doglover1

I think some hospitals are much better to start at than others. I'm a new nurse and started at KU's PCU. We have 3-4 patients with good tech support. From my 6 months of experience, KU does everything possible to make sure that nurses have the resources that we need to be successful and patient safety is always the #1 priority. I've heard horror stories from places like HCA hospitals and how they treat their nurses and wouldn't even consider working at one of them (not to mention ever being a patient there! Yikes!!) As far as Providence, I've heard mixed reviews. Have some of these hospitals ever done the math on how much it ends up costing them in turnover alone NOT have good nurse/patient ratios????

Keep in mind, charting is mostly for one reason and that is to cover yourself in the event you end up in court. It is VERY rare that a doctor will take the time to look at your notes. In my hospital they might ask you a few questions as they dash into the room. The next on coming shift might read a note, but if it's important, it's best to address it verbally at shift change to make sure it doesn't get missed. Any time you write something as a problem, always follow it with what actions you took to address the problem.

Lauren, Getting the CNA is mandatory. It doesn't matter where you get your CNA. I got mine from KCKCC before applying to JCCC RN program. It is unlikely they will consider you without it. Be sure that you look at their admissions requirements really close and follow them precisely and get everything in by the deadline. If you have a good GPA, have a good science reasoning score on the ACT, have the prereq's, including the CNA, you've got a great chance. Yes, there are lots of people who apply, but many do not have the requirements.

I empathize with everyone. I am in my 10th week of orientation on a cardiac PCU unit with 2 more left to go. The difference for me is that I really have supportive nurses, management etc., a good ratio of 4:1 but I still am making so many stupid mistakes! My preceptor is always finding out that one of my patients telemetry monitor has been off for the past 2 hours and I haven't even noticed, or forgot to check BP before giving a beta blocker and other really important, no-brainer stuff. I know better!! These things are soooo important but I feel so swamped, overwhelmed that I go around in a daze all day long while trying to beat the clock at the same time. Then when it comes to give report at the end of the day, I have it so messed up and look like a complete idiot because I can't even keep my patients straight!!! I feel that I don't have time to look at the whole picture of the patient because I'm just so focused on passing meds, doing blood cultures, changing bags of K+, keeping up with insulin and heprin drips etc. etc. I'm just so embarrased and feel so stupid, old and too inadequate to do this job. I have so much invested. I left a high paying corporate job to do this, and made my husband and children sacrifice while I went back to school. I can't even admit to them that I'm having trouble and :cry:that I am totally stressed out. Please help with any advice.

I've been reading posts on how people started studying 2 weeks before NCLEX and passed at 75. God love you all! However unfortunately, I'm not built that way even though I have a great GPA, I would be WAY too nervous going in to the test unprepared and would probably bomb it. I don't graduate (RN) until 5/08, but feel the need to begin preparing for NCLEX right now. I want to to Suzanne's plan as it appears that so many have success with the plan. But my question is, when is is TOO early to start? Will it be counterproductive to start this early? What's your thoughts??

It's hard to say not knowing your situation/class and/or work schedule etc. Just know that both can be very time consuming and so much will depend on your professors. A&P is an absolute must in my opinion before getting too far in to your nursing classes. It will help out a lot. Most of the things in Micro that you will need will in fact be presented in your actual nursing curriculum, if your nursing program is anything like mine. However, both A&P and Micro. are usually prereqs. to nursing classes anyway. If you have the time and can do both, then go for it! But do plan on putting in the hours. If you are a full-time student, the other classes I would take with these two, would be the easiest I could find! My Micro. has a lot of Chemistry, so that is also a consideration. If you are a Chem wiz, that will help! Good luck!

I'm also graduating May '08 and looking now at a Sr. Nursing Associate/Aide /Intern position that will allow me to work PRN. I don't think it is totally necessary to get a job when we graduate but I know exactly what hospital and floor I want to work at so I am trying to do what I can to get my foot in the door now to increase my odds of being offered an RN position in the Spring on that floor. There is one other hospital that is on my "A" list and I have been told through the grapevine that they have already selected the majority of their graduate nurses as they are currently working as Aides/Interns and will not be attending job fairs in December because of it. I think that's a pretty generalized statement due to the size of the hospital (BIG), but just what I've heard. My interview is next week. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck to you too!

I'm a soon-to-be new grad who ultimately wants to become a HH nurse. Realizing that I will not have the experience that I need right out of school to be out on my own, I was hoping I could get some feedback on where I should ideally start out to best prepare me to be a HH nurse. Med-surg, oncology, ortho??? How long does it take the average person to gain the skills needed to become a HH nurse? Also, I hear that there is a trend in HH that is moving toward salary vs. hourly or pay-per-visit and I hear that a lot of HH nurses are ending up working OT and not getting paid for it. Is this true? Any thoughts on either question??? Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who responded! I appreciate all your words of wisdom.

I'm just wondering how many people worked as an aid while in school before you graduated as an RN. The instructors in the program I am in really suggest working as an aid during the last year. However, I find it hard to juggle family and school the way it is and really can't see adding on an additional responsibility. Does working as an aid make it a lot easier to get a job once you graduate? Do you feel much more prepared to work as an RN if you work as an aid first?

