Would nursing schools have offered this blind student the chance to be a nurse?

Published

Tim Cordes just graduated from medical school http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/04/02/seeing.no.limits.ap/index.html .

However, given my experience with nursing schools I wonder if he would have been afforded the flexibility that would give him the same opportunity. For example our school (and many others) are quite strict on compentencies. Everything is taught as if you will be a bedside nurse. For example, I know of a girl from Ethiopia who spoke English as a second language. One of her clinical instructors almost failed her during her last ASN semester because her grammer structure was too poor in her opinion (my wife spent hours and rewrote her weekly care plans so she could pass). Her English was excellent by the standards of someone who spoke it as a second language (how many of us who took Spanish, French or German could pass nursing school in those languages?). She was in the top 1% of all students in her nation, and yet she was almost booted (despite in my experience being among the most intelligent people I've ever met who had forgot more about nursing than I will ever know). Just as someone recognized that not every Dr. has to be a trauma surgeon (and afforded Mr. Cordes the opportunity to find his own niche in medicine) so too should nursing schools recognize that not everyone will be a bedside nurse.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Nursing Education.

probably not. this is really sad too. i have heard of people being kicked out for being injured.. IE a broken limb in car accidents.

I heard about this guys story on studentdoctor.net.

I think he is a remarkable person.

+ Join the Discussion