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If L&D is your passion, absolutely pursue it! I did my preceptorship in L&D at the hospital I wanted to work at, and got a job there as a new grad. So happy that I followed my heart!

We have a policy that tables can be made for patients at 6cm and moved to their rooms. We always have at least one table set up in the OR hallway except for when JCO is around. They are fine with the 6cm in room policy.

I can't speak to the quality of education, but are you SURE that you can do the schedule of the ABSN? I only had 3 kids in nursing school, but even having one there was NO WAY that I could have done the ABSN. We have 2 local ABSN programs and they both entailed too many hours to be able to be a mom and I imagine the stress level would not have made me a good mom when I actually was present. Yes, I would have finished earlier, but my kids would not have known who I was. I loved the ASN program - it was only 1.5 days a week with summers and winter break off with my kids. I'd take the 21 months of ASN (Aug-May) over the 16 months ABSN any day. Because of my prior BS, I was able to finish my BSN online in 8 months, again with minimal impact to my family and I was hired into my dream specialty at my dream hospital. I'd just recommend that you really consider the impact to your kids. The only plus side is your kids will maybe adjust to you working better - mine had a hard time with me working 3 days a week, but since you'll be home more once you're working it could be better?

Preceptorship! Having people that you worked with that can advocate for you is invaluable.

I have three kids and they are adjusting just fine so far. I've been home with them all since they were born (youngest is 5) other than nursing school which was just 1.5 days a week. I thought it was going to be much harder than it was. I feel slightly disconnected only because I'm not at their schools 5 days a week which I was before and losing control of the dinner situation and bedtime has been hard but overall, I think it's going really well. Most days I see 2 of the kids before I leave for work and I'm almost always home to put them to bed. They are so busy with school and sports in between that only the 5 year old really feels the impact of me being gone 12.5 hours a day.

We chart any decels since the last charting - even if it was at 6:01 and is perfect after that. Your "absent" isn't defendable in court.

This, exactly. There are many RN jobs that don't require working Saturdays - you need to find a job where the requirements meet your needs even if the job doesn't fulfill your wants. Prioritization - needs over wants.

We just had to update the ISP with the actual number of hours spent on each item and the date completed.

I graduated in October but as far as I'm aware grades have to be posted within 7 days of the turn in date. So I'd definitely look into it.

I had to take 10 total. I wasn't allowed to take my Capstone until everything else was done.

It's very basic. Just read the directions and do exactly that. There isn't a wrong answer, you just have to make sure you include each of the objectives at least once.

DONE ? Thanks!

I just wanted to update now that I have finished the [new] 10 week Capstone... at the beginning of the Capstone all I could think reading through it all was ***** I called the professor, she clarified a couple of things, and I decided just to take each week and follow the rubrics exactly. It worked. So my advice to anyone would be just to sit back and don't over-analyze, just do what it says and you will be fine. This is a good class because the topic is what you are interested in. The final paper is still a compilation of prior work, with some added areas that are all covered/answered through your DQs. So put the time into the DQs so that you can use those for your paper.

I had the list but never ended up with anyone on it (good or bad). You basically just have to take the first grading assignment as an indicator of what's important to the instructor. I had one that APA was of utmost importance, one that PP format was apparently very important to her, and others that care about the substance more than the form. Some were easier, some were harder. But if you look at what's important after that first grade, you should do fine. And if they deduct things that aren't on the rubric, then you can appeal it. That's why there is a rubric, to make sure that you can cover everything they want.

I didn't find the Mentor/Site Affiliation to be awful. I don't currently work, so I asked someone where I plan to work next year to be my mentor. I had to get her resume and provide a copy of her license and she had to sign something. From there, my advisor contacted the site and sent me an email with everything that needed to be filled out. From the time I turned everything in, I got my clearance about a week later, definitely not more than 2 weeks. I will say that I find the assignments to be vague and some we aren't provided with rubrics despite it being graded on a rubric. It hasn't been an issue for me in my grades so far, though, it just creates a lot of stress. I imagine that international students could still get it done, so long as they have scanners and a contact in the US that would agree to be their mentor. I am not quite sure why they require that we get clearance with the mentor's facility since they don't require actual clinical time and time spent with the mentor isn't included in practice immersion hours. Really, the mentor is simply to bounce ideas off of and get feedback if you want it.

I'm 41. I define health as a state of being where you both feel good and have the ability to do what you want without physical/mental limitations. Right now, I simply try to eat a balanced diet and I walk at least 120 minutes a week. I'm sick now, but I also try to work out (primarily cardio) three times a week.

It didn't take that long for me. From the time I sent in all my information, it took about a week to get clearance. Mine was part of an approved network, though.

I spoke to my instructor today and feel much better. She said the journal entries are just reflective over what we've learned in researching the capstone. So if you're doing sepsis, talk about the sepsis bundles that are becoming prevalent and the research behind them. She was really great, and very open to further communication so I told her I'd likely be calling her again since right now it made sense but might not next week :)

Flames, do you know when they started the Capstone as 10 weeks? I started at GCU 6 months ago and knew it was a 10 week capstone, but it seems like lots of people that graduated this year were still part of the 5 week.

What day did you start your capstone? I started mine 8/21, are we in the same class? I have a 4.0 so far after doubling up on everything and I am totally lost as to what is expected. I turned in the ISP but it probably wasn't done correctly. I don't get the scholarly activity and the journal entries. At this point, praying just to pass.

What is the class #? I had a good experience with pretty much all my instructors, currently in the Capstone. Some were more particular than others (like on APA format) but they normally articulated it in the DQs so by the time a paper was due you could incorporate that feedback for the A.

I just finished that class, it wasn't that bad. The DQs were the easiest because they were all opinion based. The last paper was pretty easy - in order to quote both religions and principalism, 6 references was easy, I think I had 12 total references. I didn't like all the gray matter of the class, but it left room for it to be the easiest because there isn't much fact other than quoting the Bible.

Got it, thanks! Never even heard of AA, so yes, thought it was associate's :)

This doesn't even make sense. ADNs and BSNs have the exact same scope of practice. Neither can be independent practitioners in terms of anesthesia. Both can get hired into ICU units. If a facility has magnet status or the market is saturated with new grads, getting an ICU job will be harder. However, I am in an oversaturated job market and still see ADNs getting hired into ICU positions, even at magnet hospitals (though there is one local one that requires the BSN). Secondly, clinical requirements are set by the state board of nursing. The clinical requirement is the same for ADN and BSN. All that said, to the OP - if you have the time and don't currently have a bachelor's degree, I'd recommend going for the BSN because I do agree that the ADN (once you factor in the pre-reqs, application, and waiting time) then BSN can take you longer than the straight BSN. And then there is no question about where you can apply in case BSN is required.

I have these same questions. Also, if finances are an issue at all - I had a prior BS degree, as well, and to get my BSN (I did ADN, then RN-BSN) was probably close to $20K total. So best case scenario is that you're 64 when you get your BSN, and out $20K. Is it worth it to you to get in 6-10 years?