Anyone Attending Western Governors University Pre-licensure Nursing on Oct 2011?

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EVLGNUS

23 Posts

A counselor interviewed me today and talked about the program. change the nursing program to 2 1/2 years...the first 6 months will all be didactics, but we need to go to a mandatory clinical bootcamp for 2 weekends w/c will all be CNA clinical skills, after that they will test us. Then after 6 months, it's mostly gonna be clinical for the rest of the 2 years. I feel excited but I might change my job to part time or perdiem after 6 months. =)

Fcat

132 Posts

Hello everyone, I got into the march cohort for cedars, I am very happy.Can anyone tell me what should I expect for the nursing skill boot camp and the test, is it hard, what will they ask me to perform, is there any written exam as well? Thank you very much!!!!

Hexum944

43 Posts

Fcat, I am in the August 2011 cohort at Cedars. So far the program has progressed very well. There have been a few bumps along the way, as in any school, but overall Im very happy and satisfied with the program.

The skills bootcamp is the easiest test we've had so far. We had a fantastic lady named (MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME), an NP, who did our bootcamp. She is one of our favorite instructors. We meet at El Camino community college in Torrance. If I remember correctly, the bootcamp goes over basic nursing skills like bed making (with patient out of bed, with patient in bed), helping a patient ambulate (from bed, from wheel chair, crutches, with gait belt), partial and full bed bath, taking vitals (auscultating lung sounds, temperature, respirations, blood pressure, heart rate), proper body mechanics (for you as the nurse. remember to raise bed to your comfortable height [can be an instant fail if you use bad body mechanics], make sure to completely lower bed and raise side rails and lock wheels when done, another possible instant fail), etc. They have you print off a TON of skills, and each skill has 5-30 steps that must be performed.

You pair up with another nursing student for 1 hour. You are the tester for 30 minutes and then the patient for 30 minutes, or vice versa. So for example if you are the student first, your partner will be your patient and he/she will pretend that they are sick or whatever and you have to help them get out of bed and walk. You will be given a list of skills to perform, roughly 4-5 in that 30 minutes. Your partners skill will be different so that they cant see you do it first and then copy you, that would be too easy. We started with 11 students and one didnt pass.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Fcat

132 Posts

Thank you very much for all the info you gave me. I did my skills assessment 2 weeks ago, and it was exactly what you said, I wished you wrote that 2 weeks ago LOL :lol2:, but Thank God I was able to pass, actually my entire cohort passed(10 Students). I am now doing the first course ACT 1 , and I have plans to start with 321 Calc/Pharmacology soon, probably on Monday. I am very excited and happy, so far I don't have nothing to complain about. I am looking forward for the clinical at Cedars, I just hope everything goes well. I don't have any health care experience, but there is some people at my cohort that doesn't have either, which means I am not alone LOL!!!! If it is not ask for too much do you mind sharing your clinical experience, and I am very curious to know how many hours and days would I be at the hospital when clinical starts, they told us that we will probably start with the clinical by August/September, now the program is 2 1/2 years. I am just very excited. Once again thank you very much for reaching out, I really appreciate your help and info!!!

Fcat, I am in the August 2011 cohort at Cedars. So far the program has progressed very well. There have been a few bumps along the way, as in any school, but overall Im very happy and satisfied with the program.

The skills bootcamp is the easiest test we've had so far. We had a fantastic lady named (MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME), an NP, who did our bootcamp. She is one of our favorite instructors. We meet at El Camino community college in Torrance. If I remember correctly, the bootcamp goes over basic nursing skills like bed making (with patient out of bed, with patient in bed), helping a patient ambulate (from bed, from wheel chair, crutches, with gait belt), partial and full bed bath, taking vitals (auscultating lung sounds, temperature, respirations, blood pressure, heart rate), proper body mechanics (for you as the nurse. remember to raise bed to your comfortable height [can be an instant fail if you use bad body mechanics], make sure to completely lower bed and raise side rails and lock wheels when done, another possible instant fail), etc. They have you print off a TON of skills, and each skill has 5-30 steps that must be performed.

