someone outside the situation...???

you are absolutely right in what you did. you should not feel guilty at all. your friend is old enough to know right from wrong by now.

you say your friend is so close to failing, she a. obviously doesn't care about her academic career & b. this probably isn't the first time she has done something like this.

i understand you are feeling guilt because you just in a sense threw your friend under the bus, but in fact you are protecting the integrity of the program and your fellow cohorts and future patients. if your friend was a model student and fell on hard times, im sure there would be a proper way to handle this and take it up with the instructor, but this doesnt appear to be the case.

you did good girl...:up:

anyway...i was scared that someone would turn her in for trying to cheat and that the admin would find out i knew about it. at our school, even knowing about someone cheating and not saying anything is grounds for expulsion. so i contacted the dean and told her what was going on.

i'm just wondering...

so does that mean the other people she emailed are now close to expulsion because they knew about it but didn't go to the dean first??

hmm...good point

if she was close to failing this was probably not the first time she " didn't have enough time" to do an assignment.

yep

It amazes me that people pray their way into a nursing program. There are so many people who wish they could have a seat in a nursing program. It's absurd to think that students have made it as far as they have to get accepted and then choose to cheat!! Amazing!!!!

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