jazz404

15 med questions - Yikes! Did you recognize the meds? I'm hearing that a lot of people get meds they had never seen before. I think I'm weak on the meds, so this worries me. Any advice on how you studied them? Thanks

Yes - being nervous is normal and I agree that it is a good thing. It will keep you on your toes and remind you of the serious nature of your work. That being said, make sure you don't let those nerves get out of control. I've seen a number of classmates really struggle with lab skills, clinicals, etc, just because they get too nervous. I've found a lot of good suggestions on this site for dealing with stress. I can also say that my stress levels have gone down as I've progressed through clinicals and gained some confidence. As far as level of difficulty - I've found nursing classes to be a lot harder than any other classes. I was a straight A in pre-req's, but had to really improve my study habits and time management for nursing classes. Good luck!

It really depends on what you want to get out of your clinical experience. As a couple of posters mentioned, the majority of action happens in the AM. You'll experience a lot more with an early clinical.

Ha! I can't believe anyone would pick a place of employment based on the color of their uniforms. It really sounds like you should take a good look at your priorities and your reasons for becoming a nurse. If every nurse in every facility had to wear white would you have chosen a different career? Btw, at CCF the color system works extremely well and the patients and their families have an easier time ID'ing staff because of it.

my 2 cents - I agree that you have to do what is right for you, but I don't see how quitting nursing school is courageous. In the initial post, the problems seemed to come from stress and poor time management. These are all typical problems, especially in first semester. But then you rationalized quitting by saying you felt guilty about neglecting your family. You can find all kinds of reasons not to endure anything that is difficult in life, and if you use your family and children, then no one can really argue with you. Of course we would all like to quit our jobs, school, etc and spend all of our time with our family, but that's just not reality for most people. Are we bad people because we make sacrifices (for a very short period of time) and work hard for a career we love? I think the courageous people are all of us who do continue working, spending time with our children and keeping our homes and marriages together. Nursing is not for everyone, but I'm thankful for all my classmates and co-workers who continue to take on the challenge every day.

This is one of the things that really bothers me - I hear a number of people complaining about reading the text or saying that we shouldn't have had to spend all that money on the books, etc. Diane makes a good point - which is especially true in ADN and excelerated programs. We get notes and powerpoints, but they don't cover everything that's in the text. Studying for the course test is fine for getting through school, but the NCLEX will draw from every area of the text. I'd rather read it now than try to cram it all in later.

I'm at Lorain County Community College and fast approaching the half way point of the program. I can believe how fast this is going! Have you started at B&S? How's it going?

My two cents... 1) I'm paying good money to have the teacher lecture on as much material as possible during a semester. Yes, there are stupid questions and they take away from this lecture time. (99.9% of the stupid questions are answered in the text book. Please read it!) 2) You should always strive to use proper spelling and grammar - otherwise you come across as uneducated or lazy. You really notice the "dumbing down" of our country when people attack the grammar police and take pride in sloppy or poor writing skills.

I would also suggest checking out the NCLEX pass rates listed on the Ohio BON website. When I was researching schools, I found the ones with good reputations usually had high pass rates as well.

Good advice gm - I was accepted to the Parma branch of B&S for last fall. They told me up front that they were accredited - when I continually pressed them, they changed the story and said they were in the process. Does Willoughby Hills getting accredited mean that Parma is also? I don't know, and I wouldn't trust them until I confirmed it with NLNAC. Luckily, my name came up on the wait list at Lorain CCC so I didn't have to deal with that anymore. I can't comment on the academic side, but I was really put off with being lied to by the front office people. Good luck LuyshuZ - congrats on getting started in NS! btw - I did see the Willoughby Hills campus on candidate status on the NLNAC website - you could contact them for more info.

I would be more worried about the issue of your husband not wanting to talk about it - or being bothered by the fact that you want to talk about it. It could be nothing, or it could be something serious. But you will really never know unless there is honest, open commmunication. If he says that this is a result of his work stress, then why is there any question about your nursing school. I could see if you were studying around the clock and not making time for him - but it sounds like you are making an effort. Just from what you've posted, it sounds like there may be more going on here. I say just keep working at it. Good luck!

Where do they have their acccreditation from? I see that the Willoughby Hills campus is on candidate status for NLNAC. Was that the one you were referring to?

I'm half way through my L&D clinical and our instructor has been with us on all of our assessments. I was caring for a c-section mom today and I was left alone to do basics - vitals, lung and bowel sounds, peripheral pulses, etc. My instructor was with me when assessing fundus, discharge, etc. She also stays with us or close by when we are bathing or working with the newborns - all newborn assessments are confirmed by our instructor or by the unit nurses. While we are encouraged to get in there and do as much as we can - we were also told that a lot of this clinical will be observational. It just depends on what's going on that day and what kind of mood the nurses and/or mom's are in!

The toughest thing about getting into B&S was agreeing to pay the tuition! Ouch.

1) Dude - stop rolling your eyes, your constant "I am so bored and this is a waste of my time" vibe is really getting on our nerves. You saw the times for the lectures and labs when you registered - either suck it up or don't bother to show up. 2) To the same dude - do you realize you are fast becoming the joke of the class when you pack up and walk out before lecture or lab is over. We realize that you must already know everything the instructor has to say - sorry the whole going to class, lab and lecture is getting in the way.