KimSwanner

Some of the schools offer it for their nursing students. Such as NWCC, one of the teachers there teachs it for the students that need it.

One of my great friends went through the nursing program at Hinds and she took several of her science classes online there. I have taken two of my sciences online through NWCC and have loved it. Don't take your higher up sciences online, such as Chem and Micro. But if you are just looking into taking A&P and biology classes you should be fine. But keep in mind that it is a class. It should be taken seriously, because if you don't it'll land you a bad grade (experience talking there hahaha). You have to be a dedicated person to do online classes. Since you are not in a structred class room environment you have to make your own structure and you have to be disciplined. But if you can do that you will enjoy thouroughly taking online classes. Since I'm a mom of two I love being able to be home with my little girls more and doing online classes gives me that time. Hope this helps you a little. Kim

RNStudent&Momof2 NWCC doesn't require a certain type of stethescope, we can choose just about anything that we want or need (some ppl need special ones for their hearing) but I would recommend seriously the bell and diaphragm it makes everything a lot easier to me, because if it's not you have to learn how to press to make the stethescope pick up sounds differently to create the effects of the beel and the disphram. Alright for your nursing folder I really suggest you have no less than a 3" binder, I have completely filled up my 4" binder by the time the semester was over. I went through dozens of highlighters, black pens are required for the hospitals, you can use anything during class though, and I would suggest you buy a lot of Note Cards. I can show you the hundreds of cards I filled out to help me study for tests. I have a system of going to lecture, coming home re-reading my notes, then completeing writing every bit of my notes onto note cards, and then I high light and study as I go towards the test. Discussion board will be your life and you need to use it. We used it so much Mrs. Scott had to continuously clear the board down for us. Printing will be a huge thing to, Mommy Nurse 2b is absoultely right. Before every lecture you need to print your lecture guides they are a huge part of your notes and will help you greatly if you use them correctly. If you have any questions or need any help with CarePlans or anything please ask I will help ya'll as much as possible. Good luck and God Bless Kim FII

It's great that you are getting everything together and in place, because once you start it gets sooooo hectate, and things that normally seem like they're no problem and easy become like a thorn in your paw. Good luck to you and if you need anything there are a lot of great ppl in the program willing to help. Kim FII

I'm a FII at NWCC right now and we aren't allowed to wear white crocs. You have to have a completely white shoe, yes you can have a little grey on the sole and maybe a small amount of color that you can cover with white shoe polish but generally it all has to be white. It has to be a closed heel. So the way crocs are open on the heels won't work. You can't have straps either it has to be a complete white shoe. Wal-mart has a complete nursing department in the shoe area now depending what store you go to. Also I agree with the Shoe Carnival, payless has some sometimes that are decent, and hibbets is a good place. Just make sure they are comfortable you are going to be standing a good bit and need comfort. Hope it helps, Kim

Have you looked into working at a hospital in a underdeveloped or under priviledged area to repay your loans? I have seen a lot of different information online about the government providing money for nurses willing to work in underpriviledged areas. I don't know if it can repay money but you never know. Maybe you could looked into some of the hospitals near you for more informaiton.

From what I know and have heard the BSN generally doesn't increase your pay that much. And you don't have to have one to work in a specialty area such as L&D or with Peds. I actually want to work in the NICU and it's been explained to me that once I get my RN I will have a certain amount of training through the hospital that I choose to work for. Now if you want to increase your pay a good amount and want to work with children or peds, you can get your MSN and choose the course of a Pediadtric Nurse Practitioner. (Now that's from what I understand, not going to put that in stone) Just like you can choose to take the path of a Nurse Practitioner, a CRNA (hope I did that right), or a Teacher... you can choose a path for a Peds Practitioner. And as far as the struggling I totally agree with the loans part, or they are living well outside their means. From the pay rates I see where I live just for a RN are enough to carry a normal family and expecially a single woman, without having to struggle. Especially if you work off times, like nights, weekends and holidays. You should be making pretty good morning as a standard RN. (The only times I've heard of people not making as good as they want is those in Dr's offices.... and it's rare that I see them complain... becasue that's what they want, set hours, holidays off, and don't care that the pay is less) Hope that helped some. Kim

I don't remember seeing where anyone mentioned this, but if they didn't then I'll say it. I'm in my FII semester so I know I haven't done all that much as compared to some other ppl but I do know one thing A&P is a HUGE part of your nursing school experience. I learned this BIG time a few weeks into my FI semester. We began to do our injections and had to know detailed descriptions of injections site, such as the vasogluteal, deltoid,....etc. Well I don't think I was as attentive to the bones as I should have been because I found myself time and time again and huge problems with things that I should have learned during A&P. Such as the illiac spine and greater trochanter. Without learning these sites it took me a little longer to catch onto the injection sites. Everyone also made great points about the body systems. When you are sitting in a lecture and the teacher mentions something it's nice to know it without having to look it up later after lecture. Thank goodness that besides the bones I learned thoroughly the rest of my A&PI and II. There's a reason they make us take it and you'll see it time and again throughout nursing school. Good luck and God Bless Kim

We are required to do a Medical Terminology quiz each week from a med term book, we use Taber's. And I have to say it really helps having that extra amount of knowledge. There are activities through out the books that really help you get the hang of using all the word parts. I would strongly recommend working through one of these.

I have had two children. The first was in TN and it was at that time (in 2002) law from what I was told that they had to be taken from the hospital room to the car in a infant seat and that the hospital has to inspect to make sure the child was secured in the vehicle before we were able to leave. And then my youngest was born in 2005 in Mississippi. At that hospital I was able to hold her on the way to the car, but choose not to. It was rainy and cold and was easier to have her already bundled up. But at the hospital it was required that a seat be in place before we were able to leave. In TN they did a good check on the seat to make sure it was correctly buckled in, but in MS she just wheeled us to the truck and waited for us to get our things in before she left. She didn't check anything other than the fact that we had the seat. Makes you think.