Anyone from Charity School of Nursing?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2008

Hi. We have a Louisiana forum where this post would be better served. I'll move it there for you, so you can hone in on some locals. :)

taniekav · Jul 1, 2008

Hi, i am attending Charity right now. I start my second semester in august. It's not as bad as many make it out to be. But it is hardwork, you have to be focused. The rst day oforientation they will tell you to organize your life and your schedule and i highlyrecommend that you do. You won't have time for distractions especially when you start clinicals. It's non-stop for the whole semester it goes by fast though because you don'thave a chance to slow down. For the tests ou have to know about critical thinking thats the format that all the questions are made in. there are five tests and a final. the lowest passing grade is a 77(that sucks) but just don't believe what everybody tells you like it's torture. i ended up with a B. theyhavea seven point scale. if you have any questions contact me at [email protected] i check that address almost everyday. I hope i helped. And in the words of Ms. Leefe(she's the nursing coordinator and a parttime a-hole) "FLUFF YOUR AURA!" that's what she tells us to do when we are stressed, LATER! :nurse:

Laketown3450 · Jul 1, 2008

NOLA1985, what horror stories did you hear, (how did they relate to your being male) regarding CSN? I am supposed to be starting in Jan.:smiletea2:

in_it4life · Jul 6, 2008

well by now you must be in charity school of nursing by now, but just in case your not in yet and for anyone else who is considering charity school of nursing.

yes the school as a remarkable reputation. but once your in behind doors in the schools classrooms its a whole new story.

1st off there is no studnet parking available, the school is exactly 1 block away from the superdome so do you know what that means? it means during football season there is no parking. and your lucky if the parking lots are not doubled price for that day.

2nd never ever buy your books in bulk. because the book store will not buy them make, if they do it is not worth the amount you paid for them for the refund they gave me. I had an $85 book and got $15 back for it.

3rd off my class, we had to research material to be able to understand what the lecture is about. I had 9 instructors teaching one subject. the instructors then turn's in 5 or 10 questions to the nursing coordinator who then in turns makes a test. now the thing is that the nurse coordinator may change the question around and put in what her answer would be and not realize that the instructor that came up with that particular question has already given a lecture on that specific question so that the students would be able to identify the correct answer.

4th the lectures were never coordinated with the objectives to the chapter.

the school of charity of nursing is actually a delgado community college affiliated. charity needed a school to support the educational institute in order to carry on.

I would call the RN state board of nursing

http://www.lsbn.state.la.us/ ask them what kind of standing does this school still have.

to my understanding the school for nursing is under academic propation as of 2008. due to poor NCLEX passing scores.

and if your an LPN call the too

http://www.lsbpne.com/

call and ask them which schools have a higher and better passing rate.

I called and believe it or not I was amazed in what the nursing examiners had to say about charity.

I think you would be amazed, too. the school has gone down hill for the last 12 years.

do your homework and call the two examiners and find a school with a great curriculum. I did and I am pleased with my choices.

Laketown3450 · Jul 7, 2008

So In It 4 Life, your chief complaint was that the material at CSN LPN program was presented in kind of a disorganized, unhelpful manner? :uhoh21:

BTW, I can't think of any college bookstore that gives a decent price back to the student for book buy-back. They rip off everybody, that is how they make money

nogurl · Jul 19, 2008

in_it4life

I feel like your comments may be discouraging to students who may be interested in Charity and that they are somewhat untrue. I went to the lsbn website( http://www.lsbn.state.la.us/documents/AnnualReport/AnnualReport2007.pdf)and as of dec 2007 they have a passing rate of 85.56 which is exceptionally well when you are the largest accepting and admitting nursing school in the entire state. Charity admits over 500 students on average compared to 200 to 300 at other associate and baccaulerate nursing programs in the state of Louisiana each year. It is definitely harder to maintain a 90 percentile passing rate with double the students of all the other facilities. As far as the parking situation goes, yeah it sucks but we are never there when there are football games unless you are taking evening classes which in that case they will allow the students to park in the parking garage. I can't think of any bookstores that will give u back what u paid for a book. It doesn't matter anyway because u should keep all of your nursing books anyway. I know that the coordinator ultimately makes the final decisions on the test questions but you do get the opportunity to dispute the answers to the questions if you feel they could have been wrong. I feel like my lectures were very straightforward and I am very pleased with the education that I have received thus far. I also wish you the best at your "new" school or whatever school you decided to attend because if you had that many complaints about Charity I would rather you give up your spot to someone who wants the spot and will be proud to be a graduate of Charity School of Nursing.

Thanks!!

Sincerely,

May 2009 Graduate of Charity School of Nursing

cajunmom06 · Jul 19, 2008

thanks nogurl for the encouraging words. It is very scary for me entering into this new realm as I start at Charity next month. I take everything I hear with a grain of salt but I still fear things I read .Thankks for taking the time to clarify things and make us newbies feel more confident..I appreciate it. Good luck to you and do you have any words of advice to prepare for the 1st semester of Nursing school? Only a few weeks left and Im so anxious!!

butrfli · Jul 20, 2008

I also have to add my :twocents: into this. I was told by a very informative graduate nurse of Charity, "not to listen to all the negative stuff your gonna hear"! She advised me to tune it out because you WILL hear it. I'm sure there are some who are not happy with Charity for whatever reason but you can't please everyone. I've worked too hard this past 2 1/2 years to get where I'm at and now I'm finally at the point of gaining my nursing education and I refuse to let negative feedback deter my attitude and direction. I'm proud to be a CSN student and I will do my best to make this a great experience for myself!

