Midlands Technical College Nursing Student

U.S.A. South Carolina

Published

hello, any other mtc students here? always could use some advice from a fellow student!:lol2:

Specializes in CMSRN.

Well Done!! A weight off your mind!

Thank you all so much!!! I feel GREAT!!!! I am taking the summer off to relax and give my family some much needed time with me. I am also planning on taking the LPN exam so that I can work and honestly, so that I can officially say that I am a NURSE:) Thank you so much for all of the words of encouragement. I really needed them. The most important thing that I learned was that this can not be done alone. It took my whole family, friends, and GOD to get me through.

@ studentofmtc -- Congrats again! I was curious, did you work any during the semester while taking 265/263? I work part time (16 hours/week) and will be taking 265/263 in the fall. I am nervous already about the fall but I have to work. Any classmates that you know of who worked and passed these classes together? Enjoy your summer!!

I did not work, but do have a large family that keeps me busy. Many people worked part time (mainly on the weekends), but only one passed from my clinical group. Please keep in mind though that this is only from my clinical group. I do not know a lot of people in my class. I honestly think that it all depends on how much time you have to study. 263 is not difficult, but there is a time requirement with all of the assignments and online work. 265 is just study time (and a TON of it to be successful). I ended up with a B in 263, because I did not put as much time into it as I should have due to my trouble with 265. It is a big jump from 165 and the instructors expect you to remember everything from 165 (as you should.) Just hang on and know that you have to study, study, study for 265. There is a lot of material. Good luck and hang on--it is so worth it to make it through!!!

Just an update

Nurs 162 (Psych/Mental Health)- Pretty easy class. Psych 162 clinicals are very laid back, a different kind of nursing. Very focused on patient observation and communication. Do your busy-work and assignments early, they aren't bad. Do not slack off too much though, because the last couple of exams are MEDICATION HEAVY (if I remember she will informed you which ones she wants you to know). I really enjoyed this class and teacher.

Nurs 210- All of the professors are great, but you will LOOVEE:heartbeat *****. Also the new professor ****** is EXCELLENT. She gives great examples, gets straight to the point, very clear podcasts, and is very approachable for extra help/explanations. To me, I really enjoyed having the 215 clinical first, because there is a pretty serious paper 6-7 pages or so. You have to put it in APA format (I would buy the PERRLA software to help out with formatting, although it's not impossible to format it from a free guide on the internet). The paper will feel stressful because all of a sudden you are hit with a resesarch paper, guidelines, and never had a class on writing for Nursing School. Be calm about it. Start looking for your articles once you go over the guidelines with you clinical instructor. If you wait two days before to do the paper you will be surprised, the articles are not easy because there are many specific guidelines. It took me a while to collect because remember you have 215 homework/busy work you are trying to do, data tools, and clinical. Go ahead and do ur 12 lead EKG the first couple of weeks of clinical, it's a no brainer ( you will get more details when you get into this semester). Once your paper is done during clinical time, it will feel as if a weight is lifted off of you shoulders lol. Your paper is a huge grade booster, it's 10% of your grade. I do not know anyone that did badly (I.e. my whole group got an A) and that's even for people who weren't the best at papers.

This semester, especially when taken in Fall/Spring feels so easy breezy. I definitely studied, but it was the first time I got to really have moments of relaxation, laziness, hanging out with friends etc. There are busy moments, and then there are super chill weeks where you have NOTHING. I loved it. I am going to miss this semester

I wish someone could tell me about the last semester. I start this Wednesday and the calendars for the summer are CRAZY!! The one good thing is once you start you are pretty much done. I am trying to stay calm, I know I can do this, I know I will do this. The only thing that is unfortunate is that the summer will not be much fun for me. Just work work!! We have class on memorial day and some classes/assignments during the July 4th week.

Right now I feel a little down about it, but I am sure in August I will be smiling :o!!! Pray for me and I'll pray for you!!

Specializes in Critical Care, Trauma, Neuroscience.

Hey klj0315! I love that you are 1 semester ahead of me :) Thanks for the update - I'm assuming you mean NUR210, not 215? I've heard that it's easy-breezy compared to 3rd semester! I'm taking it this summer, and I've gotta admit I'm still a little intimidated by all the critical care stuff, esp the IVs and the paper.

Your advice about 3rd semester helped SO much! I got through and did really well, but it was definitely the hardest semester I've ever had in any school hands down.

How is 210 clinical? Just how involved in patient care are we (how much independence do we have) - like how different is it going to be from 265? How many patients will we have? Any major no-nos to be aware of?

Hey klj0315! I love that you are 1 semester ahead of me :) Thanks for the update - I'm assuming you mean NUR210, not 215? I've heard that it's easy-breezy compared to 3rd semester! I'm taking it this summer, and I've gotta admit I'm still a little intimidated by all the critical care stuff, esp the IVs and the paper.

