First Day of Nursing School

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I wanted to start this thread again. I've seen so many posts about first days and have lived vicariously through those posts. Now, with that first day steadily approaching, I'd like to start my own thread. I start school on the 21st of August, and I thought that I'd go ahead and start a thread so that it will be good and ready for that first day post. As of now, I have pretty much everything done except I have to have my second PPD read on Monday. I welcome comments from everyone. After all, we are all in this together!

Yesterday was my first day, a 2 hour lecture. First we were greeted by the program director who spoke for about 15-20 minutes, giving us a program overview, etc. Then it was handed over to the lecture team leader who introduced the faculty and then covered the syllabus and course guide in detail. Our program accepts 60 students, about 40 in the day program and 20 in the evening sessions. For lecture (I'm in the day program) the 40 of us are together, then we are split into smaller groups for labs and also clinical groups, about 10 to a group.

This is who I was with today, for a 3 hour lab where we first met with one of the faculty to discuss learning and success strategies and go over some of the particulars of the program. We were able to ask questions and work out some of the course concepts to better understand the expectations and how things will work overall. Then we transitioned to the actual lab and covered the lab syllabus and lab guidelines with the nursing lab team leader.

After that we toured the sim lab. (Which is 3 large adjoining rooms, all set up just like a hospital floor with patient beds, all the equipment, nurses stations, with mannequins of all kinds and a couple simulation mannequins! Very cool!) We got familiar with our student inboxes, resource center, the information board for 1st year students, teachers inboxes and the computer lab. We'll work in "campus" clinicals for the first five weeks to learn and gain skills before transitioning to clinicals in a LTC in week 6. Overall it was a great start, I think. Tomorrow we get into the material in lecture, so I'm gonna go hit the books. :-)

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Today was my first official day. I woke up at 7, got my morning routine finished, and was at school by 8. Ate a nice breakfast in the dining hall and walked over to my nursing building, which is right beside the dining hall (thank goodness!). Class didn't start until 10, so I just talked to some new people and made about 3 friends. Then it came time to go to class. This particular lecture has 50 students, and of course I sat right in front. It is an hour and 15 minute class, so we talked about our instructor's life and how/why she got started in nursing, covered the syllabus, discussed the books, and was told about what to expect in that course's labs next week (at 8 am.....). Tomorrow, I have class at 8 and it is technically two classes broken into 3 increments with a 10 minute break between each one. The first part is lecture, followed by lab orientation, and then the actual lab. We are supposed to be checked off on handwashing tomorrow and then start on BP. We have 3 days of open lab next week, so I'm going to hit one of those up. All in all, it was a pretty awesome day. I don't feel overly anxious yet, and our readings are roughly about 4-5 chapters a night per class. Before this, I was pre-law and also majored in chemistry and physics, so I'm used to some heavy reading!

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I'm bumping this thread. I start school on Monday, the 26th. Who's with me?

I am much more excited now than scared. Still intimidated, but ready to get this semester started.

ETA: For those of you who started nursing school last week, thank you for posting updates!

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Well I started on Wednesday morning with 2 classes and then a 4 hour nursing program orientation taking place of my third class. My classes are Health Assessment, Pathopharmacology (pathopsygiology & pharmacology together as one class), and of coursing Fundamentals of Nursing. I have a total of 14 books for my first semester which weigh over 40 pounds! Ouch!! And this weekend I have to read a total of 13 chapters before Monday at 8am!! We have out first exam in pathopharmacology on this coming Friday 8/30!! Whew! The reading was pretty simple for health assessment, but I'm currently doing the reading in my pathophysiology book and I'm wanting to pull my hair out and scream! Lol. It's long, wordy, and boring!! But I'm plugging away at it! We have out first lab/clinicals this Tuesday and Thursday but don't go off campus for a few weeks yet. That's about it so far!! Now back to reading for me!!

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Specializes in psych/dementia.

I also start on the 26th. I'm taking 5 classes this semester (Health Assessment and lab, Fundamentals and lab, Intro to the CNL Role, Systems and Population in Healthcare, and Patho (physio and pharm in one class) which totals 18 credits. I was my normal OCD self over the summer and already pre-read all the textbooks (not the lab manuals though).

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Specializes in CVICU.

^Heard that about the texts being wordy. My book repeats itself in like 4 different ways within the same paragraph. It is good because it reinforces the information, but it can be easy to lose focus when the information isn't new.

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Specializes in Public Health.
^Heard that about the texts being wordy. My book repeats itself in like 4 different ways within the same paragraph. It is good because it reinforces the information but it can be easy to lose focus when the information isn't new.[/quote']

My suggestion is to read some books on nursing judgment, prioritization and delegation. This will help so much with test taking. Although it seems repetitive, you need to remember, recall and prioritize this information during exams, nclex and the real world

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Specializes in CVICU.
My suggestion is to read some books on nursing judgment, prioritization and delegation. This will help so much with test taking. Although it seems repetitive, you need to remember, recall and prioritize this information during exams, nclex and the real world

My book covers an example nursing process for the topics of each chapter, e.g. on the chapter for Safety, it has an assessment section on internal and external variables that might increase a pt's risk for falls, a development section, etc. In our Skills book, for each skill taught, at the end it says whether the skill can be delegated to Nursing Ancillary Personnel, and also what the nurse needs to instruct the NAP to do (e.g. report a change in gait, behavior, emotional status, etc).

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Specializes in Public Health.

My book covers an example nursing process for the topics of each chapter, e.g. on the chapter for Safety, it has an assessment section on internal and external variables that might increase a pt's risk for falls, a development section, etc. In our Skills book, for each skill taught, at the end it says whether the skill can be delegated to Nursing Ancillary Personnel, and also what the nurse needs to instruct the NAP to do (e.g. report a change in gait, behavior, emotional status, etc).

Take it from this senior SN, when it is spelled out how to answer questions, it is much easier to figure out every single question they ask. For now it's ABC's and pain, safety, maslows and ADPIE. Think of these whenever you answer a question

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Specializes in Public Health.

Also. Potter and Perry is a pretty standard fundies book in the US. It is not enough, clearly, if you are having trouble at this point. Message esme12 and do what she says, she is Miyagi and you are the karate kid.

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Also. Potter and Perry is a pretty standard fundies book in the US. It is not enough, clearly, if you are having trouble at this point. Message esme12 and do what she says, she is Miyagi and you are the karate kid.

I have the Potter and Perry book too. I really like it, actually, especially the example nursing processes that shift your brain into "think like a nurse" mode. Thanks for your tips!

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Just checked Blackboard and the powerpoints for my 'Math for Nurses' class are posted. Reviewed Lecture 1 and it seems very simple. This is coming from a person who hated College Algebra and Statistics.

I am in the same boat dosage calculations and I received a B in statistics and an A in algebra still nervous

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