Now, let me get a hoop hop hooray for all the proud to be CSN students! :yeah:

NOLANURSERN · Jul 20, 2008

As a graduate of this past semester- May, I must add my 2 cents as well. I don't know where this information has been obtained from, but it is certainly not my experience, nor the experience off my co-students and friends.

First, don't listen to the negative comments, because there will always been someone trying to "bring you down". You will hear this negativity from many people. I always asked myself, What is the motives behind this person actions? You will find that they are the ones that are doing poorly on tests and skills.

As the previous poster indicated, you can find all the info you need at the LSB of nursing website. And Charity did have one of the highest pass rates in the nation prior to Katrina. As a matter of fact, Charity school of nursing was ranked 8th in the NATION.

Having gone thru Katrina, and being in nursing school at the same time, I clearly understand why the % dropped from above 90% to 85%. People were trying to rebuild their lives, trying to finish school, and living in a trailer with your entire family...... and working at the same time......Many had to relocate or drop-

Charity just had the largest graduating class in it's history this past semester.

Parking. I never had a problem- and what is this about football games? Your not at school when they have football games? There are 2 very large lots one block away with parking 4, and 5 dollars respectively. You can also park in St Joes 2 lots for 3 dollars.

You can also put you name in the parking space lottery at the beginning of the school year in hope to gain a spot in the building or at LSU parking lot.

When clinical starts, your not at school that much anyway.

Books- I never bought my books until I spoke with a student in the next level and got some feedback about what they really used. What was nice to have vs need to have. If a book was not used but once or twice, I saved my money and checked it out of the library and photo copied the few pages that were needed. And I agree, I kept all of my books as well. Can't tell you how many times I found myself going back to a past book to refresh my memory on something.

AS far as lectures and looking info up- the only time I had to write a ONE page sheet was in labor and delivery- and everyone had to do that. They give you a topic like uterine involution or jaundice. They do this because the time is so short in that semester. And doing it, really does help you with test questions. It not graded per say, but you have to know the info anyway right?

IN your 4th semester, you (with the other people in you clinical) have to put a very short outline together on a topic and present it to the rest of your class- my individual part was only 4-5 lines and took me less than 3 minutes. No sweat.

Lectures are always coordinated with the objectives. If you could answer those objectives in the front of each lecture- you were set for the test. We never had 9 people teaching the same topic- however there is crossover of material. In regards to test questions and learning info with lab values and needing to know that one teacher might say that potassium is 3.5-5 and another states its 3.2-5 , you need not to split hairs. When you are given a lab value question, if the lab value is out of wack, you should pick it up because the value is so far out of whack @ Jane Doe come to the ER and has a glucose of 80 and a potassium of 7.2, which would you give immediate attention? Everyone seems to make a big deal of this...but look at the big picture.

Test questions -you are able to dispute- within reason. And I believe for the most part they were always fair wit throwing them out when need be. If something was said in lecture and it was stressed-and you did not attend lecture-you could not expect them to throw it out.

Otherwise, I believe you get out of it what you put into it. You are going to be dealing with peoples lives. I also felt a responsibility to remember this. That there would be no short cuts. When you get out of school- you are the nurse- you are empowered, and its a little scary- you are responsible. I have been working in orientation since I have been out of school. I am thankful that I have not had any patients die but I have seen my coworkers (and some of them fairly new nurses

In regards to being male. I am a female. I had many friends that were male. I am not aware of any horror stories.

I would just say, don't believe eveything you hear. Nursing school is hard work. The people before you made it and so can you. Don't fill your time with worrying about all that. Stay focused, and do what you need to do. Sometimes its a little overwhelming-and you have to take it day by day. Someone once said, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. You will soon realize that the time goes by so quickly.

Good luck to all of you.

nogurl · Jul 20, 2008

I just want to say that I'm not trying to be rude with any of my comments but I just feel like as the other posts have read that you will all hear the negative comments about school. Make your own opinions about everything because you will hear something negative about the teachers, students, and the curriculum in the different semesters. Every person is different and we all adapt to each situation differently. My advice to the incoming students would be if you really, really want to be a registered nurse don't let anything or anyone stop you. Stay completely focused and if it is meant for you to become one you will. Study hard but always make time for yourself. Many students get discouraged if they fail the semester or have to withdraw but trust me you can't stop there if that's what you really want to do. Even my experience working at the hospital this summer has shown me all kinds of nurses that are proud Charity graduates and they make me want to be amongst that group of Charity alumni.:redbeathe

butrfli · Jul 21, 2008

Thanks Nolanurse2be!

Quote: Even my experience working at the hospital this summer has shown me all kinds of nurses that are proud Charity graduates and they make me want to be amongst that group of Charity alumni.:redbeathe

I hear ya nogurl! I'm right with you!