Fortis College

Fortis College Nursing Response:
 
Fortis
College Curriculum was designed to allow each student to progress with each
course and  building on one another.
The complainant stated that the Medical-Surgical course and clinical was not
adequate for...

where they are in the curriculum. This is not true. The course
the student is referring to is Medical Surgical I. This is the first Medical
Surgical class in their plan of study and the objective fit the clinical
assigned.  At this point in their
curriculum plan, the students are not ready or competent for complex acute
care settings. Due to complex patients conditions and diagnosis seen in an
acute settings, students need to be prepared at a proper. As the curriculum progresses
and the students become more competent they will have the opportunity to
experience clinical in an acute care setting to include specialty areas such
as OB.
 
In the
incidents of losing clinical sites,  it
is because of a variety of reasons; not other schools, even though there is a
lot of competition for clinical sites.
 
Faculty
have left the college as with other businesses due to a variety of reasons,
some very personal and unavoidable.
 
All
clinical sites meet the objectives of the course and prepare our students for
NCLEX.

Fortis College in Columbus, Ohio ("Fortis-Columbus" or "the College") is responding to yourletter dated March 9, 2015 wherein you request a response to a complaint submitted to the BetterBusiness Bureau ("Revdex.com") by a former student. l This student was enrolled in the College'sAssociate Degree Nursing...

("ADN") program from September 30,2013 to January 2, 2015.The student's complaint alleges the following:Fortis College falsely represents its Associates Degree in Nursing program as anaccredited nursing program. I found this out after over a year of expensive schooling thatFortis does not hold any accreditation for its nursing program when I talked to anotherinstitution about transferring to their program because I was disappointed in the educationI was receiving. Fortis's inability to maintain a consistent teaching staff and the staffnotable to teach the curriculum makes it and made it hard to be successful. The requiredclinical rotations were not enforced therefore you were not able to learn through hands onexperience, you signed in that you were at the clinical site and left. I have had severalcounter parts call to ask ifthey were accredited and every time the response is yes. Noneofmy credits will transfer to another institution due to the lack of accreditation of Fortis'snursing program. The Ohio Board ofNursing has approved Fortis to teach the program,this not an accreditation. Institutions teaching Nursing Programs should not be affordedthe opportunity to teach these programs if they are unable to attain the appropriateaccreditation for their program of study. Fortis is a for profit company with no morals andno worries about the product or service they provide. They have stolen my money and mytime as I was trying to transition into a new career as well as hundreds to potentiallythousands of others who were made to believe that Fortis was accredited. My next stepwith several other students that no longer attend Fortis due to their misrepresentation willbe a class action suit. (Customer's Statement of the Problem)I As noted in the March 9, 2015 Revdex.com complaint, " ... the consumer's complaint and your response will be publicly[emphasis added] posted on the Revdex.com Web site... " Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, theCollege has omitted any personally identifiably student information from its response.4151 Executive Parkway, Suite 120 " Westerville, OH 43081[redacted]Mr. J[redacted]Revdex.com Complaint ResponseMarch 25,20/5Each substantive concern raised by the student is addressed below.Concern:"Fortis College falsely represents its Associates Degree in Nursing program as an accreditednursing program."" ...Fortis does not hold any accreditation for its nursing program...""The Ohio Board ofNursing has approved Fortis to teach the program, this not an accreditation,""Institutions teaching Nursing Programs should not be afforded the opportunity to teach theseprograms if they are unable to attain the appropriate accreditation for their program of study."Response:Fortis-Columbus is institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Bealth EducationSchools ("ABBES"). ABBES is recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a specialized,national accrediting body determined to be a reliable authority as to the quality of trainingoffered by the educational institutions and programs it accredits. The ADN program is includedwithin the College's grant of accreditation from ABBES (Exhibit A).The ADN program is also fully approved by the Ohio Board ofNursing ("OBN"). The Collegerecognizes that the OBN's approval is not synonymous with "accreditation."Please see Exhibit B, a page from the school's catalog detailing the College's Accreditation,Licenses, and Approvals. Prior to the student's emollment, he was provided with a schoolcatalog, which accurately and clearly described the Accreditation, Licenses, and Approvals ofthe College. Please see Exhibit C a copy of the school catalog acknowledgment form signed bythe student, which evidences that he received a copy of the catalog and committed to reading it.Concern:"None ofmy credits will transfer to another institution due to the lack of accreditation of Fortis'snursing program."Response:As previously mentioned, the ADN program at Fortis-Columbus is included within the College'sgrant of accreditation from ABBES (Exhibit A). Although the ADN program is included withinthe College's grant of accreditation, the acceptance of transfer credits is still controlled by theinstitution receiving the credit, not the institution awarding the credit. This distinction wasdisclosed to the student in the College's Transfer of Credit policy, which is also published in theschool's catalog. Please see Exhibit D, the Transfer of Credit policy that reads in part,"[t]ransfer of credit is always the decision of the individual college or university, and iscontrolled by the receiving (emphasis added) institution. Accreditation does not guarantee[redacted]Revdex.com Complaint ResponseMarch 25, 2015transfer of credits... " Please see Exhibit C, a copy of the school catalog acknowledgment formsigned by the student, which evidences that he received a copy ofthe catalog and committed toreading it. .Concern:"Fortis's inability to maintain a consistent teaching staff and the staffnot able to teach thecurriculum makes it and made it hard to be successful."Response:All instructors teaching in the ADN program at Fortis-Columbus are required to meet stringentstandards as set forth by the school's regulatory agencies, including the OBN. Exhibit E is anexcerpt of Rule 4723-5-10 from the Ohio Administrative Code, which outlines the minimumqualification criteria required of faculty who teach in a registered nursing education program.The nursing instructional staff in the ADN program currently consists oftwenty-nine instructorswith an average tenure of two years and nine months, all ofwhom comply with OBN Rule 47235-10.2 In addition to each ADN instructor possessing the required educational and occupationalexperience, all new instructors receive training in educational methods, testing and evaluation,and evidence strength in instructional methodology, delivery, and techniques within thirty daysof beginning instruction and annually thereafter.Fortis-Columbus also regularly surveys students using the DataMark survey instrument. Thisinstrument generates information on student satisfaction with a specific academic course and theinstructor for that course, The DataMark surveys are objective, with data compiled and reportedby a third-party. Surveys are completed by each nursing students at the end of each course in theprogram. In 2014, 85.49% of students enrolled in the ADN program responded affirmatively tothe question, "[m]y instructor had a good understanding of the course materiaL" 80.39%responded affirmatively to the question, "[0]verall I was satisfied with this instructor (withoutregard for course opinion)."Concern:"The required clinical rotations were not enforced therefore you were not able to learn throughhands on experience, you signed in that you were at the clinical site and left,"Response:Fortis-Columbus adheres to a strict attendance policy for the clinical experiences of all nursingstudents. Exhibit F is an excerpt from the nursing student handbook detailing the attendancepolicy for nursing clinical experiences that take place at medical facilities where students areprovided with hands-on experience. All students must complete 100% of the scheduled clinical2 As noted in the March 9, 2015 Revdex.com complaint, " ... the consumer's complaint and your response will be publicly[emphasis added] posted on the Revdex.com Web site... " Due to privacy concerns, personally identity instructorinformation has been omitted fi'om this response.[redacted]Revdex.com Camplaint ResponseMarch 25, 20/5hours. The College provides clinical instructors who are on site with the students during theclinical hours, and if a student leaves early, the student's attendance is correctly recorded.For example, Exhibit G is a copy of the student's attendance record from Medical SurgicalNursing I (NUR201), a course that requires each student to successfully complete clinical hours.Upon review, ninety clinical hours were required, but the student only attended seventy. If thestudent's allegations were accurate, then the College would not have known that he did notattend twenty ofthe scheduled ninety hours referenced in the exhibit.Exhibit H is a copy ofthe signed acknowledgment from the student that he had received a copyof his course syllabus for NUR20I and had been advised ofthe attendance and other coursepolicies. If the student's allegations were in fact true, he had a responsibility to notify theclinical instructor, which he did not.Finally, State of Ohio Board of Career Colleges and Schools, by which the College is approvedto operate, has rules pertaining to student disclosure. According to rule 3332-1-09, "[p]rior tocompleting an enrollment agreement, all potential students enrolled in an Ohio school mustreview and complete the state board of career colleges and schools student disclosure form asrequired by the board." Exhibit I is a copy of that State of Ohio Disclosure Form signed by thestudent.In closing, Fortis-Columbus regrets that the student who contacted the Revdex.com was "disappointed inthe education" he received while enrolled in the ADN program. However, it is clear from theinformation provided above that his allegations are unfounded. Nevertheless, we wish thisformer student the best ofluck with his future educational endeavors.Please do not ,hesitate to contact me if you require any additional information. See attached

