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Fortis Institute formerly MedVance Duped Single Mom Nashville, Tennessee
When I first approached recruiting in January of 2011, one
of my many questions was obviously regarding the accreditation status of the
cardiovascular program. Having done my due diligence in researching the school,
I was aware of the institutional accreditation through ABHES and the state
accreditation issued by THEC. I was not confused about the question I asked,
nor was I confused regarding the answer I received.
Like my fellow classmates,
and so students program-wide, I was told the program itself was accredited. I
was also told the program was run by a licensed cardiologist who was on staff at
Southern Hills, . They were the first of many lies.
I was promised the CVT program would prepare me for taking
the RCIS registration, once my associates work was completed.
In addition to
15 months of classwork and lab preparation, we would spend 3 months at clinical
sites in and around the city. Upon meeting our PD, he also advised me
personally that the program was indeed accredited as he himself had acquired
it. I expressed concern because the senior class at the time heard rumors regarding
its legitimacy. I began the February 2011 session with an end date of August 3
rd 2012. Our PD left the school
approximately two months after our program began.
Upon his departure we learned
several details. He was not licensed to practice in the United States. Hed
been a cardiologist in Ecuador and had never worked in a cath lab. He was on
staff at Southern Hills answering phones. We lost the first of our classmates
in our third month when her grade was changed for a class taken our first mod
by an instructor operating as an interim MA PD, who claimed Molina had demanded
she pass the student so when he left she felt comfortable changing the grade.
When a second CVT PD was hired it was divulged to us the program
was NOT approved for accreditation by the JRC-CVT which is a necessary
component for sitting for the RCIS registration test. PD2 assured us in April
of 2011 of his confidence regarding accreditation approval as hed been through
the process before. His irritation with the administration became evident in
the fall of 2011 and we were regularly updated regarding the schools inability
to acquire clinical sites due to the negative connotations linked to the
schools name.
As this is another major component of accreditation approval,
the visit by the JRC-CVT was impossible. Further there is no CVT lab. The only lab available is
geared toward the radiology program and over the course of a year weve used it
for two class periods total. One afternoon was spent practicing the gloving and
gowning procedure and another was instruction regarding cardiac cath.
Our
labs have been confined to the use of a homemade dummy created by the junior
class at their own expense during their first mod. We have not used the dummy
since November and in their frustration the junior class has disassembled it so
now we havent even the ability to gain a moderate amount of practical
experience through its use. CCI has
confirmed their requirements regarding actual lab hours as they pertain to our
ability to sit for the RCIS. We have been denied the ability to generate those
hours.
In January of 2012, Fortis/MedVances Head of Radiology
addressed our class and others regarding our program and its viability after
graduation. He blamed a downturned economy and a flooding of the radiology
market. When we told him we were not in the radiology department he advised us
we needed to accept we would not be able to get jobs in our chosen field so we
should just accept we may have to take positions answering phones or
functioning as MAs in a doctors office.
He advised we should anticipate doing
clinicals in a vascular lab. As this is outside our scope of practice, we
expressed our concern as our RCIS will never allow us to be hired for a vascular
position. We havenot even a working
knowledge of the peripheral vasculature as the bulk of our education has
concerned cardiac access only. He further advised us that we should just be
content with the experience.
When we advised the Head of Radiology of our knowledge of
CCI requirements concerning, very specifically, 416 lab hours he assured us
they have someone who will sign off on our lab hours. Lab hours that DO NOT
exist. We have this entire conversation recorded. Further, in February 2012, they have hired PD3. She does not currently hold an RCIS which
violates CCIs requirements for accreditation.
She does not teach. Per our
instructor, PD3 is there in an administrative capacity only to
assist making the clinical sites ready for a JRC-CVT visit in April. For each class, Ive had to purchase supplemental books as
the materials provided by the school are either incomplete or unusable. Weve
been given cartoon books for explanation of EKGs, a class taught by an MA instructor
who knew nothing about reading EKGs and spent the majority of the mod giving
us vocabulary quizzes rather than explaining cardiac rhythms.
