Capstone

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well, I am literally starting my BSN Capstone today. I'm very nervous! More nervous than I've ever been about any of the other courses or exams. Is the work load more or equal to the other classes. I just finished 3 classes last semester, Health Assessment, Teaching & Learning, and Prof Transitions. It was ALOT of work, but wanted to get those done so I could take Capstone. I'm also taking my last elective, World Religions. Any words of encouragement? Thanks!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

I would love to hear the answer to this as well. I finished Health Assessment, T & L, Leadership & Mgmt, and Nursing Informatics last semester. Presently taking the last two courses RIN and CHN and will be in the capstone in May. I hear the Capstone contains mainly group projects and that the course itself is a cakewalk. But then again, we know how rumors go...;)

Anway, good luck with the capstone:up:! Keep the seat warm for me...be there shortly!!

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

I just finished Capstone a few weeks ago. It's mostly a rehash of Management with a dash of Community Nursing. The first 5-6 weeks are preparing a group paper about a QI project your group will be assigned. The next few weeks are individual postings. Then your group gets back together around weeks 8-10 to put together a powerpoint with voiceover that discusses your first group project. The last few weeks there are more individual postings and in week 14 your individual paper is due. Our was a Healthcare Reform reaction paper.

My biggest recommendation for the group work (which terrified me) is to encourage your group to organize immediately; set goals this week on who will write which section, who will be in charge of putting it all together, when it will be ready for submission to turnitin.com. This needs to several days before the deadline as if there are too many matches, there will need to be re-writing before the paper will be ready for final submission to the professor.

I have never seen myself as a leader but I wanted an A in this course so bad I could taste it. I volunteered to be leader and the one responsible for submitting to turnitin.com. All group members exchanged personal e-mail addresses and even personal phone numbers so we could call or text. We used the personal email a lot but didn't wind up texting or calling each other. Our paper was ready to submit 3-4 days early and we scored a 96 so I considered that a success.

For the powerpoint, hopefully you have someone in your group proficient in that program or willing to learn. I did not lead as I have no proficiency with the program. All of us submitted what material we wanted on each slide along with the transcript for the slides. Our leader put them together, recorded the narration and submitted. We scored a 100. I'd like to mention I somehow landed in the best group I have ever been in; every member was hard working, articulate and focused.

Take home message; you may not be able to completely recover from a bad group but take a proactive role from the beginning and you will increase your chances of doing well regardless.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

Also there is a FB page for Excelsior BSN. It's a closed group and I really got a lot of support and advice there.

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UGH! my worst nightmare! I'm in a bad group! they seem to lack motivation and don't answer messages! How do I fix this? I want a good grade, and most of all, I want to pass!! the professor seems to be very difficult in grading, unlike in other classes. very different!

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