NS not providing any advanced info? Panicking!

Published

Specializes in None.

We had our orientation on Friday, however, it wasn't particularly helpful. They showed us the one building we would be in (lab and classroom), told us the books that were an absolute necessity for first day of class, what we needed for the first clinical and then chatted a bit about the program and had the 2nds years give a bit of advice. I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but I think I expected a little bit more than that. I logged in to the student portal which is like the communication center of the class and there's no syllabus posted or anything.

I feel like I'm going into this very blindly. I want to be prepared, but I don't know what to do to prepare. I was hoping the syllabus for the theory class would be up so I at least knew what to start studying on before school started.

I have no nursing experience what-so-ever. My senior year of high school I had no idea what I wanted to do in college. Then one day, it hit me, I wanted to be a nurse. My first two years of college I was a nursing major working towards a BSN, then I changed paths and ended up with a business degree. For the last three years and two degrees I've been searching to figure out what I did wrong. Why hasn't my career path been fulfilling? And then I started managing a home health office and that's when I realized what had gone wrong. I wasn't supposed to be on my side of that desk, I was supposed to be one of those nurses. So on a whim, I applied to school and here I am, one week out from beginning the end of a very long journey.

And now I feel ill-prepared. I feel like I need to get my hands on everything and anything NCLEX to be on par because I have no prior experience. I was expecting so much more from our orientation and now I feel frustrated.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

Don't worry...you'll probably get syllabi the first day of class...or the night before! Learn to expect a lot of things to be 'last minute' and you'll be pleasantly surprised if it's otherwise. Besides, there's so much more to get into a panic about!

Also, many of your classmates (if not most of them) will be in the same boat as you with no prior exprience. If you absolutely MUST study something, I suggest "Fundamentals Success" and "Test Success". The Fundamentals book will help you understand the Nursing Process, and the Test one will help you get used to NCLEX style questions.

Good luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

We have spent the first day of every class going over the syllabus and just getting a bunch of good advice about succeeding in this program. Every class I've ever been in has done it this way. I think of the first week as a get organized week but we do have 3 tests scheduled for next week. It is apparent very quickly how fast paced this is going to be. Good luck in your program and don't get too overwhelmed before it even starts. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

ummm we didnt even get an orientation it was cancelled. it was supposed to be the first week of august. my orientation will be sometime during the first week of classes. i have no idea either you just have to research and be as best prepared as possible.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If it's anything like my school you will be lost more days than just prior to starting. My head has been spinning since I started. One day you go to class and they'll just add some new random assignment that isn't listed on the syllabus. So you have all this reading, clinicals, lab, care plans, new assignments added randomly, and literally no time to absorb any of the info. I honesty have had to cram all my reading and assignments to get this finished on time and would never be able to read ahead to prepare for the next week. Like when assessments came in clinicals. No mention of it was given prior, so my little 2 hour session in lab was all that prepared me to perform an assessment on a patient. Kind of distressing. My clinical instructor is a sweetheart and I love her to death, so she was very kind about helping us, but we would've been screwed had our instructor been a rigid/strict personality like our class teacher.

For example, I have an assignment due tomorrow, 3 long chapters to read, a pharmacology test to prepare for and a skills lab check-off coming up Monday (tests on Tues). Plus I have to complete/finish my care plan. I have class 4 days a week for about 8 hours. I can't keep up and I don't work, nor do I have kids. The amount of info they expect us to "retain" is ridiculous. I am more frustrated by not having time to do anything for myself except shower, sleep, eat, and drive from point A and B. Today is the first time in weeks I've actually decided to take a break and get online while I wait for laundry. I just need a break.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in None.

Thanks for your responses. I finished getting the books for my classes today and there was a packet that included the syllabi and schedules for the classes. We have a test or quiz every Friday. Yuck.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.

Our program doesn't even have an orientation. The first week of class pretty much serves as our orientation.

We had our first semester 2-3 weekly quizzes, but they really weren't that bad, and served as nice grade boosters.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion