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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:
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!!!
:yeah:
:yeah:what an accomplishment....congratulations! any helpful pieces of advice for those of us who are about to begin our first year of nursing school? so many of us are completely freaked out yet so excited for it all to begin! you were there not too long ago so what could you tell us that we all could benefit from? again, congratulations and best of luck to you in your nursing career!
1- believe in your self
2- believe in a higherpower to help guide and understand you when no one is there for you
3- read your material the night before, you will absorb so much in class, and will never feel lost, even though you will not understand much when you read it the night before, it will all click-in on lecture time!
4- do not freak out, that does not help, only gets in the way of your brain!
5-don't worry about others that are doing better, keep your business to yourself!
6-drama ===> not here mama!!! tooo much time, money and patient invested in nursing school, get away of this plague! it feels like high school all over again!
7- chill, be consistent with your study schedule, i'd say 1 hour after class, and 1 hour to read stuff to the next lecture, ('course this don't count homework!)
8-be organized, so you have all your papers when you need them, and don't freak out when you are looking for that little piece of paper that the instructor gave out last week
9-make love not war, be there for your friends, support them, and help as much as you can (by teaching each other, you will learn so much! and it will stick to you!!!)
10- eat good food
11- have plenty of fun
12-just have a routine, tweek it till it suits you and keep on it!
13-don't freak out, anxiety and drama are your rivals! they do not want you to make it through! so chill
14-man... this is the biggie, whatever is going on with your life, leave it out of the classroom, whatever it is, leave it out, class room its time to learn, its your time, the rest can and will wait!!!please pay attention in lecture, the more you pay attention the easier your ride will be!
i loved nursing school, it was fun, busy, crazy, challenging, but i managed it by the horns and it was not hard at all!
Thanks so much for the words of encouragement!
I keep on having the "what if" thoughts...
"What if I fail the program?"
"What if I suck at clinicals?"
"What if I wasted all this time just to find out Im not cut out for this?"
Im seriously going to type out your advice and stick it on my desk before classes start so that I can have something to remind me that I can succeed...
Thanks so much for the words of encouragement!I keep on having the "what if" thoughts...
"What if I fail the program?"
"What if I suck at clinicals?"
"What if I wasted all this time just to find out Im not cut out for this?"
Im seriously going to type out your advice and stick it on my desk before classes start so that I can have something to remind me that I can succeed...
What if's be damned...just do it and learn to love it...that's what I've had to do, the, "what ifs" were driving me nuts and not helping me at all.
CONGRATS! it's exciting to hear that students really become nurses in the end! haha the advice was awesome and i'll also take it with me throughout school. i'm soo excited yet soo nervous that i'm gonna suck too! we all have to stick together and check-in while we're in school to keep eachother going. can't wait to start! :) i love this thread...it really is helping to limit my stress/fear of the unexpected. thanks again!
1- believe in your self2- believe in a higherpower to help guide and understand you when no one is there for you
3- read your material the night before, you will absorb so much in class, and will never feel lost, even though you will not understand much when you read it the night before, it will all click-in on lecture time!
4- do not freak out, that does not help, only gets in the way of your brain!
5-don't worry about others that are doing better, keep your business to yourself!
6-drama ===> not here mama!!! tooo much time, money and patient invested in nursing school, get away of this plague! it feels like high school all over again!
7- chill, be consistent with your study schedule, i'd say 1 hour after class, and 1 hour to read stuff to the next lecture, ('course this don't count homework!)
8-be organized, so you have all your papers when you need them, and don't freak out when you are looking for that little piece of paper that the instructor gave out last week
9-make love not war, be there for your friends, support them, and help as much as you can (by teaching each other, you will learn so much! and it will stick to you!!!)
10- eat good food
11- have plenty of fun
12-just have a routine, tweek it till it suits you and keep on it!
13-don't freak out, anxiety and drama are your rivals! they do not want you to make it through! so chill
14-man... this is the biggie, whatever is going on with your life, leave it out of the classroom, whatever it is, leave it out, class room its time to learn, its your time, the rest can and will wait!!!please pay attention in lecture, the more you pay attention the easier your ride will be!
i loved nursing school, it was fun, busy, crazy, challenging, but i managed it by the horns and it was not hard at all!
thanks for the advice i havent got into nursing school yet but i took the tea's for keiser in orlando, i have to take the english part again and im nervous that will hold me back! im taking again and if i pass i get an interveiw which makes me really nervous because im so young and classes start aug 30 so far the have spots avalible (this is what they tell me) but im still nervous i might not beable to get a spot any advice?
I really like the staff you will be dealing with, the director is a great person, she really gave all of us undivided attention, and the comitee that interview/accept you is formed with nothing but great people.
Their interviewing process is not bad, its very simple, to the point, and they will not make you jump to 1000 hoops prior to accepting you. Its either YEY or NAY!
concentrate on passing your test, make sure that your personal life is stable and you are ready for this commitment, since nursing school will consume your being until you graduate! Just be your self, relax, pass your test, and tighten your seatbelt!
Thanks all for posting! Much of the fear of the unknown has been alleviated. And also confirmation of what I suspected... an incredibly bumpy road ahead! But there is great comfort in seeing so many people have the same exact fears and concerns. I will either pass or fail fightin'! This site has been such a huge help already!
luv2garden
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