Baenes- Jewish Hospital College

Trankl · May 15, 2005

I've just finished my first med-surg clinical (Protection: neuro, neuro-surgery, ortho, oncology) Next I'm taking the cardiac/ pulmonary rotation (Oxygenation). There's also a third called Metabolism (strong focus in diabetes, but I'm not quite sure what else). I've heard we're one of the only schools with three med-surg classes (most have 2).

I think the clinical instructors are wonderful (so far, that is) but very demanding--a good thing, in my humble opinion. I have a bachelor's degree (Arts and Sciences) already, but these classes are much different, and more difficult in a lot of ways. One thing they don't really tell you up front is that you really need to save two days of your week for your clinical day. The day before clinicals (not Psych or OB, but all the others) you go to your floor, meet your patient, and do a write up. Two in the afternoon is when I usually go. (And I usually spend 6 hours doing research/ documenting, etc.) You need to read through the chart, know all the meds--this takes awhile to write up when you have 20 (action, side-effects, nursing considerations, etc.), the pathophysiology of everything affecting your patient, and to understand any normal/abnormal labs and their meaning. You need to know what brought your patient to the hospital in the first place and what the plan is to make your patient better or to send him or her to hospice, etc. Then you need to make sure you've read up on any procedures that you may encounter the next day (Blood Administration if the H & H is low, or the proper way to flush your patient's central line, for example).

It isn't super easy to get a job as a PCT, but it's definately possible. Usually it's most effective to talk to the manager of the floor you want to work on--at Barnes. I hear through the grapevine that HR isn't quite on its game over there, but I don't really know from personal experience. I work over at Christian hospital and I actually went through HR. You get a different kind of experience depending on which hospital you work at. At my hospital I work one-to-one with a nurse and we usually take care of 7-8 patients, but they don't let us (as PCAs) do anything invasive (blood draws, IVs, etc.). What we do learn is organization and patient assessment (informally). Be really careful where you decide to work--some floors or departments have a reputation of chewing people up and spitting them back out.

From what I hear, the PCTs at Barnes do blood draws, EKGs, tube feedings, and a few other things, but they usually aren't paired with a nurse or a certain group of patients. The role of the nursing student tech varies depending on which tasks have been done during clinicals. I'm pretty sure they float like the PCTs too. Anyway, I've gotten off track.

If you want to take the program at an accelerated pace, it's technically possible, but very very difficult, especially if you're working. And you better be really sure you can do it, because if you fail 2 classes you're out of school and you can not apply for readmission. (78 is failing). The advisors will sometimes give a student approval to take Metabolism and Oxygenation together, but they really strongly discourage it, and usually suggest the student doesn't work during the semester.

What I've noticed is that the one class really feels like two since there is a clinical component and lecture. I started to take 12 hours this semester and had to drop down to 8 at the midsemester (which you can do for a full refund and without penalty if you sign up for 2 8-week classes with a 16-week class). I was working about 24 hours a week.

When I was getting my bachelor's degree I routinely took 18-21 hours a semester (19 is an overload) while working 3 part-time jobs. To me, 12 hours of nursing school classes this semester seemed comparable to taking 21 hours at my former university. But, then again, I might overstudy for nursing school. I'm always looking up procedures, diseases, etc. that I probably don't need to know for the tests. Anyway, sorry to be so longwinded. Hope it helps.

Has anyone attended Barnes-Jewish Hospital College in St Louis?

Some of the classes are 8 week, some are 16 week. If you have all the support classes can you finish this program at an accelerated pace?

What are the clinicals like? Are the instructors good? Is is hard to get a PCT or student nurse positions at one of the associated hospitals? If I need to live on campus, is the dorm in a decent area?

sunnyjohn · May 15, 2005

Thanks for the info. It really put BJHC in persepective for me.

Are you going to continue on at Barnes Jewish for the BSN?

Trankl · May 16, 2005

Part of the reason I chose this program is because the transition from ASN to BSN is so straightforward. I am planning to get my BSN at Barnes-Jewish, but I'm not sure where to go for my Masters. I've heard some BSN students say we should be wary of the MSN program at this school, but I don't know exactly why. I haven't talked to anyone who's been through it, so that's still a big question mark.