Thomas Jefferson FACT Program

Thanks for the info!! I'll definitely consider commuting as an option again... While I'm in contact here, do you have any other general advice about the program? I've pretty much gotten all my specific questions answered, but I'm aching to know what the program is like day-in and day-out. I know it's intense, but was it exciting and enjoyable, or stressful? Ahh, so many things I guess I won't actually know till I start... Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks again for responding!

Hey I'm in the program right now and am really enjoying it. The faculty as a whole is great to deal with and actually care. About being in the FACT program this is how it went down for me. First month you are doing an incredible amount of lab work prepping for clinicals and taking an health assessment class and professional nursing class. The clinical reading assignments they give you is very unrealistic but you don't get tested on this so my advice is skim through the main parts so you kind of know what you are doing in clinical. After a month in you get slammed with 3 more courses and this is where you want to spend your time studying. At this time you are starting clinicals too at 24 hours per week so that gets some getting use to also. However, the teachers for these 3 courses are awesome and will help you out. You have to put in your work though.

My main tips for semester 1. Month 1 spend time on health assessment and don't worry too much on clinical readings just go over the main points, I would be prepping in advance for the three courses (Patho, Pharm and Nursing Managment) before they start.
Jefferson is all about the powerpoints and I would get the powerpoint information down pat and use the book to supplement your studies for patho, pharm and Nursing Management.
If you focus on powerpoints alone for health assessment you can get a B, but if you want the A in this class you must read in some detail.
Studying for nursing managment was the toughest for me because this class teaches you how to think like a nurse so it's not just memorization. My advice is you are required to have a Saunders NCLEX review book and Jefferson carries NCLEX 3500. Do these questions and pay attention to the rationale.
Other than that that is semester 1. You picked a great program. Yes it is busy but it is also doable.

Thanks Fil and Jello... That info really helped!! I'm sure I'll refer back to it when I start as well. I'm very excited about the program. Good luck finishing up! Either of you going on to the Masters?

Fil149 and Jello18966- Thanks for describing your experience of the FACT program. It was really helpful. I'm also starting the program this May and am always interested when people talk about the program because it's been hard to find a lot of detailed info on it.

I was curious about the clinical placements. If I'm remembering correctly what I've heard before, you usually have clinicals at a few different hospitals per semester. Is that right? Do your clinical days each week stay the same or do they rotate (e.g. if you start out with Sunday and Monday for clinical days, does that stay the same throughout the whole semester or while you're at a given hospital)? Do you get to choose 2-12s or 3-8s, or is that decided for you?

Thanks again for any info you can give. I'm glad to hear you like the program - makes me excited to get started.

Glad the info helped. About clinical placements, for the summer quarter you start clinicals about a month in and it lasts 8 weeks (this is your longest rotation). The faculty usually gives you a sign up sheet for clinical placement where you can list your top 3 choices. They will try to accomodate your top three the best they can. For our summer rotation all clinical placements were af Jeff, not sure if they will do this again this year but that's how it worked for us. As Jello mentioned, after the first month you will have classes on Th and Friday for about 8 hours and clinical days can be picked M-W or Sat and Sun. I had MT for 12 hours each day and yes the schedule remains constant until the particular rotation is over.

I agree with Jello the first semester for myself was also the most difficult so far. But I have found things getting easier because you learn how to manage your time and learn the best ways to study for the exams. After the first semester you clinicals will vary from can go as short as 2 weeks to 5 weeks long. Second semester the rotation is as follows:
Telemetry: about 4 weeks
Maternity: About 3 weeks
Third Semester
Peds: About 5 clinical days on unit and 2 days in school like setting.
Neuro: 4 clinical days
Psych: 5 clinical days

We are about to finish up our third semester . After that you will have community rotation and a critical care rotation. Once again good luck to all in the program. I agree with Jello don't stress out just stay focused.

Thanks so much! I appreciate the info. That is exactly what I was looking for. Good luck with the rest of the program.

I'm reviving this thread to see if any of you helpful people who posted know the answer to this question: can you choose to do 2-12s for clinicals, or is it out of your hands whether you do 2-12s or 3-8s? This actually is pretty important to my thinking right now.

Thanks so very much to everyone.

You usually get the opportunity to chose 2-12's or 3-8s, however your not guaranteed your choice. However, if you have a good reason like kids, etc. sometimes they will take that into account. You have the opportunity to switch with people too.

I'm in the FACT program now. Just wanted to add to what sunshine wrote. At the beginning of a clinical rotation, you are given a sheet with all of the different rotation units/times/days and asked to give your top three choices. The 8 hour rotations are M/T/W from 7a-3p or M/T/W from 2p-10p. The 12 hour rotations are from 7a-7p on either Sa/Su, Su/M, M/T, or T/W. Classes are all day Thursdays and Fridays. As sunshine said, you are not guaranteed one of your top three choices but if you have a specific reason for needing a certain day/time slot, they do take that into consideration. FYI- they require you to do at least one weekend rotation during the program; this would be either a Sa/Su or Su/M rotation.