Thomas Jefferson FACT Program

U.S.A. Pennsylvania

Published

Hi.

I have been accepted into the TJU FACT program that begins in May but the orientation isn't until a week before classes begin and I would like to get a better idea of the scheduling. I know it's 5 days a week but does anyone have some more specific info? i have to arrange for child care and transportation and a general idea of the class/clinical hours would be helpful.

also...anyone else out there starting the program with me in May?

Hi again,

I currently have three 8-hour clinicals per week. I'm really going to try to get two 12s next quarter because I feel like I have less time than people who have 2/week. I'm on the 7-3 M/T/W rotation. We usually get out a little late, so by the time I get home, I'm tired and don't want to study much. In contrast, the people with two 12s will sometimes (not always) get done early and then they also have a whole extra day to themselves.

I live in West Phila and ride my bike so I have about a 20 min commute. Tons of people in our program from south jersey. Most take patco in. Some come from very far; I know of at least 2-3 people with an hour+ commute each way.

How much I study/read depends on the week. Most weekdays I'd estimate about 3 hours/day and on weekends probably about 4-6 hours/day. Some weekends I won't do one thing because I need a mental break (that was this past weekend). The instructors will tell you it's healthy to do that every now and then. I could have justified it fine all by myself, but that's good too. ;)

I had thought most of my time would be spent straight studying, but we actually have a fair amount of smaller projects that take up time. My estimate of how long I spend studying includes these. (For example, we had to write a report on the support group experience, a report on the day we spent in the OR, care plans for clinical, etc.) Right now we have 5 classes. The three main classes are pharm 1, patho 1 and nursing management 1. These are taught by body system, so that in a given week you might do GI and cover GI drugs, GI path and GI nursing care. The other 2 classes are Health Assessment (this class has a lab) and Intro to Nursing (some busy work, laid back, not a lot of effort). I checked the schedule for our next quarter and it seems like the work load is a lot less.

We've had exams in all of our classes except Intro (no exams for that class). They structure exams like the NCLEX exam (including style of question and amount of time given to answer each question) so we're used to them by the time we graduate. I thought the exams were fine and easier than I studied for. They try to prepare you by guiding your readings with questions to focus on, and giving you NCLEX style questions in lecture to try to answer. The core courses (pharm, patho, management) are tested at the same time (i.e. you have all 3 exams back to back on one day). Makes sense since they teach them together. The Health Assessment exam was written, but they also have a practical exam at the end where you show up, they give you a body system, and you have to do an assessment on a classmate. They told us exactly what they were expecting though, so it's not too bad, just practice.

Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough. Sorry this is so long. I just remember what it was like when I was considering the program and I wanted as much info as I could find. So I thought I would share as much as I could in case it helps someone else. Any other questions, ask away. :)

1 Votes

Thanks for the great info for the people who are applying...I was wondering if you could message me (or just reply here) the titles of your Pharm, Path, and Nursing Management books for this term? I have a ton of nursing books from various people, and I was just curious as to whether or not I already own them or not :) thanks!

Sure thing. Pharm book is Pharmacology for Nursing Care Sixth Edition (Lehne). Patho and Nursing Management use the same text: Medical-Surgical Nursing Seventh Edition (Lewis). If you decide to do the program, they make you buy a book bundle with all the books for the year; the bundle is discounted from what you would pay for the books separately. Even if you do have some of the books and just want to buy the others, it would probably be the same price or cheaper to just buy the bundle. Also as an FYI, they sometimes change the books from year to year. They told us the Pharm book we have now is different than what they used last year.

Also as an FYI, Jeff requires a PDA. Sometimes this is included in the bundle. Ours wasn't this year; we had to buy it and the software separately.

Nursing school is expensive. Love the PDA though. Great for clinicals.

1 Votes

Thanks! Did you have to buy a specific PDA or did you get to choose?

Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough. Sorry this is so long. I just remember what it was like when I was considering the program and I wanted as much info as I could find. So I thought I would share as much as I could in case it helps someone else. Any other questions, ask away. :)

Thank you SO MUCH for all that detailed information! You have helped me make an important decision. :icon_hug: I know how busy you must be, or at least I am imagining how busy you must be!

If you don't mind my asking, what was your original bachelor's degree in? And approximately how old are you? You can ignore me or PM me if you don't want to answer publicly. I'm an official coot, well over 40... :chuckle My husband is a little concerned about doing an intense accelerated program at my age. But I'm not!!! I think I have more energy now that I'm studying stuff that is so fascinating...

Specializes in LTC.

To chime in a little, I graduated from FACT in May and it is a great program with a great faculty. The PDA is mandatory this year but it wasn't last year and the people that didn't have it wished they did b/c it is the best in clinical. Also the second session has less classes but don't expect it to be any easier because the topics also change as well as the instrutors and each instructor has their own rhythm. As the year goes on, stay on top of your game. Many start to slack and end up stressed when it reflects in their grades. Things appear to get easier but as you enter the senior half (around November) things become different and a lot of people get lost in the mix. My class only had a few that didn't make it, 2 or 3 I think, but a lot of us were stressing around this time. So enjoy this program, try to take some time out for yourself and ask questions whenever you are unsure of something.

