OCCC Spring 2011 hopefulls!!!!!

Mommaof3 · Dec 10, 2010

You will get your book list at orientation. Be prepared...its the biggest, longest, scariest list I had ever seen! Just remember after first semester there's only like one or two books to buy for NPII, III, & IV.

Clinical sites the 1st semester are kinda chaotic! Your first clinical is a school screening (you go to an elementary school and do vision, hearing, BP, height & weight checks) Then you go to an LTC for the next 4 weeks, and then a hospital rotation for the last 6 weeks. They had SW Medical Center, Baptist, Mercy, Chickasha (Grady Memorial), and OU this semester for hospitals. LTC was too long ago for me to remember!! I was at a Grace Living Center.

Just take a deep breath and realize that no matter how much you study or how much time you spend in lab, EVERYONE feels lost the first few times, don't be afraid to get in there and ask your nurse "What can I do?!" because they will LOVE you for that.

Just an FYI because a few people in my class were unaware....as a nursing student, you DO indeed change adult diapers, change linens, give bed baths and all of the other things some in my class thought they (as nursing students) should delegate to techs/cnas etc! LOL. Silly people.

brookefriedl · Dec 10, 2010

Thanks momma03 you're a great help!! What I'm wondering is.. Have you and other students been able to work? and one more question.. we have one clinical day a week and one lab a week right?

BDot · Dec 10, 2010

Thanks Mommaof3!

Mommaof3 · Dec 10, 2010

Brooke--as of right now, yes you are correct you have one lab day (like 4-5 hours) and one clinical (8 hours) BUT, you also have to keep in mind you do have Pre-clinicals, its always on the day before your clinical and varies significantly depending on who your clinical faculty is and whether they have meetings, so, basically your pre-clinicals time can change if you are assigned to a full time faculty who have many meetings to attend. I had mine on Tuesdays and it could be 1pm or 430 pm, depending on my faculty's meetings.

I don't recommend working, if you have ANY way to avoid it, I would. There is one girl in my clinical group who is working full time as a tech, and she is mentally, emotionally, and completely physically drained at all times! Shes a sweetheart of a woman but she is stressed to the max. Like I said, if you can avoid it then do it but if you can't suck it up and get ready to stretch yourself very thin. Nursing school requires alot of time OUTSIDE the classroom/lab/clinicals. So just be prepared. I hope you don't think I'm being negative, its just the reality of the situation.

Heres some hope: Now I do not work but I am a single mother of 3 so I do have alot of obligation outside of school. I have an 11 year old who has sports, scool stuff, etc, a 3 year old and a 1 year old (they are ALOT of work lol). So I don't have nearly as much time to invest in school as some others that I know, however; I have maintained a very high grade in the course, VERY HIGH. So, its all in your perspective. Nursing school is not so much the "content" that you know but understanding the questions they're asking i.e. if they are asking you for an "intervention" don't give them an answer that starts with "assess", know the nursing process and follow it. Knowing little tips like that and the ABC's and Maslow's hierarchy of needs will seriously help you out tremendously in this first semester!! That will go a LONG ways towards a good grade no matter what else you have on your plate in your personal life. HTH some of you get mentally prepared! :)

debiannp · Dec 10, 2010

I went to the OCCC bookstore and typed in Nursing 1519 that brought up the book list. I want to buy mine early so I can acquaint myself with them. This is going to be a fun and crazy ride!

JordanRN77 · Dec 11, 2010

Thanks for all the information Mommaof3, it really helps! Im so excited to get started!

Mommaof3 · Dec 12, 2010

LOL I remember that feeling! Now I'm just excited to get DONE!!! :)

Mommaof3 · Dec 14, 2010

Just a heads up...I got some info today from my faculty that will apply to you all next semester. Your book lists will remain the same as ours was...someone asked that earlier. You will only have 4 careplans to do for the entire semester (as opposed to the 6 we had this semester), you will also have no quizzes in theory (we had 8 worth 5 points each!!). So thats the good news, and I'm jealous.

Now...for those of you that read this before Thursday. I'm going to let you in on a little secret....at our orientation there were literally 5 people crying in the hallways afterwards. It happens. It will be the single most overwhelming day you will ever experience. People will talk about how they forgot to feed their kids, they never saw their husbands, they missed their grandma's funeral...etc etc etc Take what they say with a grain of salt, they give you entirely tooooooo much info during orientation and in all reality you only need the basics (and I swear, I fed my kids, continued my personal relationships, and made it to my grandmas funeral). Pay attention to the "to do" list they give you to complete prior to start of the semester. Do NOT freak out about the NESA stuff. Its a piece of cake. Do not let orientation stress you out.

I know right now you're on top of the world and nothing can bring you down as you embark on this new journey...but they do their best at orientation!! Don't be scared or intimidated, just suck it up and sit through it and know that we ALL felt the same way you will on Thursday! Best of luck & let me know if you need any help.

JordanRN77 · Dec 14, 2010

Thanks for the heads up Mommaof3, your the best!

aharris30 · Dec 15, 2010

Hello all you future NP1 students! I am currently finished with NP1 as of today (tuesday) and I thought maybe I would share some advice with you guys. I just read some comments from mommaof3 and it seems like they are making some good changes for you guys. Care plans are a pain in the you know what. Any way the biggest thing I want to tell you guys is to start studying for the final on the first day of class. Seriously! Keep up with your readings and after every test make sure you go to the review with you assigned teacher. Nursing school can and WILL get overwhelming. Your best resources will become other NP1 students. While the teachers are "helpful", talking to other students and making some kind of friendship will help you throughout the course. Someone always knows where to get the best review book or is willing to share info to help out. My best advice for test taking is to read EVERY chapter in the Wilkenson's Vol 1 book assigned for the designated test materials. That will become your bible. Truthfully, you can do without the wong's and medical surgical. I didn't use these for testing at all just for care plans if that. Also, buy an actually care plan book. I used Nursing Care plans (Glunaick/Myers?) and it worked awesome. We didn't use kee until the last 2wks of the semester. Hold off on buying the simulation code until the teachers tell you when to buy it. I bought one and didn't even use it this whole semester. If you can, buy all your books used online. They are a fraction of the price of the bookstore. Hmm...anything else I'm forgetting? There is so much I can go on for days. Anyway you can PM for more info, I don't mind helping others out!

debiannp · Dec 23, 2010

Okay, I have heard "ORGANIZATION" but where do I start? I have heard note books for each subject but what about tabs for dividers? What headings do I want? How many notebooks and dividers? I think we need a class in organizing before school starts.

Don't make us reinvent the wheel, tell me where to start! Please

Thanks in advance.

Debi

trishavillar · Dec 23, 2010

Debi....

Same Debi from the library on tuesday??? JW... I wanna know the same thing! It's driving me crazy. Everyone says get organized before the beginning... but how if we don't know what we need!?!?!? Someone please answer this!