Merritt College Nursing Woes
Nearly two-thirds of its 2010 class fails, despite grant funding to increase enrollment and retention.
By Kathleen RichardsArticle Tools
- Courtesy of Laerdal Medical Corporation
- Merritt used its funds to buy computer-assisted dolls, but students were left for dead.
Back in 1999, the State of California realized it was facing a critical nursing shortage. The crisis was the result of several factors, including an aging population, a generation of nurses on the verge of retirement, and poor working conditions. So in 2002, Governor Gray Davis launched an ambitious plan to address the shortfall, which included funding to increase the state's capacity to educate nurses at community colleges. One of the recipients, Oakland's Merritt College, succeeded in increasing its enrollment, but its retention rate just nosedived.
As of October 14, just 43 out of an initial 100 students remain in the first year's class. Students say that while high dropout rates among the notoriously stressful nursing programs isn't uncommon — 19 percent is the statewide community college attrition rate from 2000 to 2007, according to a report by the California Board of Registered Nursing — this high rate is extraordinary. And they say fault lies with the instructors and disorganization of the program.
"We're not asking for the college to lower their standards, but to provide the assistance that we need to pass the exams," said Jyotsana Francis, 40, one of several students who dropped out of the program because she was failing. "The exams aren't congruent with the lectures. ... All they do is point fingers and say to study harder."
Francis is one of 59 nursing students who recently signed a letter asking for changes to the program at Merritt, which is not related to the nursing program at Oakland's private Samuel Merritt College. Chief among their complaints is that the college doesn't offer adequate resources for the students to succeed. Lectures allegedly weren't targeted toward test preparation, and lab time often consisted of watching videos instead of practicing on equipment. In addition, they complained, their textbook contained inaccurate and contradictory information — which led to incorrect answers on tests.
About thirty to forty students formally presented their complaints to instructors, department heads, and college Chancellor Elihu Harris in early October, requesting tutors and asking to postpone a test that would cement their fate. But those meetings proved unfruitful, according to several students. "Elihu even said, 'Yeah, you should be teaching more toward the test,' but no one said, 'OK, we'll do that,'" said one student, who wished to remain anonymous. "So as far as I know, there's no plan to implement any of our suggestions." Instructors told the students they needed to study harder and to attend office hours that "literally none of us knew" existed, according to the student.
Jeff Heyman, a spokesman for the Peralta Community College District, to which Merritt belongs, said the college is looking into several options to help the students, such as allowing them to retake a test, but that nothing has been finalized. "A number of students did not pass the exams and we're very concerned about that and trying to figure out what happened," he said. "It's very unusual. Merritt is one of the best nursing programs in the Bay Area."
The massive failure rate comes at a time when Merritt is supposed to be increasing its enrollment and retention. According to records supplied by the California Community Colleges' chancellor's office, Merritt received $334,742 for enrollment growth and capacity building, and $98,872 for assessment, remediation, and retention for the 2007-08 school year. That includes offering tutoring and case management to at-risk students, purchasing lab equipment, making minor upgrades to buildings, or offering another assessment test after enrollment. Merritt succeeded in increasing its enrollment. One hundred students attended the first day of class this year, compared to 88 last year.
Heyman said the funds went toward equipment and materials used for retention, such as "computer-assisted dolls" that are used as stand-ins for live patients. But students say their labs are severely lacking in proper equipment. "The thermometers don't work," said Katherine, one of the failing students who dropped out and only wanted to be identified by her first name. "We're supposed to have suctioning tubes. That doesn't work. It's poorly supplied. You go there and they don't have this, they don't have that."
Several students said the program set them up for failure from the very beginning. Francis said that on the first day of class, instructors told them to "look to your left and look to your right. Two of you aren't going to be here" by the end of the two-year program.
Instructors made students sign a contract in the beginning of the semester to agree to withdraw from the program if they scored under a 75 percent average after the first three tests. The teachers assured them they'd have the opportunity to review their tests and see what they did wrong. But instead, they simply read through the answers quickly without providing time for questions or review, according to another student who dropped the program after failing the first test and wished to remain anonymous.
"Since we've been complaining it's been getting worse," Katherine said. "They play a lot off of our anxiety. Especially with the second test, they knew that we were nervous that this test was gonna break us. They would say comments like, 'For those of you who make it.' It was never once 'You can do this. We're here to help. Let's do a test review.' They never did a test review."
