Nursing Student Unethical Behavior

[FlopperAnn]

Hello,

The reason I have originated this topic is that I've just discovered an instance of highly unethical behavior in a nursing student, which perhaps could, and should, get her expelled. Apparently she taking a nursing research course. Yet, she is soliciting assistance in finding peer-reviewed articles for her research topic. This is a BSN-level class; yet, she is too lazy to do her own research. I have a copy of the email she sent out, which was forwarded to me. I believe that her university should be informed, or even the commission which accredits her university. I don't think she should be soliciting such assistance or obtaining the services of others to write her paper. The idea that she might do so with impunity makes me furious, to say the least.

It's not my decision, of course, but I don't think that people who would act in this manner should be allowed to graduate. I have been a registered nurse since 2010. Fortunately, I recently obtained employment as an RN, but many people who graduated before and after me have not been so lucky. Recent surveys on the nursing workforce corroborate that this is, perhaps, the worst time in history for new graduate nurses to get a job. Please advise me if her actions sound like something that any nursing program would object to. I can supply additional information about this (her email) if required.

[FlopperAnn]

My personal stake is to uphold the standards of the profession. Duh...I guess I must have really nefarious motives for doing so. And her nursing department knows now. It's up to them to take action or not.

You would like a consensus on this, but this is only local and temporal. On my facebook wall, my colleagues, some of whom are nursing educators, agree with me. I will leave the rest of you to carry on, justifying behavior which in fact is undermining our profession.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Flopper Ann, may I remind you that you have come here of your own volition? You have carried on a debate that evidently originated on FB and asked us for our opinions. The fact that you don't like what we've had to say thus far doesn't make us the bad guys. Over and out.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

It wasn't my intention to be condescending to you, FlopperAnn. It just seems you're very concerned about someone else's behavior, to the point of getting angry at her and us when we question you to get more details. That leads me to ask what else is going on because when emotion seems out of proportion to a situation, it's likely a sign of more going on. It's not condescension, in my opinion. It's curiousity and a desire to get more information so I can be more helpful.

We do not know the school's policy nor what the assignment was, as far as getting-own- articles-vs.-asking-for-help-getting-them goes, unless you tell us. Now you've told us.

What would you accomplish by reporting the student? Would it be worth it? If your report meant she was expelled, would that be worth it to you, since her intended career would be over? Is she an usually unethical person, or is this just one thing she's doing that raises a red flag in your eyes? Maybe she wasn't clear about the requirement to get research articles, and how to get them? What if she thought getting them by asking friends if they had any that fit the topic was ok? Maybe the assignment was vague. Since we're not in her class, we can't know the exact assignment, even if ***** says students must gather their own articles for the experience of doing it. Of course that's a valuable activity, but how do we know what the exact assignment was? Do you know the exact assignment? Are you sure she's not gathering her own information too?

I'm an instructor. I can tell you that students misinterpret what I intend them to do often. I think it's entirely possible this other student misinterpreted too, unless it's part of a pattern.

For you to tell us we should be ashamed of ourselves and that we're unethical...well...you have your thoughts on that, and I'll leave you with them...

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

I, too, think you are going overboard with this. When I was in my nursing research class, I provided and received articles from my classmates. I knew the topics that some were doing lit reviews on, and, if in the course of searching for my articles, I found some that they could use, I forwarded them to my classmates. They did the same for me. I never once thought what we were doing was unethical; in fact, I thought it was collegial and collaborative.

I doubt that the entire point of her assignment is just finding articles. The real work comes from reading and synthesizing the information, then writing the paper.

It sounds to me like her email got passed around to a number of people in a wave of self-righteous indignation. There's a difference between someone getting irritated with being asked to help a nursing student vs. the nursing student doing something unethical.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

it occurs to me that what you posted here and on facebook has some rather identifiable details in it, including a quote by the student of something that was sent to lots of people. correct? is it ok to post such things about someone others might identify?

moderator's note: i totally agree with you, whispera. thus, i have removed all personal identifiers i could find in this thread. if i missed any, please let me know.

[FlopperAnn]

I wonder how many people here have taught nursing research. The articles must always be obtained on one's own for a research project. As *****, and so many other academicians observed (although not here on this forum), the point of research is to DO research, not to get other people to do your research for you. The matter really is not equivocal. And YES...if people here are in the habit of getting others to do their research for them, shame on you. If a professor supplies a particular article for analysis, say, as a means of teaching the students about independent and dependent variables or statistical significance, of course there is no need to search for that article.

I don't have to have a personal stake in this. I have a job. But the nursing employment situation is absolutely dire for new graduates. It is in fact the worst in history. That is not my opinion, but a matter of public record. Anyone who doesn't agree can go do some research of their own. Just google nursing workforce; you will come up with a lot of hits.

[FlopperAnn]

That's a good question, but there is nothing that could personally identify that person; I made certain of that. If I post an email that was posted en masse on a mailing list and forwarded to me, it is not the intellectual property of the person who sent it. And there is certainly no reasonable expectation of privacy.

Incidentally, ******, the nurse whom I quoted directly, gave me permission to use her name here and anything else she posted.

[caliotter3]

It occurs to me that what you posted here and on Facebook has some rather identifiable details in it, including a quote by the student of something that was sent to lots of people. Correct? Is it ok to post such things about someone others might identify?

Is it ethical?

[sharpeimom]

please do not tell me i was being condescending to you when that was not my intention! i am married to a professor who has turned down the chance to advance to admin status because he loves teaching. i just asked him for his opinion -- he feels research sources are welcome

from any and all sources, as long as the student doesn't purchase them. he requires that everything be well doucumented in the paper, but that students may/must/should cull any and all available sources when writing a paper or project.

you told us in an above post that all research must be done by the student. please forgive me if i paraphrase. asking for sources to research is not the same as paying someone else to do your research. what do i mean by that? about eighteen months ago, i started a thread asking for sites i could check out on m.s. and requested that anyone having m.s. who wanted to share, please pm me. why? a cousin

had just been diagnosed with m.s. and had emailed me in a complete panic. i was a psych nurse for years, which gave me a narrowed view of nursing and meant i'd have wasted time looking by not knowing where to look. instead, i chose to ask for help in this wonderful community.

point?

what would you have assumed had you seen my query? i stated why i was asking upfront. but would it have sunk in? or would you have assumed i was trying to cheat? there are many ways to do research. my mom was an attorney and my dad a md/attorney, who practiced

law. i learned about ethics and honesty early in life. over and out.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Let's say she knew she shouldn't ask others for articles. Then, as I asked before:

What would you accomplish by reporting the student? Would it be worth it? If your report meant she was expelled, would that be worth it to you, since her intended career would be over? Is she an usually unethical person, or is this just one thing she's doing that raises a red flag in your eyes?

Do the benefits of reporting her outweigh the potential fallout if this is a deviation from her usual personality?

[EllieBean13]

OP, you must have a lot of time on your hands. Shame on you for making a big deal out of nothing. Utilizing resources, including another persons access to databases one might not have them self, is not cheating. It's gathering information.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

I ended up squirreling myself into an esoteric subject for a research paper that I had to have something like 20 peer-reviewed articles for. I definitely picked the brains of far more knowledgeable people for appropriate keywords to search for after I started drawing blanks, begged others to send me articles that I could find but not access via our university database, and by virtue of this had people suggest articles, topics, and authors that I had not found doing my own research.

So, yeah, the person in question could be lazy. Or she could be trying to cast a wider net.

Although if she's just lazy, she really should be offering to pay people to do her work for her. Duh.