NVCC First yr students, How goes the battle?

U.S.A. Virginia

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Howdy. Is it as bad as you thought? lol I hope not. I heard you guys had to give actual bed baths in lab, sweet,lol The course gets better when you start ur clinicals, then you get to make up your nursing plans, joy joy!! There are books in the library that can help you with them. Or check out half.com or ur book stores. Half.com would be cheaper, and havaing a book totally up to date isnt that important. I have "Nursing care care plans 6th ed) ISBN 9780323039543 Its a good book. if your short for cash, it is not a MUST have! check ur local libraries as well. Check ebay and search for "nursing care plans" some older books for like $5!!

As well for ur drug passage exam that you take in LAB, you will get a list of drugs you need drug cards for! Think there was a list of about 30. One can either make them up on ur own, OR buy drug cards! MEC bookstore has them or Borders! if you sign up for a Borders reward card (its free) u get weekly coupons emailed to ya, and quite often they are for 20% off!! And they have the Mosby ones and Med-Deck. i ahve the Med Deeck and i think it was only mssing one of the drugs that we had to know. During the drug passage exam, ur allowed to look at ur med cards if u forget, just like you would on the floor! At least that was the case last yr, things are always changing! Cheers

Nursing Geek-when did you start the program? Aren't you based out of Alexandria for your labs? I thought you told me that once. Do you know if they have classed-up another bunch of hybrid nursing students since your class?

Also,

I need advice; I am applying for in-state residency on February 23rd (exactly 1 year after we got here). Let's say hypothetically that the aplication deadline for the hybrid program will be April 15th 2009. Should I wait until I recieve my in-state acceptance before I apply to the nursing program or should I just apply as early as possible, which would be in January? The reason I ask is because they allow people in to the program based on their residency. BUT would they actually take an in-state resident with a 3.0 over an "out-of-state" resident with a 4.0...? I mean that would be total BS. Should I ask somebody at the school about this. This is something I worry about from time to time.

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Nursing Geek-when did you start the program? Aren't you based out of Alexandria for your labs? I thought you told me that once. Do you know if they have classed-up another bunch of hybrid nursing students since your class?

Also,

I need advice; I am applying for in-state residency on February 23rd (exactly 1 year after we got here). Let's say hypothetically that the aplication deadline for the hybrid program will be April 15th 2009. Should I wait until I recieve my in-state acceptance before I apply to the nursing program or should I just apply as early as possible, which would be in January? The reason I ask is because they allow people in to the program based on their residency. BUT would they actually take an in-state resident with a 3.0 over an "out-of-state" resident with a 4.0...? I mean that would be total BS. Should I ask somebody at the school about this. This is something I worry about from time to time.

Yes, probably best to make list of questions and ask the school, or what i did was contact the first year dean via email and asked her questions!! And she replied to me!! check ur pm.

Not sure if they woul dtake a 4.0 out of state resident over a 3.0 IN state resident. Good question to ask. One has to keep in mind, that is a STATE school, thus VA taxpayers are paying for it, so my guess is that a VA person would be higher up on the list! Beofe when it was sort of first come ,first served, certain peopel from within VA, had a higher preference than someone in another part of VA, weird!!

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VA taxpayers are paying for it, so my guess is that a VA person would be higher up on the list!

That was the way my mom explained things to me but my husband works here and pays taxes, plus I pay taxes every time I buy something, ya know?! I still don't get why people who JUST got out of the military have to pay out-of-state. Oklahoma City Community College pulled the same crap when I moved there from KOREA, SO unfair. My mom always tells me to write a letter to my congressmen but I wouldn't even know how to get my point across politely. Ya know? :banghead:

I ended up emailing Ms. Faruqi. Have you heard of her? I haven't but I got her name from the nursing site, I think the same as the link you sent me. We'll see if she answers me. 'Cause lets get real here residency should be LAST on the list of qualifications for entrance. Many schools use the point system and I think NVCC needs to do the same. Math, HESI, computer competency test scores plus GPA of prerequisites should outweigh residency when it comes to admission. I can't wait to put this to rest!:bluecry1:

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That was the way my mom explained things to me but my husband works here and pays taxes, plus I pay taxes every time I buy something, ya know?! I still don't get why people who JUST got out of the military have to pay out-of-state. Oklahoma City Community College pulled the same crap when I moved there from KOREA, SO unfair. My mom always tells me to write a letter to my congressmen but I wouldn't even know how to get my point across politely. Ya know? :banghead:

I ended up emailing Ms. Faruqi. Have you heard of her? I haven't but I got her name from the nursing site, I think the same as the link you sent me. We'll see if she answers me. 'Cause lets get real here residency should be LAST on the list of qualifications for entrance. Many schools use the point system and I think NVCC needs to do the same. Math, HESI, computer competency test scores plus GPA of prerequisites should outweigh residency when it comes to admission. I can't wait to put this to rest!:bluecry1:

Never heard of that name!!!