Studying didn't appear to help much, because their textbook contains wrong and misleading information, students say. "This book has so many errors it's not funny," said Katherine. "You can answer a question in the answer review and you check the correct answers in the back of the book and it literally tells you the wrong answer is right, several times." In one example, she said, "umbilicus," a synonym for navel, is referred to as "love handles." Also, the book says testicular exams can be performed before and after a shower or bath. The test made clear only one answer was correct. On the second exam, there was also a typo: carbon "monoxide" was the answer, but the option said "dioxide." "They said you should have known that was the right answer," Katherine said.
For many students, failure comes at a high price. Some made enormous sacrifices to attend the program. Many are mothers trying to enter or get back into the workforce. In Francis' case, she left her husband as a result. "I gave up my marriage for this program," she said. "I gave up spending time with my kids. My parents had to move in with me. ... They told us things have to be put aside to meet our goals. If you have issues with a relationship, just put it aside. ... Where did that get me?"
Katherine said many students suffered mental stress: "A lot of people complained about headaches. I know one girl who got sick in class — she had to have an ambulance come. ... In my opinion, she was having an anxiety attack."
In a statement released by Chancellor Harris, several explanations were offered as to the discrepancy in retention rates between this year and last, including the fact that GPA requirements were lowered this year because of new state criteria. In addition, fewer students attended a special program to help prepare them for classes because they couldn't afford it. The statement basically blamed the students. "Students struggled to read and digest, or comprehend the text book then apply it to exam taking through a critical thinking process," it stated.
While Merritt, like many community colleges, typically does not attract top-tier students, the students say they were up to the task, especially after completing their prerequisites. Katherine said students regularly met for study groups at Barnes & Noble, where nursing students from other programs also study. "A lot of students leave at 6 or 7 and we leave at 11," she said. "They look less stressed out. From talking to other students, they feel the same way. It's not supposed to be like this. We got gypped."
In any case, according to the state's own standards, the students of Merritt's 2010 nursing program appeared qualified to complete the program. As part of its retention and enrollment project, the state requires nursing students to take an assessment test, in order to predetermine which students were academically fit enough and thus more likely to graduate. All of Merritt's first-year nursing class passed the test.
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Thats Criminal! What kind of so call school is this. They should give back all that money with the budge crisis in california. Just another example of administrators that shouldn't be administrators. My heart goes out to all the students. I hope you all move on and find a better program or at least a job soon. Shame on the people responsible for this mess!
Unfortunately, this is a very poorly run program...My guess is that they won't be able to maintain their licensing but more importantly they need an audit to see what kind of 3rd world 'teaching' and utter unprofessionalism exists here.
The laundry list of inexcusable actions by the school and it's faculty is beyond comprehension.
Last I checked, educational programs are put in place to educate and be your advocate to succeed...You'll get none of that here.
I think the simplest way to put it is that you'd be better off at Caribbean Nursing program than here...Really a disgrace
As a second year student at Merritt college I have to say that this article is not entirely accurate. I struggled through my first year and it was one of the most difficult yet biggest accomplishments in my life.
The nursing program isn't perfect, but no program is. I don't doubt the first year students worked harder than they ever have, and if there are inconsistencies within the new text (publishing issue), than I hope that there is some resolution to that problem.
My point is that I don't want this problem falling on to the instructors. I have had some amazing experiences with my instructors thus far; some have been frustrating, some have been inspiring, some have reached far beyond their limited amount of time to help me, but all of them have been challenging with the goal of making me a great nurse. Many of these instructors have also taught at some of the "more expensive" private institutions - the education remains the same.
Nursing school isn't for everyone and it has exceeded my assumption with regards to the level of difficulty. I was humbled yet determined, and continued to work that much harder. I have sacrificed just as much as my fellow classmates of whom I am so very proud.
So If I am fortunate to graduate this spring, I will thank and embrace each and every instructor who has helped to inspire me into the nurse I wish to become. I will also hold dear many of the discussions that went beyond the technical skills of the nurse; the indelible importance of dignity, compassion, life, and death.
