Reporting issues at School

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2011

Where would one go to report issues occuring in a Nursing program if all options have been exhausted. For example; complaints with the Dean have been met with "Oh I'm sorry." I would prefer not to disclose any more details since I hope to resolve the issue but I can if necessary. I was thinking I should talk to whoever accredits the program?

Are you still in the nursing program? If you are, I would advise you not to say anything until you have graduated and have a job.

Make very, very sure that what you are complaining about is easy to prove, based on concrete evidence and not something being "unfair" or someone being "rude or unprofessional".

Examples of what a BON would be interested in would be:

1. Students receiving consistently marks on exams that they did not earn.

2. Clinical time required by the state not being completed.

3. Using instructors for the nursing portion that were not Registered Nurses.

SkaterGurl · Mar 13, 2011

and make sure you are DOCUMENTING everything! Being able to back up your claims with a log/diary is crucial!

Decemberblues · Mar 15, 2011

I AGREE completely with previous posters....I graduated from a school that did a lot of horrible.things. some student wrote letters to the president of the college...others spoke with the dean...no results. They can can make your life horrible if.you take action while in the program. The first response that addressed waiting until you get a job is right on...because with your first job you wil most likely be asked for clinical instructor references...I'm assuming most clinical instructors stand with the school and may not be interested in giving you one. This is personal experience based....it's like high school where people can't make their own judgements but if one faculty says you're bad everyone jumps on the boat.

once you're employed....you can still report this. Iknow I have under my sleeve that I would love.to shake out.the people you report it to....if you have not already gone to the president of the college then try that...then after all of the aboveis in place report to BON, accrediting companies of the school and board of trustees members that financialy support the school...this I GUARANTEE you will ruffle.some feathers and the matter will be taken seriously.when I first read your question I thought it was one.I had posted...the wordin was almost verbatim...then I. Saw the author name and it wasn't mine...guess it's. More common then I thought.

caliotter3 · Mar 15, 2011

Wait until after you graduate, and preferably, when you have a job. You don't want to hurt yourself in the process.

DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN · Mar 15, 2011

Yep. Zip it.

I wouldn't have given this advice several months ago but had a VERY bad experience at my school. I have suffered the repercussions since. Luckily I was (still am) an A student with an excellent track record or I would have been up a creek without a paddle.

After you have graduated AND got your first RN job. Then make whatever complaint you like. Make sure you make the complaint in writing. Like another said -- keep a log/diary.

CrazierThanYou · Mar 19, 2011

Are you still in the nursing program? If you are, I would advise you not to say anything until you have graduated and have a job.
Make very, very sure that what you are complaining about is easy to prove, based on concrete evidence and not something being "unfair" or someone being "rude or unprofessional".
Examples of what a BON would be interested in would be:
1. Students receiving consistently marks on exams that they did not earn.
2. Clinical time required by the state not being completed.
3. Using instructors for the nursing portion that were not Registered Nurses.

Interesting... that very thing is rampant in my program right now... :confused:

BacktotheBeach, ADN, BSN, RN · Mar 19, 2011

Interesting... that very thing is rampant in my program right now...

Is this common? and why???

CrazierThanYou · Mar 19, 2011

Is this common? and why???

I can't say whether its common or not, it shouldn't be, but it is going on in my program. It started with second semester. If certain people aren't getting a high enough score, they're being given extra points.

Decemberblues · Mar 19, 2011

i think there's just a lot of power issues...because there's a lot of political garbage in nursing schools. or at least a few of the one in my state. I have enough friends in programs that I hear about different issues. i.e. if you're not dealing with HESI, you're dealing with the absence of equality. some schools will not let you sit for your boards until you get a score that they have set before graduating....after like the 5th time of taking the HESI exit, if you can't achieve that number, you don't ever get to take the exam...they drop you from the program...after all that money invested into the program. at the same time they insert many opportunities for students to be dropped from the program; i.e. most schools have HESI as a part of a course grade; thus if the avg to pass the course is 75% and HESI is 20% of the course grade and you are border line HESI score can drop your score drastically....this is an issue for many students as HESI content is at times not something the students have been tested on....and the instructors don't write the questions so students don't do well....it seem reasonable that this percentage should be a lot less. Because I really believe that HESI is there to improve the NCLEX outcomes, but it counts for too high of a percentage. Another issue is that I have seen students dropped out the program while others, say the people that threaten legal action are allowed to stay. It seems that those who have the evidence that would increase their probability of winning the case are the once the present a threat and are allowed to stay...or even in one case the wealthy parents of one students verbal threats to sue were heard only once before a revision was made to the petition and the student was allowed to stay; while many others have been let go regardless whether they raise a good point or not....the sad thing is that when you look at the students that were dropped and the one student with wealthy parents, I would rather have the students let go caring for me if I was not well. One school in our area actually had a group of male sue for gender discrimination and the school settled! that's how threatened they felt....granted I don't think the students finished the program; but I don't know if that was a personal choice.