Linfield ABSN Class of 2018

AmyS4, MSN, CNM · Apr 18, 2018

Hi everyone, I know this is a year old post. I got accepted to the ABSN 2018 summer start at Linfield and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what the schedule is like during that first semester? We haven't gotten that info and I'm not sure if we have to wait until the orientation, which is a few days before class starts. Any info you can give would be great!!

NurseRachel2018 · Apr 28, 2018

I can tell you what my schedule was like. However, there will likely be two sections, with the accelerated group divided into two different schedules. During semester's 2 and 3, the traditional track students and accelerated students will be integrated into the schedules together, with 4 different schedules available. Then in the last summer semester, it is just the accelerated group, with two schedules again.

First semester classes are Foundations, Evidence Based (Research), Professional Communication, and IEL (lab/clinical).

My schedule was

Foundations: Mondays 8am- 11:50 and 1pm-1:50

IEL: Tuesdays 7am - 7pm (rarely that late, usually out around 4ish, but sometimes there are special Hi-Fi testing that are scheduled late)

Evidence Based: Wednesdays 8am - 11:50

IEL: Thursdays 7am - 7pm (rarely that late, usually out around 4ish, but sometimes there are special Hi-FI testing that are scheduled late)

Professional Communication: Friday 8am-11:50

FYI, the books that are required are used throughout the program, so be prepared to use them each semester. (Some people rented them or sold them in between semesters to find out that they needed them again.

Also, in second semester, the Lehne's Pharmacology book is an absolute bear to read. Most of us switched to reading Pharmacology for Nurses: A Pathophysiologic Approach (5th Edition) (Books) by Adams, Michael Patrick, Holland Ph.D., Norman, Urban PhD RN, Carol Quam, Adams Michael Patrick. It's very easy to read, and gives the basics of the information you need. If you can't afford both, I suggest just getting the Adams book. It will save you time and frustration.

Another tip, there are online resources for each book which include NCLEX questions for each chapter. Do the questions for each chapter that is assigned reading, the professor's often choose several test questions directly or very similar to those questions. They also like to choose questions from Davis Q&A success books.

Congratulations and good luck!

amynata · Apr 30, 2018

NurseRachel2018, thanks for all this info, it's very helpful for looking forward to the summer! I'm pretty intimidated by the 6am-11pm scheduling 2 days in a row in the fall. Can you give any insight as to how this looks as you actually go through the semester? Thanks again so much.

NurseRachel2018 · Apr 30, 2018

No problem.

Again, the schedule you are reading covers all the bases of times that students may be in class with different schedules, not that you will be in class during all those times. Some people have morning clinical, others have evening.

I'll share my schedule from fall as a demo (I had morning clinical, and although most morning clinicals start at 7 and end at 3:30, mine started at 6 and ended at 2).

Monday: no class, although sometimes there are orientations or hi-fi lab that you will be scheduled for on Mondays.

Tuesday: Patho/Pharm 1pm-3:50

Wednesday: Mental Health 9am-11:50

Wednesday: Chronic Conditions 1pm-3:50

Thursday: clinical 6am-2pm

Friday: clinical 6am-2pm

Tip for Fall semester: Get one 3 ring binder to share for both chronic and path/pharm class. Use dividers that are labeled by condition and put all the info from each class under that tab. For example, have a tab for Diabetes. Enter all your patho/pharm meds and info under the diabetes tab and enter all your notes from chronic about Diabetes there. Study both classes together by condition. There is a lot of over-lap, and it will make more efficient use of your study time and allow you to see the big-picture of each condition.

Good luck, you'll be busy, but it's very manageable.

amynata · Apr 30, 2018

Thanks so, so, so much! I was looking to the future and thinking I'd not see my kids from a Wednesday night to a Saturday morning every week for nearly 4 months. I'd anticipated being very, very, busy but also being able to still be a parent. Do you have any recommendations for specific professors? And thanks for the organizational tips, those are priceless. Would you be selling any books prior to my June start?!

NurseRachel2018 · Apr 30, 2018

I am a single parent and have felt like I have been able to balance school and family life throughout this program.

I can tell you some of the names of popular professors. Dr. Bartlett (teaches Foundations, Patho/Pharm and I believe Chronic), Dr. Dedeo (teaches evidence based Research and Foundations), Dr. Rodgers (teaches Mental Health), Professor Haj (teaches Evidenced Based Research and Transitions), and Professor Fitzwater (teaches Acute).

Some professors are more polarizing than others. Some people expect an easy A, but fail to do their due diligence and are surprised when they fail an exam (common in Mental health and Transitions class). That being said, most professors give a power point for their class and often an exam blueprint. The tests are usually straight from the power points, except for mental health, which you will be given an oral or written blueprint for what to know.

I don't usually sell my books, I like resources for referencing. í ½í¸Š

There is one book that I believe you can find free online, it's the Family Health Care Nursing book by Kaakinen. If you google it, you should be able to find it in full print online.

One of the best things that I did was to connect with other commuters on the facebook page. Linfield will set up a facebook page and you can chat with your cohort on it. I connected with a carpool group before orientation and before classes began via that ABSN Linfield FB page. We often use our commute time to study and review before tests. We also formed a study group because of our carpool group. There has been at least one question on every test that we just talked about during our commute.

amynata · Apr 30, 2018

Thank you a trillion times, Nurserachel2018!

NurseRachel2018 · May 4, 2018

No problem! :)