How long has ur husband been a VA resident? If it is over a year, they base it on him!!! At least thats what they did in my case--for Instate tuition that is

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We moved here on the same day, along with our son and dog. HAHA. Anyways, like I said we don't qualify till the 23rd of Feb. I just wanted to know what other people would do in my shoes which would be to wait (for residency), or apply asap. Because I remember some people saying they recieved their acceptance letter in to the program before the deadline, that's why I want to apply as early as possible.

I know I am making a mountain out of a molehill but you know how that goes before you get in to the program...I have only met 1 person applying for the hybrid program so I don't think there is much competition anyways.

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I've not been in this forum much. I'm in my 1st year of Nursing at NOVA and there is much information to learn. I'm in the traditional program and it seems fast paced to me. The nursing dept seems very unorganized? Are they always this way or just this year because of new changes? I need some advice, I'm very overwhelmed. Thanks for any input/advice. I still don't get the role of the Grade Kepper.

are we in the same lab? lol I feel your pain and frustration. It really does sound like we have the same lab and if so, the reason we had 3 instructors is because "Mrs P" resigned and "Mrs B" is the replacement. I don't if we'll still have "Mrs S". I actually think things we'll get better, as things begin to fall into place and the program wrinkles get ironed out. Hang in there and try to go with the flow! I've learned the hard way, stay ontop of the reading!!

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Ok, so you first yrs no longer have CLS. Was a waste of a class! We were told the intent of the CLS class was so we could ask questions on the nur 111/118 lectures. But nope, it was usually just spent going over the homework assigned for the class, no time for questions!

Once you start ur clinicals, i believe ur lab time is cut in half, which is nice,lol For us second years, lab is only half a semester, I test out on Monday and then no more lab!!

Yes you wil lhave different lectures, but that can be good, its better to have someone that has worked in the field before. That wasnt the case last year! We would get someone who had never worked in that area, so could not answer our questions! Midn you its not that persons fault, I'm pretty sure they didnt assign themselves to that topic,lol Esnure u look over the boxes and tables in the chapters!!!

Flames, did I read right, you can test out of lab?? and no more lab for the rest of your time in the nursing program? then do you get more clinical time? I just found we'll have to do 13-hour shifts in our 2nd year- are you doing 13-hr clinical shifts now?

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Lab ( at least for us, program is always changing,lol) is only 8 weeks in the 2nd year--so half a semester!! Deals with chest tubes/Tracheostomy's One still has Lab in the last semester of the program. What they are allowin gis to get the assigned practical tests completed at your clinical site if it can be done. Not everyone dealswith chest tubes or trachs at their clinical site, and not all stff are willing to do it!! So one has to test at the campus lab! So in short, you will have lab each semester, but not for as long as period as in 1 st yr!

And yes you do 13 HOUR clinicals second year. BUT soem are broken down into 2 days, so you got lab mon/tues or whatever it is, for 6.5 hours, OR you do it all in one day!! I prefer to do it all in one day! Its a long day but nice to not worry about driving to the hospital 2 days in a row,lol And a few of what we had to select from where from 1400-2030 tues/wed, then one has lecture thurs from 0900. Sucks on test days!! Some like the two days,some like the 1 day approach.

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Tracheostomy..? My NAS 162 teacher said that only paramedics, physicians and surgeons did those. Do nurses do them as well or do they just learn how but never actually do them?

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What we are being taught is the suctioning and the cleaning of the Trach. Its a sterile procedure. Not overly difficult, just have to remember its a sterile procedure

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Specializes in Neurosurgical ICU.
Nursing Geek-when did you start the program? Aren't you based out of Alexandria for your labs? I thought you told me that once. Do you know if they have classed-up another bunch of hybrid nursing students since your class?

We used to do labs at the Arlington Center, but they cancelled that for some reason and now we are out of the mec. We started in January 08 and graduate May 08, and went all summer.

I think the next online group starts next may (they changed it so the online students would be separate in all their semesters, I think).

I don't know what to say about the residency situation, I didn't have to deal with that so I am not familiar with their policies, but I do know someone who lives in DC and is in the program.

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I have "heard" of a few students that do reside in MD or DC and have gotten around the residency requirements, by using a families/friends mailing address that resides in VA. No clue if that works. I know back in Jan 2005 yo get in state tuition for my EMT course at NVCC I had to show a copy of my wife's State tax return! But it was obvious that i wasn't a resident as at the time I had no SSN,and I told them i was from Canada. No clue if you just registered with a VA addy if they actually check up on it.

What irks me--and it has nothign to do with the students---is that th eonline students listen to the exact same lecture as we traditional students do, BUT they get extra homework to do, and we do not! Yes that sounds better for us traditional students BUT, that homework they get is a valuable tool to study from!! Plus they get marked for it, so their exams are worth less!!! Just very weird!!

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