TeresaRN2b

I am currently in an RN program that has an LPN exit option. I will be eligible to take my state boards for my LPN in December. Originally when I started school I planned to go all the way through for my RN, but now I am getting stressed as to how to juggle it all. Daycare expenses are killing me without me having an income, but with 5 kids I don't see how I could work and go to school. I have been seriously considering going through Excelsior for my RN, but have some reservations. Mostly I'm concerned about employment with an Excelsior degree. Do employers look at this job equally? Has anyone had a problem getting a job with an Excelsior degree? Has anyone been discriminated for having a non-traditional degree? Also I live in Michigan does anyone know how Michigan state boards look at Excelsior degrees? Any and all feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Teresa

ROFLOL!:roll I am sorry found this thread particularly funny. Um, I have to say no, we really don't have any teacher's pets in my class, but we certainly have our share of annoying suck-ups. You know the ones that ask questions they already know the answers to just to show off their knowledge. Thanks for the laugh, just finding this all amusing today. Teresa

My teeth are bad, bad, bad. I had perfect teeth till I was 23. Not a cavity in my mouth ever. I have not the money to do nursing school and fix my teeth. I had 3 root canals in the past 2 years and need much more work. I know this is pitiful, but I think I am getting them all pulled when I am through school. They are so bad. I don't think I will have the money to fix them all so that is my plan for now. I have visible holes in my teeth right now and it is so embarassing, but there just isn't enough money for both. And the way I look at it getting through nursing school will give me the funds to take care of my dental problems. I just hope and pray that they will hold out till I am finished with school because I can't afford another root canal right now. Teresa

Perhaps a better way to approach this to your instructor then would have definitely been to do it in private and also approach her as a student representative. Saying something to the effect of "some of the other students have come to me and expressed this concern....., I'd like to know how you can help me best to address this." I do tend to agree with everyone else that you're wording was not the best choice, but we ALL make mistakes so I will not come on hear and blast you. You're human and this is a learning process. Take this as constructive feedback and try not to internalize it to much. (((Hugs))) Teresa

Oh no, I am having the same problem and it is really upsetting. I know that I have had some mild hearing loss USUALLY it is not a problem even with blood pressures. I have a littman stethoscope and do ok with it. I bought a better stethoscope for that reason (of course at the moment I can't find it so am very panicked. I will be doing a major search through my house this weekend.) We have to use the double headed instructor's double stethoscope at school and that double tubing makes it very hard for me. One of the things I have tried to do is make sure all background noise is eliminated or lowered as much as possible. My instructor also suggested using two fingers to hold the bell instead of my thumb like I usually do because it holds it a little more stable so less rattling with it. Um, trying to think what else. I have to pay careful attention to how I place the earpieces too. I am really getting frustrated myself though. I haven't mentioned the fact that I know I have had mild hearing loss because I know it is very mild as I made it through the screening for the military. I am afraid if I say anything it will make the situation worse (not sure that this is the right thing to do though). Anyhow, just wanted you to know that you are not alone. I am fine with my other stethoscope and try to remember that when I am with my instructors for test out. Teresa

As the mother of a diabetic child here are some suggestions I would make. Sometimes it's not neglect, (although in this case it very well may be). Sometimes it's just a lot of work to keep up with and remember all the time. I would suggest having the mom send a month's worth of snacks to the school at a time. I know for me I quite often don't realize the school has run out. I just lose track and sending a month's worth in at a time really helps with the frustration level. My other guess is that if she has been dealing with this for 10 years she probably overestimates her child's ability to take care of this herself. Being a young mother she may just have a lot on her plate to take care of and just gotten distracted from what needs to be done. I know for myself I quite often forget how important the paperwork is. I would suggest both the month's supply and trying to tap her into free lunch program if she is eligible and any other community resources. Just my thoughts anyhow. Teresa

We have been taking our lab class and theory class the past 6 weeks, but have a 2 week clinical class that starts on Monday. We are not supposed to go in if we are sick, but then we aren't allowed to have any absences or we have to make them up. They let us know up front that it would be very difficult to make up a missed clinical, but that they could possibly come up with one day to make up. Any more than that and we have to wait till the next semester to retake the class. I know I can't be the only one that has faced this dilemna. I will most probably go in sick anyway, but find this really frustrating. I don't want anyone to get sick from me, but I know odds are everyone will get sick at least once during the 2 year program if not many more times than that. How do you all handle illness? What's your school's policy? Any miracle cures for a cold? Teresa

Awe shucks, you all are too much. Made me laugh and smile today. Actually in my opinion it's easier to do school with the little ones sometimes than the older ones. My older kids wear me out. I held off going to school for a long time because I felt like I couldn't have my big old family and school too and my kids were always my first priority. Then I woke up one day and realized if I wanted it bad enough I could have them both. Of course I am dragging my husband along for the bumpy ride, lol. Definitely doable if your mind is set on it. Teresa

Yep, it can be done. I have 5 kids ages 10, 6, 4, 2, and 5 months and I just started nursing classes this fall. I took all my prereqs and then knocked out all my gen ed classes before starting to make it a little easier for me. It has been really tough, but it feels really good to finally be doing this. My sister is watching my kids so that has helped me not worry quite so much about leaving my kids. It has been a tremendous amount of juggling for hubby and the kids and I, but so far I am doing very well in my classes. Teresa

Ah hugs Kimberly, sorry it wasn't an acceptance letter. Teresa

I actually learned it as 5 rights to, but it was pretty easy to add the last part to the acronym and it probably is good to remember the documentation as part of it too. Teresa

Okay dumb, but I remember it like this Dopey - Drug People - Person Don't - Dosage Remember - Route Things - Time Do they? - Documentation Teresa

It really depends on the school. The school I am attending has no time limits, so everything transferred in. Another school I looked at had a 7 year time limit on A&P classes and 10 years on everything else.

Ok, just curious how often you come across parents who have no name for their baby when it's born? My husband and I are so clueless right now and wondering how common it is for parents not to have something picked out in time. One of our kids was already named after birth and it is looking like it will be a repeat with this one. This should be entertaining for the nurses us arguing about names.

Let me first add that my issue was not with reusing disposable items as much as it is not properly sterilizing them. If you want to reuse otoscope covers then they should be soaked at the end of the night in the cold sterilization chemicals that the rest of the equipment is sterilized in. The way the doctor was doing this there was no checks and balances to be sure that these items were actually getting sterilized at all. You were just supposed to wipe them down with alcohol when you cleaned up the room. Secondly as far as the urine cups, seems ridiculous. I understand that the sterile urine cups may be more money. Why use them at all though if you aren't collecting a sterile specimen. I know I can go to the grocery store and get 200 dixie cups for $3. I am sure a doctor's office buying in quantity can get them even cheaper. I understand my results aren't probably being effected by reusing the urine cups, but why use sterile cups in the first place if you aren't concerned about having a sterile specimen.

What do you think of doctor's offices that reuse medical supplies? I am not talking about things that are sterilized and standard to be reused. Here are two examples. One, I worked as a CMA for a family practice doctor and he had us reuse the ear pieces for the otoscopes (not sure of the right word for what I am looking for). He would have us clean them with alcohol and reuse them. Personally I thought that was really cheap and not very sanitary. Then second example, my OBs office sent me home the first visit with a sterile urine cup. Well I bring it in and they rinse it out and wipe it dry with a paper towel and hand it back to me for next visit. I also found that very cheap and unsanitary. I mean if they are that low on money buy the dixie cups instead of using sterile cups and have the patients give urine in the office (which all my previous doctors have done). Needless to say I didn't come back with the cup for the next visit. Anyhow, wondering what your thoughts are on this. How common is this? Am I wrong to think this is really unsanitary?

My guess is it will be a lot of math involving dosage and calculations. Maybe you can start working on studying up on that before the semester starts. I know that is one of the things I am looking at while I am waiting. Teresa

Ok, here are my thoughts since I am a medical assistant going for my RN. I have been to nursing school and I have been to MA school. Medical assistant school is a joke compared to nursing school. Please do not take that the wrong way, but the school I went to was pathetic. I had a 100% GPA. You could miss one day a week of class and still pass. The clinical time was all in the lab and no hospital or doctors office time with real patients at all. That being said the procedures you would be doing in an office are not difficult and honestly don't require that much training. It gave me good patient experience. I am great at drawing blood now and can do EKGs. I also have insurance training and other clerical skills that will help me in nursing, but that being said the training is not even close to the training nurses get. If you do go to be a CMA please check the accreditation of your school. I know Excelsior College takes CMA into their nursing program, but your school has to be accredited through the AAMA (America Association of Medical Assistants). My program was not. I am glad that I am going to a traditional nursing school though because I don't think I'd honestly be prepared to work as a nurse. Yes, I know how to do vitals, injections, draw blood, lab work, and EKGs and some other procedures, but there is so much more that I don't know that nurses do. If I had my choice to do it over again I would have gone to school to be an LPN. Where I live CMAs can make the same as LPNs however when you go back to school being a CMA helps you diddly as far as time goes and had I gone for my LPN it would have saved me a lot of headache. CMA programs are appealing because they are easier to get into, but if you want to advance your career you will pretty much have to start over from scratch. So think about that before you start your schooling. The 8-12 months you spend on this CMA program would be better spent in nursing school. First off most hospitals will hire nursing students as techs and in the same amount of time you spent in a CMA program you could get enough qualifications to work in a hospital making comparable pay. Just my thoughts anyways, but if I had to do it all over again I would not have wasted my time going to school to be a CMA. Teresa

Ok, I will tell you I HATED micro! I didn't do well in the class and I am usually a very good student. I will tell you this though I think had I had a different instructor I probably would have had a different opinion. The instructor I had was awful. My advice would be if you start noticing your grades slipping get help from tutoring through the school. I really wish I had. I am not sure if it is the same in all classes, but for us it was one of those things where one thing built on another so if you got lost early on it was hard to catch up. All that being said I did pass it with not an awful grade, but not my best grade either. Good luck! Teresa

Hopefully, I 'll get something out of this class. We'll see. Teresa

I have the worst teacher. I have 100% in the class so far, but I have to look everything up in the book to understand what is going on. Supposedly everything you need to know is from the lecture and he skips around all over the book. He gives out an outline to go with his lecture so that is the only thing that is saving me. The outline gives me the subjects so I can track everything down and look it up. I am so frustrated! I am glad that I am doing well, but his lecture is such a waste of time. I sit there the whole time not having a clue what he is talking about. He might as well be speaking Japanese. I know I am not stupid because when I look it up in the book it makes perfect sense. I just dread going to class because it has become a complete waste of time. I feel like I might as well be doing a correspondence course. Also on a related note, do you all have any good microbiology websites? Particularly any sites showing DNA molecules. Teresa

It's okay if your phobic of needles poking YOU. It would be a bigger problem if you were afraid of poking others. I worked as a phlebotomist and was very good at drawing blood, but that doesn't mean I don't get a little nervous when someone else is sticking me. Think of it like this you being afraid of being poked helps you to have empathy for your patients. I have passed out more than one time from having my blood drawn and I think it helped me to be a better at drawing blood because I had more compassion for my patients and I was sincere when I said I understand. Don't worry about it just practice your technique and be good at it. You may never get better at yourself being stuck. It only matters if you can stick other people. Teresa