lying about clinical hours

[astrn]

I have an issue and maybe some of you can make light of it for me. I am a practicing FNP and have been asked to be a preceptor for someone whom I work with. He is in FNP school and thankfully I am not his preceptor at this time. When I ask how his hours are coming along he says just fine. He is in his 2nd clinical rotation and is working full time. All of the NP programs I know of require 16 hours of clinical hours per week. He takes one day off his full time job weekly to complete an 8 hour clinical rotation. He states he can see 16 patients a day and count each patient as 1 hour of clinical since it takes him 1 hour to work up the patient, which is complete BS. I know he cannot take off work to have a second day of clinical so he just reports the fake hours. So basically will have half of the clinical hours needed. He just finished his first rotation a few weeks ago and I thought he would have been caught but wasn't. He also says that other people in the program are doing the same thing, only 1 day a week and counting it as 2.

I and everyone I know that has completed a NP program has worked their butt off to complete their program and it just really irritates me that others just mend the program to their liking. Has anyone else experienced this?? It is really cheating in my opinion and I feel it takes integrity away from the profession and people are taking short cuts.

[WKShadowNP, DNP, APRN]

I had to get someone to cover my shift at work to make up clinical hours when one of my preceptors had an unexpected death in the family and closed clinic for a week.

It was extremely difficult and challenging. I had a patient quota and a separate hour requirement. I saw way more patients than required because I just kept going and going during the hours. All-in-all, it was beneficial because the more I saw, the more I learned. I did get input from providers for my homework, but never did they do anything for me other than educate me, for free.

This guy needs to be kicked out of the program. No one's gonna take the boards for him.

[dec2007]

This is a little different perspective, as I am not an NP or student NP. I am just a hospital RN, but my primary care provider is an NP who obviously did not skimp anywhere on her education! She runs circles around the docs she works with, and picked up on the correct diagnosis of a problem I suffered with for several years that her co-worker docs had diagnosed incorrectly.

What bothers me most about this situation is that this person will be treating patients (like me) without the proper education. I'm lucky because I found an excellent provider, but what about the poor folks who seek help from this guy?

This person's actions do reflect poorly on the Nurse Practitioner profession, but more importantly, it puts patients at risk for poor treatment. That alone is reason to report him to someone.

[PANYNP]

If you're queasy about contacting Chamberlain directly, as the Chamberlain student poster recommended, contact your local chapter of the Nurse Practitioner Association, of which you're probably a member. Or contact AANP.

I have been an NP faculty member for 22 years in a brick and mortar program at a major university, and I can tell you that State BONs require that preceptors evaluate students' progress and sign off on student hours twice during the term they are precepting.

Chamberlain and any other NP program will thank you for a heads up. NP programs do not want their accreditation compromised. This is not meddling; it's ensuring the integrity of the profession and ensuring safe and competent advanced practice nursing care.

[Care&Joy]

Ha ha ha 🤣🤣🤣

[MrsK62]

This guy is nervy and I hope you're not doing his homework for him. Does he think your time is less valuable than his? Perhaps because he's a man? I could go on but I'm gonna stop there.

[Bumex, DNP, NP]

100% call the school of nursing and ask to speak to the director of the particular NP program/tract that he is in. This is yet another reason NPs are looked down on in the medical community.

[ProfessorOZ]

My apologies for coming late to this and I freely admit that I didn't read all 40+ comments. The first page I did read and I think some things are being missed here. I do work at an online school, though not Chamberlain, so I can address this a bit.

We have NP or MD preceptors for our NP students. They approve the hours that the NP students complete. If this student is reporting those hours, then his preceptor has to have approved them. I can't comment on the hours being misreported, but we can't blame the school for what he and the preceptor are reporting.

The other issue I see here, with all due respect, astrn, is that you know or think you know something unethical is going on here. There could even be malpractice issues. It is your professional duty to report this to your BON and the school. You don't know who to report it to at Chamberlain? Then call the university and tell the operator that you need to speak to either the dean or chair of the NP program. That person will connect you to someone who can help.

I am sorry about any harassment you may be undergoing or fear you'll undergo. I am sorry about the incivility in nursing in general, but we can't not report unethical and possibly illegal behaviors going on or possible malpractice. What if a patient is harmed? Can you walk away from that saying it wasn't your job/responsibility to report something that was going on that you knew was wrong?

It's hard to always do the right thing. We are all pointing fingers at this student and the school. My mom taught me, when I point a finger at someone, three others are pointing back at me.

I hope you will do the right thing, since he and, according to him, other students aren't. I know it's hard, but you may save someone's life by doing the right thing.

[SmilingBluEyes]

There will always be cheaters, always have been. What makes this so grievous is this person will be responsible for the primary care of actual human beings that have no idea what a liar/cheat he is. I hope he fails boards; I really do.

[manager123]

Many posters seem to think this person will fail boards. What if he is a great test taker and passes? Review courses can be fabulous in helping students at all levels pass required boards. These clinical situations will not be tested. No one knows if their NP or Physician or other health care practitioner passes with flying colors or barely made the grade. Would posters feel differently if this person was caring for your family member? The student is exhibiting high risk behaviors that have the potential to seriously harm others before being 'caught' officially.

At some level I also wonder if this student exhibits similar high risk behaviors in his current work situation and hasn't been caught? Or perhaps he is a fabulous bedside nurse and sees this as a next career step and is just not wanting to put in the work. It could go either way.

[JellyDonut]

People tweaked their clinical hours?? GASP! Say it isn't so? Next you will be telling me that urban legend of how a student placed a fake reference in a bibliography.

I tweaked my hours and everyone I know had some alternative math when calculating their actual hours. I do know one girl who bragged about doing extra hours, funny thing - she failed her last semester. Maybe she should have studied more. Realistically, if you are doing 800 or 850 (yeah we had too dang many hours) it makes little difference. If I cannot understand how to treat OM after seeing it 50 times 55 will magically make me a better provider. I my humble (or maybe no so humble) opinion you start learning once you enter practice.

[BCgradnurse, MSN, RN, NP]

People tweaked their clinical hours?? GASP! Say it isn't so? Next you will be telling me that urban legend of how a student placed a fake reference in a bibliography.

I tweaked my hours and everyone I know had some alternative math when calculating their actual hours. I do know one girl who bragged about doing extra hours, funny thing - she failed her last semester. Maybe she should have studied more. Realistically, if you are doing 800 or 850 (yeah we had too dang many hours) it makes little difference. If I cannot understand how to treat OM after seeing it 50 times 55 will magically make me a better provider. I my humble (or maybe no so humble) opinion you start learning once you enter practice.

It may be true that a lot of learning is done in practice, but it is not ok to fudge your hours. It's lying, pure and simple. You are testifying to your school, your preceptor, the BON, and the licensing agency that you have done the minimum hours required by your program. What else will you lie about?

[mswiney1]

Completely agree!