Introductions:"New" and "Old" Students.

Pammie · Dec 24, 2004

Hi! I have the greatest admiration for nursing students who work long hours. I have worked about 10-15 hours per week while in school, but thankfully I will be able to quit entirely until I complete these last 4 semesters. I only have to drive 25 minutes to school, but I am shuffling extra curriclular actitivies of my own and of my kids who are still in school. I applaud you!!

One of the colleges here in GA (West GA College) has had a 100% pass rate the past two years! Our school's pass rate varies between 93-97%. Even with that, they, too, are cracking down on who they allow into our program. Our school has not utilized the NLN pre-admittance exam until this past semester. It definately screened out a number of applicants. I know those students feel like they have been treated unfairly, but they are really saving themselves time and money in the long run. Better to be "weeded out" before going in than to fail after spending the time and money and then having to change majors. My class did not have to take the exam. We were the last class admitted into nursing without taking the test. We started out with 106 students in Fundamentals. By mid-term 32 had dropped out. By the finals, 74 were still in the class and only 40 passed the class. In Med-Surg (my next class) 73 were in the class at finals and only 29 passed the class.

Hi Pammie, You are right in picking out the ones that won't make it. It has to be your life while you are in school and for me it will always be. I am older than you are. I think it is difficult at times but very interesting. I was a nurtritionist for 15 yrs. and loved that but wanted more. It is difficult doing this financially but 5 more months to go...I hope I make it and can still make the mortgage payment too! Last year I worked every night, now I work Friday nights and Sunday mornings only and it is working out better for study time. My school is an hour away from my house so I spend some time travelling each day also. Have you heard about how your school has done on the boards. Ours did not do that good last yr. and now they are cracking down very hard on the students. Trying to get rid of those that they just "think" are not going to make it. It is frightening as some of the girls were passing lecture but were just a little weak on the care plans. I guess that is the worst part for me...the care plans. I am going to practice over the winter break and do a few for each major disease. I have an instructor that is going to go over them. Our instructors for the senior year are great. Dedicated to the students and the profession. The first year was a little like the army and the convent.
Good luck to you, you have the right attitude and I am sure you will make a wonderful and dedicated nurse.
Nancy

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Kmsyrek · Dec 30, 2004

Hi, my name is Katie. I am 27, mother of 1 dog and 2 cats :rolleyes: and starting my first semester in a 5 semester RN program in DeKalb, Illinois. I already have a TON of homework for the first day of class on Jan. 18th. I am already feeling the stress and it hasn't even officially started yet!

Pammie · Dec 30, 2004

WHat type of homework?

Pammie

Hi, my name is Katie. I am 27, mother of 1 dog and 2 cats and starting my first semester in a 5 semester RN program in DeKalb, Illinois. I already have a TON of homework for the first day of class on Jan. 18th. I am already feeling the stress and it hasn't even officially started yet!

skyyhiflygirl · Dec 30, 2004

Skydiving is an unusual hobby. Obviously, you are not afraid of a challenge!

Yeah, that's what I said the first time I jumped. Now I have nearly 200 jumps and I love it. I will have to put it off some for school but I am sooooooo looking forward to getting started FINALLY. . .

Good luck to you. . .

Pammie · Dec 30, 2004

When is your first day of class and what classes are you taking this term? I am only taking med-surg this time. It is 3 hours long 4 days per week for 6 weeks. Then we start clinicals. Those are 4 hours long 4 days per week for 7 weeks. Last semester was my first actual nursing class. It was Fundamentals and I took it along with Chem I and World Literature.

Yeah, that's what I said the first time I jumped. Now I have nearly 200 jumps and I love it. I will have to put it off some for school but I am sooooooo looking forward to getting started FINALLY. . .
Good luck to you. . .

Kmsyrek · Dec 30, 2004

WHat type of homework?
Pammie

i have a list of abbreviations i have to memorize for a test on them the 1st day of class. there are tons of them and its taking me a long time to really learn them. so far, i am doing 10 at a time and really learning those and then moving on the next 10 and so on. it seems to work pretty well for me...also about 6 chapters to read in the potter and perry nursing fundamentals text book. and, i have a short paper due on why i want to become a nurse - all of this due on the 1st day!!

Pammie · Dec 30, 2004

Wow! We haven't had to do any homework between sessions, but I always do things to prepare anyway. I worked on abbreviations on my own before I started Fundamentals.

Potter and Perry is not easy reading. We were told that the first week of Med-Surg nursing that we are assigned 20 chapters and will be tested the end of the first week.

Are you on quarters or semesters?

i have a list of abbreviations i have to memorize for a test on them the 1st day of class. there are tons of them and its taking me a long time to really learn them. so far, i am doing 10 at a time and really learning those and then moving on the next 10 and so on. it seems to work pretty well for me...also about 6 chapters to read in the potter and perry nursing fundamentals text book. and, i have a short paper due on why i want to become a nurse - all of this due on the 1st day!!