Please refer to our original response.

Fortis College Columbus received notification from the Revdex.com
on February 18, 2016 that a complaint  (complaint ID #: [redacted]5). This response will address the
concerns mentioned in her letter.
I got my immunizations from my personal
health care provider and submitted those results...

to the college. Fortis has
placed a charge on my account for more the [than] $700 they claimed to have
administered. -We have no record of Ms. [redacted] ever bringing this
concern to our attention. After looking through her records, we did see
immunization records that show she received the service from her personal
health care provider. As a result, the charge was removed from her account. Fortis also requires that we get a lab bag
that contains several iterms to complete the nursing program. I [My] bag did
not contain all of the items it was supposed to contain. I’m missing 3
different items from the bag. -The lab bag is assembled by our supplier, Diversa
Medical Supply. It arrives in our campus book store with a factory plastic
security seal that is not broken until the student takes the bag into his/her
possession. When Ms. [redacted] received her bag, it had this same seal that every
student’s bag has. I have also been charged for two books that I
did not receive. One of those book[s] were [was] credited back to my account
but I am still being charge[d] 176.00 for a microbiology book that I did not
accept because I was able to get it from another student. -Ms. [redacted] initialed and dated on a record sheet
every book she took out of the bookstore. There are no book charges on her
ledger on which she has not signed off and acknowledged receiving. After going
over that list to verify that she has not been charged, it was actually
discovered that she has not been charged enough. However, we will overlook this
and not add any charges to her account.We are required to keep a 78 or better on all
test[s] and then our homework will be factored in our grade. This policy is
fine but the problem is we have to wait 2 and sometime[s] 3 weeks before we
know our test results. -Campus policy indicates that students will receive
graded tests scores within seven days of taking the test. That said, we are
implementing some new strategies on campus to help our students become more
successful test takers, and there were some kinks at the beginning of the
quarter that caused a small delay in some of the students receiving their test
scores. However, this was the exception for students in this case. That said,
we have an excellent strategy in place moving forward to increase the success
of our students. 
The bulk of this complaint boils down to a
communication issue. Fortis resolves these types of issues to the satisfaction of our students. If these concerns would have brought to
our  attention, they would have been explained or dealt with immediately.
We welcome the opportunity to work through any other concerns she may have as
she completes her Associate’s degree at Fortis College.