Anyone starting RN at Miami Dade College Fall 2009?

Published

Hi and Congrats to all that starting the RN Accelerated/Part time/Full time/Transitional option this August 2009 at MDC!

I have read tons of posts from prior years of former and present MDC RN students that were in our shoes not so long ago.

We have a little over two months b4 we start and our lives as we know them will not be the same. We have several hurdles left and more to come specially day of registration.

I took the liberty of bundling several posts into one for the sake of brevity. However, it's from the same helpful person.

The long and the short of "sequences" is that it makes it easier for you to register and not end up with scheduling conflicts. For instance Fundamentals of Nursing is a lecture that runs the whole semester....but Pharmacology Math, Fundamentals Clinical and Lab all have different start and stop dates. So, to keep you from picking a schedule that will end up with a conflict in the middle of the semester...they label each group of classes that are scheduled to work together as a "sequence". Just make sure you pick all your classes from the same sequence..and you will be OK>

You will be registering for your own classes. Usually, right after orientation.

During first semester, basically the class is divided into two schedules. You can choose which one you want...as long as there is space. Since they don't try and fit ALL of the generic nursing classes into one theory lecture (such as Fundamentals), they simply say make two different schedule combinations for clinical, labs and lectures. ONe is sequence one..the other is sequence two...you choose which one works for you. Also, if your in sequence one...you are NOT locked into "sequence 1" through out school. You can choose which ever sequence you want for each semester.

As for arriving early for orientation, there really is no need...other than getting a good seat. Like I said, your going to register after orientation....and usually there is a mad dash to the registrars office. If you know how to register online with "shopping cart" or "speed" registration...just pick out the reference numbers for each class in which ever sequence...and go to the library or success center and use a computer there. Each clinical group has 10-12 seats in it...pick one that you can get to easily for pre-assignment and clinical.

In Semester 2 pharmacology you will be learning the various medication as they are grouped into pharmacologic classes. For each class you will learn drug name generic(trade)/indications/dose/pharmacokinetics/mechanism of action/adverse reactions and side effects/nursing interventions and patient teaching. It sounds like a lot...but it isn't too bad. Just get to know the mechanism of action..and most of it will fall into place. I highly recommend buying a set of Mosby's Nursing Drug Cards. They are perfect for clinical and are quick..too the point and have the information you need..nothing else. Great for those times when your clinical instructor stumps you with a question as you are walking towards a patients room about to administer that drug.

Another helpful book is Nursing Pharmacology Made Incredibly Easy..a great suplament to your pharm text book. Also...LEARN how to use your drug guide.

Littmann Cardiology III stethoscope, allheart.com and pick out some comfy white pants, have a copy of Nursing Pharmacology Made Incredibly Easy and Medical-Surgical Nursing Made Incredibly Easy. I also love Mosby's Nursing Drug Cards. OHH Yeah...make sure you get a NCLEX review book very early in nursing school.

I really like Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination. It comes with a CD that has lots of practice questions on it...as well as a good review guide for pretty much every section of nursing school.

PDA with Taber's Cyclobedic Medical Dictionary, Thompson Clinical Xpert, and Epocrates loaded on it. Very handy, but not a necessity. A recorder for lectures is definitely handy. Heck, you might as well get a rolling bag to pack all your stuff in..unless you have a strong back.

On the success center computers...there is a program called "test taking strategies for nursing students". MAKE SURE YOU DO IT! It will help you out tremendously.

I have heard that some things have changed, for example in that 'mad dash' to the computers everyone who registers after Orientation at 3pm will have to register at 4pm for thats when you are allowed to start registration.

Also, I have compiled a list of recommended professors let me know if I should post them for all to see.

More important, I would love to compile a list of professors to avoid completely!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

:bowingpurRealllly appreciate this thread! I knew we needed to start a thread for those of us who are starting. Akspudus is a celebrity on this site! Yes, please post the professors that you have, especially if you have others in addition to the ones I have. I do have a small list of those to avoid. Please clarify what you said about registration. In addition to going online, is it registrar's that we go to or advisement like we usually do for ordinary classes? You were saying that orientation is over at 3 but we can't regiser until 4? So if we were to go to registrar's they would make us wait till 4? Any information you have will be helpful, b/c I can imagine that registration is going to be a mess. So you've heard rumors about there being a rush or over load afterwards? I suppose the only good thing is the different groups have orientation at different times. Prospective, what program are you entering? If it was accelerated can you confirm if it was in fact 50 or 40 who were admitted?

Thank you so much!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks for opening up this thread, ProspectiveMDC and replying to my email in the other thread, Mommy'sGirl.

ProspectiveMDC and Mommy'sGirl--can you guys PM me your email and contact info? I will then email you my contact info as well.

