Lady of the Lake Accelerated ASN

U.S.A. Louisiana

Published

Hi. I am very interested in the accelerated ASN program at Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge. Can anyone give me any information on this program? I've seen the information that is available online. However, I am looking for information from experienced insiders such as: getting accepted, true level of difficulty, etc. This will be a major career change for me, and I do not want to make a bad decision. I have a 3.6 gpa from SLU w/ AA in OSH and BA in Gen Studies. I consider myself a capable, hard working student but all I have heard is HORROR stories.

Thanks!

Bundi356:My prayers are with you and your family!

Thanks for all the helpful info, you are really awesome for that! I was speaking to the admissions office and wasn't sure if I wanted to start in July @Tulane or in Sept @East Jeff, she said to apply for both, is there any differences that you know of regarding the two campuses? I would like to begin early & finish earlier, but I don't think I will have enough $ saved up to pay for school, I know there is a loan available but I just want to make sure I have all bases covered just in case!

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From a cost/safety standpoint the Metairie location is great. I might end up with an apartment up there simply due to cost. Tulane is next to the french quarter so the cost is very high. As for the campus, there are no Campus's. Both systems I believe have the same group of instructors the bigger difference is where the clinicals are held. Traffic is bad at both. Parking is free at both. The campus consists of some offices a classroom etc. I Dont know what Tulane has since I start at EJGH. EJ has a good computer room with printers several offices and a very large instuction room for up to about 40-45 which we had filled and a conference room. It also had an lab.clinical room that had 8-10 workcenters/dummies. there are nice 1 bedroom / studios that are 430-470 sq ft less then 1 mile from that location.

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Bundi356-Thanks for the info! I'm fortune to already have my living situation taken care of. I was more curious of the differences in the two, I figured it wasn't any differences, but sometimes as much as they try to keep them the same, sometimes there's a difference, thanks for everything!

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Bundi: Hey, did you ever get my PM about sending me the Pharm. notes? Please let me know if you're still able to email the notes to me/us. Thanks! :)

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To those of you starting at Tulane in January, I thought I'd give you an idea of what to expect from the program through what I've experienced so far from EJGH. The same set of teachers rotate between the EJGH and Tulane program, so the classes are pretty much the same.

Introduction to Accelerated Nursing:

This is your easiest class. Show up, participate, and you’ll get your “A.”

Pharmacology:

Books:

Rationales for Nursing Practice, Ninth Edition. ISBN: 0781777690

Dosage Calculations. ISBN: 1418080470

Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 21st Edition. ISBN: 0803615590

If I were you, I wouldn’t buy the Taber’s Dictionary book. You won’t need it in class. Plus, it’s so much easier to look up medical terms on the internet.

This book isn’t required, but I recommend the Study Guide to Accompany Abrams' Clinical Drug Therapy: Rationales for Nursing Practice. ISBN: 0781782481. This book contains a lot of extra practice questions with rationales. I used it when I prepared for my exams, and I thought that it helped me.

Graded Materials:

3 exams and a couple of online assignments

You also have to take the practice ATI tests by the deadlines assigned. This is not graded.

The class:

Pharmacology was about 3 weeks long. I really didn’t think this class was as bad as everyone said that it was going to be. I think what makes it hard is that it goes so fast and there are so much material for each test. I thought the first test had the least and the easiest amount of materials. Study and do well on your first test. It is NOT impossible to make an “A” on your first test. This will give you cushion for the next two tests. Do yourself and your sanity a favor and don’t procrastinate.

The teachers are going to tell you that if you memorize, you’re going to fail. The only way to pass this class is to memorize. When you’re memorizing, make sure that you understand the information. Don’t just memorize the material like random facts. To be honest with you, I didn’t read the book. You really don’t have time to read because each test may contain up to 20 chapters. What I did was took my PowerPoint slides and followed the information in the slides that coordinates information in the book to help me memorize. The test contains multiple choice questions with a handful of dosage calculation problems that you have to show your work and your answers.

I know that a lot of you want to start studying now for the tests now to get a head start. If you get a copy of the notes, just keep in mind that the teachers are updating their powerpoint slides all the time.

I would wait to buy supplies for Fundamentals until after the second Pharm test when you know for sure how you're standing in the class.

I'll give you information on Fundamentals of Nursing in the same layout if you want. The class is a little more demanding than Pharm. Please let me know if this helps. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them for you up until class starts again.

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Thanks alot for all the information...do you think that the key terms and questions after each chapter would be beneficial to start studying? Did you prepare any for pharm ahead of time?

Also, we just got our schedule for pharm and there are a lot of empty days or days with just recitation on them does that mean those days we can use for studying?

Thanks again.

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Hey everyone, I think I forwarded the notes from the class for everything through test two. I will not be attending the Nursing Fundemental class on the the 3rd but will be joining the class on the first day of Pharmacoloy on the 11th. I will be in NOLA next week to hopefully put the housing issue to bed. I will in NOLA around the 8th or 9th. I have an interview in Northern Indiana on the morning of the 7th.

