[Blankfrack]

hello
Hi, I'm a male nursing student from Middletown, Ohio. It's great to find a forum just for nurses.

[Rep]

Hello and welcome to allnurses!

[Marie_LPN, RN]

Welcome to All Nurses

[Tweety]

Hi! Welcome.

[Daytonite]

How are things back in the old Buckeye State? I left for sunny California. Actually, I went to nursing school out here many, many years ago and I just got around to coming back here. However, I was born and raised in Ohio. Where are you studying? I know the area well since I lived in Dayton.

My nursing class 30 years ago was 1/3 male. It was a wonderful group. We all started and graduated from the A.A. program at College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California. Probably the hardest for you will be OB. Hang in there. This will be the most challenging study you've ever done because you really have no other education (except for life skills) to base it on. I was part of a study group of 5 students who met every Tuesday at one of each other's homes. We split up the studying and at the Tuesday evening meetings we gave informal presentations on different subjects we were studying. It helped reinforce what we were learning. Then, we went out for ice cream sundaes and had B&M sessions. Two of the guys were in my study group. We all (our whole class) passed our state boards on the first attempt. The most intense study and learning is when you are in school. But, surprise! It doesn't stop after school--if you want to be good at your job. It gets less time consuming after awhile though.

[Blankfrack]

Originally Posted by Daytonite

How are things back in the old Buckeye State? I left for sunny California. Actually, I went to nursing school out here many, many years ago and I just got around to coming back here. However, I was born and raised in Ohio. Where are you studying? I know the area well since I lived in Dayton.

My nursing class 30 years ago was 1/3 male. It was a wonderful group. We all started and graduated from the A.A. program at College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California. Probably the hardest for you will be OB. Hang in there. This will be the most challenging study you've ever done because you really have no other education (except for life skills) to base it on. I was part of a study group of 5 students who met every Tuesday at one of each other's homes. We split up the studying and at the Tuesday evening meetings we gave informal presentations on different subjects we were studying. It helped reinforce what we were learning. Then, we went out for ice cream sundaes and had B&M sessions. Two of the guys were in my study group. We all (our whole class) passed our state boards on the first attempt. The most intense study and learning is when you are in school. But, surprise! It doesn't stop after school--if you want to be good at your job. It gets less time consuming after awhile though.

I'm studying at Miami University, Middletown. Right now, I'm in the 2-year Associate degree program, but I have already fulfilled the prereqs for a bsn otherwise (aside from the thematic sequence). I am indeed worried about the OB rotation. I get red-faced quite easily. Also, I'm studying with a great group of people (male and female) from Miami every weekend. The coursework is ungodly! I'm a non-traditional student (47 years old), and have been working on this degree for three years already. Yikes!

[Daytonite]

At 47 you will be a better nursing student because you have more life experience and you've already dealt with the crap that the youngsters are just starting to go through. I think the average age in my nursing class was around 30. My mother went to LVN school when she was 54 and worked in ICU and CCU for more than 10 years before she finally retired. Don't worry about blushing during a delivery. . .you'll have a surgical mask on! An OB/GYN was the father of one of our fellow nursing students. He made the time to take all the guys from our class and take them through the OB experience. He made them all get up on the delivery table and get strapped into the stirrups. He made sure they each got a front row seat to a delivery and took them each on rounds with him when he examined his postpartum patients. Now, you have to remember this was 30 years ago when women spent 3 days or more in the hospital after a normal delivery. Times have changed a bit since then. All of us in my class passed our state board on the first try. That is something that doesn't happen too often.

I worked at Miami Valley Hospital with a lot of WSU grads. The smart thing to do is go for your BSN if you can afford it and you have the time to do it. Once you start in your clinical classes you should have no problem getting a job in the acute hospital as a nursing tech. Middletown Hospital should hire nurse techs. If you don't mind the drive I know Miami Valley Hospital hires them. I'm sure there are hospitals down in Cincinnati that hire also. The instructors in your nursing program can be helpful in telling you where to look for a nursing tech job. As a nurse tech in an acute hospital you also have your foot in the door for an RN position at that hospital once you finish your college nursing program.

I went the AA route and then got my BSN in 1986 when I was 37 and it seemed like it took forever. However, as soon as I got my BSN opportunities opened up and I got a supervision job within a year. Get all your pre-reqs out of the way. It really is not fair of a college to say that a student can earn a BSN in 4 years. It can be done, but it will wear you down. If you can afford to do it, take your time and take a course load you can handle even if it takes you a year or two longer to finish your degree. Take all your didactic classes before you take any of the clinical nursing classes. The clinical nursing classes are the most intense and require the most work (care plans, miscellaneous presentations, and always study, study, study). Even though you've had A&P your study of nursing will still be grounded in pathophysiology and you'll be putting the A&P, the disease processes and the nursing care all together to make a big picture about the patient. The nursing instructors will also focus on problem solving because that is what nurses do. I used to tell our new graduate nurses that they would be spending a lot of time stamping out small fires. A good RN's worth is being able to think creatively and solve problems. An RN is also a supervisor. Nursing school gives you the bag of tricks with instuctions on how to do these things, but you will combine them with your own style.

You are smart to put together a study group. We had one. The people in medical and law schools do it all the time to get through the huge volume of coursework. Every time you repeat or explain a nursing concept to someone else you are reinforcing it in your own mind. You are the one who is really getting the most benefit.

One last thing, the whole two years I was in my basic nursing program I was scared to death that I would accidentally kill a patient. Everytime I walked into the hospital for my clinicals I got "butterflies" in my stomach. This served me well because it made me careful about everything I did. I lost that anxiety a long time ago as I gained confidence in what I was doing and you will too.