A question has been raised on another thread about why clinical practica are usually pass-fail, though they often constitute a significant number of credit hours. That is to say, suppose a student really busts their hump to submit excellent written care plans that are well researched. This student also shows good to superior judgement dealing with clinical situations and interacts especially well with patients and other nurses. Why can't he/she get an A? As it stands in many programs, an strong student's overall GPA is not improved by clinical excellence since it only gets a "pass". The hard work of one student is worth no more than the plodding, do-the-minimum-to-get-by performance of another.
A student asked about this and I didn't have a ready answer. The main reason I see for making clinical a pass-fail situation is because excellence is subjective. Unsafe practice is not. So it lends itself to pass-fail. (And avoids a lot of food-fights and grade-appeals after the semester.)
Here's a question for educators. Are we being lazy by making clinical practica pass-fail? Isn't there some way we could award distinctions between unimaginative, barely motivated students and those that are truely outstanding clinically? By settling for pass-fail, are we promoting mediocrity?
Related issue: Should clinicals be worth as many credit hours as the associated classroom materials and tests?
Another point: Students need to be aware that life is not fair. For them to expect otherwise is to experience much frustration. The idea of nursing school is to learn and endure. Period. Forget about it being "fair".
This same incident happened to me. I was in a community health project in my RN-BSN program. We were told to do a community assessment then create a nurse clinic, complete with business plan. We did it. Come to find out we were the ONLY ones who did. Everyone else did their projects on paper. Ours was REAL. I learned to do what was asked of me, no more, no less.
purplemania, BSN, RN
2,617 Posts
Another point: Students need to be aware that life is not fair. For them to expect otherwise is to experience much frustration. The idea of nursing school is to learn and endure. Period. Forget about it being "fair".
This same incident happened to me. I was in a community health project in my RN-BSN program. We were told to do a community assessment then create a nurse clinic, complete with business plan. We did it. Come to find out we were the ONLY ones who did. Everyone else did their projects on paper. Ours was REAL. I learned to do what was asked of me, no more, no less.