lehaley1989

If you're referring to the Certified Health Education Specialist exam, it's not too bad. My previous degree is a BS in Community Health Education, and I took the exam shortly after graduating. The only study tool I used was the official book from NCHEC.

Many nursing schools will accept students who are not up to date on their vaccinations, however clinical sites will not. You will be putting yourself in a position where you will be unable to complete your clinical requirements for graduation/licensure. If you are unwilling to get vaccinated, you should probably consider another career path.

I had a clinical instructor arrange for us to shadow RNs in specialty areas for a few hours on our last day. Wound care, PICC team, OR, cath lab, etc. It was a cool opportunity.

Honestly, I feel like this is fairly common. My classmates and I have frequently talked about how our minds go completely blank when we're in simulation or doing skills check-offs. Not only are they creepy, it's just really difficult to fake interactions with a stinking doll! It also doesn't help that you know you'll be watched by an instructor when you're doing sim or a skills check-off. That's a lot of pressure! I'm in my last semester, have probably done 10-15 simulation experiences, and I still get extremely anxious and do silly things every time I have one. Thankfully sims aren't graded in our program, they're just viewed as a "safe space to practice".

I second meeting with your instructor. Ask to go over old exams with them, if they have any tips for absorbing the material better, and if they have any suggestions based on what has worked for their students in the past. You also may want to take a closer look at the way you're studying. I've found that especially with nursing classes, not every study method works for every class. Maybe ask around and see what's been working for your classmates, then try a new approach.

Pick up a good NCLEX review book. Not only can they help you review content before each exam, they contain lots of great SATA practice questions. I really like the Saunders review book. https://www.amazon.com/Saunders-Comprehensive-NCLEX-RN%C2%AE-Examination-Nclex-Rn/dp/0323358519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541192367&sr=8-1&keywords=saunders+nclex

Practice! We were able to "check out" models from the lab in the library to study with outside of class, but this could only be done on campus. I would also take pictures of the models to take home, print out, and label over and over. Worked really well for me.

I'm in a small city. The hospitals in my area prefer nurses to have their BSN, but will hire ADN nurses who are planning to complete their BSN. I believe they give new hires somewhere around 4-5 years to complete it, and they all have pretty solid tuition reimbursement programs. Might be a good thing to ask about during your interview.

100%. Nursing school attracts a lot of competitive people. You will encounter classmates who brag about their grades and repeatedly ask you to share yours. I've had people actually become frustrated with me for saying "I did fine" when they asked what percentage I received on an exam. You aren't obligated to share this information with anyone. The only person that you need to compete against is yourself.

I know a lot of nurses who use their Apple Watch on the floor. They can be safely wiped down with alcohol, and there is actually a setting that lengthens the amount of time before the watch times out.

Completely agree! Do you have panic attacks related to illness or other aspects of life often? If so, I would highly recommend working on getting them under control before beginning a nursing program. I have anxiety & panic disorder, and the stress of nursing school has absolutely made my panic attacks happen more frequently. I have several relaxation techniques that work for me, and I would definitely be in trouble if I didn't!

Agreed. This has absolutely not been my experience. All of my clinical instructors have seemed to genuinely care about what is going on in our lives outside of school, and they use that information to better support us. I am one year in, and I can honestly say that I have not encountered an instructor that I felt was out to fail me. Maybe our programs are not the norm?

While I understand why these types of policies exist, I wish that more organizations would keep people with chronic illnesses in mind when creating them. I have hemiplegic migraines that are fairly well controlled, but can still flare up from time to time. It's not safe for me to get behind the wheel, let alone care for patients when I am nearly blind in one eye, numb/weak on one side, and vomiting like the girl in The Exorcist. It's unbelievably frustrating to be penalized for something that is 100% out of my control.

This is 100% normal, and chances are many of your fellow students are feeling the exact same way. You're trying new skills in a new environment with someone hovering over your shoulder and grading you on it. That is insanely stressful no matter how confident you may be! I agree with Zombie - find ways to relax before going to bed at night. Turning my brain off and reading a book (NOT a school book!) has always been really helpful for me. Keep in mind that you're a student, and your instructors and the staff on the floor don't expect you to do things perfectly right out of the gate. Try not to be so afraid of mistakes. They're great learning experiences!

