I just wanted to give some information on those who may be interested in attending Polk Community College RN program in Winter Haven Florida.
As a student of the RN program, I can only speak about what I have seen first hand. If you were considering this community college for your RN program, you may want to read this before you apply.
1. Polk community college accepts about 100 new RN students each term. That is the best part of the program.
2. Passing any class in the RN program is 80 percent, which is a C. The RN program has modified the grading scale to cut out any students who would have normally made a 70 and passed. They state that the reasoning for this change is that the State RN test is 80 percent. Many other nursing programs now require an 80 in all their classes also.
For those who have gotten in life with a 70, you will not make it in nursing unless you change your ways.
3. I would estimate the number of students who retake Nursing I is about 15 to 20 percent. Retaking Nursing I is no easy task as you will have to pass all new test material, and repeat your nursing home clinicals and hospital clinicals. You will also have to submit new written material, as you cannot reuse any material already submitted.
4. You can only repeat one nursing class out of 5. After you have used up your magic wish, you will be dropped from the program and only allowed entrance after two years later.
5. In review of the policies of this RN program and many like it in the state, you can come to the conclusion, that of the 100 students who start, each term you will lose about 10-20 percent of the original class. In the final term, of the original class, you will graduate about 25 originals and another 15 from other classes who joined your class after failing one of the 5 classes.
As you can see, there is still a nursing shortage, which is not being helped by many RN schools including Polk Community College. In an effort to keep their image of being in the top 5 state RN NCLEX exam results, they are failing dedicated and sincere students. Nursing schools should teach students how to perform skills. The NCLEX is what makes you a RN, not the diploma from a nursing school.
You can take NCLEX review courses to brush up on your testing skills. A student should not be failed on tricky NCLEX style questions in Nursing I, but that is what is happining at Polk Community College, and perhaps other institutions.
Some may say that others lives are in your hands and an 80% should be expected, becasue you only killed 20% of your patients.
If you are able to memorize vast amounts of information, some usefull, some just poliically correct, then you will do fine in this nursing program. If you are one who questions why nurses do the things they do, and likes to analyze, and see a larger picture, then medical school may be your calling.
Statistics show that 33 percent of RN's in their first year will quit, even after making it through RN school. This truly is a thankless job, and at present, a pretty hard occupation to get into due to the burdens placed on the current RN student population.
I wish each and every one of you good luck in your nursing or medical careers, and good luck in getting in, and staying in your RN progams.
I don't get it. I breezed through the program, almost never studied, and graduated with a 3.75 GPA. Instead of blaming PCC, perhaps those who failed courses might consider the possibility that they are not smart enough to be nurses. I wouldn't want someone in my family treated by an RN who could barely squeak by, much less one who failed a simple nursing course. If I ran the school, only those who made a 90% or greater would pass. There are too many incompetent nurses out there already. Grades are more than just an indicator of intelligence (although that is an important component). They also indicate your level of "dedication" and "hard work".
Yes, many of the instructors at PCC are Nazis. What field do you think you are going into? None of my instructors disliked me, however, because I wasn't a failure. That is the determinant of whether an instructor "likes" you or not; it really is not personal. Also, if you think PCC is bad, talk to some of the old diploma school nurses. Now, those places were unfair. They also turned out our most highly trained and skilled nurses. If you lack the intelligence, work ethic, and thick skin required to make it through nursing school, there's no way you'll make it as a nurse. There's a reason we are the highest paid associate's degree graduates. We put up with a lot of crap (literally and figuratively). Most of those who can't hack it are only in it for the money. Those of us who can, know that we are incredibly underpaid for what we do.
The one complaint I will agree with is that nursing schools (and the medical field in general) could do without the politically correct, multiculturalist, bunk medicine, spirituality (whatever that means) nonsense. I actually had an instructor try to teach us how to use therapeutic touch! What a quack! Most of my instructors, however, were highly competent clinical professionals. I would reccomend PCC (PSC, whatever) to anyone that I thought would make a capable, competent, professional nurse.
Update: One of my friends who stayed in the Polk State Nursing school graduated.
Of the original class of 90 students, only 30 graduated on time. ( you may say that polk just graduated 60 students, yes, but they are from many different start dates, not an original class). Half of the 90 original students have either been forced out, or dropped out due to unethical procedures practiced by the Nursing department (although I have heard that they were forced to improve some of these practices). There are still some students who started again with later groups and will be graduating in the future. Congrats on those who made it, and I really hope all of those, like myself, who walked away because they cannot stomach ethic violations (not by failed tests), will find a new nursing program that is geared to creating great nurses, not lining their pockets with your dough.
One last note for the allnurses.com moderators, I do understand the importance of obmitting names, and any real legal accusations, however, I was under the impression the is a blog about peoples feelings and frustrations about nursing including schools. If you edit these blogs to hide the guilty, you are acting more like Nazis than moderators.
katetbetrue
1 Post
I don't get it. I breezed through the program, almost never studied, and graduated with a 3.75 GPA. Instead of blaming PCC, perhaps those who failed courses might consider the possibility that they are not smart enough to be nurses. I wouldn't want someone in my family treated by an RN who could barely squeak by, much less one who failed a simple nursing course. If I ran the school, only those who made a 90% or greater would pass. There are too many incompetent nurses out there already. Grades are more than just an indicator of intelligence (although that is an important component). They also indicate your level of "dedication" and "hard work".
Yes, many of the instructors at PCC are Nazis. What field do you think you are going into? None of my instructors disliked me, however, because I wasn't a failure. That is the determinant of whether an instructor "likes" you or not; it really is not personal. Also, if you think PCC is bad, talk to some of the old diploma school nurses. Now, those places were unfair. They also turned out our most highly trained and skilled nurses. If you lack the intelligence, work ethic, and thick skin required to make it through nursing school, there's no way you'll make it as a nurse. There's a reason we are the highest paid associate's degree graduates. We put up with a lot of crap (literally and figuratively). Most of those who can't hack it are only in it for the money. Those of us who can, know that we are incredibly underpaid for what we do.
The one complaint I will agree with is that nursing schools (and the medical field in general) could do without the politically correct, multiculturalist, bunk medicine, spirituality (whatever that means) nonsense. I actually had an instructor try to teach us how to use therapeutic touch! What a quack! Most of my instructors, however, were highly competent clinical professionals. I would reccomend PCC (PSC, whatever) to anyone that I thought would make a capable, competent, professional nurse.