Paying People To Do Meaningless Online ED

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Specializes in ER.

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I was talking to a former coworker from the ER who retired about four years ago. We are going to get together. She told me that she used to pay the ER techs and unit secretaries cash to do all the stupid online bs that is worse and worse every year. Of course we were talking about how idiotic the so-called education modules are. It's absolutely ridiculous. I told her that I I have another friend who retired right before all the education was due, because she was so fed up with the stupidity that is spewed out by regulatory.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

The manager paid cash?

Where I work if the word "mandatory" is in the description they have to pay you.  Most of us try to do it in downtime, but we can do it at home and ask them to pay us for our time, or come in and clock in.

I can agree it's tedious and somewhat ridiculous but it does keep us up to date on a lot of the policies and I try to challenge myself to learn something. Other times I just through it as fast as I can.  

I like online as opposed to the old way of having to sit through live long boring training sessions.  It does seem to get worse every year, as soon as we're done with some training they add something new.

 

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We always get paid for this horsecrap.  

It is not education- it is basically liability control for the hospital.  If you screw something up, and it was covered, they can claim due diligence.

If it was training, first of all, it would be conducted by professional educators.  My wife teaches educators at the post-graduate level.  What we do at the hospital uses, literally, the least effective methods known.  Education is a science, and it is as if the hospital resarched the subject to come up with least evidence based practice possible.

If they cared about education, they would evaluate the effectiveness.  For example, 6 months later, they could ask nurses to name the chemicals in the fire extinguisher, and to list the types of fires each can be used on.  Spoiler alert-  the hospital extinguishers work on hospital fires.

When I do them, I figure out how to skip straight to the "test".  If there is mandatory video, or whatever, it plays in the background while I surf the web.  If I can run more than one simultaneously, I do.  

I once had to do about 10 hours of required training in a day.  I finished in 2, but could not admit it.  Watched 8 hours of Netflix at full pay.

The really galling thing about this approach to education is not just the wasted time- it is the opportunity cost.  In the time spent jumping through hoops and ticking boxes, actual education could be happening.

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Specializes in ER.

Clarification: while my nurse colleague was busy at work taking care of ER patients,  she opened up the online education program for a unit secretary or ER tech to complete in her name, and she paid them cash.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
1 hour ago, Emergent said:

Clarification: while my nurse colleague was busy at work taking care of ER patients,  she opened up the online education program for a unit secretary or ER tech to complete in her name, and she paid them cash.

That sounds ethical. 

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Oof. I agree the modules are only minimally helpful, but I wouldn't let the employers' choices end up costing me money if I didn't have to.

This person both lost money and spent (lost more) money, because what they could have done is clocked the extra hours required for the modules. Instead they 1. Didn't do that and 2. Paid someone. ??‍♀️

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Specializes in ER.
2 hours ago, JKL33 said:

Oof. I agree the modules are only minimally helpful, but I wouldn't let the employers' choices end up costing me money if I didn't have to.

This person both lost money and spent (lost more) money, because what they could have done is clocked the extra hours required for the modules. Instead they 1. Didn't do that and 2. Paid someone. ??‍♀️

She was just trying to get through the last years of her career, and it was a great way to give a little extra money to some less paid coworkers. It was a win-win for everybody.

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2 hours ago, Rose_Queen said:

That sounds ethical. 

Well- Assuming that the "training" is a pointless waste of time with absolutely no benefit, where is the breech in ethics?

I don't believe that lying, is defacto, unethical.  There are instances in which lying is the only ethical choice.  The question is whether this particular lie is an ethical breech.

While I don't pay anybody to do mine, also lie when I represent that I read or watched the material before I am allowed to take the test.  Is that unethical?

I would argue that taking drivel and calling it education, rather than actually educating nurses, is on ethical shaky ground.

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2 minutes ago, Emergent said:

She was just trying to get through the last years of her career, and it was a great way to give a little extra money to some less paid coworkers. It was a win-win for everybody.

I get it and kinda think "to each their own." I'm sure for her it was worth it to not have the aggravation. As for me, I prefer to figure out how to not be aggravated by figuring out how to profit.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

The NM of the geriatric psych unit at Wrongway used to somehow complete the computer modules for some staff just to get them into compliance. Upper management caught wind of this, as well as other circumvents, and had some other safeguards added to the computer system.

On the modules that I believed were useless, I'd go directly to the tests and just do them instead of reading the modules in-depth discussions regarding the accepted procedure on how to wipe your own butt.

Upper management must have caught wind of this also, for when I later did this, a warning popped up saying that I hadn't spent enough time reading the in-depth discussion on how to wipe my own butt.

So I would bring up the discussion module, take care of other business, and when an adequate amount of time had elapsed, go in and take the tests.

Now, if I didn't score high enough the first time, I'd just note the multiple choice answers-you know: 1. B, 2. D, etc.- I gave correctly and retake the test. However, when attempting this later, I noted that the test questions, although the same on the previous test, were in a different order. This caused me to have to make notes of the written answers and not just the multiple choice letter.

Some of us work very hard in order to avoid meaningless chores.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
23 hours ago, Emergent said:

She was just trying to get through the last years of her career, and it was a great way to give a little extra money to some less paid coworkers. It was a win-win for everybody.

Thanks for clarifying.  But really while I wouldn't say "unethical", it's dishonest and lazy.  They aren't that hard to do no matter if it's a waste of time.  I agree "too each their own".

I'm trying to get through the last years of my career too and my luck I'd be caught and fired.  LOL. 

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19 hours ago, Tweety said:

Thanks for clarifying.  But really while I wouldn't say "unethical", it's dishonest and lazy.  They aren't that hard to do no matter if it's a waste of time.  I agree "too each their own".

I'm trying to get through the last years of my career too and my luck I'd be caught and fired.  LOL. 

I agree 100%.

I would do it a heartbeat, but it is, by definition, dishonest.  Lazy is a bit more subjective, but I wouldn't argue the point.

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