Editing Herzing Issues: Clinical Placement (section)

=== HU-071: Spring 2025 cohort: 75% of class without clinical placement two weeks before semester start (5/5/2025); institution responded by substituting 50 of 135 clinical hours with five 10-hour Zoom "virtual clinical" classes ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:12em" | Severity
| High
! style="width:12em" | Status
| CONFIRMED
|-
! Issue type
| Mass Placement Failure / Virtual Substitution of In-Person Clinical Hours
! Date added
| 2026-05-05
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | Clinical Placement / Program Chair / Dean of Prelicensure Nursing
|}
'''Finding.''' In April 2025, two weeks before the Spring 2025 clinical rotation semester began on May 5, 2025, 75 percent of the cohort had no clinical assignment. The institution responded by emailing students that 50 of the 135 required clinical hours for the next semester would be obtained through five 10-hour Zoom "virtual clinical" classes, a 37 percent substitution of in-person hours with synchronous virtual sessions due to the institution's failure to secure placements.

'''Evidence.''' A Facebook post by Student D, a Spring 2025 cohort student, dated April 26, 2025, listing three key issues. First, the newly implemented Sherpath LMS system, which Student D said simply does not work, with constant issues transferring grades to Canvas, grades transferring incorrectly, etc, and course grades frequently changed with no explanation, and several people in the cohort indicating they failed a class due to this issue and trying to appeal. Second, instructors provide no instruction, so students had to be ready to do it on their own. Third, the institution being unable to place everyone for clinicals: the cohort was supposed to start clinical rotations on 5/5 and 75 percent of the class did not have a clinical assignment, and it was so bad that an email went out about two weeks earlier stating that 50 of the 135 clinical hours for next semester would have to be obtained in five 10-hour virtual classes going forward. Student D added that there were so many more things like this, and that while any one of the items might seem insignificant, the continual litany of issues, misrepresentations, and chaos adds up. Source Group: Herzing Direct Entry MSN Facebook Group Export (Dec 2022 to May 2026), Topical/Keyword Review (Volume 6).

'''Reported statement.''' Student D, a student pseudonym, paraphrased that the institution is unable to place everyone for clinicals, that the cohort was supposed to start rotations on 5/5 with 75 percent of the class lacking a clinical assignment, that an email sent about two weeks earlier said 50 of the 135 clinical hours for next semester would have to come from five 10-hour virtual classes, and asked rhetorically whether anyone could imagine sitting in a Zoom call for 10 hours.

'''Standards.''' ACEN Standard 5.1 requires that the curriculum include planned clinical practice experiences adequate in number and type to prepare graduates for the nursing role. Substituting 37 percent of in-person clinical hours with 10-hour Zoom sessions does not constitute adequate clinical practice for the development of psychomotor nursing skills. Virginia's Board of Nursing, and several other state boards of nursing, cap simulation hours at 25 percent of total clinical hours; substituting Zoom sessions for in-person clinical hours likely violates these state caps for affected students (see {{HU|HU-070}}). Handbook page 26 (clinical placement standards) and 34 CFR 668.71 to 75 (misrepresentation) are implicated, since students who enrolled with the understanding of in-person clinical experience are receiving a materially different educational experience. NCSBN nursing simulation guidelines state that virtual simulation is not equivalent to in-person clinical experience for skill acquisition.

'''Impact.''' Seventy-five percent of a cohort lacking clinical placement two weeks before the semester represents a systemic placement infrastructure failure. The institution's solution, 10-hour Zoom "virtual clinical" sessions, is pedagogically inappropriate for nursing skill development and likely violates state board of nursing simulation caps for students in regulated states. Spring 2025 cohort graduates may face NCLEX licensure ineligibility in states with strict simulation hour caps. The educational quality of an all-day Zoom "clinical" is not equivalent to in-person clinical practice; students cannot perform vital signs, medication administration, IV insertion, or patient assessment via Zoom.

'''Notes.''' This issue compounds {{HU|HU-007}}, {{HU|HU-032}}, {{HU|HU-035}}, {{HU|HU-038}}, {{HU|HU-049}} (placement deficiencies) and {{HU|HU-070}} (Virginia BON 25 percent simulation cap). The substitution of in-person hours with Zoom sessions is a particularly significant escalation: prior placement failures resulted in W grades or delayed graduation, while this systemic substitution affects 75 percent of an entire cohort and dilutes the quality of clinical education program-wide. A cohort member identified as Student B, described as a faculty advisor, partially refuted the timing in the comments, stating that they did not get their clinical assignment at the start of the semester, that it was about two to three weeks into the semester, and that other students might still get placed somewhere, which acknowledges the late-placement pattern rather than refutes it. Multiple students in the Spring 2025 cohort indicated they failed classes due to the related Sherpath grade transfer failures (see {{HU|HU-075}}).

<span id="HU-072"></span>