irwin

Hey there, Current Diploma student here. I seriously wouldn't want to be anywhere else, my school is right down the hall from the cafeteria in an Acuity hospital, we hit the ground running our second week of school charting vitals in the charts for AM vitals, data sheets, careplans, H&P you name it, and it's only midterm. I like it because we skip over the unnecessary and focous on what we need, we have 2 tests a week, one academic and one clinical, clinical lab, and then we go up to the floor 2 mins after the lab. I already know I will feel prepared, especially after the 3 month preceptorship in the department of my choosing, and the deal they have with the hospital which will allow me to be an aide on whatever department I plan to enter into. We have two hospitals, do psych at a nearby hospital, we will get tuition reinbursment if we sign on for 3 years at the partner hospital, plus the sign on bonus, and they will pay our way towards a BSN which will only take 2 semesters at the city university. Preparation, discipline, and an amazing life changing reward when im done, Im glad I got into my first choice school.

Yes I thought the same thing, I absolutely love clinicals and the patient/lab partner interaction because I really feel like I am doing something instead of sittin in class staring at my notebook. I have study skills because my first semester of college when I was undecided for a major I took two study skills courses, and then one back in highschool. Also I don't know how people can't like the critical thinking aspect of the test, it's so fun, it makes you feel like you are actually there with the patient thinking "what do i do now??" and when you get it right it's such a rush. Ok maybe I'm a lil lost in the nsg program but hell its so much fun. As for the care plans and data sheets, sometimes I feel the patient should get to see them, I often wonder what goes on in the patients head when im standin there in my nursing school costume gathering my objective data, I wonder if they know about all the research I had to do for them the night before?

My math class starts in january, but I bought the math for meds book, I must say it is pretty amazing.

Thank you for all of the advice, and to the two ladies that have posted. A little update, now that we are into the meat of our nsg fundies book, 6 chapters a day, I found some really cool adults, just be open and give them a chance, they prolly whine because they are even more scared than we are, I mean, I still walk around the hospital looking like a deer in headlights, but seeing someone in my boat makes it all better. Ofcourse there is still the bad apples, they have formed a clique, and question every little thing the instructor says and start to argue with them, I believe the teacher knows better than any of us, therefore what she says is like bible to me, especially when it comes out of the nursing book that I am sure was not written by some student wanting to impress someone. Shine with your clinical skills, test scores, and bedside manner, not trying to correct someone that took it apon themselves to make the new breed of nurses to follow in their footsteps. Since I like sports, I think of my instructors as my coach, the staff we follow for clinicals the starters, and me the lowly freshmen as being the practice squad. I'm not out to prove anything like these people are except that I am competent enough to earn my license and get a dream job that will leave me with self satisfaction everyday when I punch the clock and head home, I'll question to clairify, not feed my ego, nursing school shattered that ego REAL QUICK! lol

Nope definately not scrubs dude, like white dress pants, and a zippered polo shirt with this tail thing in the back down to my butt, its so stiff and itchy. Also, thank god for under armor compression shorts I have from baseball, or else they'd play a nice fun game of "guess the color of Mikes fruit of the looms";) since the pants are a lil too see thru...

How do you fellah's like your uniforms? Mine are solid white with 2 purple stripes on the sleeves, the labcoat makes me feel like I'll intimidate,I hope that portion is not required for me to wear, but the shirt/jacket thing is sooo itchy. What about your guys's? Pretty similar to mine? Or are you blessed enough to wear scrubs? Scrubs seem like such a reward that it's motivation enough to graduate school, they can have the sign on bonuses, just let me wear scrubs lol.

We have our fair share of Ohioins here. Im from Dean Martins area, infact my granddad and Dino used to play together as kids.

Hey guys, I was just wonderin, since I'm realtively new here, who you guys are, and what made you choose nursing, and what you guys do to pass time and relieve stress while in school? Let me start, My name is Mike, I'm 20 and from Ohio, fresh outta highschool I chose engineering, following my dads steps, except for mechanical, I chose software. I attended about a semester of the program, before I realized that it just wasn't right for me, I've always been drawn to the hospital, but I knew absolutely nothing about it. Well in May I had an accident while training for an MMA fight (ufc style fighting) and I spent sometime in the hospital, where I had the coolest nurse take care of me, before that I was always like "me a nurse? yeah right" but I politely asked him about his job, and the schooling, and he gave me a paper to fill out and allowed me too shadow him, after two days I was hooked. After I recovered and regained mobility in my shoulder and knee, I enrolled for my pre reqs, applied to nursing school, and haven't looked back since. I'll never forget the look on my parents face when I told them what I did (I kinda flew under the radar with the whole process) my mom was in tears she was so happy. All my friends are still tryin to find themselvs, while me never being a big fan of highschool, I absolutely love every moment of this, even the pre-req portion (cept math lol) when I'm not at school, I wake up at 3am, and work at McDonald's till 1...but that has to stop this coming fall, studying is more important, and I know it's going to be a real hard semester. I like to golf, I went to states in Highschool for golf +3 handicap, I love MMA fighting, playing guitar, and lifting. I think it would be interesting to get some replies please? Thanks, Irwin

I really want to become an RNFA, so I hope out of school I land a position in the affiliated hospital in the OR and maybe get some OJT as a scrub instead of being a steady circ. If all else fails, I'll just go to scrub tech school since the RNFA programs require a 2 year minimum experience.

I have the pair of adidas mentioned above, I wear those to the gym. For school I wear Jordans (pricey I know) but they are high top, for the ankle support cuz I'm coming off of a knee injury and the last thing i wana do is roll my ankle causing my knee to slip.

Never intended to strike any chords, but I take it I struck quite a few. Yes I was wrong for calling them chicks, and not being a smart butt at all but all of what you guys said is absolutely right, I should be supportive of the others because I know that they would support me. Yes I did have a bad day, a horrible one at that, but to be honest, I'm glad the 4 of you guys did make me see where I was wrong (especially with that sheep joke) now that I think of it, and actually read what I said instead of rambling, that was pretty stupid. In all seriousness Thanks and I hope nobody was really offended here at all. If so you have my apploigies.

yea I do help out, i always form study groups and let people copy my notes, it's just the whole "I think you guys are too young..." stuff...only four people in my class are under the age of 30, and I'm not married nor do I have kids..and these people think im like their kid because they have kids my age...it's sucha culture shock to be 20 and thrown into all of this. As for having the high gpa, I never made it known to them, i just posted it here to make the fact that I am competent known, and I know when we are done the whole grade thing will be practically meaningless, except for furthering our education. Furthermore the whining is not like what a patient would do, it's more about instructors, clinical rotations, and the like..they get beaten before they start with the typical female gossip "i heard they did this to make you not do this" I don't care what other people said negatively before, I'm just goin in there to do it, as best as I can, and have a rewarding job, I don't care for the horror stories of last semesters students

I was wondering how many of you guys out there, faced the same problem I have. Females whining about nearly almost everything?? I thought living with my mom and lil sister for 19 years, and my blonde girlfriend were bad, It makes it seem like heaven compared to school, also whats with those personally invasive questions? I have resorted to bringing an ipod to school, and listenin to music, so I don't have to be brought down and potentially scared by their whining and ranting, and seemingly its more with the older people (im only 20..so I mean like 30 yr old females and stuff) I get along great with the young chicks. I just told one, to quit asking me these questions, and to stop treating me like a kid (i have the highest gpa in the class) and she got all up in arms and offended...What did I do to deserve this? I think im gona prolly turn into either an avon sales man after nursing school, or a sheep lover...im only messing. But do any of you fellah's know what I mean?

Hello all. I really enjoy reading these threads,I start clinicals in the Fall and I have learned a ton here and there, because right now I just set my schedule up so I can take all of the regular classes (AP,chem, psych courses, microbio) now so I can stay focused on what really matters, the clinical work. But lastnight, I was studying and listening to my chem lecture via tape recorder, and I was wondering, since doctors dictate in these things all of the time, do any, or can any nurses, dictate? I am sure that there is not any time from pt to pt to jot everything down on charts, thats why there is a specific charting room, like I was looking at mine and it is digital and can be subdivided into folders A-E and that would work, you know giving each patient a folder, and then when it came time to chart, I could plug in headphones and listen, to save hippa violations, to make my charts consise and detailed to give to the oncoming nurse their report at shift change w/o missing a beat.....give me some feedback please...Thanks

Hello all nurses and students . I'm new here, I am 19 and just got accepeted into a local nursing school, class size of 40 people at most. I am taking all of my regular classes at the local CC so I can strictly focus on clinicals once there. I have purchased a pda n a stethoscope for my usage. But there is a problem...Ifeel like all I do is study and lift, it's like I never go out any more because I'm studyin AP and Chem all weekend while doing psych developement papers and working at McDonald's part time. I think that I am doing a great thing, I hope to be in the ER or circ/scrub in the o.r. I think that I am missing out on life so much, is nursing school really this hard or am I making it that much harder on myself by striving for perfection? All my friends think that I am crazy, my one friend even dropped anat and wants to be a nurse but thinks that anat isn't important, he's crazy. I guess I just want some people to talk to inbetween studyin...so hello all and please help me if needed.