Wow, very troubling... I'm a class of 2009 student at Merritt College, and my experience last year was nothing like what these students are going through. It was stressful and challenging, and there were some minor problems with tests, such as a particular written skills exam that only five students out of the entire student body passed. (The test was re-issued.) But nothing at all like this.
I have no idea what is discussed in private meetings among the instructors, or what may have changed in terms of their teaching strategies or methods, but my experience with the faculty at Merritt has been for the most part very positive. There's some great teachers there and they work very hard.
I know that in a community college situation, which may lack some of the resources that would be available at a major university or private institution such as Samuel Merritt, students have to be a little more creative, resourceful, and self-reliant in order to make the best of their experience. I attended a "summer bridge" program, offered in the summer of 2007, that I attribute in large part to my success in the first year. In addition to offering tutoring and test-taking strategies, perhaps the biggest help was the fact that I was able to get my hands on the textbook three months early and read it during the summer, before classes started. If I had not done that, I may not have been able to pass the tests. The amount of material first year students are required to read is considerable. I would estimate that we covered at least 75% of a 1700 page textbook in about nine weeks. For a student to master that amount of material, a lot of which is complex and conceptually new, in that amount of time is an extremely difficult task. I got it all down because I had essentially read the book by the time classes started. Our experience was that the students in our class who did not attend the bridge program had a much more difficult time digesting all the material.
I don't know if the same summer bridge program was offered to the class of 2010, or if they were required to pay for it. The text of the above article makes it sound as if that may have been the case. "In addition, fewer students attended a special program to help prepare them for classes because they couldn't afford it." If the program wasn't made as accessible to this cohort of students as it was to us, I would attribute that to their difficulties.
Another possible factor may be that they really do have a bad textbook. Our textbook, Fundamentals of Nursing by Carol Taylor et. al., published by Wolters Kluwer, was great. I'm not sure why Merritt switched to the current text, (which is a lot slimmer than ours was.) It sounds like the text that they're using now is pretty substandard. If that's the case, then these students really are in a sense getting "gypped."
If anyone wants the opinion of a moderately successful nursing student, I say make that summer bridge program a higher priority in terms of allocation of funds. Make it abundantly clear to incoming students, who get their acceptance letters in the spring, that they should consider the summer before classes start an absolutely critical preparation period. Consider June 1 the first day of school, people. Find out what your text is going to be, get your hands on it immediately, and read it through and through. Trust me, that can be a make or break decision.
As for what's left of the class of 2010, I wish them better luck and success in the rest of their careers. It sounds like they've had a pretty tough go of it.
To the Merritt College Nursing Faculty: I love you all, but get rid of that lame textbook and go back to using the Taylor text!
xo, Anonymous
I graduated from this school recently. Yes, it was tough, disorganized, and cruel at times. The support systems are not in place. It is DIY nursing school at it's finest but - if you can handle it here, you can handle an RN job any where.
Merritt needs help; absolutely. However, in defense of the program (which I never thought I'd be defending) it does make you accountable, resourceful, driven, a good problem solver, accurate and forces you to advocate for yourself and your classmates. This is what nurses do on a daily basis for their patients - Merritt does facilitate the "toughness" necessary to "find your guns and stick to them." Ultimately, this tenacity enables you to function very well as a working RN because you have learned to "fight" for what you need and believe in.
For myself I wanted a nursing program that was positive, supportive and inclusive. Merritt is not that but neither are hospitals. Hospitals are giant machines that work to facilitate what the machine needs. Nurses advocate for the patient, not the machine.
Patients first - not you. I guess by extension Merritt teaches that. The program is not necessarily what you WANT but it is what you get out of the program that you NEED to be able to be a good nurse. You do have to fight to get it. Once you get it, it is yours and it is your victory!
I will say that hospitals in the area respect Merritt grads because they come in and are ready to rock. Hospitals know how tough the program is - no hand holding it is "fend for yourself" "do it yourself". There is a learning curve with any new job but the Merritt grads know how to "get what they need" in order to do a good job and advocate for their patients.
In hindsight, I wish my nursing school experience had been "happier" but I'm grateful that I ended up where I did because now my job is so much easier and nicer than school. Nursing is a hard job and as much as I disliked Merritt's program, it did set me up for success as an RN in a hospital - which is the program's "job".
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