CSCC worth the wait?

U.S.A. Ohio

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Hey everyone! I have been struggling a bit lately with deciding which school to go to. I took the HESI last week and was accepted into Hondros. After speaking with the nurses I work with and reading topics on here, I became scared and realized that Hondros probably wasn't the school for me! Now I am seriously considering CSCC. I have heard a lot of great things about their nursing program and hardly any bad. The only downfall is the wait time. I just want to make sure that it is completely worth the wait. I am not in any hurry because I realized that I could get into a school such as Hondros or Chamberlain this fall, but I would much rather wait and get a great education instead of rushing into something I may regret. So will I definitely be able to get into the CSCC nursing program, it's just a matter of when? Also, have you all heard it's a good program?

Thanks for any responses in advance!

Nice! I'm 3rd quarter hybrid. Oh, third quarter :(

If you need anything or have any questions, let me know. I know they don't do the best job of guiding you...

I made it out of 3rd quarter with a 3.8. You can do it :-D

A lot of the disorganization has to do with the switch to semesters along with a push within the college as a whole to decrease costs which has meant that some faculty have taken early retirement. I am graduating in 42 days. The program has had its ups and downs, but overall I have had great faculty and wonderful clinical experiences. I cannot speak to the hybrid program. I do think that there will continue to be some disorganization as they handle some changes in faculty and make their way through the change to semesters.

Board scores are back up (the class that graduated in December had almost a 93% pass rate). The faculty is trying to fix a year of disappointing Board scores - there was a lot of concern about cheating, which seems to have been dealt with.

Some of the disorganization is intentional, in my opinion. It is a teaching method to make the students make their way through. CSCC is not the only school that utilizes this pressured teaching method. The further we get into the program the more we learn to work our way through relying on ourselves and our ability to handle stress. We are heading into a profession where our hands will not be held.

It is a good program and has a good reputation in the community.

Specializes in Women's Health NP.

It's a good program, but I don't think the disorganization is intentional. Having to switch your clinical day/location the second week of school, getting different information from different people, etc. The dean of the nursing program was forced out in December though, so hopefully it can only go up from here. And I'd still rather be here than anywhere else.

I got switched into a different clinical the first week of class. It's not halfway in and I still do not have a badge or computer access. I cannot chart or give meds. Yipee skipee.

I have a preceptorship lined up (nurse manager gave permission since I have helped them out with picking up shifts) on my dream unit to work on. I have no idea who the nurse manager will put me with, but I will learn SO much on this unit. Normally, OSU only precepts OSU students. CSCC knows this and refuses to set me up because they don't believe me that I have permission and refuse to e-mail the nurse manager to get "proof." I have gone all the way up the food chain with no luck. I guess they don't want me to finally learn something or get my dream job. THANKS A LOT CSCC -_-

It's sad that I am approximately halfway through 5th quarter and I'm get to do any skills except give PO meds (pills only) and a heparin shot once. I spend most my days copying information out of the chart only to replant it on silly paperwork. All my patients, outside of Children's, have been going home the same day I had them and I always had to let the patient's RN do the discharge teaching. Still waiting to learn something...

I cannot speak to the hybrid program. I made the decision not to apply to the hybrid program originally because I knew that I wanted the contact of the traditional program. There are certainly pros and cons to both. I think communication has to be expected to be a potential con of a hybrid program. I took a lot of online and hybrid courses and I found that to be a huge minus in those courses. Ultimately, I didn't have confidence that nursing would be better than any other hybrid and I went with the program that I thought would be better for my learning style.

The program has problems. Absolutely. But, I don't think they are any worse than any other program in the Columbus area. Every clinical site is different. There is no guarantee of skills. Have you really made it to 5th quarter with only giving one shot and no IV skills at all? I would say that your experience is unusual. But, you cannot guarantee what any unit census is going to be or what nursing care those patients will need. I personally made it to the end of 6th quarter with only a couple of IV starts and no foleys. But, loads of other IV skills and skills in general.

I am in my preceptorship. I am having a fantasic time. No other students to compete with. I have 3 and 4 patients each shift. Other than needing my nurse to get meds out of the pyxis and observe certain skills, I take care of my patients from beginning of shift to end of shift or discharge. I get lots of fun skills - IV starts, IV meds, Chest tube dressing changes, foleys, etc. But, I am also finally realizing that anyone can be taught to perform skills. It takes a nurse to put it all together and take care of the patient. I like the skills. I am happy to get the experiences while I am still a student. But, much more than that, I am thrilled to know that my assessment of the patient's condition is what prompted the doctor to order the chest xray that showed a medical problem that needed treatment, etc. That critical thinking cannot be replaced. That is the important part of nursing and the part that I am really glad to get more experience and gain confidence.

