Hi, does anyone know an active group for people starting RPN in George brown this May 2021, also need advise on what to expect and how to better prepare myself.
I personally don't know of any upcoming students. I am heading into my final semester of the program and I personally found first semester to be very easy in comparison to the rest of the program. Enjoy the process and your freedom because for sem 2 and 3 you will have back to back tests, quizzes, and assignments that are due every week. I really like registerednurseRN for Youtube nursing concepts. I watched her vids to study for nursing skills, patho, pharm, even health assessment. Use tutoring resources that will be made available to you. Practice vital signs and other assessments on family members because it will help you a lot when you do clinical placement.
Thank you Amani, are there any supplies I might need prior to starting like text book recommendations
George brown switched to an online textbook method a few years ago so all of the textbooks you need are included in tuition and you will get the link to claim the textbooks when the semester starts. It’s sort of unfortunate because you don’t need the textbooks for every class but they make you purchase all of them. You can’t select to buy some and not others.
Hi there! I just graduated from George Brown Practical Nursing a few weeks ago and am studying for the licensing exam.
I'm not sure if you will have any in-person learning for labs and stuff since COVID cases are high right now... But one thing I will say is try to make a group of friends to study with. Make sure they are actually hard workers that way you guys can work together through the material and ask each other questions and teach each other things. That is the best way to learn in this program in my opinion because half of the professors in this program don't care about you. I don't mean to scare you but just know that a lot of the learning will be self-taught.
Most of the professors will just read off the powerpoints. Do your readings but don't stress if you are behind, they are helpful but most of the information you need you can find on Youtube which is way more efficient to learn that way in my opinion. Spend a lot of time studying your anatomy and really getting to know the body as this is the foundation for the later courses in pathology and pharmacology and nursing theory. Pharmacolgy in second and third semester is boring but hard. Do not put it off because you don't like it.
I think the best advice I can give you is to find a good support system of peers within the program. I can't tell you how much better this program has been because I had friends experiencing the same things as me and we were able to lean on each other. So many nights of endless studying, crying together, practicing skills. But it gets easier with time.
Believe in yourself and you will do great!! Take ownership for your learning and remember that even the most minute things that you don't think are important you will definitely use in practice when you start clinical and become nurse in the future. You can do it!
Did you have to do your labs online or physically, I'm a bit confused as to what the experience might be like.
George brown switched to an online textbook method a few years ago so all of the textbooks you need are included in tuition and you will get the link to claim the textbooks when the semester starts. It’s sort of unfortunate because you don’t need the textbooks for every class but they make you purchase all of them. You can’t select to buy some and not others.
Did you have to do your labs online or physically, I'm a bit confused as to what the experience might be like.
So Covid hit right when I was in the middle of the program. The first two semesters of lab and placement everything was in person because COVID didn’t exist at that time. Classes, labs and tests were in person and the labs are like hospital rooms so it’s really cool because it allows you to experience that environment before you enter placement in second semester. Over the semester break between second and third semester, COVID hit and out third semester was postponed by four months so the faculty could figure out what would happen and how they would continue teaching. Finally when they welcomed us back for third semester, everything was online and we did the lab learning at home. They mailed kits to our house with all the supplies we would need like needles, IV bags, ostomy pouches, etc, and our teacher would come on zoom and show us how to do stuff and we would follow her. It sucked to be honest. I was learning how to manage IVs in my bathroom. We also didn’t have clinical placement in third semester since that was in September and the Covid cases were high. So we had “virtual clinical” where all we did was answer multiple choice questions on certain topics every week. In 4th semester you don’t have any lab courses as you are in clinical anywhere from 30-46 hours/week and they teach you all the nursing skills you need to know from semester 1-3. The only classes you have in fourth semester are theory courses taught online. I’m not sure what they are doing now for first semester students for lab and for placement in second semester but that was my experience.
Thank you Amani, are there any supplies I might need prior to starting like text book recommendations
A stethoscope is mandatory. You might have a day or two where you are on campus and practicing the skills during lab. You can also purchase a b/p cuff so that you can practice taking vital signs at home. I also have my own personal penlight but its not necessary.
That must have been challenging. What courses would you say was the most difficult in first semester.
Here are my thoughts on the semester 1 classes:
Anatomy and physiology: For semester 1, I noticed that it was more focused on anatomy rather than physiology. It was not that challenging in my opinion. I remember when I did it in person we had a beep test and that was probably the hardest part of the class. Review the course objectives and make notes based off of that.
Nursing theory: To me the hardest part of this class was creating a nursing care plan. The prof I had did mark hard on it but I have gotten a lot better at it now in comparison to first semester. The rest of the class was super interesting.
PN role and interprofessional relationships: I have heard some students complain about this class. Personally for me it was alright but the difficulty depends on who's teaching the class...
Nursing skills: This is a pass or fail class first semester. It was very interesting and was not difficult to pass this class.
English: With my prof, attendance was mandatory. But overall I didn't find this class to be hard. If you show up and do the work, you will be alright.
Math: You need an 80% to pass the course and this class is a pass/fail course. At first glance this might seem intimidating but the actual math part is basic math. There is also a bit of pharmacology involved but the prof I had did an excellent job teaching the course.
Lifespan Development: If I'm being honest, I don't remember what this class was about. I think it's some sort of psychology class but I'm not sure. I haven't heard of anyone that have complained about it.
Anyone waitlisted for Centennial's Jan 2022 Bridging to RN program??
Hi there, I applied to Jan 2022 at Centennial for the hybrid but I am writing my license exam in June of this is year so I have to wait. I haven’t checked my application in a month since I figured there would be no updates. I will check mine now!
are you in the same situation as me or are you already licensed?
2 minutes ago, RPN dreaming to be aRN said:
Anyone waitlisted for Centennial's Jan 2022 Bridging to RN program??
Also I was wondering how you sent your CNO registration to Centennial? I have yet to figure that out and when I email people from admissions I just get automated responses back.
amani, LPN
24 Posts
I personally don't know of any upcoming students. I am heading into my final semester of the program and I personally found first semester to be very easy in comparison to the rest of the program. Enjoy the process and your freedom because for sem 2 and 3 you will have back to back tests, quizzes, and assignments that are due every week. I really like registerednurseRN for Youtube nursing concepts. I watched her vids to study for nursing skills, patho, pharm, even health assessment. Use tutoring resources that will be made available to you. Practice vital signs and other assessments on family members because it will help you a lot when you do clinical placement.