Charity School of Nursing- Starting Fall 2010!!

su9032 · Aug 9, 2010

Beejaycee,

In my class, most of the "Basics" teachers would tape their lectures on Tegrity during class. The curriculum will be different for your class because they will be teaching in Pods. It's my understanding that, you will have the same 3 or 4 teachers that will teach you everything and you will be with the same group of students (like 40 or 50) throughout the semester. Clinical groups usually have 8 to 10 students. Like I said, most teachers did use tegrity, but not all. You can always bring in your own tape recorder if you want. I personally only listened to the Tegrity when I made the time for it--more towards the end of the semester. Most of the time, I would go home and make my own recordings of my notes and I would play them in the car. That was helpful because there were times when I didn't have much time to review certain sections (like the ones that only had 2 questions). Again, I took really good notes so I recorded what I needed. On the other hand, when I did go back and listen to Tegrity, it really helped because I would notice what was really being emphasized since I had already heard the lecture once.

In terms of Pharm, the day pharm teacher did not tape her lectures on tegrity, but she did give us pre-typed notes on each section. If you are taking the night pharm class (Im not sure if they still have that), then you might want to attend the day pharm classes too or buddy up with someone who is in the day pharm class and make sure you know what was emphasized. I would either rewrite or retype the pharm notes and make them in bullet format and would get rid of the complete sentences. I only included the example drugs that were emphasized and the ones I was already familiar with. By doing that, I was able to reduce the volume of material by about 30%. Just spend a little time each day retyping your pharm notes, then by the week-end before the test you will just need to review for the Monday test.

Once you get started, you'll get a better feel of what's going on. Just make sure that you review your notes, them do the practice questions from "Fundamentals of Success". I cannot emphasize that more. Also study as you go. You cannot cram this material. It's not that its super hard, it's just a lot. The sections that I had to put the most time into were: Vital signs, Physical Examination, Immobility, and Legal/Ethical. There was just a lot of detailed info in those sections.

mrs.gleason0918 · Aug 11, 2010

su9032,

I'm really concerned about my clinical rotation. Do you have any advice or insight you can lend a new student. Ive heard that there is a lot of paperwork required. Any help or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. :)

su9032 · Aug 11, 2010

Mrs. Gleason,

I dreaded the paperwork for clinicals because there was a lot to fill out or type up. It's overwhelming when you first try to read the charts, but you will get the hang of it. My instructors gave us more to do each week so you will learn more as you go.

My hospital still used the paper charts so a lot of what I needed was handwritten and it was difficult to read because the penmanship. I would try to fill out as much of the flowsheet and my paperwork while I was at the hospital and then I would work on the nurse squared when I got home. That way, if you need to look something up, you can get the additional info on the second day of clinical. Nurse Squared is a software program. With my class, different instructors had different requirements in terms of how much you had to do on it because we were the first class to use it. Make sure you save your work carefully because I always seemed to lose info after typing it because I wouldn't save it before "adding it to the backpack" or whatever- I can't really remember.

Make sure you get the Nursing Diagnosis Handbook You will get a lot of use out of it and it will really help you give rationales for the doctor's orders. You'll need a good Drug Guide as well. Mine was classified by the type of drug (anti-infectives, CNS drugs, cardiovascular system drugs, etc). You will get a typed packet explaining what is expected during clinicals. Use it as a guide because it will kind of walk you through it. The key is to not leave everything till the last minute. If you have clinicals on Tuesday & Wednesday, then you will pick up your assignment and actually meet your patient on Monday. You need to start your paperwork & nurse squared on Monday and work on it Tuesday after clinicals and Wednesday after clinicals while everything is still fresh in your head. Then Thursday, you'll just have to finish whatever is left and it will probably be due on Friday.

You have a couple of months before you even start hospital clinicals so I wouldn't worry about it for now. I would focus more on the lectures, getting and reviewing your notes, doing the questions from Fundamentals of Success after you study, and also watching any Tegrity video that is required.

Good Luck.

nishu09 · Feb 23, 2011

Hi,

I want to apply to charity school of nursing for Spring 2012, but I dont know if i will get in. I currently attend LSU SON and not liking it one bit. I have a 3.5 gpa and got a 78 on the teas score which is horrible, and still have to take A&P, but I am enrolled in A&P at LSU SON hoping to at least pass it. Could anyone who got in tell me if i have even a shot at getting in? I even have recommendation letters from Oshner and professors!!!! Thanks

jabroadwater · Mar 12, 2011

I hate to burst your bubble, Nikki, but being realistic, there is no way you will make it driving from Ft. Polk to New Orleans everyday. That's 8 hours out of your day just driving. Your first semester will be classroom three days a week (two basics lectures days and a pharmacology lecture day), and, though you won't start clinicals until midway through the semester, you will have clinical days with your instructor those first 8 weeks. Once you factor in study/paperwork, where do you propose to fit in sleep.

You'd do much better either finding a school closer, or finding a cheap place to stay, or staying with friends while you're here and going home on the weekends.