Los Angeles Harbor City College-RN

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Has anyone applied (or planning on applying) to the RN program at LAHC college? Is there a waitlist that you know of? Any comments, tips, or general info on this school is much appreciated.

Thanks!

--Andrew

Walksfar, you totally explained how I feel as well!! I feel like today is my last day of "freedom"...freedom to read whatever I want, daydream, be lazy etc etc...Come Monday, I won't be able to read anything of leisure for 2+ years without feeling guilty (or even having a moment to!) But I also just want to get this thing going. I'm so anxious to begin but if they announced that the program was delayed 3 weeks, I also wouldn't be crying lol:smokin:. It honestly is a reassurance to me though that we are all in the same boat. This would be SO much scarier if I was walking into a crowd of people who were ahead of me. Anyways, really look forward to meeting all of you!!

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Specializes in Student.

For those of you in the LAHC program now -

I'm applying for Spring 2011 - any tips?

Did you take any of the "optional" classes-

(I plan these as "fillers" while I wait)

anything you reccommend to up my chances of getting accepted on the first try?

(I'm on the last pre-req, and gettin antsy! nervous....)

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Hello to all the current and graduates of the la harbor nursing program =) I just got accepted to the program and was hoping for some advice, things to do, and what to expect. Any and all advice is welcomed

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Specializes in Telemetry.

Congratulations! I just finished my first semester at Harbor and love it. Your first semester instructors are great, get to know them, don't be afraid to ask questions. Buy your Potter & Perry Fundamentals and Perry and Potter Clinical guides first, they are your bibles for first semester. Your first exam comes fast and is on Oxygenation...do well and keep your self in a good place gradewise from the get go, it is a sad thing to see people get let go at midterm and semester end because they did not have the aggregate 75% needed to continue. More than once I have seen it happen over a single point deficit...don't get a weak start and spend the rest of your semester trying to climb out of a hole. Get a good nursing diagnosis book, Sparks is one I like. Get a good nursing care plan book, I like the one by Doenges. By October, when you start 315, a drug reference guide is a must , as is a Pathophysiology book.

http://www.lahc.edu/classes/nursing/N313%20Reading%20and%20VideoDVD%20Listsp10.pdf

Check out this link for an idea of what to expect And again, congratulations:)

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THANK YOU for the advice and congrats to you for getting through the first semester =). Its great to know that the first semester i'll have great instructors. How about the clinical setting? Where did you do yours and did you enjoy the experience or was it reall difficult. Thanks again

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Specializes in Telemetry.

1st semester clinical took place at San Pedro and Kaiser. I was at SP and really liked it a lot. Lots of Harbor grads working there so lots of "I know what you are going through, here are some tips ,and btw, wanna d/c this foley?" They gave you a lot of chances to practice skills they know you can do plus I got to go to a number of procedures performed on the patients I helped care for. Went to a surgery, CT scan and a tube placement sent to radiology because of complications...really amazing learning opportunities as well as seeing the whole health care team in action and areas of specialty nurses can pursue. SP is not fully computerized in respect to documentation (orders,progress reports, nurses notes etc) hard copy is still king. Kaiser on the other hand is apparently "fully wired" as in everything is computer accessible and goes right in. Personally I think having to do it old school at SP was valuable to learn, but Kaiser is the way of the future which I know SP will be moving towards.

2nd semester it looks like Harbor-UCLA General, Torrance Memorial and LCM Torrance are our clinical sites...I look forward to seeing them.

Clinic is tough, you go select your patients the day before, do prep sheets, research your meds to administer and write 3 pathophysiology sheets on their condition + comorbidities. You then submit a care plan after your have completed your 2nd day. It gets a bit crazy but you kind of find ways to get into a groove and crank them out w/out too much sleep lost lol. I will also say though that clinic is great in that you learn a ton and you get a chance to make a difference in someone's care. It's definitely a tough part of the week but it's worth it :)

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I am currently going to be in the Spring 2011 program. Does anyone know what addition to get for the fundamentals or nursing by potter. Will the 7th edition work? I know there is an 8th edition that just came out?

Also is there any advice about working part time while doing the first semester? I usually work about 16-24 hours per week, is it possible?

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Hi Everyone,

Did anyone else submit an application for Fall 2011?

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Specializes in Student.

Yep,

I turned my app in on Wed, the 19th.

So now it's time to review for the TEAS, then I have Doseage Calc,

and the 301 Series -

Anyone else have Doseage Tue afternoons ?

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Hi milzer2012,

That's great, I hope we both get in! *crosses fingers*

I got dosage calc too, I will see you there.

I also enrolled in Pharmacology on Fridays instead of the 301abc

The Teas is pretty simple, I took it before at another school and scored very well. It is like the SAT's/ACT's. Review will help to speed-up your time on questions, esp for the math.

There's plenty of practice questions online. For the reading, there are paragraphs and they will ask you questions pertaining to it. The math, I ran out of time in one section but they were basic to intermediate algebra questions.

Goodluck!

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Specializes in Student.

GTO - MUGIWARA,

Did you get into Doseage calc ?

Luckilly I was the first on the waiting list, so I got in.

There were so many who didn't, that I really felt bad for them.

From what I have heard, not passng all of those Math Tests is the main reason that people

don't make it through.

So far the review is pretty basic, but I'm pretty sure it will get harder.

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Hey gang!

I too just finished my first semester and vginay is pretty spot on with their advice! Don't get stuck in a hole that you have to climb out of. As Vginay said, it literally has come down to 1 point making the difference between pass/fail. but also remember, that nursing tests most likely are going to be a bit of shock at first--you have to really learn to think critically--so if you don't do so hot on the first test, don't beat yourself up about it. Let it motivate you to do better! Truly! You literally do not have the time to sit and mope about it. If you're used to being a straight A student, you might get a bit of a wake up call. The thing is, you are only in "competition" with yourself. Our class, luckily, I find to be very supportive of one another and there isn't this competitive vibe. That really helps. You're gonna find that you will spend a lot of time with your classmates and they'll be some of your new best friends! Another key thing, is that you are going to hear SO MANY 'rumors', scary stats, intimidating explanations of things to come---you really, really, really have to learn to tune that out. Yes, everyone is kind of looking out for one another and giving heads up about difficult things to come but really try to surround yourself with positive people who have the attitude of 'where there's a will, there's a way.' This program is going to become your life. If you are dedicated to it 100%, you are willing to put in the work, and you have a love for nursing, you'll make it. It really has to be #1 on your priority list though. That's the key thing I think.

Take it one day at a time. I personally never looked much more than a couple days ahead in the schedule of what was coming up (I did know when our exams would be) but it would just stress me out. I literally took it one day at a time. Clinic is nerve-wracking but it's also really awesome. I was at Kaiser last semester and at LCOM now. (basically, had computers at kaiser and paper charting now--big difference!! but as vginay said, both are useful to know, gonna have to learn both). You have really, really amazing instructors first semester. They're tough on you but there setting a good foundation. They're extremely supportive too.

A good book to practice NCLEX type questions for your test is the Fundamentals for success book. It has a bunch of sample questions for each unit. I can get the ISBN # someone is interested in knowing it--gotta find where I put the book.

Congratulations on getting into the program and get ready for the ride of your life!!

:yeah::redbeathe:eek:

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