how is CCM evening program?

atrex · Feb 13, 2008

Hi,

I started the program in 2005.

Am in Nurs 3 now.(HOLY ScHNAP it is hard)

It's four nights a week. Two nights in class, two at the hospital.

You need to study atleast 2 to 3 hours a day. i have hired a tutor b/c i barley passed nursing 2.

I work full time 35hrs a week.

I had a BA from university already, all credits transfered.

A&P 1 and 2 are all about what teacher you get.

It's not easy, but not as hard as NURS classes.

high drop out rate. we started with 90 in nursing in Nurs1. Now we have 48 this semester. That is with three add on's who didn't pass nurs 3 last semester.

hospitals for clinical rotation available

sommerset (where i am now)

st.claires in denville

morristown memorial(usually two sections)

st.barnabus(for NURS2 only)

Overlook(also only for two)

Chilton

What i like. The teachers for the most part are very nice and helpful. A few are very intimidating but once the semester is underway they lighten up a little.

The lectures are all powerpoint presentations. Can be a snooze fest, but they expect you to be responsible for a LOT of information for an exam.

My complaint is this program feels more like a "Can you pass an NCLEX exam" rather than how do you become a nurse. Your four exams and the final are the entire basis of your grade. The clinical part is pass or fail. You have to put someone's life in real danger not to pass. I have learned so much in it, i wish the class room "theory" part was only one night a week. I work a desk job so the clinical part is twice as informative as the class room sessions.

Feel free to PM me for more questions, or just respond here.

-

Sorry didn't know it was a no no to put in email here.

will not do again.

our beneficent robot over lords !

jeje just kidding.

sorry

undecided · Feb 13, 2008

Thanks for the quick reply,

I work 2-3 days a week in the medical field and I usually have a lot of free time so studying 2-4 hours a day would not be a problem. Two days of clinical does not sound bad. In my last program , I had to do 4 days of 8 hour clinicals -1200 hours total.

Now my problem is A/p 1 and 2. I took 1 over 7 years ago so I need to try and comp out of that one. 2 will be just 7 years old when I start the program so I was told it would be up to the discretion of the dean as to whether or not I would have to test out or retake it.

I have a BA from 20 years ago and all my other prereqs are less than 7 years old. I almost started the program in 2004 and ended up going for another program that is not working out ( no jobs).

I already work at St Claires and did clinical at MMH so I am familiar with those hospitals. Thanks

Monica

atrex · Feb 14, 2008

some other things to think about.

What county do you live in?

they give preferential treatment to Morris residents.

What is your cumulative GPA in science classes?

times of classes

prerec's

ap 1 and 2 are 6.30 to 9.30. two nights a week.

you can cram Bio 215 in the summer session (it's tough but do able if you don't mind 6hr saturdays in a smelly lab.)

Nursing classes are 5.30 to 9, with the clinicals taking how ever long it takes your section to give their meds. sometimes i was there until 11.30 b/c people didn't know what lasix is before they went to give it to their pt...:icon_roll

i believe 7 years is the cut off.

the dean of nursing i've heard is notoriously tough. i've never met her. but the rumor is she's not very flexible.

undecided · Feb 14, 2008

Yeah, I have seen her. She looks tough and that is what I have heard. I live in Morris county right down the road from CCM/ I took all my science classes there - 4.0 GPA.

Maybe I will see her tonight. If I need to take any classes- I can do it in the fall. I am hoping to test out of the A&P classes though .

Monica

New2ER · Mar 10, 2008

I graduated from CCM's evening program in 2006. Although it is a difficult program, the preparation they give you is invaluable. I started in ICU right out of school and was greatly surprised to find out that the other new grads (in Florida) did not know how to read ABGs, rhythms, and did not know what medications were used for or how to titrate. All this I had learned in school, so even though I had to learn to be comfortable with it all, I at least had been exposed to it. (The cardiac semester was especially difficult because of who lectures but he is truly amazing. If you can, take Prof. Horan for clinical if she still does it. She has some great tips to helping remember all that cardiac stuff, not to mention she's really nice!).

I realize that a lot of the preparation and focus may appear to be on passing the NCLEX (and it is since the program can only stay open with a minimum passing rate that the states sets, I think it's somewhere in the 90s percentile), but once in the "real world", it truly is helpful to your practice when you understand WHY things are happening to your patient. You can better predict what the pt's needs are going to be and, in time, can use that knowledge to manage your time better.

I was beyond satisfied with the education I received from CCM. A few complaints, my pediatric rotation sucked. Now, this can mostly be attributed to the fact that I hate pediatrics and avoided the children as much as possible (I think I only encoutered 2 in the 6 weeks) but also to the fact that the professor in charge of us would give us the assignment and then disappear until about an hour before end of clinical when she signed off on our note. Second, I thought the last semester of specialties ran together a bit and was a TON of information to digest. (I'm thankful I didn't get too many pediatric questions on my NCLEX or I wouldn't be an RN right now.)

As for the chair of the department, take everything she says with a grain of salt. She actually taught part of the psych lecture when I was there (she was a psych RN for most of her career I think), and she's actually pretty approachable (at least in lecture).

Edit: I wanted to add that CCM (I think) is still one of the few programs in the state that do not have an exit exam for the nursing program. Other programs in the state, Seton Hall comes to mind, have a final exam you must pass in order to get your degree. Fail it and you don't graduate, even if you've passed all your other classes with flying colors. The reason is you won't be able to take the NCLEX without the degree. If you don't pass their exit exam, chances are you won't pass the NCLEX and thus lower that program's passing rate with the state. CCM weeds people out through hard work, not one single test.

Sarina921 · Mar 11, 2008

Hi, I am currently going to Union County College and am considering either Mountainside or CCM. Would you say you had any bad experiences thier? And also if i transfered to ccm before i applied to the nursing program, do you think id have a better chance in getting in?