Quiltedstar

Thanks, that's not as bad as I had imagined it would be. My imagination is usually a lot worse than reality. Thanks again for the info. Sarah

Are you currently working while a student? If so, how many hours a week do you work? And do you feel overwhelmed by the class/studies and family life? Thanks! I'm hoping to start an LPN program in Spring and than work as an LPN while finishing up the other prereq's for that particular program. Then, of course, get in to the LCC program. Also, are you an Oregon or Washington nurse? I'm wondering if OSBN accepts grads from LCC to take the Oregon board? Or how that works.

From my experience it's may appear to be most nurses or most women but in reality it is usually a select few who are repeat offenders. I have worked in several different work envirornments, construction, education, manufacturing, etc. There is always at least one of those type of people. When I worked in human resources we had a saying "10% of the people take up 90% of our time". And it's true. It is usually the same 2, 3, or 4 people who backstabb or tattle and that just makes it seem like it's women as a whole when really it's not. But, men are not excluded. I have seem my fair share of men who are gossips, they just don't come along as often. As for why? Well, I think it's one of a two reasons. 1 - to get attention from the supervisor because tattleing is one thing that will make a supervisor pay attention to you or 2 - to make you look bad and, in turn, make the tattler look good. The best advice in the thread has been to keep things as business like as possible and fly below radar. I learned that the hard way. And those who gossip/backstab to you will do it about you so it's only a matter of time before they end up in trouble because they've done it to the boss.

Sometimes the colleges have a web page for the individual teachers. See if your's has it, if they do they may have a curriculum outline available.

I haven't taken A&P yet but have heard that the accelerated course is a killer unless you are taking it for the 2nd time in order to improve your grade. Then, it may be easier. We have pre-nursing advising sessions at our CC, they DO NOT recommend the summer classes because since it's already a harder class and you're trying to cram the information in to a much shorter amount of time.

That's good to know. I've been using the sight to figure out what A & P Professor I want to have. I was a little concerned when the other poster stated it had not been very accurate. Whew. Because A & P is such a hard subject it's important to me to get a good Professor. A lot of the ones that teach A & P have been rated very poorly. I may go to a different college across town just to take thoses classes.

For the colleges around here, Portland OR, you have to have an A in A&P to even be considered for a Nursing Program because there is so much competition. From your experience, do you think taking 1 other 4 credit class along with a 4 credit A & P class is too much if you're striving for an A? -Sarah

Thanks for responding. Is it better to have all your pre-req classes finished before applying? And do you know how that's going to change with the new OCNE thing? And one other thing, I'd read (on this board) that OHSU only hires OHSU grads but since they let CCC students do clinicals there I was wondering if maybe they hire them as well? I'd really like to work at OHSU. I used to think I was only going to get an ADN but now, with OCNE, they're making it so much easier to transition over to being an OHSU student that I'm giving it second thought. CCC is definately my first choice for schools. I haven't heard one negative thing about the nursing program there. And I'm a little partial too, it's only 3 miles from my house :) -Sarah

My advice would be to take the job in Cottage Grove. It seems that everyone says the first year of nursing is the hardest, it'd be better to take a job that will be less stressful so that you can be more successful. After the first year you can always move to Portland and you should be able to have more job opportunities because of your experience. You can always drive in to Portland a few times a month to see your friends. Anyway, that's how I'd reason it out.

Did you get a choice of days, evenings, or nights? Also, if you're working 12's did the manager tell you how it works with overtime? I'm starting on my pre-reqs this fall and I'm just full of questions :)

There's two issues with that: #1 - They already have the Dr's note - the filled out FMLA paperwork. #2 - Requiring something additional (dr's notes each time) from one employee and not every employee (the ones not abusing the system) could be seen as harrassment. Which could mean a serious lawsuit. Really, legally speaking, their hands are tied.

There really is no way to "prove" it. Unless it's something like FMLA for back pain and then the employee is seem moving heavy furniture or something like that. Other than that, it's covered by law. The only thing that stops it is when the PCP's paperwork expires and/or the yearly hours are used up. But, if someone is in the habit of calling in on a regular basis it doesn't usually stop when the FMLA hours are used up. It usually continues until they are disciplined for attendance issues and, even after that, it may not stop until they are terminated.

My past professional job was as an H.R. Coordinator. I managed a shift of about 140 employees. There were a few that were covered by FMLA on my shift, and many for the whole company overall. Whether it is taken in large chunks of time, a day here a day there, or is scheduled in advance, has largely to do with the medical condition of the person or the persons family. Here are some examples: I had one young man who's FMLA covered taking his elderly parents to Dr's appts. - These were scheduled in advance. There was one women who's FMLA covered her depression - Her's was on a day by day basis, but largely she used it on most of the night shifts (we worked a rotating day/night schedule), and a lot of weekends - I found hers to be a little fishy when I could predict what days she would call in based on looking at the past few months. Another women who's FMLA covered some other medical condition that I can't remember right now - She was also intermitent but very rarley called in. And there were a few who, for various medical reasons, would use it in large chunks - A week here, 2 weeks there. FMLA has to be approved by the PCP, lots of paperwork has to be filled out before hand. The PCP can specify the time frame, as needed, for a specific week, for Dr's appts, etc. When the person calls in they have to state whether or not it is FMLA related, if it is not FMLA related it is NOT covered by FMLA laws. Once the paperwork has expired it has to be refilled out and resigned by the PCP. The law provides so many hours per year for FMLA, after those hours are used up it's up to the company to let the employee know that absences will be recorded as an absence, not FMLA leave. And once those hours are gone - they're gone! There is no more job security for absences. FMLA is not difficult to get but it does require effort on the part of the employee, and a PCP who wants to fill out all those papers. There is a fair amount of people who abuse it but, don't think it goes un-noticed by the Powers That Be. It is also a life saver to those who do have chronic illnesses, like lupus, asthma, arthritis, depression, etc. To those people it can mean the difference between employment and termination. For every law that is in place to help someone there will be someone who abuses it. It will catch up with them. I've personally seen it dozens of times. If someone is the type of person to abuse the law, they are not a very good employee anyway. And it'll come out one way or another. You could talk to someone about it but don't expect a lot of information because of privacy laws. You may however ask about the company's FMLA policy and use a lot of hypotheticals and "what if's" to gather information about it. But, pretty much, you're saying something about it is not going to accomplish anything.

Thanks for the advice. Since I have a 4 and 5 yr old, I'll only be able to take one pre-pre req. for the 2006-2007 year. But in Fall 2007 I'll start my pre-reqs and I plan to take 2 classes max. per semester. And then all the co-reqs. The nursing adviser said 9 credits of the nursing program are the equivalent to 12-15 of regular credits so it was best to get the co-reqs done ahead of time or you'd end up with a VERY heavy work and study load. Thanks again Tofutti - Let me know when you get your letter! Congrats!

Do you mind telling me what you gpa was? And also, what did you get in A & P? They're changing some of the pre-reqs and the application process for next year. There is supposed to be just one application for ALL the nursing programs around here and then you check your preferences for 3 locations, but all colleges will see your app, so no more filling out several. I'm going to start working on my pre-reqs in the fall. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need to get A's across the board to even be considered.