Direct-entry MSN programs

fotografe · Oct 2, 2005

Hello All you fast trackers

Funny, I am in an ADN program and I feel overwhelmed as well. I think the volume of material an RN is expected to absorb is just huge no matter if you are doing it in 12 months or 18. We've gone through almost half of the Kozier Fundamentals text and several pharm and procedures chapters in other books in the first 3 weeks and had our first exam. We start clinicals next week. I am worried I will be the student giving the 4 hour bed bath they laugh about in years to come.

Hope all keep their heads above water. Hey Gennaver - I am living in Boston now but from Chicago. I miss it terribly. Sounds like a great location for you to live in!

Kathi

Hello again Jess,
I am very happy for you that things turned out well in the end! Sigh of relief.
Gennaver

Gennaver, MSN · Oct 2, 2005

Hello All you fast trackers
Funny, I am in an ADN program and I feel overwhelmed as well. I think the volume of material an RN is expected to absorb is just huge no matter if you are doing it in 12 months or 18. We've gone through almost half of the Kozier Fundamentals text and several pharm and procedures chapters in other books in the first 3 weeks and had our first exam. We start clinicals next week. I am worried I will be the student giving the 4 hour bed bath they laugh about in years to come.
Hope all keep their heads above water. Hey Gennaver - I am living in Boston now but from Chicago. I miss it terribly. Sounds like a great location for you to live in!
Kathi

Hi Kathi!

Just remember to keep changing the basin water to keep that bed bath warm. :) I am sure you will do wonderful.

I do agree with you that nursing school, (be it ADN, BSN or MSN) is indeed difficult and unique, at least according to every 'student nurse success' book I have looked at in the past.

When I withdrew from my ADN program to take the MENP, (masters entry to nursing program) the ADN Dean had to approve my withdrawl. She and I were talking about the credit hour difference, (specifically because the route to RN is tough regardless of the route). In order to complete the ADN I needed a total of 36 credit hours, in order to complete the MENP I need 107. The dean asked me, "how are they going to do that in the same two year time span?" It is ALL tough! You can do it, we are all going to keep on plugging along too.

Good luck!

p.s. You are right, this area near the Lincoln park is very nice, right off the lake with plenty 'greenary' yet, right near the social atmosphere of the neighborhood, what a nice combination, my husband and I are already talking about staying here once I graduate, (on his weekend visits he said that this might be the only part of Chicago that he could see living at because it is such a positive neighborhood yet city atmosphere) plus there are about four hospitals within walking distance of my apartment

elizabells, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2005

Hey guys - update from NY

Things are plugging along - our second "semester" is broken up into five week sections, one for each rotation. I'm finishing up MedSurg right now and going on to Psych next. MedSurg has been a little rugged - lots of the basic material applicable to ALL the specialties. We're kind of staggered through, so I've been talking to some of my friends in Peds about pretty basic stuff like hematocrit levels and they're like "whuh?" So I'm glad I'm getting it over with first. We're also taking pathophysiology and the dumbest class ever, known as Assessing Clinical Evidence - it's a class on how to interpret journal articles and other ultra-exciting skills. :uhoh3: I turned out not to have a brain tumor (yay!) but now my stomach is playing tricks and I'm seeing a GI specialist tomorrow. I've been getting progressively more anemic, so they're worried I'm bleeding into my tummy. It's always a party in elizabell-land!

smile123 · Oct 3, 2005

Hey guys - update from NY
Things are plugging along - our second "semester" is broken up into five week sections, one for each rotation. I'm finishing up MedSurg right now and going on to Psych next. MedSurg has been a little rugged - lots of the basic material applicable to ALL the specialties. We're kind of staggered through, so I've been talking to some of my friends in Peds about pretty basic stuff like hematocrit levels and they're like "whuh?" So I'm glad I'm getting it over with first. We're also taking pathophysiology and the dumbest class ever, known as Assessing Clinical Evidence - it's a class on how to interpret journal articles and other ultra-exciting skills. I turned out not to have a brain tumor (yay!) but now my stomach is playing tricks and I'm seeing a GI specialist tomorrow. I've been getting progressively more anemic, so they're worried I'm bleeding into my tummy. It's always a party in elizabell-land!