My MacBook Pro was a great investment when I was completing my first degree, and it was about 10 years old when I was accepted to nursing school. It was slowing down considerably and I knew that I would be continuing my education after completing my ADN, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one. I actually ended up getting another MacBook Pro because there were some pretty significant student discounts and I'd had such a good experience with my first one. I think the Air would be just fine for school, though. I have never run into issues with my school's programs not working on my Mac, but I did install Microsoft Office so that I could easily submit assignments in Word format.

There's a website called Khan Academy that has an awesome section on A&P. I used it to refresh my knowledge before starting my nursing program, but I think the videos would also be great for someone who hasn't taken it yet.

I agree with all of the previous posters - taking all three classes together is not a great idea. Taking A&P 2 and micro together would be doable if you are a strong student with good time management skills.

Yikes. Not documenting a med administration is a pretty big error. It is lucky that your patient was not harmed, but they most certainly could have been. What if another nurse had given a second dose of insulin because it was showing up as not being administered in the chart? Not properly verifying a patient's identity is also extremely negligent. Personally, I think you should really stop focusing on how you would have only been placed on probation if it weren't for this drug dosage exam. The fact is, you made a series of decisions that could have seriously harmed your patient. In my program, a single one of these errors would result in dismissal from clinical. There are several students in my program with mental health diagnoses (myself included) and a lot of things going on outside of school. This may sound harsh, but you really can't use these things as excuses for bad decision making. Not when you hold other people's lives in your hands. I'm glad to hear that you're planning to spend more time on self-care in the coming months. However when the time comes to re-enroll, I I hope that you pause and examine your mental health status. Really think about whether or not you are ready to go back. Is it the right thing for you? What about your patients?

Have you ever reached out to those BSN programs that you applied to? If you can, I would definitely recommend it. Many programs are happy to give feedback on applications and would probably be willing to talk to you about your strengths, weaknesses, and how to become a stronger applicant in the future.

My program had us buy a book called Calculate with Confidence. It's a really easy to follow book that will walk you step-by-step through multiple methods for solving problems (although I definitely prefer the dimensional analysis method). I have a lot of anxiety when it comes to math, so I used it to teach myself over the summer before my program began. I felt super prepared when our first dosage calculations exam rolled around!

Definitely check your school's policies. In addition to the point that Guy in Babyland made about time limits, you'll want to make sure that the C's will not affect how competitive your application is. Don't discount the competitiveness of ADN programs. In many areas, ADN programs are just as tough to get into as BSN programs. Schools can generally provide the average GPA of admitted students for each semester, so I would recommend taking a look at that before making any decisions. Another thing to keep in mind is that I've heard that schools have a way to determine if you've taken college courses in the past, even if you don't send them your transcript. This would technically be considered academic dishonesty, which nursing programs tend to take very seriously.

Congrats on your acceptance! I don't have experience with Chamberlain specifically, but I am in the second semester of my nursing program. Clinical can be difficult, but also rewarding. There is generally quite a bit of paperwork that needs to be completed each week and the days can be long. It's stressful to have an instructor hovering over you for 8-12 hours at a time. But it's also your opportunity to show off the skills that you've been learning in class and gain really valuable patient care experience. How does it feel being in nursing school? I saw a meme once that said something like "Nursing school is easy - it's like riding a bike. Except the bike is on fire and you're on fire and you're in hell." I find this to be pretty accurate. Truthfully though, I've wanted to come back to school for a long time and I worked hard to get here. I'm enjoying everything I've been learning and doing, but yes, it is very challenging.

A lot of people in my program have the wheelie backpacks, but I just went with a regular backpack (I think it's Swiss Army). To be fair, I'm only taking one class per day. Some of the students who went with the wheelie backpacks are taking 2 a day and may need to bring more books to campus than I do. Generally I bring my laptop, 1-2 2 inch binders, and a pen case. It's rare for me to bring a textbook to class.

Klp2006 is correct. Whether or not you should retake the class is really going to depend on how competitive your program is. 2.75 was the required GPA for one of the BSN programs I applied to years ago, but it was rare for someone to be admitted with anything less than a 3.8.

I find that the information in my textbooks and on PowerPoints from class can be really overwhelming. I like to make a study sheet for each disease that only includes the stuff that I feel like I really need to know. A pathophysiology summary, signs & symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, nursing interventions, etc. Just the act of making the study sheets really helps me to become more comfortable with the information, and then I have something to review without all of the added textbook and lecture fluff.