cursedandblessed

It's not easy, expect to go down a letter grade over other college classes. We were graded on classwork for letter/points. Clinical is pass/fail. Failure in clinical is subjective and can be based on incompetence: failure to know your drugs for you patient, failure to know the basic concept of your patient's disease process, failure to know lab values, failure to preplan properly; attitude: I watched so many students end up out of our program due to either an overconfident attitude or the opposite, I don't care attitude, be argumentative with clinical instructors or just a bad attitude in general; missing a clinical or getting sent home from clinical for failure to wear the uniform properly-no absences were allowed. ( I pushed the envelope once by wearing my pink and white ribbon breast cancer awareness socks-I brought plain white ones with JIC I got caught).

I passed!! And I'm amazed. I haven't been here much in last 6 months, because right when I'm to the point in my RN program where the LPN students exit, I had surgery. Turns out it wasn't just the normal thing that happens to women my age (40 something), but a rare cancer. So in the last six months I've had two surgeries, 6 weeks of radiation and two rounds of chemo. But I was eligible to sit for the NCLEX-PN. So I scheduled it for a week after radiation ended and a week before the new chemo drug was to start. Studying was hard, chemo affects your ability to concentrate for long periods. I know you can do this, you made it through your nursing program. I still felt sick going into the exam, taking Zofran for the nausea, but I had to do this, because if I get cured I want to finish my RN program, and without that LPN license that came in the mail yesterday time may have put me back at NUR101 and I just don't think I could start over at square one. So for the time being, I'm volunteeting at my local free clinic for experience, and getting treatment.

Wishing you tons of good luck. I passed it on Feb 26 coming off 6 weeks of radiation for a rare cancer. I don't think anyone ever feels completely ready no matter how much they study. Study questions, lab values as much as you can, go in with confidence that you learned a lot in nursing school, and get a good nights rest.

Congrats!!!

Welcome to Nursing School and critical thinking. In nursing school tests you will find that there is one best answer, two so-so answers, and one really bad answer (at least from my experiences). I've used several books to help prepare for exams. Test Success Series has books for Med-Surg, a beginning nursing, mental health, etc. An NCLEX study book can be helpful as well. These will get you used to the kinds of questions on nursing exams, and help you to review the material. Other tips that were a recurring theme throughout school: 1. hand hygiene is performed before every procedure you do, and after. 2. Always remember your ABC's: airway, breathing, and circulation: To put it bluntly: no need to worry about changing your patient's brief if they can't breathe. 3. If your patient is having difficulty breathing: raise the head of the bed, unless contraindicated by something else.

No answers and rationales, but you get a report telling you what you're weak in. Apparently I know nothing about babies. I haven't even had the mental health nursing class and got 100% of those right. LOL

We had to get 97% chance of passing the Nclex on the ATI. Which equals to a less than 74% total questions correct (I got 99% and had 78% total questions correct.) If licensure is the goal, and you HAVE to pass the NCLEX to achieve it, then IMO it doesn't make sense to graduate students who can't pass it.

Well it's only a midterm eval. Self-confidence for me only comes by doing over and over. I got a compliment from a rebound patient this rotation about how much confidence I'd gained in just three weeks between first and second admit. I'm also terribly shy with new people and find it difficult to talk to them. My ADHD has me jumping from topic to topic sometimes too. I've had to make myself focus and force myself to talk to people. Nothing beats a smile and Good Morning-even if the response is yeah!! sure, you're not in this bed with the tubes. I think when you get your new instructor got to them and tell them my last instructor said I needed to work on this and this, do you have any suggestions??

congrats!! I was doing the "B" dance yesterday after my final.

congrats!!

We're first in line at our college to get it, and we'll be using clinical days to administer it. They've adjusted the clinical absence policy as well

First of all are they NCLEX style questions? If they are, then you're going to have to learn how to take it apart. What's the question asking for? What's the pertinent info related to what the question is asking and what is just a distraction (I circle the important info and cross out the distractors? Always remember your ABC's:airway, breathing, circulation (if your patient doesn't have these three nothing else matters). If the question is asking for the NOT, negative, the patient doesn't understand then three of your answers are the things you would do, and the one that you wouldn't is the answer you put down. Cross out the answers you know are wrong, you don't need to look at them again. Fundamentals Success is an excellent book to help you get used to the questions, along with a Saunders Nclex Review book.

Try and get through this rotation is the only advice I can give you. The instructor I had took something away from me so the previous post concerning them scarring you is very true. I find myself trying to stay under the radar now. I'm almost relieved when my new instructor is with someone else. But I've learned more in the last two weeks than I did that entire rotation. Our instructor used us as free CNA labor for her hospital. What many of these schools really need to understand is that by allowing this to go on they are not producing a nurse with skills. They are producing a nurse who is already jaded to the profession, who feels that may never be confident. I am not going to take abuse again though. I will quit first. I had a nurse the other day jump all over my tush because of my allowing the patient the time to finish praying rather than interrupting the time alone with their priest and family. JMVHO but emptying the urinal and the basic care I needed to do could wait five minutes for the patient to have their spiritual needs met. I relayed the information to my instructor, and if I'm labelled as a troublemaker so be it.

rotflmbo

i chopped it all off into a short bob after my first year.