HESI is Wrong ! Let's File Suit

Jolie, BSN · Mar 29, 2007

There was a lengthy thread a few months ago about 2 students who sued their college over being prevented from taking boards due to failing HESI, despite being B students in the nursing program.

Do a search to find a number of opinions on this subject.

BTW I agree with you!

RN2B86 · Mar 29, 2007

A-MEN! We have 20 senior nursing students at my school in SC, that are probably not going to graduate...including myself, because we can't pass this stupid test. We only had 2 attempts, and less than half have even passed. Our director seems like she could really care less though, so I don't know what kind of chance we have at fighting. All the students left are also really good A-B students, and we have put up with a LOT of BS for these 2 years, and now their ripping our dreams right out of our hands. Let's call the LAW!

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 29, 2007

..... though, of course, if the schools aren't allowed to base their endorsement on the HESI, they will start requiring similar tests and/or "comprehensive final exams" to graduate or pass individual courses.

In the long run, it won't really make much difference either way.

Personally, I do NOT support the practice of passing students through their courses and then failing them because of the HESI. I believe that people who can't pass exams should be "discovered" early in the program and given whatever remedial work they need BEFORE they spend more money on more courses.

justme1972 · Mar 29, 2007

I have read alot about the HESI, and here is my conclusion:

If the colleges don't trust their own nursing program, time to get a new Director, new instructors, a new curriculum and CLEAN HOUSE.

HESI doesn't license nurses the NCLEX does...let the NCLEX do it's job.

onduty23 · Mar 29, 2007

my school it the same but with the eri exam

justme1972 · Mar 29, 2007

There was a lengthy thread a few months ago about 2 students who sued their college over being prevented from taking boards due to failing HESI, despite being B students in the nursing program.
Do a search to find a number of opinions on this subject.
BTW I agree with you!

Whatever happened with those girls? Did they get to graduate?

Hey, I'm editing this post instead of re-posting....here is their update from December 2006..

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2006/12/16/news/local/iq_3733219.txt

gasguy1960 · Mar 29, 2007

you are exactly right hesi is hiding the instructors inability to teach and on that note i think that nursing school spends way to much time on stupid waste of time busy work and to little time on teaching you what you need to know to be a good nurse. the hospitals here in texas are beginning to suggest that they want to take the responsibility of training nurses away from the colleges and go back to a diploma program because they have to train the gns anyway "even the ones that did good on the hesi". i personally coming from a trade world think that nursing, as a whole should be unionized and nurse training should mirror that of say an electrical apprentice. in that program you work with a journeyman and learn on the job and attend school working your way up the ladder. also if nurses were in a union they might be able to have lunches and breaks or maybe even a bathroom relief session without feeling guilty or having to work while doing it, i.e. charting while you eat. also a union would force the hospitals to stop under staffing the units and curtail the abuse that nurse's face from the doctors. of course there are bad sides to having a union too but i believe that the good would out way the bad and with nurse burn out rates in the neighborhood of from gn to burn out in 18 months someone better wake up and smell the coffee.

navynurse06 · Mar 29, 2007

Yes HESI sucked...I had to take 3 different ones while I was in nursing school. And we got 3 times to pass it. I was one of the lucky ones who passed it on the 1st time each time.

However, I posing a question to the OP (and I mean no disrespect in saying this) but if you aren't good at taking nursing test how do you expect to pass NCLEX? Believe it or not, I found NCLEX and HESI to be very similar. NCLEX question are posed the same way HESI questions are.

I don't think HESI should prevent people from graduated or be a tool to weed people out. But it is a good tool to prepare students for NCLEX.

Just adding my 2cents!

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Mar 29, 2007

The problem is that schools are only accountable for the percentage of their graduates that pass NCLEX.

As such, they bear no penalty for not letting those pass that don't also pass whatever extra requirement, such as HESI that they impose.

It is a failsafe protection of the programs to ensure that they keep their NCLEX passing standards high.

I propose the programs ALSO be evaluated based upon the amount of attrition they allow.

About 6-10% of attrition is beyond their control. Some students drop for a variety of personal reasons. Several programs that concentrated heavily on reducing attrition were able to hold attrition to 10% without serious impact on NCLEX passing standards.

Most programs, however, allow an unreasonable 20-40% attrition rate and a few programs have attrition rates as high as 70%.

Unacceptable, but not currently unreasonable as the programs have no penalty for failing a student, only a penalty for NCLEX failures on students they allow to pass.

I would propose that, in order to get a good rating, in ADDITION to the current NCLEX pass standards, programs be required to keep attrition down to less than 12%. Programs that allow attrition to go beyond 20% should be put on probation.

This would do 3 things:

1. It would place the burden on programs to divine who exactly is nursing material in the ADMISSIONS process, and not after the fact. The programs would have to change their philosophy from nursing school itself being the place to divine 'who is nursing material' to having an obligation to get through their programs students that they've predetermined, in the admission process, to BE nursing material.

2. HESI and other tests would, of necessity be de-emphasized because the programs would have to ensure competent training along the way in order to cut down on attrition. Poorer performing students would have to be identified and aided much earlier in the process. In short, it would make programs accountable for the material they teach.

Failing a large group of students based on an exit exam identifies the failure of the program to teach and not necessarily of students to learn. This is especially true in that these students received passing grades.

3. It would also severely reduce students being paralyzed by fear of arbitrary dismissal, and that would aid the learning environment.

~faith,

Timothy.

abundantjoy07, RN · Mar 29, 2007

I thought it was just my school. I'm probably not going to graduate because of it. After 5 years, I'll be leaving with no Bachelors degree in anything. A private university no less.

abundantjoy07, RN · Mar 29, 2007

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