Day in the life of a new RN Nursing student?

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Hi! Will begin RN-Nursing degree in January 2011 for SPC and am really curious as to what to expect in both the classrooms and clinicals. Can anyone provide a sort of a "day in the life" of a first semester RN nursing student both in class and at the hospital? Any and all info/details would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you :0)

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I am sure your school's schedule will be different but here in KY schools are low key compared to some other states. I just completed my first semester (with a B! YAY) so here is my first nursing school schedule.

-Monday 10:00-11:00 Campus Lab- (mandatory) Which basically consisted of nursing diagnosis and rational for skills we are required to know for that week (1 skill check off about every week)

12:00-1:00 Lecture

-Tuesday 8:00-10:00 Lecture

11:00-12:00 Skills Lab (mandatory hands on practice of discussed skill in campus

lab)

-Thursday 8:00-10:00 Lecture

10:00-11:00 Media lab (mandatory computer module activites or watching DVD on skills)

-Friday 7:00a-5:00p Clinicals (manditory) 15 page history and physical assessment of a client, 2 med sheets (basically listing all the information you need to know about a medication), a complete care plan, and a flow sheet of your activities with a patient

Now that I type it out it doesn't seem so low key but I heard schools on the east coast (particually the Carolinas) are much more demanding.

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Specializes in Home Care.

Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...oh wait, let me catch my breath.....Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...what happened to my life? Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...:nurse:

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Specializes in Maybe peds someday.
Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...oh wait, let me catch my breath.....Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...what happened to my life? Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...:nurse:

I agree! Be prepared for a whole new lifestyle. Nursing school will be your LIFE. It's fun though :) You learn so much and it will go by fast. At least for me. Just don't forget to take even 10 minutes out of every day for yourself. You have to do something to stay sane :)

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

the classes are the easy part. It is the learning that is difficult. You will learn a new language and culture. You will learn, I hope, to be responsible and accountable for your actions. Unlike high school, attendance alone will not pass the courses. Studying will be away from the classroom and there will be plenty of it. Then, you graduate. After that, you really begin to learn. Good luck

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Its very very busy! :uhoh21: I have one week left of my first semester (final 12/17) and it has beed a crazy four months. So much stress but so much fun and I LOVE what I am learning. I have the best classmates EVER! My schedule is something like: 5 hours of lecture a week 2 days at clinical and 12 hours a week working on our 20+ page care plans :bugeyes:. PLUS I spend a minimum of two hours a day reading the chapters (plus studying for the exams). Then we have to come in for our Math exams, ATI proctored exams and demonstrations (showing us how to do IV's etc.) and these things are in addition to our class & clinical "schedule". :banghead: Its a lot and if you don't prioritize and get organized you'll never see your family lol. Im good at time management so I almost Always have 1-2 hours of down time to hang out with the hubby before bed (I dont work and dont have any kids). Its doable and it'll be SOOO worth it in the end :stdnrsrck: Anywho Good Luck to you and remember to make it fun!

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Specializes in Home Care.
Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...oh wait, let me catch my breath.....Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...what happened to my life? Lecture, skills lab, lecture, clinical, study, study, lecture, skills lab, exam, clinical, lecture, skills lab, lecture, study, study, exam, lecture, exam, study, skills lab, clinical, study, study, study, study...:nurse:

I should have said that this applies to every semester of nursing school :nurse:

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Specializes in Critical Care.
ATI proctored exams...

OMG! My school tried making us do that ATI crap. It is the biggest waste of money out there. If anyone's school suggests it, or even requires it, you should fight to save your money. The program is expensive, but the information and materials is cheap. By the time we graduated, I think they realized that it was a waste of money. We could have saved all of that money and bought many NCLEX review books or done an NCLEX review course.

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Specializes in ED.

Here's the meat of the pinning ceremony speech i gave this August. I was in a Bridge program so we did the ADN in a year, but you'll get the idea.

Let me try to explain what we have been doing for the last year.

After taking pre-reqs for 1-3 yrs, we applied to the program, and through some sort of strange collegiate algebraic formula we were given the opportunity to attend the PSC transition to RN program.

On day 1 they sat us down and told us to tell our family's we would be gone for a year. We did, and you didn't believe us. This is what we did with our time on the Island, I mean on campus.

We spent 6 hours a week in a classroom staring at Powerpoint slides till our eyes were as dry as two golfballs, while trying to write everything down that Ms. Thomas and Ms Courtney said. Everything was of course testable.

We also listened for keywords like "Know this, you might see this again, etc" and if something was in bold italics and on more than 2 different slides you could bet that would show up on a test, as well as any kind of reflex, syndrome or disease named after a French or german doctor.

Hopefully the day before lectures we skimmed the 20-30 required reading chapters so we would have an idea of what they were talking about during class. Actually reading the chapters would be impossible to accomplish in the time allotted. I think I would be a third of the way through with the Med-Surg book if I had actually read every word of the 70 or so required chapters in that book..

In our SPARE TIME we would be in the lab,for anywhere from 3- 16 hours a week depending if a test was coming up. We played with dolls a lot in the lab, they call them manikins but they are dolls. The Theory is that the more time you spend in the Lab the less you will scare a real patient when it comes time to do that foley, injection, or trach suctioning

Which Brings me to CPE's-- Clinical Practical Exam, this is a test of eye-hand coordination, time management and the ability to spit out little safety tidbits like " I would check the ID band," while going down a mental checklist and trying to remember which hand is clean and which is sterile. The CPE is usually the day before a written exam. Just to amp up the stress level.

We also had clinical's where we would spend what seems like 4 hours with patients, 4 hours with the chart and the next three days trying to fill out the 20 or so worksheets. I am going to miss Nursing Care plans.

Preceptorship is similar to clinicals but we spend quality time with one nurse throughout her shift, caring for her patients while she quizzes us about medications, and comments on how glad she is, that she is not precepting.

Just when you think you might catch a breath there is usually some Major Clinical paper due that consumes large amounts of paper, printer ink and time. It's as if they are graded by their shear weight, who has the time to read 50 pages per student?

And the Tests, it seemed they are always given the day before another assignment is due, and they cover all the material we didn't look at while we were studying, I'm convinced that at least 5 questions on each test have no right answer.

After doing all that , here we are today. Standing before you as Graduate Nurses.

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Specializes in Oncology.

:yeah:

That's hilarious and totally how I feel about nursing school! My family doesn't understand why I'm always busy, and I try to explain to them that I have a ton of work to do for school.

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Will be starting in January and as of now schedule is as follows:

Monday: Lecture 8am-12pm

Tuesday: Clinical 6am-2-3pm

Wednesday: Clinical 6am-2-3pm

Thursday: 8am-11am (skills lab) 2:00pm-5pm LECTURE

Friday: Skills Lab walk ins and STUDY, STUDY STUDY STUDY

Saturday: Work Work (12 hr shift)

Sunday: Study

Damn, that looks a bit heavy with all the studying in between....

Eddie

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Prepare for death by Power Point.

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