Our Law and
Ethics instructor provided us with the details of her wardrobe in 1988 but
couldnt tell the difference between a male symbol and a female symbol as it
related to medical charting. Our cardiac disease instructor, who has a degree
in physics, refused to teach within the scope of our experience while using a
book intended for third year medical residents. Our physics instruction
included entire class periods discussing prostitution, military tactics, and
the undead. I have notes.
There has not been a week in which our class time has
not been interrupted by administrations recruiters asking us to find them more
students. They offer such incentives as pizza parties and gas cards. We are
supposed to be acquiring the skills to maneuver through our bodys most
important organ and are instead forced to endure scantily clad, cheaply
perfumed, overly made up administrative assistants performing impromptu raps
in the middle of an invasive procedure lecture.
I was physically threatened by
a faculty member in front of not only my class but members of our senior class
and our PD. The instructor has since been removed from her class but was
never reprimanded for her behavior that day. Our PD was teaching 44 hours a week. When we
were not being serenaded by admin, our classes were halted by faculty who saw
nothing wrong with barging into a lecture or test to discuss faculty politics,
complain openly about administration or simply to discuss personal matters.
Weve not had a full class period in three months. Due to a 44 hour teaching
schedule and the lack of administrative support our PD, who was also our instructor,
was never able to make it to class on time being continually called into
meetings or having to assist less experienced instructors to maintain their
classes, or stay through an entire period, or provide the support outside of
the classroom that was so desperately needed.
He has since left. Our current
instructor, did in fact work in a cardiac cath labs but has had no
experience in instruction. She comes to the classes completely unprepared and
reads directly from the book. On 2/10/12, our instructor advised us that the powerhouse of
the cell was the microchrombrium. She wrote it on the board. Shes advised
during lectures that she knows whats abnormal with regard to rhythms, cardiac
vasculature, etc. but not to question her regarding normal values because she
doesnt know them.
We were promised knowledgeable experienced instructors,
instead were regaled with her friends medical history, her step-fathers
alcohol abuse, and a litany of misinformation regarding medical information
that is vital to our education. On
02/15/12, our instructor had a panic attack in front of the class. She broke down in body
shaking sobs, screaming that we were not respectful of her teaching
status.
On 2/16/2012, she gave a
powerpoint presentation which discussed Embryology. The entire presentation was
mismarked Prenatal as opposed to perinatal. When approached about the error
Pam advised You know what I meant. On 2/21/12, we arrived to find that for a
third time since the beginning of the year we had no instructor and were not provided any
further details by administration.
We had to procure a sign in sheet from
another instructor, sign ourselves in and out, and maintain that sheet until
the following day when we returned to class. At no point in time did we receive
any instruction on that day. On 2/22/12, our instructor advised all patients with
hypertension have cor pulmonale, in actuality the reverse is true. On 2/24/12
we were told COPD is when the areolas in your lungs get clogged.
Im sure
internists everywhere will breathe a sigh of relief when we arrive at our
clinic sites to inform them theyve long been mistaking the alveoli for what
are actually areolas. So I ask you, would you want me to perform YOUR mothers
cardiac cath? In our entire program
at this time there is no instructor that has their RCIS. When approached about
clinical sites our Dean was quoted as saying, If you think its so easy, YOU
go out and find them.
He has since resigned along with our Campus President. We were promised clinical sites. We were placated with a
list of hospitals with whom the institution had long and secure
relationships. Weve been told there are six sites, 9 sites, even that there
will be 11 sites. No one has been able to produce those sites to date.
I am a dedicated student. I have maintained a 3.91 GPA,
earning As in all but our Cardiac Disease class for which I earned a B.
I am a
single parent who left a full time job based on the assurances of this
institution that they could provide the instruction I needed to earn my degree.
As of this day I can honestly say, I am not prepared to enter a cath lab on
even an observatory basis. In my opinion, the school was not prepared to offer
this course and has made promises they cannot keep.
They should not be
permitted the opportunity to continue doing this to others.
Along
with my classmates, nearly program-wide, weve complained to THEC as well and
have sought legal counsel. They have procured our fees and federal grants under
fraudulent pretenses and must be stopped from destroying other peoples lives
as eventually one of their students will kill someone.