former nursing student sues school after failing twice

[clep3705]

Nursing student sues Misericordia University after failing final exam twice - The Washington Post

[bricabrac]

Wow, hell of a situation. I agree with the student interviewed, someone with this condition should not go into nursing. If she can't handle testing anxiety, she wouldn't last one day on the job. Nursing school is notoriously difficult for good reason. Nursing happens to be one of the most stressful professions. In my opinion nursing is not even really a profession, it's more of a calling. It's just that tough and good nurses are a rare breed.

I highly respect laws that are in place to protect citizens rights but in certain cases they can do more harm than good. What happens if she somehow makes it though then is presented with a patient who is bleeding out or having a seizure and this nurse has an anxiety or panic attack. That patient could very well die. Who would be held accountable?

[smf6824]

Wow, hell of a situation. I agree with the student interviewed, someone with this condition should not go into nursing. If she can't handle testing anxiety, she wouldn't last one day on the job. Nursing school is notoriously difficult for good reason. Nursing happens to be one of the most stressful professions. In my opinion nursing is not even really a profession, it's more of a calling. It's just that tough and good nurses are a rare breed.

I highly respect laws that are in place to protect citizens rights but in certain cases they can do more harm than good. What happens if she somehow makes it though then is presented with a patient who is bleeding out or having a seizure and this nurse has an anxiety or panic attack. That patient could very well die. Who would be held accountable?

The nurse would be accountable. Either way I agree with this response

[clep3705]

Someone once said "Your rejection is God's protection of society."

[cookderosa]

I agree as well. Being protected from discrimination is not to say that you should have an advantage that puts you ahead of the rest of the class, and it should be a leveler, nothing more. Having time extended? Great. Being in a distraction-free environment? Ummm ok (I might argue that that is an unreasonable request for someone who is attempting to become a nurse, because the nature of the job requires that she work with people....but anyway) IMO it is possible that this student needs accommodation and also may not possess the ability to succeed as a nurse. It's not meant to create a successful nurse, it's intended to create a level field.

I think there is some confusion by the student receiving the accommodation and what the intent of the accommodation is (which may stem from years of people bending over backward trying not to get sued- as this teacher is).

[dmjacobsen]

On the one hand, I don't agree that a person with anxiety/panic disorder will necessarily make a bad nurse. There are plenty of career options in nursing where being able to make critical decisions in stressful situations are not required. On the other hand, she may still end up in a high-stress position and could end up killing a patient.

Overall, I'm calling bullsh** on this. Panic disorder or not, I don't think that having a certain professor available during an exam is a reasonable accommodation. Why does the student need access to this one professor? If she needed the ability to pause the clock to get over a panic attack, sure. If she needed to be able to take an anxiolytic before the exam, sure. But, this just seems like a student grasping at straws simply because she was performing poorly.

What happens when she sits for the NCLEX? Does that instructor need to be made available to her then?

[Hunter91]

Whew, reading this gave me some flashbacks and actually a little anxiety while reminding me of my experiences of when I was failed out of RN school. I always did as well as I possibly could on every single exam knowing good and well I would need as much padding as possible on the final if there was ever a situation where I scored lower than anticipated on the final. This way, even if I scored low or possibly failed, I would still be able to scrape by and pass the class. This of course never happened though because the odd thing is, when you study that hard for each individual exam, the material sticks more, and you do better on the final as a result. For these reasons, I don't feel that bad for her, but I know being in that situation sucks.

Nursing school is a unique beast and was a true nightmare for me...the one I went to was very old school and I was treated negatively more times than I can count just for being a male. One example of this was the false rumors that were spread to the floor nurses, other instructors, and my other class mates, about me, from my own clinical instructor! Talk about unprofessional...When it was all said and done, I was failed, and I fell into a pretty deep depression (for me), and my emotions were all out of wack for a long time...but it all somehow led me to this forum, and now I'm just waiting for my capstone to be graded before I make a 'done' thread, and I'm starting EEG school on Monday. So things are finally starting to turn around.

Here's my sob story if anyone wants to read it:
Failed, venting, don't know what to do =\ | allnurses

[gingerbeefE]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osR6be2UUHk

couldn't find a better quality version, but this XD

[bricabrac]

The nurse would be accountable.

Not necessariy. A nurse with a documented medical history, hired with full knowledge of his/her inability to function under pressure may very well walk away from a patient death unscathed. The hospital would most likely be held responsible and have to pay out a very very large lawsuit. Of course would not help the patients' family who lost their relative due to negligence. A relative who would have otherwise fully recovered with adequate treatment.

Anyone who is not qualified but attempts to use discrimination against the disabled to muscle their way into the medical profession, should be required to purchase malpractice insurance. I'd bet money they would change their tune very quickly.