You pair up with another nursing student for 1 hour. You are the tester for 30 minutes and then the patient for 30 minutes, or vice versa. So for example if you are the student first, your partner will be your patient and he/she will pretend that they are sick or whatever and you have to help them get out of bed and walk. You will be given a list of skills to perform, roughly 4-5 in that 30 minutes. Your partners skill will be different so that they cant see you do it first and then copy you, that would be too easy. We started with 11 students and one didnt pass.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Hexum944

43 Posts

Oh sorry about that! I wish I had posted that sooner. Maybe someone else will it and it will help them out.

For clinicals we went 5 days in a 2-week period. The shifts are between 7am-7:30pm. You will be assigned a unit/floor based upon your previous health care experience. I dont have very much so I was assigned an "easier" floor. You will be with the same nurse for all 5 shifts. We are now doing our second set of clinicals and most students are paired up with the same nurse in the same unit. There were some scheduling conflicts so a couple students are with a new nurse on a new floor.

You will have a clinical instructor come down twice a day and see how your day is going. (MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME) He came around 9-10am and 4-5pm. This time we have (MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME). I havent started with XXX yet, so I cant comment on how she grills you. But if you have XXX, you must be very prepared to answer lots and lots of questions about your patients. You will usually be assigned to one patient (you dont have to do everything for the patient, but for that one patient you will have to do more research on their condition compared to the other patients).

In the morning you will meet all the patients and prepare for morning medications and other basic tasks. You will then need to get out a piece of paper and write down all the medications they are on, why they are on the medications, side effects of the medications, what type of class they are, etc etc. A conversation I had with XXX went similar to this: Why is your patient taking morphine? For pain. What type of medication is morphine? A narcotic analgesic. What are some side effects of morphine? Nausea, vomiting, constipation, etc. Given these side effects, what other medications should the patient be on? Antiemetic, Lasix, etc. And why does a patient who has Sickel Cell experience pain? Where are common places for their pain? What is Sickel Cell? What are common medications for these patients? Are blood transfusions advised? Why and why not? Etc etc etc…XXX is very smart and expects you to know way more than you do!

You will also have to do homework for each shift. You have to do a journal entry and care plan. The care plan itself can take over an hour to do. Luckily, this round, they are only making us do 2 care plans within the 5 shifts. XXX will go over your care plan and rip it to shreds as well, so make sure you do your best.

Can you expound upon the program now being 2 1/2 years? Why did they extend it, and what did they change?

Fcat

132 Posts

Thank you very much for the info on the clinical, I can wait to start. From what you said, I will try to prepare myself as much as I can for the clinical, I don't want to mess up on that, I want to be able to answer correctly as much questions as I can , and that will also prepare me for when is time to take the Nclex. About the 2 1/2 years, apparently they said it will give us more time between clinical and lectures, and that will be good for us, I don't know, I guess some people complained about it, and they decided to change. Thank you very much once again for your help and info, I wish you good luck, and keep us posted on your clinical adventures :yeah:

Can you expound upon the program now being 2 1/2 years? Why did they extend it, and what did they change?

Editorial Team / Admin

sirI, MSN, APRN, NP

17 Articles; 44,729 Posts

Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Per TOS, please do not post names of Instructors in your program. Thank you.

kgbhatcher

3 Posts

Has anyone heard if they made it into the May 2012 cohort in Daytona Beach, FL

Kim

jxngirl

27 Posts

For everyone who made it in, can you please tell me what your experience was before entering the program? And also, what were your TEAS and science gpa? Thank you!

EVLGNUS

23 Posts

my science gpa was 3.4 and my teas was only 75, my cohort started last March and i'll have my clinical interview tomorrow. Our clinical will start on Sept. and i'm currently finishing with Pharmacology. So far i like it, yeah it can be disorganised sometimes on clinical schedules but that's normal. It's actually not the school's fault at times 'coz they can't do anything if the hospital suddenly turns them down and the clock is ticking (based on my experience from a diff. nursing prog.) as long as the school pushes through, we should be alright.

EVLGNUS

23 Posts

hexum944 where did you guys bought the patch?

Hexum944

43 Posts

"where did you guys bought the patch?" make sure you use better grammar on your future taskstream essays. they will not pass sentences like that.

i actually dont remember where they had us buy them, but provides you with all the information on how to buy them. you buy the patches and name tag(s) from the same place online. i know the scrubs you are required to by are from dove apparel, and that might also be where the patches and name tags come from. i bought the minimum required clothing and it was like $160 including the patches and tag. once your receive all of the gear you take it to a tailor have the clothing hemmed and the patches put on.

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