A letter to the cheating Nursing school student
Today was hard. Really hard.
I had my async/online APHY101, CHEM101, and HUMA118 classes to deal with. Finals are next week, so that's a bit stressful. But that wasn't what was hard.
Today was hard because my son needed a trach change. He's not even one year old. He's the sweetest happiest little guy, but he spent the first 6 months in the NICU.
I'm guessing several of his nurses were just like you. They found the papers not worth writing, the anatomy not worth memorizing, the physiology too difficult to manage. Instead of tutoring they chose to cheat, now my son pays the price.
You see, while he was a micropreemie, he wouldn't have needed the trach. The trach is due to negligence. He was intubated at 10 days due to sepsis. Just hours after he was intubated a nurse snagged his vent tube on his isolette. She didn't realize it. The monitors alarmed. She silenced them. She did his routine blood gas, that came back with "sky high CO2 levels," so then she finally did what all nurses are trained to do first: look at the patient. It was then that she realized he had been extubated since his isolette change. The resulting reintubation was very traumatic, and it was his second intubation in 6 hours.
Not even two weeks later we were told that our tiny, not even 2 lb son had "face planted." No, he was dropped. Thankfully, not far, but far enough that it dislodged his ventilator tube. It had to be completely removed and reinserted. Another "traumatic reintubation."
Once he was finally extubated he spent 6 weeks on CPAP, struggling. We told the doctors he was struggling. His numbers told the doctors he was struggling. It took them 6 weeks to order the scopes. His trachea was so damaged the only option was to give him a tracheostomy.
Someday, if you cheat your way through nursing school, your very real patient will be someone's very real son, daughter, father, mother, sister, brother.
Your cheating could mean a lifelong disability for a patient.
It could mean death.
It could mean a parent dealing with things that no parent should have to.
I have 3 children (including this son) who are feeding tube dependent. I also have his trach/vent care. I am also taking 21 online/async credit hours this semester.
If you can't keep up seek tutoring.
If you suck at test taking talk to your school's Disability Support Services.
As a mother who watches her son's face flood with fear every time I change or suction his trach, I beg you to stop cheating.
As a mother who has watched 48-hour fasts go to waste because the nurse drew the labs wrong, I beg you stop cheating.
As a mother who is also a pre-nursing student I get that this is hard. But I beg you to do better.
Because some day an actual patient and their very real family will be depending on you.
Will you provide quality care? Or will you crumble under pressure because you cheated your way through nursing school?
Sincerely,
A parent who is tired of being the nurse to her own babies.