Hi Elizabells,

I'm glad you don't have a brain tumor! Hopefully, they can figure out why you are anemic! Thanks for the update!

Smile123

smile123 · Oct 3, 2005

Here's a quick update from Hopkins:

For clinicals this semester, we are divided into two groups - One section takes Peds for the first 7 weeks and the other takes Labor and Delviery (L&D); then we switch. I'm in the Peds section. So far, it's been good. I have been able to observe a Peds Operatng Room where kids had craniostomies (to help stop seizures), femur osteostomies (to help them walk better) and debridements (putting on artificial skin (trancyte) to help a 15 month old baby who had been scalded in a bathtub on both his legs. It's amazing as to what modern medicine can do.

I've also been in an outpatient clinic where kids come in for well baby/child visits as well as acute care. There are lots of kids getting immunizations and asthma treatments. I'll be back on the hospital floor this week taking care of peds patients. We work two days (3pm to 11pm on Thursday and Friday nights or during the day 7am to 3pm). It makes for a long evening/day, but you do see a lot and are responsible for the patient during that time. Our clnical instructor oversees us when we give medications to the patient, so that's good for the patient.

Take care,

Smile123

Peachy720 · Oct 3, 2005

Hi Guys!!

Hope you don't mind me popping in, but I was thinking of you guys and wondering how it was going.

Eliza--yikes, girlie!! i can't believe you've been through so much your first couple of months in!! Thoughts and hugs coming your way and I hope you're feeling better ASAP!

Smile--SO GOOD to see you! I'll bet you're thriving up there! I owe you a PM, I'm so sorry--my first time on in months. I was REALLY upset that my flight to Baltimore was cancelled because of the hurricane last weekend. I had had reservations to Open House forever. But it's okay, had the online chat today, and the Admissions Girls were AMAZING. Such great people, really put my mind at ease. Now I have to dig in and finish the applications. Did you see the essays are different this semester? The first one's a real killer!! It's about diversity and you have to talk about a time where your core values were challenged and how you responded. The one thing that DID scare me was to find out there are ONE THOUSAND applications for ONE HUNDRED FIFTY spots!! Aaaaaaaaah. Anyways, enjoy the rest of your time on the Peds floor and hope to talk soon!!

Hi Genn, Jess, and everyone else!! Hope things are going well!

janony · Oct 4, 2005

Hi Guys!!
Now I have to dig in and finish the applications. Did you see the essays are different this semester? The first one's a real killer!! It's about diversity and you have to talk about a time where your core values were challenged and how you responded. The one thing that DID scare me was to find out there are ONE THOUSAND applications for ONE HUNDRED FIFTY spots!! Aaaaaaaaah.
QUOTE]
Hi Peachy
Don't think I've met you... but I'm also applying to JHU, along with 5 other programs. Finished my application there yesterday, in fact. That first question can NOT be answered adequately in 300 words, but I did my best.
Anyhow, just wanted to say hi - would be cool to talk more with you sometime!
janony

smile123 · Oct 4, 2005

Hi Guys!!
Hope you don't mind me popping in, but I was thinking of you guys and wondering how it was going.
Smile--SO GOOD to see you! I'll bet you're thriving up there! I owe you a PM, I'm so sorry--my first time on in months. I was REALLY upset that my flight to Baltimore was cancelled because of the hurricane last weekend. I had had reservations to Open House forever. But it's okay, had the online chat today, and the Admissions Girls were AMAZING. Such great people, really put my mind at ease. Now I have to dig in and finish the applications. Did you see the essays are different this semester? The first one's a real killer!! It's about diversity and you have to talk about a time where your core values were challenged and how you responded. The one thing that DID scare me was to find out there are ONE THOUSAND applications for ONE HUNDRED FIFTY spots!! Aaaaaaaaah. Anyways, enjoy the rest of your time on the Peds floor and hope to talk soon!!