Hopefully your willingness to help the nurse manager will stick with her at hiring time. I would keep in touch and pick up shifts if you can. You don't have to precept on a floor in order to get a job there. I would just continue to make the best contacts you can.

Specializes in Emergency, Critical Care, Trauma.

December graduate, in the OhioHealth critical care fellowship right now. What we learned in terms of clinical application was on par or beyond that of the other area schools with BSNs or ADNs. Skills are one thing, and as previously mentioned, any monkey can be taught a skill, but applying your knowledge base to a clinical setting is something that other school grads are envious of with CSCC students. The OSU grads in our program specifically mentioned their jealousy of CSCCs reputation within the clinical setting for central Ohio hospitals.

Disorganized? Yes, absolutely. Being there when the focus was on the swap to semesters was definitely noticeable, but some of the disorganization cannot be helped. Clinical schedules and placements were always a hot topic, but you're at the mercy of the hospitals and units where previous rapport has been made (or perhaps destroyed by a bad group of students), and the hospitals have a LOT of students from a LOT of schools as well as tying to teach new hires, fellows, interns, and residents. Finding a place where a gaggle of students can disrupt the normal flow of a unit (for better or for worse) is difficult, let alone finding a dozen of them for each quarter of students.

It was easy to find things wrong with the program while I was a student there, but looking back on my experience I learned specific things from many of the instructors that greatly influence how I practice now. What you learn in school is a small portion of what you use to function as a practicing nurse. No matter the school where you received your diploma, everyone takes the same state boards.

I'll go ahead and plug the fellowship while I'm here - it's a fantastic, albeit competitive to get into, program that I highly suggest applying for if you have any interest in advance practice, critical care, or ED/trauma. It's a 21 week program with 4 clinical rotations and lecture, simulator, and ACLS classes between. It's a great onramp to the critical care setting and is well received on the critical care units. At the end of the program, you interview with various critical care units (likely the ones through which you rotated, but there's some flexibility) and find a new home where critical thinking and autonomy shine.

Specializes in Women's Health NP.

The more I hear about the critical care fellowship, the more I really want to be able to do it. Because of, well, going to CSCC however my grades are probably not on par for what they are looking for. Do you mind giving a general breakdown of what they look for in potential candidates/what standards they use? Knowing now might help me do more between now and next year to give me more of a chance.

It's good to hear from somebody who has actually graduated about CSCC. I know that I probably sound more down on the program then what's warranted, but you'll have to take a lot of that with a grain of salt since I AM in 3rd quarter.......I just think that what bothers me is the lack of professionalism that we get from the teachers sometimes, that's all.

Specializes in Emergency, Critical Care, Trauma.

There are definitely a few instructors who I think are just burnt out from their support at the school (or lack thereof) and the swap to semesters is definitely a large source of that anxiety. There are also instructors who very much care about the education you receive while in the program and want you to succeed in the nursing field.

Grades are not the end-all, be-all for the fellowship. The biggest things you need in order to get into the fellowship are a stellar application packet and solid interview skills. The application packet is somewhat arduous, which you'd think would limit the number of applications, but I know for our group there was 300ish applications for the 24 spots. It requires several essays, several clinical instructor recommendation letters, your transcript, and more. Early on, especially if you have a clinical instructor with which you connect, ask about a future recommendation, and try and get additional contact info from them if they are adjunct. I had a difficult time getting a hold of adjunct clinical instructors once I was no longer a student of theirs, and it made it difficult to complete both my final quarter preceptorship packet as well as the critical care fellowship packet.

Making the cut from packet to interview is the biggest hurdle. If your packet is excellent with great recommendations and solid essays, that's the best bet. The interview is with critical care nurses as well as the person who runs the fellowship from the educational and organization side of things. You need to have developing critical thinking skills and a customer service driven attitude in your answers. There will be a number of questions regarding how you've handled situations in the past, prioritization questions, application of knowledge questions regarding common critical care setting scenarios, as well as the generalized interview questions anyone should be prepared for.

chansen - how did you prepare for the application questions about common critical care setting scenarios? I'm just ending 5th quarter and it seems like we get zero education on critical care...

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