Kmsyrek · Dec 30, 2004

this is the first semester (not quarters) for the nursing program. we had a new nursing students orientation on dec 10 and they assigned all this homework along with all the uniform info, hospital assignments and everything else. do say the least, it was very overwhelming.

i agree that potter and perry is not easy reading. in fact, the chapters that i am on seem very boring - so far its all about the history or nusing and its hard to stay so interested after som many pages and pages.

the classes i am taking are nursing fundamentals and pharmacology.

where do you go to school? how long do you have left?

manna, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2004

Welcome to the newbies! :)

I'm not a big Potter & Perry fan either - although it does have some semi-decent charts and things. We actually didn't use our P&P much at all this past semester - much more of Lewis (Med Surg) and Pharm. We did, though, use P&P alot during the summer term - that's when we did alot of the skills things that are covered under fundamentals.

Pammie · Dec 31, 2004

Hmmm. Your school is really on the ball. We had orientation the first day of classes. We don't even discuss uniforms until the end of the 6 weeks before we start clinicals in med-surg nursing. You must have clinicals with Fundamentals and Pharmacology. I took the Potter and Perry with Pharmacology last semester. We have a hospital orientation this next semester before we begin clinicals in late February.

I am at a 2 year college in Albany, GA that is part of the University System of Georgia. Albany is 80 miles northeast of Tallahassee, Florida. They have the program set up so that if you take the transfer nursing AND the 2 year RN program, you only lack 2 semesters toward your BSN. I have 77 semester hours and am just starting Med-Surg nursing. When I finish at my college, I will have 2 nursing degrees; one will be a ASN for transfer and one will be ASN, RN and I will be eligible to sit for the NCLEX at that point. I plan on completing my BSN through GA Southern University, also part of the University System of Georgia. It is online. They also have a RN-MSN without doing the RN-BSN, but I really need a break from school. I have been going straight since the beginning of summer 2002, 8 semesters with 4 more semesters to go. A couple of semesters I took 17 semester hours.

I enjoyed learning everything in Perry-Potter, but those first chapters REALLY are tedious. You couldn't just read like a novel. It is a lot of information to assimilate.

this is the first semester (not quarters) for the nursing program. we had a new nursing students orientation on dec 10 and they assigned all this homework along with all the uniform info, hospital assignments and everything else. do say the least, it was very overwhelming.
i agree that potter and perry is not easy reading. in fact, the chapters that i am on seem very boring - so far its all about the history or nusing and its hard to stay so interested after som many pages and pages.
the classes i am taking are nursing fundamentals and pharmacology.
where do you go to school? how long do you have left?

Pammie · Dec 31, 2004

Our instructor told us that Potter and Perry is what it says: Fundamentals. It is the foundation for the rest of nursing. A lot of questions that we asked were answered with, "You will get into that in detail in Med-Surg." If we had used both in one semester I imagine that we would have used the Med-Surg more. You really do cover a lot of nursing skills with Potter and Perry. That part was so much fun. I love the labs. I even enjoyed the Drug Calculations. We used Mosby for Calculations. I enjoyed our lectures, too. We had a teacher that was a hoot. She had some "actress" in her. She acted out a lot of stuff in ways that really made it stick in our memories. We had 109 to begin with (until mid-term) in our class. We will have that many in Med-Surg nursing, a compilation of those who passed Pharm and those retaking Med-Surg.

Welcome to the newbies! :)
I'm not a big Potter & Perry fan either - although it does have some semi-decent charts and things. We actually didn't use our P&P much at all this past semester - much more of Lewis (Med Surg) and Pharm. We did, though, use P&P alot during the summer term - that's when we did alot of the skills things that are covered under fundamentals.

Kmsyrek · Dec 31, 2004

we start classes on jan 18th and then start clinicals 4 weeks after that which continue through the rest of the program. it is a 2 year college, but it is not part of any 4 year universities. at the end of the program, i will also have 2 degrees - associate of sciences and associate of nursing and will lack 18 hours towards my BSN. the 4 year school here offers a nursing completion program after you graduate and pass boards thats only 18 hours, so i plan on doing that, too - but not for a couple of years. like you, i need a break from school after this! it took me about a year and a half to complete the pre-reqs which worked out well since the waiting list for the nursing program was about 2 years long. but i have a feeling, after i graduate, i am not going to want to look at any text books for a long time!

i know where albany is - i actually grew up in memphis tennessee and have family all over the south. i moved up here near chicago about 3 years ago, but i really miss the south.

i looked through the rest of the chapters in potter and perry and have some hope that will get a lot more interesting than it is now. tedious is a perfect word to describe whats its like in the first few chapters. :rolleyes: how did you like pharmacology? i havent started the reading for that class yet - but i skimmed through some of it and it looks pretty interesting. im currently working as a vet tech, so hopefully i will have somewhat of an edge in pharm since i do a lot of the same stuff at work now.

do you know what field of nursing you want to go into? i have no idea yet. there are so many choices and my interests seem to change every time i learn of a new one. i am really excited about it though - i have a feeling the 2 years are gong to fly by and all of a sudden we will be a nurses!