Specializes in LTC.

AtomicWoman,

As I said in my last reply, I graduated in May and wanted to say that since it is a second degree a lot of the people that apply to the program are older so I wouldn't worry about age.

To chime in a little, I graduated from FACT in May and it is a great program with a great faculty. The PDA is mandatory this year but it wasn't last year and the people that didn't have it wished they did b/c it is the best in clinical. Also the second session has less classes but don't expect it to be any easier because the topics also change as well as the instrutors and each instructor has their own rhythm. As the year goes on, stay on top of your game. Many start to slack and end up stressed when it reflects in their grades. Things appear to get easier but as you enter the senior half (around November) things become different and a lot of people get lost in the mix. My class only had a few that didn't make it, 2 or 3 I think, but a lot of us were stressing around this time. So enjoy this program, try to take some time out for yourself and ask questions whenever you are unsure of something.

Thanks for your insight! I'll try to remember to keep things revved up, even in November. :)

Have you found a job yet, or are you studying for the NCLEX? Were most of your fellow students able to find jobs pretty quickly?

I'm very encouraged that in over 100+ students, only a few didn't make it. That's much better than I have heard about (ahem) another program in Philly!

Apoptotic, regarding the PDA, they strongly recommended the Palm TX. You can pretty much get any one you want; the only thing is Jeff IT only supports certain models. I know classmates of mine have all different PDAs and no one has had any problems they couldn't figure out. The software company has a good customer service dept so if you have issues with that they can help.

AtomicWoman, my first degree was in psych/bio. Degrees/former careers for people in my class include the following: bio, chem, psych, health management, finance, journalism, accounting, pharmacy, graphic design, law, teacher, artist, police, firefighter, paramedic. Just about any background you could think of, it's represented.

I'm about to turn 33. I wouldn't worry about age as a factor in the program. If you want something and are motivated, that's most important. The average age for the FACT program is listed as 32, but I've found there are a fair amount of pretty young people in my class (very early 20's). There are also a lot in our 30s and 40s, and a I think a small handful in their 50s. Much more than age, finances can be a stumbling block. Not sure if this has been made clear on the website, but Jeff stopped the scholarship program (one month before we started the program, which caused a lot of anger). I'm not sure if they are planning to continue it in the future, but as of right now Jeff doesn't need many entry level nurses so no scholarships.

Tay,

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about the rest of the program and they haven't given us much info yet. How long are each of the quarters? Are they all 3 months long? You mentioned that they consider us seniors around November, which is when I figured the fall quarter would end. I checked the fall classes we registered for though, it looks like the second quarter runs from Sept-Dec, which doesn't make sense.

AtomicWoman, my first degree was in psych/bio. Degrees/former careers for people in my class include the following: bio, chem, psych, health management, finance, journalism, accounting, pharmacy, graphic design, law, teacher, artist, police, firefighter, paramedic. Just about any background you could think of, it's represented.

I'm about to turn 33. I wouldn't worry about age as a factor in the program. If you want something and are motivated, that's most important. The average age for the FACT program is listed as 32, but I've found there are a fair amount of pretty young people in my class (very early 20's). There are also a lot in our 30s and 40s, and a I think a small handful in their 50s. Much more than age, finances can be a stumbling block. Not sure if this has been made clear on the website, but Jeff stopped the scholarship program (one month before we started the program, which caused a lot of anger). I'm not sure if they are planning to continue it in the future, but as of right now Jeff doesn't need many entry level nurses so no scholarships.

Bailey, thanks for the info. I guess I'll be one of the small handful of people in their 50s! :chuckle

I knew about the scholarship being stopped, but not because Jeff said anything officially. I noticed it had disappeared off their website, and then I was following a discussion of what happened here on allnurses. So I have no expectations that I'll get a penny from them. Which isn't good news, but I'd rather have the truth and prepare for it than have a fantasy I'm going to get money and be disappointed!

Thanks so much again for all of your time!

BTW, do any of you current/former FACTers have a study group? Or do you pretty much do it on your own?

No problem! I'm glad to help. :) Depends on the person if he/she uses a study group. I know some people who study together regularly every week. The group I tend to study with -- we usually study on our own and then get together right before an exam for an hour or two to go over stuff. Usually you'll realize you know some things better than everyone else, and they know some things better than you do. For the health assessment practical, most students are planning to get together with other students to practice on each other.

I had heard that the people in this class tend to become close pretty fast. I would say that's true with a caveat -- about a third of the class I am very close to already, a third I am friendly with, and a third I couldn't recognize by sight if they were right in front of me. (We're a class of about 100.) You'll find your niche of students, become friends with them, and you help each other out. Even if I'm not regularly studying with people, I always feel supported and like I have a group I can count on to ask questions, bounce things off of, vent, etc.

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