Concerns about the growth of term paper mills and essay mills for health and nursing students
The work I’ve been involved in for hire cheating for the past decade has focused on students paying to have work completed online. This is concerning behavior. Students who do not complete their own apprenticeship do not gain the skills they need for employment and the workplace.
One worrying trend that has emerged in recent years is essay mills (also known as paper mills) that are designed to cater to students from particular academic disciplines.
You can find essay mills geared toward law students, business students, computer students, or any academic discipline you can think of.
From the point of view of the company marketing essay writing services for students, this is a smart move. Providing niche essay mills means students are more likely to find your company online. They are also more likely to trust that you have the academic ability to help them with their particular academic subject or discipline.
In reality, the truth is much less clear. Research I have been involved in has shown that most of these companies are not as specialized as they appear to be. The same company often provides services through several different trade names. Each of these uses the same pool of writers, regardless of the entry point used to engage students in these services.
The growth of trial factories in specific subject areas is also a concern when considering suitability for practice. Nursing is a particular example that has been identified. Here, students must finish their academic course with practical and mathematical skills that they will use in a hospital ward or with patients.
When students see nursing essay mills online, this is an encouragement for them to cheat and get help they are not entitled to. This can mean they end up in front of patients, but without the necessary healthcare skills to help them with their conditions. The problem becomes one of public safety.
There are all sorts of things that can go wrong when an underqualified nurse ends up working with patients. There have been cases reported in the media where patients have been dispensed the wrong prescription medication or given the wrong amount of medication. Patient notes are recorded incorrectly, leading to problems down the road. Nurses who have taken shortcuts during their educational journey can continue to do so when introduced to patients.
As a result, I strongly discourage prospective nurses who are tempted to use assay factories from doing so. Previous examples looking at essays produced by these services have shown that they are often not very good. Nurses have been caught trying to cheat, dropped from their courses, and subsequently never been able to get a job in the caring profession.
It is much better for students to do their own work. Academic assessments in nursing are established for a reason and lead directly into nursing practices and the daily work to be carried out. Only by avoiding and eliminating temptations to cheat can we be sure that all nurses can provide the level of hospital care we should expect.
