Need advice

[Futnur]

Hello everyone. This is my first time here and I need some input on a couple things. I'm a first semester nurse student and so far I'm doing great. Well, to the point. Before starting the program, my school had a long orientation day in which we were told about all the dos and dont's, we signed a lot of policy and legal paperwork both for the school and the hospital where the clinicals are being held. It looked to me that it was a very strict program, and by the tone of voice during the speech of the program director, it was serious stuff. Well, to make it short, on the first day of school one of the students got kicked out of the program because she was intoxicated (I don't know if drugs or alcohol or both). Two weeks later another student was out of the program for not following the rules about being on time both for lecture and clinicals. Everybody was like "wow, they don't play here". A month later, another student went through the same fate because he wasn't smart enough or lacked common sense; during clinical rotation at the hospital he went inside the bathroom and started smoking, set off the fire alarm system in the entire hospital and triggered an emergency situation, the whole nine yards. At that point we didn't even asked what was going to happen to him, we knew already based on experience with the other two students. We knew this was serious stuff and we didn't even blink during lecture or clinicals so to not get in trouble. Well, guess what, last week we found out that all three students are coming back next semester, because the board decided to give them a second chance. I'm ok with second chances but not when people is not serious enough about life and death situations. I wouldn't like to be taken care of by one of these students or one of my family members or friends be under the watch of these people. Everybody was shocked and couldn't believe that they were coming back. It looked to all of us that the school is not serious enough about the program and what it represents. We are nurses in the making and we know that lives are on our hands after we graduate, patients that won't get a second chance if we make a mistake. The entire class is on disbelief and we felt disappointed with the school and the director of the program. Is there anything that we can do or an autorithy to report all this? Thanks for reading and I hope I can get some feedback on this.

A really worried student nurse.

[MiladyMalarkey, ASN, BSN]

When you say the board decided to allow them to come back, do you mean a school board or the actual state board?

[Futnur]

The school board, sorry for the confusion.

[KCMnurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

Sounds like there might have been some breach of school policy that required the school to bring these students back. While they might have been anxious to set an example and let other students know that they were serious, they still have to ensure that they follow all the rules before terminating a student. You may never know all the details as this would be confidential between the student and the school administration. If these students are as clueless as you describe - it will just be a matter of time before they mess up again. Then again, you never know, this might have been the wake-up call that they needed. In the meantime do you and good luck with school.

[MiladyMalarkey, ASN, BSN]

Okay. I'm not sure if the state boards even get into student nurse issues...like that anyway. But figured if you were referring to the state board then the school in turn allowing them back would make a little more sense.

The smoking and coming to class drunk...is just outright dumb on their part. The habitual tardiness is irresponsible. I wonder how old these students are? Your school may have had a hearing with them to debate whether or not to allow them back. They may have a policy to give a second chance if student is counseled & warned.

In my program, I feel had one of my classmates smoked and set an alarm off at a clinical facility the school partners with they'd be done. Only because my program and the hospitals they partner with are very serious about compliance. If you threaten the use of a schools clinical site, that usually puts a nail in your coffin. I'd also be surprised if they ever invited them back to the program, the intoxication thing also very big issue I think a school would take issue with. This student I would hope & probably was drug tested, I assume if they passed the drug test, that may be why they may be allowed to come back.

My thoughts are this. Their education was set back and interrupted and now they have to start over. That may or may not be enough to scare them straight. I'm just pretty sure if the behavior continues, they'll find becoming a nurse a very big issue in future. They could have been counseled, warned, made to take some sort of counseling/class & maybe that's why they are allowed back. That is why I also asked how old they were. While what people do never really surprise me no matter the age, I'm especially never surprised when it's someone who is young and lacks maturity and perhaps, the school from that perspective is trying to counsel them and allow them to remediate back for a second chance

Personally, the intoxication and smoking in the facility thing I think should be outright dismissal from program. That's me though. The tardiness thing I could see giving a second chance. Either way, they are on the radar now, so if they don't keep their noses clean, I'm sure they'll be out.

[Futnur]

Thanks for replying, but it is unfair. Now there's 3 student candidates that have lost their seat because they readmitted these failures, just my opinion I guess.

[jfast]

I completely agree with KCMnurse here. Sounds like something behind the scenes may have forced the need to reinstate. It may have only been one of the three that had something like that happen but if they let one back in, they may have had to explain why the other two were not and didn't want to have to get into that. That is certainly an unfortunate situation and I understand you feeling it is unfair. I can almost guarantee that your faculty/clinical supervisors are more upset than you though because they are the ones tasked with somehow managing those students. Just be glad you aren't in their shoes - you don't have to worry about being held liable for their actions so as KCMnurse said, just do you and let them take care of themselves - maybe your school learned from this situation and will be able to enforce things better in the future.

[Futnur]

Thanks everyone for replying and yes, most of the clinical instructors are not happy with the decision at all. It puts them and the rest of the students at risk. Anyway, it seems that I'll just have to worry about me on getting good grades and becoming a responsible nurse.

[amoLucia]

The only positive thing to come out of your situation is to know that those students most likely have a humongous red target sign on them now. And EVERYBODY will be aware.

Any indiscretion will prob mean that they will be held to the highest level of disciplinary action.

Also please note - you may be unaware of any other remedial discipline that has been imposed by your school. The school DOES NOT have to disclose that to you. I'm sure there's something else there.

[abzurdity, CNA]

I’ve got a different take than most of the other commenters—I think these students may well deserve a second chance, and that it’s really none of your business.

Further, it seems that you really don’t know enough about the circumstances leading to the dismissal of these students (which, for all you know, may have been extenuating) to be making absolutist judgements about their situation, and certainly not about their general worthiness to be nurses in the future.

So, my advice? Focus on your own education, worry less about petty drama, and let the administrators do their jobs.

[Futnur]

Abzurdity, you are a CNA and that's maybe why you see things with a different optic. If you call petty drama about an alcoholic or drug user taking care of patients, well darling, Idk in which country you live but here things are different.

[abzurdity, CNA]

7 minutes ago, Futnur said:

Abzurdity, you are a CNA and that's maybe why you see things with a different optic. If you call petty drama about an alcoholic or drug user taking care of patients, well darling, Idk in which country you live but here things are different.

I don’t think that being dismissive of or derogatory towards CNAs is going to make you many friends on these boards.

I’ll reiterate—you don’t have any concrete information, by your own admission, of the specific circumstances that led to these students being dismissed—and even if you did, it’s simply not your call, and not your concern—so why stress about it?

Also, if you’d bothered to read my header, you’d have seen that I’m currently a Nursing student, and I’ll have my RN license within the year.

Best of luck with your program.