Current CT Community College RN Students Advice For Newly Accepted

U.S.A. Connecticut

Published

Hello! Current or previous students who have experience in the CT Community Colleges RN program! I am starting this thread looking for advice you can give all of us newly accepted students who will start our first semester as nursing students in the fall! Are there things you wish you knew before you went to orientation? How much money should we save up? What expenses will we incur? What "insider" bits of information have you learned, that you wish you knew on your first day? In particular are there any things we can get out of the way or take care of while we await our semester to begin? For example get a physical, CPR cert, stock up on whatever color scrubs we need? Start the search for all-white shoes? Please share your suggestions, thoughts, ideas, and advice! Thank you in advance to all those who will contribute! WE THANK YOU!:up::D

Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

Make sure that any CPR you take is rated for the health care provider. Some of the trainings are not sufficient. I took one at a local hospital, you can search the Red Cross website and they have sessions throughout the state. Three Rivers also had some on-campus opportunities to take it, you might want to check with your school.

Nikki- sorry my response about the micro wasn't very helpful. Any chance there's another place you can take it over the summer? If not, just keep up with your readings and you'll probably be fine.

0 Votes

Does anyone know how long the healthcare provider CPR cert is good for? I got mine 8/1/09...

0 Votes

JBMommy- any advice is helpful so thank you! I spoke with a professor who teaches a hybrid course but she said i would still miss a lot of work and wouldn't recommend me registering for the course. I emailed another professor whose course runs july to august but it is full, and i am waiting to hear if i can be placed on a waiting list. I looked into uconn and their state school branches near me but no luck there. Worse case scenario i'll be taking it in the fall, which i assumed would be managable (otherwise why not make it a pre-req?) but now i'm not so sure after looking into how time consuming one nursing class is.:uhoh21:

katiedid7- i think it lasts only 1 or 2 years

0 Votes
Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Does anyone know how long the healthcare provider CPR cert is good for? I got mine 8/1/09...

AHA = two years

0 Votes

i know on the back of one of the sheets that came in our acceptance packets it said that the school offers some cpr classes over the summer, and they will provide more information on those during orientation. that was for capital however, and i am not sure if that applies to the other schools. i signed up for the aha course for the end of this month, but i have not heard back from them so i am not sure if they had enough people sign up to hold the course. if anyone comes across more details on any of these please share!

also, do any of you know specifically what needs to be filled out for our health records, or what immunizations we specifically need? i have a physical tomorrow, and would like to not have to go back if i don’t have too. :D

0 Votes
Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Gateway didn't send out any immunization or CPR information

0 Votes

Check the back of your paper you got? That is where the info was on mine, it wasn't much however. It also did not include immunization info, I wish it did.

0 Votes
Specializes in Med-Surg and Ambulatory Care (multispecialty).

NVCC hasn't sent anything out yet. I hope I get it before orientation in May so that can be one less thing to worry about.

0 Votes

They said they would be sending out all the immunization info/physical stuff shortly

0 Votes

I want to get a head start for classes; are there any books you can recommend (or remember what was on the reading list provided at orientation)? Was there something the majority of your class struggled with that you wish you had more time to dedicate working on? (that i will come across my first semester?) I noticed alot of students ask for help with care plans and drug calculations on this site. Any study aide/guide books you can recommend? I read the name "Saunders" and "...Made Easy" book titles suggested fairly frequently on this site as well.. but again what sort of topics will i encounter/need to know, my first semester? Thanks again!

0 Votes

Any suggestions on securing student nurse ? waste of money or worth it? How about from a company such as NSO?

0 Votes
Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

First semester is largely fundamentals. As far as something you can review ahead of time I think the fluid and electrolytes was something that many people found to be the most difficult of our exams. Things like care plans can be challenging for some people, but trying to learn them on your own before hand probably would be more frustrating than helpful. You'll have plenty of summer reading assigned, that will be helpful to do ahead of time. Also, the med math is a good thing to be familiar with ahead of time. Dosage calculations, etc. There are a few sticky threads on this site, or if you search med calculations, you can find some good website resources.

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment