Gullible?

[NightRNDayInstructor]

I am a fairly new clinical instructor (2years), although I have been a nurse for 18. By nature, I see everybody as good until they show me otherwise. Right now I am strictly a clinical instructor, I do not teach any classes. Clinical instructors who also teach are telling me to watch out for certain students. They tell me that they are cheaters, etc. When I observe them in clinical they seem absolutely fine. I don't see them cheating or copying each others paperwork.  I don't know if I can't see the cheating because I am a little gullible and naive, or if the other instructors are just accusing students based on what they see in class. This really has me second guessing myself. Does anybody else have this problem? How can new instructors spot cheating in the clinical setting?

[turtlesRcool]

What constitutes cheating in a clinical setting?  Care plans were the only written work in my clinical setting.  I suppose someone could plagiarize on those, but the actual clinical experience is about patient interaction, trying skills, and developing critical thinking.  I don't see how someone cheats on that.

Will a student nurse know the answer to every question you ask? Probably not.  But is it cheating for the SN to look up a med before administering it or is that just using resources to be a safe nurse? I sometimes still pull up reference sheets on meds I have given dozens of times just to make sure it's appropriate to the patient, since meds can be given for multiple reasons and I don't have every contraindication memorized.  Before doing a skill I haven't done in a while, I might ask a colleague a clarifying question on one of the steps.  If I heard a student do the same thing, I'd assume the student wanted to be safe, not that the student was a cheater.

Some students will get "reputations" for one thing or another, sometimes deserved and sometimes not.  Focus on forming your own impressions of the students you oversee.  I've seen both Mark Twain and Abraham Maslow as credited with saying, "to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail."  If you keep looking for flaws, you're likely to find them. Those teacher-spread rumors are not helpful. If there were substantiated cheating, those students would be gone by now.  Don't worry about being "gullible;" focus on being fair. As long as your students are being respectful and safe in clinical, continue to treat them the same as anyone else. 

[MarkMyWords]

Nursing students, like all students, are not above cheating. If there's a way, sneaky students find it. They will even cheat on a question about honesty in an ethics course--fact. One trick is to bring a water bottle to class and on the label is printed the answers. Or a quick look at their smartphone. Don't let them use their phones for any reason. The oldest way is to print answers on the bottom of a shoe and cross your legs. (A real footnote!)  I can't comment specifically about clinical settings.

Better to be cautious than gullible.

[caliotter3]

Decades ago I got my care plan poop from a care plan book, so I don't see any difference in using a fellow student as a resource over using a book.  As long as the info is there, I would not be concerned.  It is the lecture instructors who need to watch for cheating on tests and quizzes and such. 

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Developing clinical judgement and the ability to collaborate takes time. I wouldn't find that to be "cheating". 

Form your own opinions about students and take what others say with a grain of salt.

[kfynn589]

Those teachers who "warned" you are violating FERPA laws and are acting unethically. You should not have a predisposed biased against your students - which is what they are setting you up for. If they were cheating in class that behavior should be addressed in class (expelled from the program, failure of assignment, failure of course, whatever it may be). However, they should not put it on you as an adjunct clinical instructor. That is not fair to you or the student.