First day of nursing School *unleashed* post yours

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

Well, I would like to share my first day of nursing school experience.

It all started last night when i could not go to sleep, then I woke up at 4 am, because I was so excited and anxiety had taken over! Well I got up, took a shower, took care of the dogs, and even ironed my uniform.

I ended up leaving home at 6 am, for the 1 hour commute, since I was afraid that I would be caught in the middle of traffic.

I ended up at school at 7 am, I sat in my car, had my coffee, and at 730 people started showing up. Well I found out that classes would not start until 9 on the first day, since they had people lost on the buildings, trying to find the classrooms, teachers coming back gathering loads of stuff, from a side to another, and finally classes started. It was funny to see all my peeps from pre-reqs there in addition to some other new faces!

It all started by our Pharmacology teacher (we have pharm all day long on Mondays) asking us to write a paragraph on:

- Why nursing?

- Semester goal

- 3 year goal

After we wrote that, she made us one by one, read it to the class, as an introduction! Well, I heard maybe half of the people with the CRNA goal, the other half with money/or NP goal, LOL hopefully they'll get there!

Then she started the syllabus, in which:

• 50% are tests
  
• 10% presentation
  
• 10% group work, participation
  
• 5% post test
  
• 25% finals.
  

Which is not bad. My first impression is that Our teacher is a nice Lady, she has been a NP for 12 years, and on still works 2 days a week on her private practice, which I thought was a plus, since she is updated on things.

Well, then lecture started, and we went over the nursing process, and then the 7 rights, and then we covered chapters 1 and 2 of the book (keep in mind 5 hour lecture LOL) the funny thing is: We have to know chapters 1-9 by next Monday!!! For our first test, she will give us multiple choices only, and will allow us to use a 4X6 flashcard, where we can write stuff on one side, and hand it to her, then she will return it to us on the first test day, keep in mind that we have 5 tests. OMG that is a lot of info, even though I had answered the questions already on the study guide...

She is really nice to us, always asking if it is all clear, anymore questions! I like her I guess! (Although you know... some people on the break room already started venting... blah)

Then she was telling us that we will have clinicals starting on the end of the month, so we can learn how to talk to our patients, practice some basic skills. (For the first 3 weeks we have Thursday and Fridays just for skills!!! 10 hours a week!).

She said that we will not do any invasive skill on ourselves, meaning no drawing each others blood, or giving any sort of injection. How the hell am I going to learn??? How did you guys learn this??? It makes me wonder, since I have no previous experience with that other than a few lovenox abdominal shots.

She said that in May we will start giving IM, IV, Sq, and all that good stuff. (But then again with no previous human attempts! She said that if we were to do it among ourselves, somewhere else... Whatever! But not in class!)

So it was exciting today, lots of information, and homework! Can't wait for tomorrow (but I am ok, anxiety level is down now).

We have fundamentals ALLLLLL day tomorrow, starting at 8-2pm

So, bottom line, so far I am very happy with everything, the nursing staff seems amazing so far (have dealt with them since pre-reqs) and all my classmates are cool (of course, there is the sleepy one, the parrot one, the repetitive one, the fancy girls, the CNA knows it all's, but they are ok so far!)

Comments are welcome!

Those who start(started) soon please post your experience here! Lets make this thread last all the way through our graduation!!!

[CardioNRS~DAWN]

Congrads on your first day:D

I've patiently checked all afternoon in hopes that those that started NS today would have a report for those of us that are still waiting for our first day. My first day is next Monday:yeah: I can't wait.

At my orientation they mentioned to us that we would be practicing giving injections and a lot of others skill on each other and mannequins.

You are an official NURSING STUDENT

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

Congrads on your first day:D

I've patiently checked all afternoon in hopes that those that started NS today would have a report for those of us that are still waiting for our first day. My first day is next Monday:yeah: I can't wait.

At my orientation they mentioned to us that we would be practicing giving injections and a lot of others skill on each other and mannequins.

You are an official NURSING STUDENT

oh they will give us a little injection pad to try...

OMg that does not even yell ouch! how will i know???

[ImNotWitty]

I am SO excited for you! Now there is no confusion, you can say I am a nursing student! Ya know people never understand the prerequ/on a wait thing!