No, I wasn't there. I took a part-time job this summer working as a medical assistant at Kansas City Cancer Center. I'm also taking Microbiology this summer and running my kid-o around so I'm not going to be able to volunteer for the boot camp, orientation and other things for the new students. I will be at the picnic the first day though. Hope we meet then!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A word of advice, try to get you medical terminology and drug calc. learned this summer. (You will get info. at orientation). It will be two less things to deal with in the fall. And also, don't buy the newest version of the medical terminology book for $70 at the book store, get the next up-to-date version for $10 on amazon. Same info.

The teaching style/content closely follows the NCLEX format. I know that they provide us literature about the Kaplan review program but it is offered independently. We are taking a computerized exam the day after finals that, I believe, is close to the NCLEX on topics that we have already covered. The scores are used to help gauge progress and determine if there are some areas that need to be further studied over the summer break. Another test is given at X-mas time. My advise is to get a NCLEX review book when you begin school. As topics are studied, go through the questions at the same time. This will help you to not only keep up but also prepare you for the unit exam. I hope I answered your question.

If evening clinicals don't work for you, just be sure that you tell them up front during orientation. There was only a few that had to this year during the mental health rotation (8 week duration). The people who couldn't do clinicals at night were accomodated. Each clinical rotation is 8 weeks in duration except the first one, which is the whole semester. Although, I still got to work in two different areas the first semester. I did my mental health rotation the first 1/2 of the second semester and am now started last week in orthopedics at SMMC. Last week I got to speed the day in the OR. It was great. I had a super surgical team so it was a fantastic experience. I wil warn you, not all nurses are what you might say thrilled to see students. I don't think their intent is to be mean. Many are just soooo busy and really don't want one more "task" thrown on their plate. Others are nice and see it as one less patient to have to take care of because you are assigned to one of their patients. Depends on the nurse. To answer the other question for Shannon....there are several sites that we do clinicals and a group of 8 (or so) are in each group. They do vary and you are assigned to a clinical instructor and a group. For example, some people worked on an oncology unit last semester, but I was on telemetry and med/surg with my group. It just varies. The hospitals that they work with are all throughout the KC area: SMMC, St. Luke's South, NKC hospital, Overland Park Regional, St. Joe etc. If either of you know how to send a personal email through this system, you are welcome to send me your email address and I can provide either or both of you with my phone number should you have more questions. I just don't know how. Sorry. I remember I had soooo many questions before I started. There are a few things that you can start on this summer that I would recommend. If you take the 1 hour medical terminology class and get an "A", you don't have to take all the med. term tests.....I think there were three total. (PLEASE verify this to make sure that is for sure still the case). And for the med. term test, I bought an old version of the text for $12 over the internet instead of buying the new one for $75 and got along perfectly with it. I would also recommend getting the drug calc. stuff out of the way this summer too. There is just too much going on in the beginning to be bothered with additional work that you can get done ahead of time. Once you go to orientation, this will make sense. Orientation is held mid-May. One helpful hint.....Don't buy all the books on the REQUIRED list right from the start. You will find that they really aren't "required" and some are hardly ever used, if ever. For example the workbooks. I say skip them. I never used them and haven't heard of anyone who did. None of this will probably make sense to you right now. After orientation, my notes will make more sense. Depending on when orientation is, I might volunteer. They ask for second year students to help out with first year orientation. Wow! Second year student!? Me? Ha! Time has flown.

Most Thursday's and Friday's you will have off, especially after the first semester. But please don't let that fool you because it still is all consuming. At least for me anyway. You can do it and many, if not most, of the students in the program are mom's and dad's too. The good thing about school is that you get breaks! When you think you completely worn out, Christmas arrives. When you wear down again, well, here comes spring break. Everyone says that the first year is the hardest. The first semester is more difficult as far as time consumption. You will be doing lots of proficiency check offs in the lab, having to pass medical terminology exams, drug calculation exams etc. on top of class and clinical. For the first few weeks, you are in class a lot. But for the most part, your schedule is class on Monday's, clinical Tues. & Wed. Some people's clinical's are in the evening, but most are during the day. The second semester content is much harder, but as long as you got everything down the first semester, most do okay. The program builds. So if you don't understand something, work on it until you do! Out of the 64 students that started, we have lost 8 due to flunking out, getting sick etc. Most of the professors are great. Tough, but great. There is one that I am so frustrated with right now because of her test questions are over stuff that we never cover but like her personally. She is ultra intelligent. Maybe too smart for some of us. The whole class is sooooo upset with her right now. We just all got out of a test that the majority of us think we bombed. The hardest part about the program is the fact that anything below 78% is failing. You have to get a "C" in order to go on, and that's the cut off. In reality, it's good because it almost insures, if you are performing at that level, that you will pass the NCLEX. Why go through all of this if you can't pass the boards? Right? My BIGGEST fear before starting nursing school was the juggling of family and school. You are going to need support and organization but if you aren't working on top of all of this, you will be fine. Some do EVERYTHING (work, kids, school, etc.) and do awesome. I don't know your situation, but fortunately for me I have a husband and a 11 year old son that is very supportive and know how to make their own sandwich if mom has a test. This year has gone sooooo fast. I can't believe that there is only 7 weeks left! My best advise to you is to REALLY think about why you want to be a nurse with NOBODY influencing you. Because when it gets tough (and it will) you have to want it and know WHY you are doing it. JCCC has the best historical record of NCLEX pass rates in the KC metro area. It really is an excellent program. Let me know if I can answer any more of your questions>