What would you do?

[astronaut714]

Just finished a unit test and when handing in the test to the teacher a student didn't fill in a drip rate on the back of the scantron. When he saw that he acted like he forgot but saw other students answers and put the answer he saw from someone else's test. What would you do? Let it go, tell the teacher? If I do blow the whistle he would prob get kicked out of the program.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Seriously though: What really ****** me off about cheaters is that their cheating puts other people in a moral dilemma.

OTOH, a friend of mine and I talked about this, and we find it difficult to understand why some instructors use the same tests over and over again for different cohorts. There ARE ways to make it more difficult to cheat.

Even national testing services do it. ATI has used the same two tests for each subject matter area for three straight years. It's not that difficult to figure out the right answer for questions when you look at your ATI results summaries. In my class, I accidently stumbled upon a "study guide" for an ATI test that was essentially a highly specific list of the subject areas covered in the test. I saw it on the desk next to me a couple minutes before taking the test, and only when I started the answering the test questions did I know what the "study guide" was.

Did I do anything to report it? Nope. If I had to report every time I had circumstantial evidence of cheating, at least 10 people would have been eligible for charges of academic dishonesty. It's too freaking emotionally draining, and I certainly didn't need the stress. Instructors know about it, and they do...NOTHING!

Having observed the "real world" of nursing at one particular site, if I was also expected to report every incident of basic bad practice, my life would be a living hell: needle guards not used, sharps containers "optional," never washing hands, never gloving up (including one doctor with a blood-covered hand from putting in an art line..ewwwww!), sterile fields broken, etc.

Disagree strongly with me if you want, but there are hills I will die on, and there are hills I won't. I can't die on all of them, otherwise I would be out of this profession before I even started.

[sandyfeet]

I think that in this particular situation it would be very hard to prove that the student didn't actually forget to write his answer on the page. Unless there were no written calculations, say, for an IV drip rate. It may have looked to you like he cheated, but it's hard to say for sure. It seems like the real problem was with collecting the tests at the end, and how students were given access to other people's answers before turning their tests in and a different way of collecting at the end should be used. Perhaps you could mention it to your professors in that light instead?

[1southernstudent]

What you saw was very upsetting I'm sure. It isn't fair to study hard and then see someone cheat their way through. But it will really come down to your word against his. If the teacher didn't see it then how are they supposed to decide who is telling the truth? You have no proof and he will simply deny it.

[lsk40]

I would drop it because one time I really forgot to put the answer to the math questions on the back of my scantron and when I went to hand the test in I remembered so if someone said I was cheating that would have ruined my life over someone not minding their business worry about yourself as long as you do the right thing there is nothing to worry about

[sunnsmiles]

I would let it go unless it was a really big deal, like the final exam or multiple questions on one test. Maybe you just thought he looked at someone else's test, you never really know. It's not worth it.

[Mike R, ADN, BSN, RN]

I don't know what the others have said thus far, but I'd hold my tongue. This is hard to prove and the proverbial "poop" could hit the fan. Try not to get caught up in the drama. Sometimes the fight just ain't worth it in the end.