futurenurse612

Hi @no-scrubs, I have a PDF of the fifth edition that my friends and I in the program use.

I'm finishing at the beginning of August 2019, and graduating in October. (Just got the official date today!)

Hi @ltruong! In your consolidating semester (your sixth semester), you have the opportunity to go wherever you aspire to be hired, and that could be out of town or even out of the province. I'm not sure about other semesters though. (I don't think it's a possibility though, but that could be something to ask and find out about!)

Hi @SPPhopeful, it is definitely possible to get good grades! Each faculty advisor marks differently, but fair. I'm achieving marks in the high 80's, and then I know other people getting 90's and some people who are getting 70's. It just depends, but the faculty advisors want you to do well and are there to support and help you.

Hi @PeachyT! I have no idea how they initially select who goes where (either SickKids, UHN or TPH). I was actually placed in UHN but they switched me last minute to SickKids (which I was thrilled about because it was my first choice). I think it's wherever they think would be the right fit for you based on your background, your interests you talked about in the interview, and your GPA). I'm not entirely sure though!

There are not really any required textbooks, but it's suggested you have at least Potter and Perry's Nursing Fundamentals textbook, and any kind of Pharmacology textbook to help you study. Earlier in this thread I gave you guys a list of the most popular authors and books Nursing students use. Closer to when the program stars though, you'll receive a huge list of suggest textbooks and sources to use throughout the program.

Hi @SPPhopeful! Yes I am a current student of the SPP, I am in my first year, going into my third semester. The workload is challenging but manageable! Even though you are only taking three courses, it's like the workload of a full course load. Being in the program, you quickly learn to manage your workload with your clinical placement. The type of work changes every semester, but it's more projects and essays rather than tests and exams. Almost every semester you have a test or lab exam you need to get a certain amount on to pass and move on to the next semester (retakes are possible). I noticed that your source is from 2016, because the Nipissing SPP pass rate is in the 90's as of last year. It's rare for a student from the SPP not to pass. I hope this info has helped! I love the questions.

Hi @connor67! So how it works is that you have a home base (mine is SickKids), and you spend at least 5 out of your 6 semesters there in different rotations. You get to experience all areas of the hospital like burns and plastics, neuro, cardio, respiratory, ortho, etc. You are forced to switch out of the hospital during your fourth semester to another organization like UHN and TPH so you get to experience other areas that you may not experience at your home base. If you enjoy your semester out, you can choose to change your home base. And if you want to switch out beforehand, you usually have the opportunity to switch out during your third semester even. So there are a lot of opportunities to experience other areas of the hospitals, as well gain experience in the other organizations!

Hey @Tasha0117, the due date changes every year, so if you cannot find it in the package I would email or contact Nipissing's Registrar's Office (or wherever it says to send the forms in to). Sorry I cannot be of more help!

You should find out which organization you are in soon, or if not you will find out at the beginning of the semester. You won't find out your actual placement until a couple weeks in to the program. And this happens every semester where we usually find out our next placement during the Inquiry period at the beginning of each semester.

Hey guys! Yes we do get a month or so off between semesters. We get December, April, and August off each year.

@Tasha0117, the hours of your placement vary based on your organization. If you get put into TPH the hours are only 9-5, whereas if you're placed in a hospital through UHN or SickKids, your hours can be either day shifts (7am-7pm), or night shifts (7pm-7am). But at SickKids you are expected to always arrive at your placement half an hour before the starting time.

Hey everyone! For those of you who do not know me, I am a current first year student in the program. In regards to the topic of doing your Masters afterwards, the SPP has a high reputation in this case! We were told that Masters programs are impressed with the amount of hours we attain in our clinical placements throughout the six semesters/2 years. The SPP specifically prepares us for a Masters in the sense that when you do your Masters, it is the same structure and self-directed learning because you choose what you study based on your thesis. There are quite a few people from previous years who are doing/have done their Masters, and we are encouraged by the faculty to apply in the fall of our second year. If you want to do a Masters afterwards, you won't have a problem because the SPP is an accredited BScN program!

@SPPhopeful, I'm a student in the program currently, and just to clarify that the Reflection part is only 1 week at the end of the semester :) You are given some structure as to what you should be learning for the semester, and your placements at the hospitals and in the organizations are extremely helpful in your learning!

Hi @tamaraago! There are 6 semesters in total, with 3 semesters per year. Each semester is 3 months, and then you get a month or so break in between each semester (Breaks are December, April and August of each year). You are given the syllabus before the semester starts so you can prepare during your month break. In terms of textbooks, you need to choose what basically speaks to you and how you learn best. I have quite a few textbooks online, and one physical pharmacology textbook I bought off of a Nursing friend who is in the 4 year program at UWindsor. Any textbooks by Potter and Perry, or by Jarvis are well known ones. The RNAO also has a lot of policies and procedures you can look up and study from on their website, as well as the CNO. The "Competencies for Entry-Level Register Nurse Practice" from the CNO is like the holy bible in the program and what you should be basing your studying from throughout the program. (It lists all the competencies that are expected of you when you graduate and become an RN). When I found out I got into the program, I began watching the YouTube channel RegisteredNurseRN and taking notes from the beginner skills videos like auscultating the heart, lungs, head to toe assessments, vital signs, etc. I found I learned best by watching these videos, but again, what the program preaches is you need to figure out the ways that you learn best, whether it's reading and taking notes from a textbook, reading journal articles online, watching YouTube videos, etc. On a side note, it's not really talked about, but it will be expected when you start in September that you have a stethoscope, scrubs and shoes already. The program does not have requirements or specifications for these, apart from that the shoes need to be close toed, and they cannot have the "mesh" on them like some running shoes have, it has to be a solid material that will prevent anything leaking right through into your socks for safety reasons, and they should be preferably non-slip. Sketchers or Asics are always a good bet for running shoes! For stethoscopes, go to stethoscope.ca and order your stethoscope from there! You save a ton of money with them and you have tons of time to order them now. Everyone in my year wished they had known about it beforehand because they went out to the University of Toronto to buy theirs, and it cost them $150-$250, where on stethoscope.ca you can get stethoscopes for as low as $88 with a free engraving! (You definitely want to get your stethoscope engraved, or figure out a way to mark it as your own, because they can go missing pretty easily in the hospital because other healthcare professionals steal them from students). You can get any scrubs you want, and if you are at SickKids it's encouraged to get scrubs with fun characters on them, because it makes a world of difference! (They usually have a big back to school sale near the end of the summer on scrubs!). These are things that the faculty did not tell us until a week before we were due to begin our placements, so some people were scrambling and paying a lot of money for stethoscopes, scrubs and shoes. So I'm giving you guys a heads up in case you guys decide to choose this program! Other schools have different protocols for these types of things, so what I'm saying only applies to Nipissing's SPP. Let me know if you have any other questions!