College of the canyons spring 2017

Nursing Students School Programs

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Hello

i just applied to COC RN program for spring 2017 and am seeing if anyone else has also! I have also applied for moorpark and thinking about applying to Glendale as well. Should I be studying for the TEAS? I don't have a high GPA in bio (all Cs...) do I even have a chance of being accepted??

thanks for any replies ������

i guess that explains why I got an error :| lol

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Oh, lol. Check registration date on Mycanyons.

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I have my date on the 23rd.

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Does anyone else have the evening shift for clinicals?

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I do! Julie said our clinicals will be about 8 hours for the first semester. Evening will be swing shift, maybe 3-11? But instructors MAY change it to days maybe in the middle of the course. Just a possibility.

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Thank you so much for the info.

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Anyone plan on renting textbooks? I was thinking about only buying the drug guide and renting the rest for now. What are your plans?

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Hello future RN students!!! ! I just finished my first semester at COC so if you have any questions, doubts, or fears about the classes or clinicals I am here to help out while it's still fresh in my mind :) Congratulations on getting accepted!

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@3alanizmonkeys

Hiyah! You are going to be reusing those textbooks for the following semesters. Hope this helps you make a decision.

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Hi Luna , thank you for offering some guidance to the newbies! We are full of anxiety and excitement!!

I can think of 100 questions to ask but the top three questions I would want to know are:

How did you organize your classes? Did you use a spiral notebook? A binder? Did you use a binder for each class or just a general binder with dividers for 112 and 114?

Are the exams focused on lecture, reading or both?

Were clinicals as nerve racking as they seem to be?

I lied...one more question: what was the most useful to you through the semester? Did you have a companion book for your course that really came in handy? Did you use a helpful app?

Thanks for the advice about books. You use the fundamentals and drug therapy book as you go on? I only saw the med surg textbook and calculate with confidence listed in future semesters. I just would hate to have to throw them away if I didnt use them in the future and I have never used a textbook again.

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Alright so I really put some thought into my answers...If anything else pops up let me know or private message me. :up:

How did you organize your classes? Did you use a spiral notebook? A binder? Did you use a binder for each class or just a general binder with dividers for 112 and 114?

Okay so what I did was I bought two 2” binders. One for N112 and N114. They are separate classes and what you were tested on N112 will not be tested on N114 so I didn't see the point in carrying extra paper weight. In my N112 binder, I bought dividers and tabbed the following: Theory Lecture,” Skills Lab,” Pharm Lecture,” Pharm Lab,” Success Class.” Then I sub-tabbed according to the powerpoint name or topic. This keeps it organized :bookworm:

For N114 I did the same except I didn't have a tab for Skills Lab” because this class will be replaced with your clinicals.

Are the exams focused on lecture, reading or both?

THEORY EXAMS: I see that you guys have Corbett, I had Vo so I don't want to give you false info. For Vo, it's all in the lecture and powerpoints. The exams are not the exams we were used to about memorizing facts. They are more of Pt has X problem, what should the nurse do first, or should be the nurse's primary concern.” So always have that in mind (What should I do if my pt shows signs and symptoms of X problem). As far as reading, I learned to focus on the sections that were covered in class. I made the mistake of trying to read the chapters word for word and I neglected the power points. I made 85% on my tests regardless, but I knew I could have done better had I focused more on power points and lecture notes. If something in the powerpoint doesn't make sense or needs more information, then read that in the textbook. Again I had Vo, I don't know if this applies to Corbett's class.

PHARM EXAMS: Carrillo is bae LOL I liked this class more because it was more black and white, whereas theory it what more of it depends on the pt.” These exams are lecture and power point focused. Write down whatever she says on a certain slide or topic. It helped me to print out the power point and just write notes and highlight directly there.

**There is no study guides provided for the exams. The professors would tell us to use the power point objectives as a study guide but I didn't find that just knowing the answers to the objectives were enough. I would suggest doing concept maps, helped me so much rather than retyping notes.

***Just so you can get an idea, I was a straight A student prior to nursing school. I made high B's in both N112 and N114 (88% and 89%). It's tough, but I don't want you going in there with anxiety and negative thoughts that you are going to fail. You are not…I know you guys can do this!!!

Were clinicals as nerve racking as they seem to be?

Oh man, the dreaded clinicals. You guys will be okay! I promise you! For first semester you will be taking care of one patient. You will be doing a physical assessment, vital signs, bed baths, change their bed sheets and assisting with whatever they need. You will give medications only with your clinical instructors present. You will learn how to do this in Skills Lab don't worry.

I imagine you have watched youtube videos or read threads about clinical supplies and the like?? Lol I sure did!! However, for supplies, I didn't find the need for a clipboard, or that RNnotes book, or even a small notebook. All you will need is your steth, pen light, pen, and use a piece of paper to write down your notes for the day.

Some advice talk to the nurses let them know that you are there to help them with their other patients and if they have any foleys or injections available that you can do them with your clinical instructors. Let the nurses know that you can check the pt's blood sugar for them. Answer call lights, even if it's not your patient. If it's meal time, help pass lunch trays and see if you can get the pts an extra juice or something. You can help the CNA's with other pts' vital signs too. When it comes to your pt, let them know what the plan of the day is. My clinical instructor shared some wisdom and I will share it with you: ask your pt what is their priority for the day” For example, do they need help making a phone call home, do they want to walk down the floor, maybe they don't know what their medication is for and want some info?

It's normal to be scared, it's ok if the thought of just going into the patient's room fills you with anxiety. I experienced all this, but just enjoy it! Please don't be discouraged if you had a bad day in clinical, I had some of these. Also don't worry too much if you don't have prior health care experience. I had zero health care experience prior to nursing school, but I still did great…my clinicals instructors said so :D Trust me, if you are determined, towards the end of your clinical rotation it will all come together.

:cheeky:

I lied...one more question: what was the most useful to you through the semester? Did you have a companion book for your course that really came in handy? Did you use a helpful app?

Honestly, I purchased the Davis Fundamental Success and Saunders NCLEX book, but I didn't end up using it. I had no time! No apps either. The professors give you all the resources you need.

Book Info- Hmm you know I'm not so sure now. I call nvm on my previous post about the textbooks. I purchased my books, but that's because I like having my textbooks lol

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Luna!! You rock! Thanks much for taking the time to answer those questions.

I have two binders but they are 1.5 inch. Do you think they are big enough? Hard to imagine we will have enough paper to fill up a whole binder in 6 and 8 week time periods!

Ok, here is the dumb question. I hear so much online and from nursing students about concept maps but I don't know what they are. Is it an outline of your notes?

Do you think the success class was beneficial? Is it a study time or skills practice?

Thanks again for your time. I really appreciate it :yes:

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