We got into the CLC Nursing program...now what

The clinical site for the night sections (sections 5 & 6 - there are only 6 sections total and numbers 5 & 6 are night ones) was out at Midwest Regional. I only know this because the night teacher taught class today because ours had a family emergency. You'd have to do a quick search to see where that's at. You are at an Extended Care Facility for the first half of the semester and a hospital for the second. In my case they were both Centegra facilitities in the same town. I'll post a note on here to let all of you know when the sites are posted.

One day is clinical only, the next is exam (if there's one scheduled) and lecture and the next is lab.

For the current semester we only had 20 of us in the exam/lecture class, not the lab...there were only 10. This must be a change.

Oh boy...never heard of that!! Uh oh!

ETA...I think it's in Zion from what I can tell. I can handle that since I live in Antioch.

It looks like Midwest Regional is a Cancer Hospital...does that sound right? And then you said a hospital the second half? Do they let you know which hospital you'll be at for the second half as well before registration?

check the clinical posting outside the nursing lab (I'll let you know when it's posted) and it will list both places that each section goes to.

Even though sections 1 & 3 are scheduled at the same time they are in different lab rooms. The only time you'll have another section in your class is for exam/lecture.

You will get all of your clinical information during orientation. You will get all of the directions you need in class before you go to clinical. You will have two clinical sites during your first semester. One will be a long-term care facility (nursing home). One will be a hospital. These sites can be anywhere in the county (with one or two sites in McHenry county) and can change from semester to semester. Your best bet is to not stress out about it. At orientation you can jot down your clinical sites and look them up to get some idea of how long it will take you to get there.

I was in the spring 2007 evening section and we went to Whitehall (Highland Park area) and Midwest Regional Cancer Centers of America (Zion). For nursing 172 we have been exclusively at Lake Forest Hospital (Lake Forest), rotating areas depending on what we are studying.

Someone mentioned stethoscopes… yes, you will need a stethoscope. No, you do not need to run out and buy a really expensive stethoscope. I wouldn’t recommend buying the ones in the bookstore, but if you’re on a tight budget, do what you have to do. A $30 stethoscope will get you through school and then you can get a nice Stethoscope for a graduation gift. A word to the wise concerning the lab stethoscopes – yes, they are terrible, but you will be required to use those stethoscopes during the end of semester Performance Exam, so do practice with them.

The evening instructor for Nursing 171 is retiring this year, so I am not sure who will be teaching that. The day instructor is very good.

You will be in class three days per week, but you know that already because you’ve seen the schedule! There is a 4-hour class, a 2-hour lab, and a 5-hour clinical. Prepare to create a study group early on. I cannot stress this enough. I find 6 to be an ideal size if you are looking for a group that can coordinate schedules and get together for study sessions before each exam, but that’s really up to you.

Each module contains vocabulary, a page of reading assignments, 30 EBOs (more on this later), a few case studies, supplemental drug information, a page detailing the lab day, and a packet of written work for your clinical day.

Before class you are expected to do your readings and review your class guides. You will find early on that the reading is overwhelming, so you’ll want to focus on the readings that pertain to your EBOs (don’t worry, I’m still getting around to that). During class you will go over a series of class guides. They involve discussion of a mock situation that pertains to whatever you are studying. There is rarely any formal lecture.

Before lab you may be asked to do some reading from your skills book, but I would say I usually didn’t do anything to prepare for lab. During lab you will be practicing nursing skills. You will have to take three or four “performance appraisals” over the course of the semester during which you demonstrate a skill and create a nursing note for a lab instructor. If I’m not mistaken, bed-making, bed baths, transfer and ambulation, TED hose and elastic bandages, and basic drug calculations/administration is covered during the first semester. These appraisals take 15-30 minutes to complete, sometimes with a partner, and are done on your own time by signing up for an appraisal time in the lab. I always come in to practice a skill several times and practice documenting said skill at least once before my appraisal, usually for at least 1 hour.

Before clinical there isn’t much to prepare. Just show up with your drug book, stethoscope, watch, and written work packet and the instructor will take it from there. Do everything you can do. See everything you can see. The more proactive you are during clinical, the better your experience will be. The written work for clinical usually took me 2-3 hours to complete.

And finally… the EBOs. The expected behavioral outcomes are just a series of questions. This will be your focus for the exam. Nobody checks that you do them, but your exam will be heavily based on these, so I would suggest that you answer the questions. This is where the study group comes in handy. Our study group splits up the EBOs and decides a study session date at the beginning of each set of modules. If you have dependable study group members, it saves a lot of time. I spend about an hour each week answering 6 EBOs. If I had to do all 30 it would kill me.

So here’s my time breakdown:

Reading, preparing for class: 2-3 hours/week
Written assignments: 2-3 hours/week
EBOs: 1 hour/week
Practicing in the lab: 1-2 hours/month
Appraisals in the lab: 30m-1h/month
Class, Lab, Clinical: 11h/week

So there you have it. It’s a big time commitment, but you get used to it. I almost never do anything on Fridays, so I still have one nursing-free day in my life, and I go to school and work full time. I don't have children, but some people in our class managed work and school and kids!

Hopefully that gives you an idea of what your weeks will be like. Just be prepared to put a lot of time and effort into your work. Be flexible, and realize that the first couple of weeks will be spent adjusting to the class and figuring out what study strategy works best for you. All of the instructors have office hours. If you need help with something, anything, talk to a staff member in the lab or another student or your instructor… they really do want you to succeed (though you will question this at times :P).

OK fellow newbies - are you all breathing a nice sigh of relief now? I know I am! Because I finally feel like I have a handle on what it's going to be like, thanks to these wonderful people who have taken the time to post here. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

I think the "fear" of the unknown has really been stressing me out, and I am so grateful to read these informative posts. Sure, it is going to be a lot of work and I suppose reading about all this may be daunting to some people, but for me KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!

Thanks!

I have a Palm Pilot, but not sure how to download anything onto it...LOL

I need to find a rolling backpack...I'll have one before January for sure. Hmmm...may have to check out Big Lots...but usually once their stuff is gone, it's gone!

Can you send me the link for that thing to download onto my PC?

The rolling luggage is a good call. It will save your back. I don't carry all of my books around any more, and I've managed so far without the rolling backpack, but I would say 9 out of 10 nursing students have them. When this backpack gives up on me I'll probably switch over to a rolling one.

We have several people in class who use a PDA device. They do come in handy when you want to look something up on the go, but I couldn't tell you what software to use or where to find it.

You can buy any nursing drug guide. I can't remember which one they stock in the bookstore, but I didn't like it. My mother (a nurse) sent me a copy of Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses, 10th edition ($30 on amazon), and I love it. It's a little more comprehensive than the bookstore drug guide and it includes "nursing implications" which will be a section that you have to fill out on your drug sheets (part of your clinical written work). But really, any newer drug book will do.