A local for-profit college used veterinary supplies to teach its nursing students and sent them to train at a Tucson hospice without faculty supervision, a state nursing board investigation has found.
The quality of practical nursing education at Brown Mackie College in Tucson was so poor that some students told investigators they worried about what might happen once they entered the workforce, board records show.
As a result of the findings, the nursing board has ordered independent competency testing for the 40 or so Tucson nursing students enrolled at Brown Mackie as of late May, when the board took the action.
Those deemed deficient must be retrained at Brown Mackieβs expense, under the nursing boardβs supervision, before they can take the licensing test to become practical nurses.
The retraining requirement is a first for a nursing program in Arizona, said Joey Ridenour, executive director of the Arizona State Board of Nursing. The board βhas not required this type of remediation with other programs,β she said.
Brown Mackie also has agreed to stop enrolling nursing students for two years at its Tucson campus, 4585 E. Speedway.
The collegeβs corporate parent, Education Management Corp. of Pittsburgh, did not comment on the nursing boardβs specific findings, but said the firm aims to do right by the nursing students still enrolled. The companyβs two-paragraph statement, attributed to Chris Hardman, vice president of communications, said:
βBrown Mackie College Tucson reached an agreement with the Arizona State Board of Nursing regarding its practical nursing diploma program. As part of the agreement, the school has ceased enrolling new students into the program.
βWe are committed to ensuring that currently enrolled students in the program receive a quality education that will equip them with the skills and expertise they need to earn a meaningful return on their educational investment.β
Educational investments tend to be larger for students at for-profit career colleges, which offer flexible hours but typically charge higher tuition than public schools.
Brown Mackieβs website lists the estimated cost of attendance at more than $27,000 for its practical nursing program. By comparison, Pima Community College offers the program for around $12,000.
MORE SCRUTINY AHEAD
While the nursing board only accredits nursing programs, Brown Mackieβs other programs also will be coming under added scrutiny.
In light of the nursing boardβs findings, Brown Mackieβs primary accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools based in Washington, D.C., plans to review the rest of the schoolβs operations to see if there are other problems.
βFurther investigation will be required to determine whether or not Brown Mackie Tucson is deficient in its compliance with (accreditation) standards,β Anthony Bieda, the councilβs vice president for external affairs, said in an email.
Bieda said Brown Mackie Tucson didnβt notify the accreditation council, as required, that it was in trouble with the state nursing board. The board issued its findings in April and May, but Bieda said he only learned of the situation when contacted Friday by the Arizona Daily Star.
VIOLATIONS
Brown Mackie Tucson violated numerous provisions of Arizonaβs Nurse Practice Act, the state law that governs nursing education, the nursing board determined.
- The school lacked proper books, supplies and other tools of the nursing education trade. Student nurses were trained βusing veterinary technician supplies because the (college) did not have enough appropriate supplies,β the board found.
- The nursing board interviewed two unnamed student nurses who felt their education was inadequate. One said βshe felt unprepared.β The other told board investigators βshe felt unsafe to care for patients.β
- Brown Mackie
- Tucson
- often canceled clinical training sessions at local health-care facilities, sessions required to give students practical experience. The cancellations, with no makeup sessions arranged, βconstituted a misrepresentationβ to students about the level of education they would receive, the board said.
- In January, student nurses were sent to the Agape Hospice in Tucson without a faculty member present to supervise them, as required by law.
Bill Holmes, Agapeβs CEO, said his patients were not endangered because members of the hospiceβs staff were always present during the short-lived arrangement. He said Agape canceled the sessions soon after they began because dealing with Brown Mackie proved difficult.
βStudents did not show up when scheduled, or showed up late. There was no communication between the college and Agape staff,β Holmes said. βAgape notified the instructor, in writing, of these concerns, and immediately canceled any future participation in the program.β
- Nearly half of the Brown Mackie nursing students who took licensing exams failed them during the first quarter of this year. The 55 percent pass rate is far below the 80 percent minimum pass rate the nursing board expects from nursing school programs. The high failure rate supports student claims that their education was inadequate, the board said.
Taken together, Brown Mackieβs violations constituted βunprofessional conduct,β the nursing board found.
PHOENIX PROBLEMS
Of added concern to Brown Mackieβs primary accreditor, the chainβs Phoenix location has been cited twice since November for deficiencies in its registered nurse program. The Phoenix and Tucson locations are branch campuses of the larger Brown Mackie chain, said Bieda, the accrediting council executive.
The Phoenix nursing program was cited for violations including grade tampering, enrolling a student who didnβt qualify for admission and failing to provide students with materials they needed to learn how to care for patients with mental health needs.
Two Phoenix Brown Mackie students who were given passing grades on a nursing assignment they failed βposed a risk to the safety and well-being of potential patients,β the nursing board ruled.
One of the Phoenix students graduated from the program βdeficient in essential medication administration skills needed to perform safely,β the nursing board said.
Bieda, vice president of the accrediting council, said routine reaccreditation visits were scheduled for this fall at Brown Mackieβs Phoenix and Tucson locations. But the visit dates may be moved up in light of the problems at both nursing programs.
Taken together, the circumstances demand that the accreditor βapply additional scrutiny to these campuses,β he said.
The Education Management Corp. website said the firm βis among the largest providers of private post-secondary education in North America.β
In addition to Brown Mackie, the company also operates South University, Argosy University and The Art Institutes chain, which includes the Art Institute of Tucson.