I am looking forward to your updates.:typing

I start at Valencia in May and I am about to go crazy with the nerves!

[DeadHead219]

CONGRATS!! How exciting!! I loved reading through your first day! I can't wait until May so I can start NS ... so for now, I will live vicariously through you! :chuckle You should keep this up for all of us following in your footsteps! I'd love to see more posts! Congrats again~

[NStiger88]

we have orientation friday, and we start school next wednesday! thankyou for posting, makes me feel a little better!

[kburns0016]

Just wait til you try to make a wheal on one of those injection pads....talk about annoying! GLad you are so excited, I was the same way my first semester!!

[NurseJeanB]

So exciting to get that "first day" over and done with. Sounds like it was overall a pretty good experience.

You will quickly learn that there is a great deal of reading and you learn the art of determining what is important to focus in on.

Now as far as injections. We learned on mannequins and we have a sim man, but I really learned by doing them during clinicals. You've got to be calm and collected and do them like you have done them a 100 times already, even when you are shaking in your boots. They aren't so bad. My hand shook a little when I gave a Vitamin K shot to an infant, but it all went fine.

Each skill you won't feel comfortable with until you have done each skill several times. I think sometimes the worst part is the fear of the unknown coupled with the fear of failure. Sometimes you will get a person who is doing well in the classes, but is miserable in clinicals because they have a hard time adjusting to that feeling. Most nursing students are overachievers and are used to being competent and successful and going into clinicals you are doing skills you are just learning and are not so confident about.

If you already have experience giving Lovenox SQ injections you are ahead of a lot of people heading into clinicals for the first time. I came from a non medical career and had to learn everything from the beginning. (Bedmaking and hand hygiene anyone?) My first few clinicals were very stressful and I remember getting frustrated because I couldn't even palpate a radial pulse on my first patient. I decided to go on to the other vital signs and come back and try it again later and that worked, but it is really hard not to beat yourself up over all your shortcomings. Just realize that you are a student and your confidence will go up as you conquer each new skill. You will be a great nurse.

Congrats to your first day.

[tiggerdagibit]

We practiced on mannequins and did the non-invasive procedures on each other. I wanted to say this though... I'm a diabetic and have let some people in class give me my insulin shot or check my blood sugar when I needed it. There may be some people in your class that would let you do things like that. Good luck! I hope you have a great semester.

[pharmgirl]

So glad your first day went so well. As far as practicing, we have mannequins and an injection pad as well. When we learned IV's, I had an IV party. Sick, I know. One of my relatives is an RN and she brought over stuff for us to practice IV's on real people (i.e. my hubby and my dad -- that was 4 arms right there) and then we practiced on each other. Not sure how "legal" it was but it really helped.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

"so, bottom line, so far i am very happy with everything, the nursing staff seems amazing so far (have dealt with them since pre-reqs) and all my classmates are cool (of course, there is the sleepy one, the parrot one, the repetitive one, the fancy girls, the CNAknowsitall's, but they are ok so far!)"

Yes, I know how CNAknowitall's can be. My best advice is to do every step by the book or how your instructor tells you to, and don't listen to what CNA's have to say about how a procedure is done. Most CNA's use " short cuts" and often fail a skills test. I'm a CNA... I have experience in LTC and Hospitals. When I started nursing school last semester... I acted like I knew NOTHING. I asked questions, I practiced my BP and vital signs over and over again. I didn't brag about being a CNA to other because I didn't want them to ASSUME, I was a "CNAknowitall. Even during clinicals I still had a lot to learn to perfect my already learned basic nursing skills. Anyway, Good luck. My other advice is to Keep up on the readings, find people to study with, REVIEW, REVIEW, and did I mention REVIEW ! Also practicing lots of questions helps also. Good luck. I start my second semester in FEB. and I'm really nervous. Can't wait until my first day:yeah:

[rnjls]

I'm glad your first day went well. We have an all day orientation on Thursday and then start our classes on Monday. We don't start at the hospital until the middle of February. As far as I know we only do non-invasive skills on each other as well. Like you, I'm really nervous about giving shots, doing iv's, etc. on a live patient without having experienced it in practice.

Good luck to everyone who is starting in the next few days.:wink2::wink2::wink2: