Melcia060

I use a SONY ICD-P320. I don't think it much matters though...most of them have around the same quality. I bought this one (around $70 I believe) because I could connect it to my laptop, save the lectures on my hard drive, then burn them onto a CD and listen to them. I have a 2hr car ride home on Friday afternoons so I usually listen to them then. Melanie

Our first day, we were all scared to death!! The instructors ease you in the first couple days. The Level 1 teachers are really good, esp the Lab instructors. You'll figure out real quick who you can turn to for help. Most of the Senior nursing students are willing to help so don't be afraid to ask. Our class is talking about doing a "Mentor-a-Freshman" type thing. We didn't have that when we started and we all felt it would be a huge help. The key to this school is staying organized. You'll start doing rotations in NU104 and things get crazy...you'll be on your normal clinical floor one day, then in the OR the next day, then in Pediatrics for the next week - you need to be extra organized. Stay on top of your paperwork and try to hand it in the next day (unless there's an exam to study for). Really learn how to complete a Care Plan in NU101 & 102 ... you'll be doing them forever and it'll take you twice as long if you don't understand. Make sure you go to every lecture...no matter how boring, how long, or how stressed you are. GO to lecture! There's questions on the exams that come straight out of your instructors mouth that are NOT in the notes. You'll get those questions wrong every time you don't show up. I have a digital recorder that I use to tape lectures. You don't have to tape every single lecture, but the harder ones (aka the LONG ones that you know you won't pay attention to), those are usually the focus on the exams and it helps to hear it twice. Don't get caught up in the readings...if you get the topic, move on. Nobody has to time do that much reading every week with everything else that needs to get done. This program never gets easier, but with time you eventually get used to dealing with it. You'll watch a lot of people, some of whom you become close with, fail out. If you want it enough, and if you work at it hard enough, you'll be ok.

Last year the school only had 22 people interested in the accelerated program (they say they "require a B average" to get in, but I know of a few B- students who got in last year)...I think they were afraid that this year's summer enrollment would be low also, so they took away the grade requirement for us. They told us to sign our name on a piece of paper if we wanted to go thru the summer - there's 43 of us who are signed up for accelerated right now. A word of advice about buying the books - I hardly ever use mine. I spent about $1200 on them and most of them have never been opened. The "Fundamentals of Nursing" book is ok, but they take 20 pages to say what they could have said in 2 pages. The "Medical-Surgical" books are a must - that's where you find everything. Certainly get yourself the Drug Guide, The Pediatric Nursing book, the Nursing Dx book, and the Physical Assessment Pocketguide. As for the rest of them...I've never even opened them. Also, it probably isn't on your book list, but you'd be wise to invest in a good Nursing Care Plan book (it'll save you A LOT of time writting care plans) - you don't have to get a brand new one, mine was off of Amazon.com for $30 and I use that book for every patient. NU101 and NU102 aren't that bad (except for Fluid & Electrolytes in 102:uhoh3: ). The key is to stay organized and don't cram - it isn't all memorization in nursing school - the tests are different than any others you've taken. The recommended "Test Success" book is good - it gives you little hints and some of the questions are similar to those you'll find on your first few exams. You guys don't have to go buy it though...you're welcome to borrow mine (once you figure the tests out, the book isn't of use anymore). Another hint - buy paper. A lot of paper - a REAL lot of paper. All the notes are e-mailed to you and you can print them off w/ your paper at the school. Once you make it thru NU101 & NU102, you should get a good NCLEX review book - I use Saunder's because it has a CD w/ 2500 questions broken down by system. You'll need the practice for NU104!! Good luck!!

I started BHSN last Septemeber and I'm in the summer program right now so I'll be graduating in Decemeber. They offered us the contracts the first couple weeks of school...a lot of people signed it, I didn't. I did hear that they were waiting to offer it until 2nd yr due to the amount of students that fail out each year. The orientation is pretty good-you get to order all your uniforms and they give you a packet of information that should be helpful. You are in the hospital working on clinical the 3td day...1st day was theory (lecture), 2nd day was practical (lab) and 3td day we were on our clinical units. Good luck, enjoy 101 and 102 while you can!!

daytonite, thanks for your words and experience!! 21 yrs of nsg experience when i turn 40 sure does sound impressive, lol!! the bp website was great. i can finally see what everyone was talking about when they said "watch it jump." thanks again.--mel p.s. trust me, i've done a lot of screaming at my instructor in my head already!! lol

Hey, Yes, I am in my first clinical. We started clinical the very first week of school. This is the first year that my school is putting first semester students on the oncology floor. I'm not sure why. A lot of nurses and students from local nsg schools have looked at me funny when I told them I was on oncology. One RN even said "Oncology, are you sure?" LOL. I guess it isn't common practice around here. Good to know that you survived your nightmare clinical instructor!! Mel

Hey everyone, I just want to say a BIG thanks to everyone who replied to my post . I am going to stick it out and do my best. But it really comes down to whether I pass clinical or not if I will stay in the program. I *think* I've got the BP thing down now. I bought a cuff this weekend and I've been practicing on everyone that I see, LOL!! It is just so frustrating not having an instructor willing to give you a fair chance, but I'm going to try to plow through to next semester. I think I may try to get a student nurse position at the hospital so I can get more time with patients. Again, thanks to everyone who replied. It helps a lot to know that I'm not the only one who has felt like this and that others have survived their nightmare clinical instructors!! -Mel

Hey guys, I’m in my 1st semester of a RN diploma program. I just can’t seem to do well in clinicals. I can do the 8.5hr lectures, I can study 4-6hrs a day, I can do all the skills in lab, I’ve even learned to survive on 4hrs of sleep a night, but I suck at clinicals. I get on the floor and I’m so nervous I think I could almost puke. I was so confident of myself before I went into this but then I met my clinical instructor. She has this thing w/ my age. She goes on these 5-10min lectures to my whole clinical group about how “19 and 20yr olds aren’t mature enough or responsible enough to be nurses” and about how my generation “has everything handed to them and they still are a bunch of screw-ups.” She is constantly singling me out in my group. It doesn’t help that the other students in my group are a good 7-10+ years older than me and I’m one of the younger ones in the entire program. I thought she might leave me alone after I could answer her questions and prove myself. But I can’t seem to prove myself on the floor. I can answer all the theory questions, but I can’t interact w/ patients. I get in the room w/ them and I feel like I’m ready to throw-up everywhere. I get so nervous and anxious w/ them. I have no previous health care experiences at all, but I’ve been working in food service since I was 16 so I know how to talk w/ strangers. I’m used to meeting people and talking w/ them, but patients are different. I’m on the oncology floor and something happens when I walk in there. The patients look like they’re in so much pain and anguish and I stand there and feel so helpless. I can’t answer any of their questions…not even the simple ones. I can’t make them hurt less and I can’t find a way to relate to them. I am so nervous with them and I don’t know why. I’ve tried to calm myself down, all the deep breathing exercises and count to ten things, but it doesn’t work. I fumble around w/ my stethoscope and try to hear their blood pressures, but I just end up messing it up because I’m so nervous. It doesn’t make any sense because I’m usually bubbly and upbeat w/ strangers. My clinical instructor doesn’t help me at all. She just yells at me for everything I do. Yesterday I asked her for help because I couldn’t hear a BP and she told me “You’re not a competent student nurse, therefore, I’ll have to fail you because you can’t perform simple tasks.” I just learned how to do BPs on Thursday. I feel like I’m sinking horribly in clinicals. I’ve worked so hard to get into this program and I’ve already sacrificed more than I thought I ever would to be here. But I honestly don’t see how I’ll make it the rest of the semester in clinical. I got into nursing because I’ve wanted to work in the NICU since I can remember, but now I’m wondering if I’ve made another huge mistake. Maybe she was right…maybe I am too young to be a good nurse…maybe I can’t handle it. But now I need some help figuring out if I can ever be a good RN or if I should let go of this before I get even deeper over my head…

Kim, It depends on where you live and the hospitals around you whether you can work in L&D. I know around here some nurses (LPNs and very experienced PCTs) manage to get into L&D. However, the problem is around here a lot of hospitals are trying to "phase-out" LPNs. The RN program I'm in right now has a lot of LPNs in it because of phasing out. It's one of the reasons I went the RN path instead of LPN (not knocking the LPNs so don't everyone get defensive :wink2: ). If you can't find a suitable job as a LPN you could always bridge over to RN. As for the math part, I wouldn't let that stop you from being a RN if that's what you want. There's a lot of places you can get extra math help from. If you want it badly enough you'll find a way to make it through an RN program. Mel

Meghan, You weren't insulting. I think the majority of us understood what you meant. As for the deal, I think it's pretty good. I am starting a hospital program in 9 days and we were offered the same kind of deal. The hospital would pay all our tuition and fees (app $15k) for a 2 year contract of working. For various reasons I said no. First, the department and hours were up to the hospital (we could write down where we'd like to work, but according to previous students who did sign the contract it was pretty much up to the hospital). Also, we would have to pay close to $4k in taxes because the money was a "gift". I also know that after school I am going back home (about 1 1/2 hrs away) and I didn't want to commute that far to work every day. I'm not saying that you shouldn't take the contract, because I know that it works very well for a lot of students. Most hospitals around here offer basically the same kind of orientation. If you need it to be longer, they will make it longer. I'm not sure exactly how much longer, but from what I'm told they'll work w/ you. Anyways, good luck to you. Mel

Fall 2007 is still a year away. Fall 2006 has either started or will start soon.

I can't wait... !! LOL. I don't know if I'm more excited or terrified. I've heard some many horror stories about my school being so hard. Then again, I heard the same stories about A&P and I didn't think it was that bad. A lot of time and work, yes, but not unreasonable. Back to my nsg books....Mel

What is this "don't crack a book" thing you speak of? LOL!! My RN program has about 50 pages of reading and 2 huge math packets that have to be done BEFORE school even starts!! I can't wait to see how much work we have IN the program!! LOL. Oh well. Glad you ended w/ your A, Lana.

Lana, I thought it was by far the easiest test. Study the review questions at the end...probably 7 or 8 of them came from there on my exam. I thought most of it was more general knowledge stuff, like just "skim the chapter" instead of read every sentence 2 or 3 times. Oh well, hope you get your A!! Mel

Hey girls, How's everyone doing? I finished unit 8 last night. I think (assuming I get 30/30 on discussion and homework) that I will end with a 94% :) . Better than A&PI...ended that w/ a B (but then again only 3 people passed out of 20 so I guess I was just lucky I didn't fail it). Hope you guys did well on the last exam, certainly thought it was the easiest out of them all. Mel