If anyone else needs the notes, please let me know.

As for the note from the person in the EJGH class. HELLO - how is the team doing this term. I recently got a note from the Social/Philanthropic chair.

As for the comments about the notes and tests she is absolutely correct. To get a heads up on things I strongly recommend taking very good notes with the PPT presentations and running through the questions. There are things said in lecture that are not in the book or in the slides. One of the comments made in class that I totally disregarded and it was later on the test was a comment about heart paitienct on Nitric drugs coming into the ER saying Oh my Head. It was on the test.

Rad up. Moving into the test two chapters and should have them done by the end of christmas day.

Test one is the easiest of the tests. Test two and three arent hard just a bit different in terms of the types of questions. Much more on contrainactors, indicators, cause and effects, antidotes etc.

Since my last entry I had a nephew who was killed in a car accident - it was the largest funeral I have ever been to. He was a former quarterback at a local country school and was recently in the Air Force. His dad is a member of the Fort Wayne fire department and his grandfather is a local commissioner and the owner of the local EMS service. The line to get into the wake and give your condolences to the family was over 4 hours long. It was a very sad moment for our entire family. Cam was a great kid and one our our fondest memories was swapping cars with him. We gave him our convertible mini cooper for his Monster Truck. Im not who had the most fun - him or us.

Any way merry christmas and happy new years. I visit my mother and mother in law and delivered the christmas cookies etc. Both are ornery as ever so I know they are doing well.

Have a happy holidays.

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Pinkpadots: awesome reply thanks so much! I will keep all of that in mind. I'm so nervous and there are asorts of questions running through my head. Are most of the classes three weeks in length normally?

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curious and everyone else on this site. did any of you get a copy of the course calendar from (moderator edit of name). i believe (moderator edit of name) just finalized it in the past few days and i received a copy it shows the date etc. for the tests.

let me know i can forward that as well. i believe test two is the following week and test three the middle of week four. classes i think are done after at the end of week 3.

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Ebella615:

do you think that the key terms and questions after each chapter would be beneficial to start studying?

I never really paid much attention to the key terms in the book. I am sure that some of them coincides the lecture materials. Know that just because information is taught from, for example, Chapter 10 does not mean that all of Chapter 10 will be covered. Your instructor may just teach you a few sections from the chapter. If you want to start familiarizing yourself with some of the key terms, I don’t see the harm in that at all. After I studied information for a chapter, I always do the questions at the end of the chapter and read its rationales. It’s a good way for you to see how nursing questions are worded. That book that I recommended from the previous post has a ton more questions for you to practice with for each chapter. One more advice I forgot to list is with each of the PowerPoint lectures, there are “course objectives” listed at the beginning. I always evaluate whether I prepared enough for that section by going through those objectives to see if I met them. I’ve noticed that the instructors really do test from those objectives.

Did you prepare any for pharm ahead of time?

Nope! Not at all. I didn't have any old notes, and I didn't know where to start studying in the book so I just waited. I prepared as the instructors gave us lecture materials. I cracked open my Pharmacology book the first day of Pharm lecture.

Also, we just got our schedule for pharm and there are a lot of empty days or days with just recitation on them does that mean those days we can use for studying?

Empty days are there for you to whatever you want with them! Believe it or not, you actually have a lot of free time in Pharmacology. We normally started at 8 and were hardly ever in class past 12:30. For our third pharm test, we had like a week off to prepare for the test. Take advantage of those "off" days and study. Don’t spend all of your time studying though because you’ll drive yourself crazy! Make sure to take time off to do something nice for yourself. Recitation is optional. It’s there for you to come with questions about any of the lecture materials that you need clarifications.

bundi356: I am so sorry about your nephew. My prayers are with you and your family. We are doing very well. Fundamentals is really different from Pharm. There is a lot more interactive work, paperwork, and less free time! You’ll know what I’m talking about when you get there. Let’s just say we are very thankful for this much needed break. Good luck with school at Tulane!

curiousKayPee: Enjoy your holiday before school starts. I know this may sound cliché, but don’t be so nervous! Just do well on your first Pharm test to give yourself some leeway. After you take your first test, you’ll kind of know how teachers ask their questions. You’ll also know your study habits better and know what works for you in order for you to do well on your tests.

Are most of the classes three weeks in length normally?

Not all of them are 3 weeks. Fundamentals was 7 weeks. Adult Health I, the class that I am about to start, is 4 weeks.

Hope this helped!

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Pinkpadots: Thanks so much for that information. I won't be starting in January, hopefully in July or September. When I found out about this school, I still a couple of classes to finish. I will be applying very soon! I was told about three references, who do I mail them to and how long does it have to be?

Would you recommend working a PRN shift here and there during school? From the time you began to now, how many of your classmates didn't make it?

Bundi: sorry again for your lost

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