Cheating on exams

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greentea101

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I've notice a few posts on here about people who were dismissed or got a F for cheating or plagiarism.

I come from the UK education system and I have taken classes in the US as part of a post bacc course. In the UK we have national exams that everyone takes at the same time, so I always thought you couldn't really cheat.

But when I was at school in the UK I saw people blatantly cheat and get away with it. I have seen this at university too. As a practicing health professional I have seen it happen again, with practitioners lying about doing tests that they didn't or recording clinical records wrong (I know its wrong because I have past photos that show this).

I have never reported anyone for cheating because I just thought it was not my business but now that I know the significance of why cheating is scrutinized I feel bad.

So my question is are there doctors that do this in the real world?

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Doctors, like the rest of us, are human too. There are good apples and there are bad.

What you're describing seems highly dangerous, and frankly very concerning. These are patient's lives we're talking about after all!

Ethically, there is rarely a time where you shouldn't report someone for these types of behaviors. Gone unchecked, it sets a chain of effects that may cost lives.
Just my thoughts.
 
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my clinical colleagues are especially emphatic about the concept of professionalism.
They do this because they know that there is data that dishonest doctors start out as dishonest students.
 
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Asking if there is such a thing as a deceitful person, is analogous to asking if water is wet. :lol:

Dishonesty is one of humanity's natural vices, of course you're bound to find a few crooks in about any field in every place around the world.
 
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Doctors, like the rest of us, are human too. There are good apples and there are bad.

What you're describing seems highly dangerous, and frankly very concerning. These are patient's lives we're talking about after all!

Ethically, there is rarely a time where you shouldn't report someone for these types of behaviors. Gone unchecked, it sets a chain of effects that may cost lives.
Just my thoughts.

In a classroom setting I should report cheating?

I know in medical or clinical setting you should (and I have). But I mean cheating on exams. I have always thought that cheating on exams was unfair but did not see the link with cheating and clinical setting cheating/lying.
 
Just take a look at your state's database for physician disciplinary action since it's public record. The number of names is astonishing. And much of it is for dishonesty so yes there are definitely many doctors out there who have cheated and continue to cheat in the real world.
 
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In a classroom setting I should report cheating?

I know in medical or clinical setting you should (and I have). But I mean cheating on exams. I have always thought that cheating on exams was unfair but did not see the link with cheating and clinical setting cheating/lying.
Many schools have an honor code to the extent of that you shall not cheat nor tolerate cheating.

Is this too archaic for you???
 
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Many schools have an honor code to the extent of that you shall not cheat nor tolerate cheating.

Is this too archaic for you???
It’s one thing to adhere to an honor code and not to cheat yourself, it’s quite another to actually report someone that is cheating and make it stick. In the real world it’s not always so easy to do that. In my limited experience those that cheat will eventually get what’s coming to them. I do agree that tolerance of such behavior puts patients at risk.
 
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If you have a question especially in the clinic about something you think may not be on the entire straight and narrow, ask the clinician about it, in a respectful inquisitive way.

There are certainly some outright dishonesty in medicine, but a lot of the things may have to do with eccentric billing or operations problems with a hospital and healthcare system. Many of the things I saw in medical school turned out to be just oddities at the system we live in.

David D MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors
 
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