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Nursing student and rights of school

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nursingfaculty

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Louisiana
What are the rights of the school when a nursing student has a physical disability that could impair her ability to perform the required skills while at clinical sites? Specifically related to seizure activity - can we insist on her being seizure free for X amount of months prior to her advancing in the program? Her episodes are increasing in frequency and cause her to be unsafe in the care she is delivering to her patients. I can not assign one faculty member to watch her constantly. Is there a specific form that I can request the MD to complete? Please advise**************......Many thanks!
 


GaAtty

Member
This is very tricky. This situation comes up with medical students. Keep in mind that she is entitled to have accommodations for her disability, and that accommodations for learning the subject matter may be different from actually doing the job. She can still learn the material required for her degree in spite of her seizures. I would suggest that you figure out a way for her to master the subject matter and not have to be in a clinical setting; or give her more time for the clinical; or permit her to do the clinical in shorter time periods; or do the clinical later when her health is better and meanwhile defer her final grade; or permit a helper to be with her at the clinical setting; and the list could go on and on. You get the idea. There are lots of ways to accommodate: you just give up the idea that everyone (every student) has to do this clinical training, this exact way, at this same time, in this same place, for this length of time, and in this manner. You could also split the learning required, as is done in lab courses, like chemistry and biology. There, you get one grade for the academic and one grade for the practical lab part. Here, you could give her one grade for the academic and one grade for the clinical, and then only the clinical would hold her back. She can do it at a later time. It is also possible that she does not realize the extent of her problem, and that maybe if she did, she would seek medical help. Perhaps you could keep a record of the days and length of time of the seizures, and maybe that would convince her to pull out all the stops in getting this improved.
 

nursingfaculty

Junior Member
response to GAatty

thanks for your suggestions. A few points:
the curriculum, including actual clinical hours, is mandated by the state nursing board and I can not subsitute classroom/lab setting for the actual clinical hours required. The clinical grade(s) are separate from the theory classes and I did allow her to con't in the theory but pulled her from the clinical setting when she became unsafe. I allowed her to make up the time missed by going to clinical after the others had finished (without penalty) with one of the RN's. This was an "ideal" situation where there was one to one contact with the instructor. This would not be considered "reasonable accomodations" in normal circumstances, would it...it would be cost prohibitive as well as I just don't have the extra staff.
I have tried counseling her and suggesting she sit out until her condition is better controlled but she is not open to this suggestion. I've had previous students with similar conditons and they were much more ammenable to our recommendations and are now practicing LPN's! This is very frustrating because she is not showing good judgement - which is necessary for a nurse! She con't to drive despite being advised to not do so by her physician. I've asked for a face to face mtg with her physician, her and me to discuss the options but she fails to see the necessity of this - she just has the MD's call and leave me messages or sends "prescriptions" that state she is allowed to con't in the program. I rec'd written permission from her to talk to the Dr's and did get to talk to one of them - she is normally seen at one of our charity hospitals - he seemed quite surprised by the fact that she was having the seizures as frequently and having them in the clinical setting, so I wonder how truthful she is with her physicians.
This is a dilemna and I need to find some answers. To protect the pts and the program I will not allow her to con't in the clinicals until we have the mtg with her Dr and we can establish some agreeable plan of progression in the program and I can get a documented plan of care from her Dr. Does that sound reasonable and legal?
Thank you!
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
I suggest you consult the DOJ/ADA re the specifics of the situation and the accommodations you can make.
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/
While there may be state requirements, it is possible that they may also allow accommodations, but accommodations must be applied for, not assumed wither way.
If she is having seizures in the clinical setting and less elsewhere there may be something triggering the seizures, that may be the reason her physician is surprised. It is possible to have silent seizures and also memory loss, so she may not be aware and therefore not report them to her provider. She may need medication adjustments or simply more time and less stress. How would you accommodate a student who utilizes a wheelchair?
 

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