Sally Smith
NYU College of Nursing
Nursing Practice
Fall 2010
Nursing Students and Academic Dishonesty: Ethical Issues for Nurse Educators
Based on the caring nature of nursing, the nursing profession is held to very high ethical standards (Ganske, 2010, p. 1). Nursing, however, is not immune to ethical issues. There are many reports on ethical issues in clinical nursing practice, but often ethical issues in nursing education is rarely addressed (Ganske, 2010, p. 1). That being said, academic dishonesty, such as cheating and plagiarism, is a common ethical dilemma faced by nursing educators. As stated by Kolanko et al (2006), academic dishonesty is the “intentional participation in deceptive practices …show more content…
regarding one’s academic work or the work of another” (p.35). Nursing educators need to be aware of the signs of academic dishonesty and have strategies in place to deter students from participating in dishonest acts.
Cheating
Nursing school is an extremely competitive environment.
Some students will do anything it takes to achieve a higher grade, to achieve a grade point average sufficient for graduate school, or to achieve special awards or honors, even if it includes cheating (Kolanko, et al., 2006, p. 35). Methods of cheating have become increasingly high tech over the last several years, with all of the increased technology available to students. Students have been known to text answers to other students, use micro recorders to tape test questions for students in later classes, and use ultraviolet pens to write test questions out so that the questions cannot be detected to the naked eye, but can be viewed under a special ultraviolet light (Kolanko, et al., 2006, p. 36). In addition to all of these fancy, high tech methods of cheating, the old fashioned cheating methods still do exist. Students are still known to use cheat sheets, copy off other students’ tests, and use textbooks when not allowed (Schmidt, 2006, p. …show more content…
1).
Plagiarism To plagiarize, as defined by Merriam-Webster (2012), is “to steal or pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own without crediting the source.” The use of plagiarism in nursing is ever increasing, especially in recent years, with the increased access to information via the internet. This plagiarism may be either intentional or unintentional (Kiehl, 2006, p. 199). Several instances have been reported of nursing students copying and pasting information directly from the internet and not properly citing the source from which the information was received. In many cases, the student does not have malicious intent of passing this work off as their own, but nonetheless, this is plagiarism.
Strategies to Deter Academic Dishonesty It is important for nursing faculty to have policies in place that address academic dishonesty and methods to deter both cheating and plagiarism. Some effective measures to deter cheating during exams include: placing all belongings in the front of the classroom, having multiple proctors in the room for the exam, and providing different tests for each class (Kolanko, et al., 2006, p. 35). As stated by Schmidt (2006), there are many websites or web based learning platforms that may be used by faculty to check if a student’s contains plagiarized material (p. 2). One method of checking for plagiarized material is requiring students to submit papers to an online entity, such as www.turnitin.com. This site checks student’s works for any potential plagiarized material and alerts the student prior to submitting the work to a professor (Kiehl, 2006, p. 202).
How Academic Dishonesty Affects the Vision of Nursing In an age where it is ever so important to create a positive image of nursing as a profession, academic dishonesty by nursing students diminishes that vision. Students that cheat while in nursing school create quite a concern for how they will act once they have graduated. As stated by McCabe (2009), it is possible that students who show unethical behavior while in nursing school have the potential to continue using unethical behavior once they have graduated and are in a professional atmosphere (p. 621). Schmidt asks students to take a moment before they consider cheating and ask themselves, “Would I want a nurse that has cheated on nursing exams to care for someone I love?” (p.2).
Conclusion
Cheating and plagiarism is nothing new to the field of academics.
Although a student may find that cheating helps achieve a better grade, it is not helpful as the student moves into professional practice. As stated by Schmidt (2006), although a student may cheat throughout nursing school, that same student may be unable to pass the state licensing exam, which would not have made cheating worthwhile (p. 2). Nursing faculty has a responsibility to nursing students to discuss cheating and plagiarism, as well as implementing methods to deter academic dishonesty (Schmidt, 2006, p. 2). Decreased academic dishonesty would benefit not only the students and faculty, but the public who rely on educated nurses to care for themselves and their families (Schmidt, 2006, p.
2)
References
Ganske, K. (2010). Moral Distress in Academia. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 1-13. doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol15No03Man06
Kiehl, E. (2006). Faculty Forum. Using an Ethical Decision-Making Model to Determine Consequences for Student Plagiarism. Journal of Nursing Education, 199-203.
Kolanko, K., Clark, C., Heinrich, K., Olive, D., Serebus, J., & Sifford, K. S. (2006). Academic Dishonesty, Bullying, Incivility, and Violence: Difficult Challenges Facing Nurse Educators. Nursing Education Perspectives, 27(1), 34-43.
McCabe, D. (2009). Academic Dishonesty in Nursing Schools: An Empirical Investigation. Journal of Nursing Education, 48(11), 614-623.
Merriam-Webster. (2012). Plagiarize. Retrieved October 6, 2012, from merriam-webster.com: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarizing?show=0&t=1349563874
Schmidt, S. (2006, January). Cheating: An Ethical Concern for Nursing Educators. The Kansas Nurse, 81(1), 1-2.