Your advice about 3rd semester helped SO much! I got through and did really well, but it was definitely the hardest semester I've ever had in any school hands down.

How is 210 clinical? Just how involved in patient care are we (how much independence do we have) - like how different is it going to be from 265? How many patients will we have? Any major no-nos to be aware of?

Tests: Very different from 265. Exams are much more straight forward. Your tests are taken on computer and you get your grade the moment you submit it. Also, the professors are pretty good at giving points back. After questions were given back our grade would go up about 2-8 points!! I would say Resp and Renal are the MOST complex. Study cardio and pace yourself. It is a lot of notes and will SEEM like a lot, but the info sinks in! Buy the EKG book and study your strips!! ****** will give you pretty straight forward cardiac rhythms though, so don't freak over being "tricked." Everything comes from notes, I preferred studying their powerpoint slides (which are EXACTLY the notes in powerpoint form). I preferred it because the pictures were entertaining and kept me focused. Every lecture has slides to go with it, and I would print like 4-6 slides per page. Do NOT print ONE slide per page, or you will have like 60 pages per lecture topic. Some people chose not to waste ink and just go by the typed out lecture notes already provided in the learning packet... but again I liked the visuals!!

Clinical: Well the floor I was on was not a Critical Care floor. I realized that only about 25% of the class really had an ICU experience. Most of us were on an Oncology, Med Surg, Cardiac floor. Patient care involvement is definitely more, since you are pretty much "expected" to know most of you skills (of course we know that's a lie lol), there is NO way your professor can perfectly do every skill with every student. Most of the professors will let you do things with your nurse, which definitely takes the nervous edge off. Your clinical instructor will definitely be there if you do a venipuncture, IV stick, catheterization, hang blood etc... And then even after that if you seemed pretty good, you can go with your nurse to do it. I didn't get a lot of IV experience but definitely did get to do more practice with IV pushes, hanging IV's, changing tubing, and just trying to understand that crazy IV pump machine lol. Some rotations only concentrated on one patient, where as other girls I know had 2 or 3 patients, it depends on how busy your floor is... and who your professor is. I have to admit, I did feel stressed/scared about BLOOD, IV sticks, and being expected to know everything... but honestly it wasn't bad. If anything, my rotation may have been TOO laid back, so ask other people about their experience as well.

I must say most of these professors are not trying to ED you. I had an adjunct who was EXTREMELY laid back. Again, the paper will feel like a bit of added stress, that's normal. Just pace yourself and know once you get to the end of the semester you will be grateful for that paper and presentation grade. It will help you pass, even get you an A or B.

Specializes in ER, IICU, PCU, PACU, EMS.

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Thank you!

Wondering if anyone can provide some insight on a few things. I am currently in pre-nursing, but trying to plan for clinicals.

1) How does the night/weekend program work? If you could give me a basic idea.

2) How hard is it to get into the night/weekend program?

I am trying to plan on this because I work full time and have two children under 3, so it requires a lot of planning to see if I can continue to complete the program. Any insight/advice on how you made it through and what you did would be great.

Thanks

Hi! I have a few questions about the merit entrance program.

Does anyone know what the average points are for those applying? Do most people have all the classes done AND have a bachelors degree? I'm just trying to figure out what my odds are of getting in ASAP. I thought when I decided to go here that, since it is a technical college, it might be a little easier to get in as opposed to a program at a University, but I'm realizing from reading this forum that a lot of people have degrees already and have most of the pre-reqs done, like me. Is there anyway to by-pass the, basically, 2 year wait to get into the ADN program? I'm a military spouse so I'm trying to get into a program as soon as possible so I can finish before the Army decides to transfer us again.

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

I can tell you that my experience with the merit program was ideal. I did have to retake all of my science classes (they have to be less than five years old). I do not have a bachelors degree, but had all A's and one B in the classes that count. (I was missing microbiology though). You have to be accepted into the program already before you can do merit. I got the merit and began the following semester, which was perfect because I wanted yo enter having all of my non-nursing classes done. My advice is to realize that there are no real promises on start dates until you have the official letter. We are military as well and my husband was transferred .. my children and i stayed behind so that i could finish school. Good luck:)

I'm missing Micro and Nursing 163, which has to be taken at MTC and I'm still currently in Arizona so obviously I can't take that one yet. I have all A's in the rest of the classes that they are scoring, though. I have scoured the website and it doesn't say anything about being accepted in the nursing program before being admitted to the merit program... Are you sure about that? It just says you have to be admitted to MTC and have all your credits transferred. It's good to know that you got in and only had about 10 points more than me. Military life sure is frustrating when you're trying to finish school! Thank you for your help!

Has anyone else been admitted to the merit program? Can you tell me your scores?

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