AmyJo2018

Thank you everyone! I really love this forum; It is so encouraging!

Wow, now thats tenacity!

Term 1 of my ADN program is done, sort of. Actually it's not; I have to retake pharm due to being less than one percent from passing, and I withdrew from skills/clinicals early on. I just couldn't cut my work hours enough to be successful. This realization has brought me to the decision of bowing out of the associates program and applying for the practical nursing program. The depressing part is that I have to wait an entire year before it starts again. Luckily, the job I have now is one that I enjoy and I make a decent living, although it's not in healthcare. I do believe this will be a better path for me. My advisor informed me that the content is the same (the first two terms) but the PN program is stretched out over a year and has evening classes. It seemed a crushing blow at first but I think it will be better in the long run than continuing in my present program.

So Sen. Walsh made a slip of the tongue when she was tired? Think of the damage a tired nurse working a long shift with minimal breaks could do. I think she illustrated the point right there, but being too partisan to even notice.

In our state you may sit for the pn/nclex after completing your second term of the ADN program, which is what I plan to do. The tech college that I attend has a PN program with a long waiting list. Our PN program also, only starts once a year in June.

Oh yes, that amount of time will be plenty!

Greetings PreNursing Students: I am currently in the middle of first term and thought that I would jot down some fresh advice. -Get your course packets and textbooks as early as possible and start reading through the chapters, following the course calendar schedule. Participation in the lectures is important and reading ahead will get you prepared for class discussion. -Get the schedule for the skills lab. I don't mean your class schedule for nursing skills; I'm suggesting that you get the days and times that the skills lab is open for practice. Ours is posted right outside the door of the lab.. -Schedule your skills practice sessions as if it were a class in itself. Ideally, grab a study buddy or group at the first opportunity and practice, practice, practice. Your instructor will be looking for your confidence level in your skills checkoff as much as your knowledge. You will have to know the terminology and anatomy of what you are assessing so don't just study the mechanical parts of the skills. Unfortunately, I had to withdraw from skills class. My confidence was badly shaken right from the first checkoff and I just couldn't recover. Which brings me to the last piece of advice.. -Work the least amount of hours that you can outside of class time. I had not cut my hours at work back enough for effective study time and I suffered the first few weeks. If you have PTO use it. You should be able to add more job hours in after fundamentals class is over, which is half-way through the semester. I hope this helps. I simply had no idea what first term would look like until I was knee deep in it. I think that having an idea of how the classes would mesh would have been a help to me. I am still on track with fundamentals and pharmacology and I've also decided that I will be taking the licensure for practical nursing instead of getting ADN. But who knows? If I rock skills in the fall and crush second term maybe I'll press on. I'll keep you posted!

It looks like this post has been appropo for the masses. It is quite timely for me, a 51 yo first term nursing student, whose first week was horrible. I have to redo 3 out of our 5 first skills and the work load is something I will have trouble navigating this first semester. Thanks for your message!

Please don't be too discouraged. You certainly are no failure. Anyone who can complete all the work of an RN program, while not passing, and still be concerned about their standing with their parents and employers shows maturity and planning. I hope the best for you.

Thank you for sharing your story and encouraging others to do the same. I mean, that is the point of a forum, eh? I'm sorry it turned into a catty pile-on, but your post is helpful and may be what someone needs to read in the future. Providing that they don't get caught up in the muck.

I am amazed that so many educated professionals can read a post and pull only what they want to see out of it. I usually read all comments to a thread of interest, but I stopped on the second page. Some of 'you people' are disgusting, and at the very least you should return to the op and take another look.

An uninvited back-rub in a secluded closet? Whether you said anything to him at the time or not is irrelevant. Management/HR should definitely be involved. You did the right thing. Again, after being hauled into the office and (hopefully) reprimanded, the same individual leans into your personal space? Let's see it from a reasonable person's perspective. If I had given someone an extended, intimate touch in a secluded area and ended up in the office, I would steer clear of that person. Of course, I wouldn't have taken that liberty in the first place knowing full well the inference that would be conferred. This guy should not even be working there. I would bet that this is not his first rodeo.

Btw, my community college requires their Nursing Assistant course as a prereq to nursing. I feel your pain on the age thing. I will be fifty-one when I start core classes in the spring. And yes, after twenty-four years at Walmart I make way to much in wage/benefits to quit and work as a CNA, although I know it would be of great benefit in my future nursing career. I have to say, I sure wish that I had your college history! Good luck!

I would err on the side of caution where anatomy and chemistry are concerned. Taking one class in a semester to ensure a proper grade is, in the long run much less time consuming and cheaper than having to retake classes. I also worked 40 hours while attaining my prereq's and had to retake a few of them which added extra semesters before core program. Classes like psychology and such I doubled up on and was fine, but only you know you.

{ When loading a syringe the teacher kept firing questions at me. I finally said to her st one point, "I must not have done this correctly because you keep asking me questions." She said, "Not necessarily." } I wonder if the questions were just an exercise in focus while being distracted. When I was in Nursing Assistant clinicals and my instructor was watching me perform a skill, I would talk through what I was doing. This seemed to reinforce my practical knowledge of the skill and maybe prevented some of her questions.