FRAUD FRAUD
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, Dr. Kleber Molina. They were the first of many lies.
I was promised the CVT program would prepare me for taking the RCIS registration, once my associate’s 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 Dr. Molina, 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 it’s legitimacy. I began the February 2011 session with an end date of August 3rd 2012. Dr. Molina 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. He’d 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, Danny Self, 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. Danny assured us in April of 2011 of his confidence regarding accreditation approval as he’d been through the process before. His irritation with the administration became evident in the fall of 2011 and we were regularly updated regarding the school’s inability to acquire clinical sites due to the negative connotations linked to the school’s 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 we’ve 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 haven’t even the ability to gain a moderate amount of practical experience through it’s 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, Craig Shepard, Fortis/MedVance’s Head of Radiology addressed our class and others regarding our program and it’s 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 MA’s in a doctor’s 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 have not 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 Mr. Shepard 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 hire Sandi Stoudenmire as our new CVT PD. She does not currently hold an RCIS which violates CCI’s requirements for accreditation. She does not teach. Per our instructor Pam Brown, Sandi is there in an administrative capacity only to assist making the clinical sites ready for a JRC-CVT visit in April.
For each class, I’ve had to purchase supplemental books as the materials provided by the school are either incomplete or unusable. We’ve been given cartoon books for explanation of EKG’s, a class taught by an MA instructor who knew nothing about reading EKG’s 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 couldn’t 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 administration’s 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 body’s 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 Danny Self. 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. We’ve 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, Pam Brown, 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, Pam advised us that the powerhouse of the cell was the microchrombrium. She wrote it on the board. She’s advised during lectures that she knows what’s abnormal with regard to rhythms, cardiac vasculature, etc. but not to question her regarding normal values because she doesn’t know them. We were promised knowledgeable experienced instructors, instead we’re regaled with her friend’s medical history, her step-father’s alcohol abuse, and a litany of misinformation regarding medical information that is vital to our education. On 02/15/12, Pam 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, Pam 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’. I’m sure internists everywhere will breathe a sigh of relief when we arrive at our clinic sites to inform them they’ve long been mistaking the alveoli for what are actually areolas. So I ask you, would you want me to perform YOUR mother’s 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 it’s so easy, YOU go out and find them.’ We were promised clinical sites. We were plied with a litany of hospitals with whom the institution had long and secure relationships. We’ve 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 A’s 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, we’ve 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 people’s lives as eventually one of their students will kill someone.