Hi Peachy,

No worries. Sorry to hear your flight was cancelled for the Open House, but it was good you were able to participate in the Hopkins online chat. They may say there are 1000 applications for 150 spots, but not all 1000 will be serious contenders, nor will all 1000 applicants actually turn in completed applications! They could have given out that many applications or taken that many inquiries (I was not on the chat, so perhaps you can clarify what was said.)

Yes, they did change the essay questions from last year. It's to make you think and give concrete examples from your life experience. I think it's also because they want more of a general answer for the scholarship fund application (I forget what it's called exactly; you should definitely apply to get some money), so you can use your "general" essay question for your other schools there.

Also consider that if you apply to Hopkins, you are probably competing with the same tier of people who apply to the top tier schools. So there will be a musical chair effect: some people really want to go to school "A" but they applied to 6 schools. If they get into school "A" they will drop the rest and everyone else will move up from the waiting list, etc. I would have some "safety" schools and alternative plans just in case to increase your chances to get into the health care field. Yes, it is competitive, but it's worth it!

Smile123

elizabells, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2005

Guess what I did today, you guys??? I did a blood draw and started an IV and got both on the first try! Woohoooooooooo! I had to draw the blood from btwn the guy's little and ring fingers, he was such a bad stick. Thank goodness (for me, not him) that he was in a coma....

So I'm having an endoscopy on the 20th, they think it might have something to do w/ my hx of um, bulimia. Ya think?

smile123 · Oct 6, 2005

Guess what I did today, you guys??? I did a blood draw and started an IV and got both on the first try! Woohoooooooooo! I had to draw the blood from btwn the guy's little and ring fingers, he was such a bad stick. Thank goodness (for me, not him) that he was in a coma....
So I'm having an endoscopy on the 20th, they think it might have something to do w/ my hx of um, bulimia. Ya think?

Hi Eilzabells,

Congrats on doing a successful blood draw and IV! I haven't done an IV yet on a patient, but I'm sure it will come up.

I didn't know you had bulima. I hope they can help you.

Smile123

Gennaver, MSN · Oct 6, 2005

Hi,

Good for you, (and your patients) that you are so well skilled!!

Congratulations.

Gennaver :lol2:

Guess what I did today, you guys??? I did a blood draw and started an IV and got both on the first try! Woohoooooooooo! I had to draw the blood from btwn the guy's little and ring fingers, he was such a bad stick. Thank goodness (for me, not him) that he was in a coma....
So I'm having an endoscopy on the 20th, they think it might have something to do w/ my hx of um, bulimia. Ya think?

Gennaver, MSN · Oct 17, 2005

Hello fellow graduate entry student nurses!

Hope your programs are going well. Mine is okay.

Two of my classes are going just fine. We have a minimum standard to pass of 86% and I am lagging in pharmacology, (there is time to bring it up though in the next few weeks and I am busting my rear for it, am at only 80% now).

Pharmacology and Pathophysiology is an interesting class and I do dig it, even though the reading is ridiculous. I am sure I can get it. Just, the second and third week, (second topic) I was very distracted with family things and relocating and all and did not study for it at all. Then I bombed a smaller quiz and again saw the material on the midterm, (yikes).

I really want to ask the prof if I can re-take the quiz and mid-term but, not for points, just for my confidence to make sure I am strong on it. Those were cardiovascular drugs, (ACE inhibitors, Beta-Blockers, Chronotropics and Cholinergic drugs).

I will email her later and ask. I figure that I should wait and let her see a couple of strong test scores from me before I impose.

Well, things are going well with the relationship front. Hubby really likes the area where I am living and comes often. Classwise-things are very nice, it is a good group of 24-ish students from all backgrounds.

I feel very lucky to have this opportunity. Even though we are only half way through our first quarter I am glad to be in such a good group of kind, smart, friendly and fun students. Things may change while we all experience different stresses but, at the core it seems like a very down to earth group.

Okay, need to study my renal pharmacology for a quiz today and also my "art and science of nursing" for a mid-term today.

Take care!

Gennaver