Ivy Tech

I just graduated from Sellersburg last Friday! :)

Congratulations!!! I've been reading these forums for as much advice as I can possibly get to prepare myself. I start the ADN program in January there. There isn't much specific advice about Ivy Tech Sellersburg however :) Anything I should know going in?

The first semester is most difficult, for sure. Not trying to scare you! It's just all brand new information and difficult material to get down. Don't freak out on skills check-offs, if you know what those are. In the first 6 weeks, you'll have to check off on basic things like blood pressure, washing hands, doing a bed bath, making a bed, etc. And after that, you will start your first clinical at a nursing home to go along with your Med/Surg I (Mercy Providence, SIRH, and I can't remember the other one are the clinical sites) one day a week, about 10 hours of time spent there. You'll also have to check off on harder skills such as Foley catheter insertion, tracheostomy care and suctioning, etc. Med/Surg I is HARD. Half of my class failed out because of that class. But once you get past it, nursing school goes a lot smoother. I know they just had a curriculum change and I think your second semester is Med/Surg II, Advanced Pharmacology, Mental Health, and Health Promotion. Health Promotion is easy. Mental Health is fairly easy and fun. Pharm is difficult, but one of those essential classes lol. I think your third semester will be Med/Surg III instead of OB/Peds like mine was. Very difficult class, but also very rewarding because it makes all of the information you've learned in school all come together :) and fourth semester will be your OB/Peds class, which is probably the most fun because you get to see babies be born, but it'll also be sad because you have to go to Kosair for Peds. I personally don't want to work in peds so maybe that's why it was sad to me Also, an awesome thing you will get to do is simulation lab. You get to sit out of clinicals for the week you go to sim lab, and you are in a safe environment and put into a simulation situation to care for a patient/dummy, and call the "doctor" and give "meds", and do assessments and get feedback right then and there, and that is definitely helpful.

This is a very wordy response, but just remember. 75 equals RN. Do NOT get discouraged if you fail your first test, because I did, and I just graduated with flying colors. In fact, most everyone will probably fail test #1. It's very weird to get used to taking NCLEX-style questions, because there are multiple right answers, but you have to guess what the MOST RIGHT answer is. Use your ABC's to prioritize (airway, breathing, circulation). You will spend a lot of your days with your nose stuck in a book, crying your eyes out, losing sleep because of clinicals, but it is all worth it when you get your pin when you graduate :)

If you need to know anything else specific, PM me :) I'll be glad to help!