For some reason, I cant PM you guys ?!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
allnurses: a nursing community for nurses - reply to topic

more important, i would love to compile a list of professors to avoid completely!

friendly reminder....

please do not post names of professors on the public board due to privacy issues. according to the terms of service, which are the rules for this site:

no potentially libelous information about specific schools, instructors, or health care facilities/entities should be posted in these forums. while it is important to be able to network, everyone should be mindful of the following:

  1. it is a small world - when we narrow it down to a state and throw in some personal info, there is actually a pretty good chance someone may recognize you if you are not careful. your privacy is paramount to us.
  2. while allnurses.com is a wonderful place to vent (without excess personally identifiable details) it is not the place to express why ("x" specific person, place or program) is terrible. gripe away, but since we cannot permit allegations to be made about named entities, your care in not naming them is very much appreciated.
  3. please do not give out personal information about others. do not name names where anyone could identify the person in any facility including your nursing programs.

if you want to share information about professors, please do this via private messages. you can send/receive private messages after you have posted 15 posts.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.
Thanks for opening up this thread, ProspectiveMDC and replying to my email in the other thread, Mommy'sGirl.

ProspectiveMDC and Mommy'sGirl--can you guys PM me your email and contact info? I will then email you my contact info as well.

For some reason, I cant PM you guys ?!

Please do not post email addresses on the public site. You may share this information via pm once you have 15 posts.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Does anyone know how the uniform looks from head to toe? I went into the book store and she showed me a jacket-like top that was white and outlined in turquoise but what else? It only had Miami Dade College on it, didn't say anything about nursing or accelerated, but I saw a girl who had on the same top with RN Nursing on it, does that mean we have to have another company print what we want it to say? I didn't notice her pants or anything. Is there a scrub underneath?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Mommy's girl thank you for sending me the PM the list of the instructor to take.

Prospective MDC please PM for the list of professor to take and also, for the one to avoid. I would be kicking myself if I got the professor from hell. Please???

Also, on the orientation, I'm wondering, why do we wait for an hour to register, can we just register for the class online before the orientation?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Very good question rostata! Will we get into trouble if we try this Wed. when registration begins? I'm puzzled. Does anyone know how to get in touch with a veteran???? We have lots of questions for them:)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
:bowingpurRealllly appreciate this thread! I knew we needed to start a thread for those of us who are starting. Akspudus is a celebrity on this site! Yes, please post the professors that you have, especially if you have others in addition to the ones I have. I do have a small list of those to avoid. Please clarify what you said about registration. In addition to going online, is it registrar's that we go to or advisement like we usually do for ordinary classes? You were saying that orientation is over at 3 but we can't regiser until 4? So if we were to go to registrar's they would make us wait till 4? Any information you have will be helpful, b/c I can imagine that registration is going to be a mess. So you've heard rumors about there being a rush or over load afterwards? I suppose the only good thing is the different groups have orientation at different times. Prospective, what program are you entering? If it was accelerated can you confirm if it was in fact 50 or 40 who were admitted?

Thank you so much!

At This point I have more questions than answers. Also, I will PM when this site allows me. Perhaps we could then PM Akspudus to reply to this thread and to PM us with list of Professors to avoid or must take.

Prospective MDC please PM for the list of professor to take and also, for the one to avoid. I would be kicking myself if I got the professor from hell. Please???

Also, on the orientation, I'm wondering, why do we wait for an hour to register, can we just register for the class online before the orientation?

No PM'ing yet, but after another post and I will be allowed to PM. This whole registration is above my head i'm still at a loss about when the official start time is to register. I wish we could register b4 orientation. But for now let's gather a our own list and share it via PM with each other. We just have to remember not everyone can PM back.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

For the ATI Student Account does anyone know if that is a part of the to do list or do we do that at the testing center. I don't want to hit register and it starts a test or something.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

No idea about the ATI student account-- I guess we are all just too anxious and giddy as others are keeping it cool and not worrying too much about it :-)))

Based on ppl's posts, it seems not a lot of Accelerated Programmers (accepted for Fall of 2009) are posting either. If there are 50 spots--are there only 5 who are here in allnurses (Mommy'sgirl, ProspectiveMDC, Rostata, Montero and myself) ?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

hey everyone so def. don't register for classes before orientation. I was told by the nursing school that the incoming freshmen have classes set aside for them so do not pick up classes. i won't at least lol.

Mommysgirl, i wouldn't do anything with the ati account just wait for orientation. The uniform is all white with green around the elbow sleeves.

In orientation a lot of our questions will be answered so just sit back and relax until then i say. I went today to turn in my 100 fee and response form and the lady in the office even told me don't worry if you don't have everything in by orientation just make sure to have it before school starts in august. :D I'm very excited to meet all of you and start nursing school already.

Prospective, when you can pm me with the names to avoid? thanks :nurse:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion