cparks

It is not a hard exam if you have quality experience, in my opinion. Just know your tools and WHY you would use them.

Where you able to find anything? I am looking for the same thing.

There is a study guide. However, I have personally precepted around 6 nurses through that program and I promise you if you work all the modules you will pass that test just fine. We have our nurses self-pace through the mods as they are gaining real experience in the ORs with a one on one preceptor. They generally go through the program in 90 days and I have not had one fail the exam. In fact, the first two nurses are coming up on their two years and both are studying to sit for the CNOR certification as soon as they meet requirements.

Get some clinical experience first. This is JUST my opinion and from personal experience... administrators And leaders who have no clinical experience can have a difficult time relating to their team. Leadership isn’t about being in charge or being the boss, it’s about leading your team through a combination of your clinical experience and the knowledge you gained in leadership. I am just starting my leadership journey, 6 months as Assistant Director of Surgery. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done and if I did not have my 10 years of periop experience I would be screwed! btw, I’m not saying you can’t do it.... I’m just saying it’s super stressful being a new nurse. To add a leadership role (especially if your leading nurses with years of clinical experience) is crazy stressful and crazy hard.

Uggghhh! I FEEL like I might work with you. We have a nurse at my job that acts the EXACT SAME way!!! And because she is in tight with our clinical manager and the administrator she gets away with it. Everything has to be done her way or its wrong, and GOD forbid you actually make a mistake, she makes you feel like the lowest of low and the worst human being on the face of the planet while openly discussing your mistake with EVERY other nurse in the facility!!! GRRR! So sorry you are dealing with this. It's hard enough being a new nurse and learning the ropes without individuals like this constantly riding you. From the sounds of it you work in PACU... SUCH a great place to work, very challenging stuff! You will gain so many skills and that job is not an easy one to come by. Stick with it. If you are out of orientation, have a one on one with this nurse. Explain to her that you have a problem with the way she treats you and you would like her help in correcting this issue and then calmly tell her all of your issues. If that does not work follow the chain of command. Do not give up a job you love because of one bully. Most likely she bullys everbody but because you are new and fresh she is either channeling all her aggression on you or the rest of the nurses have shut her attitude down enough to where she does not mess with them anymore. Good Luck and let us know how it goes!

ME TOO!! Lost like 15 lbs my 2nd semester... prolly not a good way to loose weight though.. hummmmm

I have a corner of my master bedroom with a desk big enough for my computer and my lap top... all my books and everything I need.. HOWEVER, I can not study at home to save my life! My kids are distracting and if I am at home my husband completly forgets how to feed, change, care for the kids and I get interupted non stop.. So I head to Dennys! :) which works out great cause now they know me and know Im there to study, I get a corner booth and get waited on hand and foot (so nice)!!!!

Oh I totally agree!!! One of the biggest problems students I go to school with have is understanding how to answer nursing style test questions! The test questions you will get are going to be NOTHING like what you have ever had before! SUCH A GOOD BOOK for new students!!!

My baby was 6 months old when I started nursing program.. I have very supportive hubby (most of the time) no family or friends near by.. so it was just me and him our baby and we also have 11 year old daugter who is a HUGE help! It is hard (VERY VERY HARD) but if you want it bad enough you can and will do it. There were also a rash of students in my class having babies or who had just had babies so we had lots of support with each other and ended up forming little mommy and me nursing student study groups.. I know one girl, she had her baby a few days before nursing school started, then accidently got pregnant again at the end of our 2nd semester, so by the end of our 3rd semester she will be having another one! I think the hardest part of having a baby in nursing school would have to be the maternal aspect of having a baby. Nursing school takes up so much time... really so so so so much time!!! So you have this new baby thats so cute and cuddly and its a constant struggle of wanting to be mommy and having to study for that really really really important test.. It's gonna break your heart and wear you down! For me personally I felt like I was abandoning my baby by going and studying and I really had to snap myself out of those feelings.. but it is hard when you hear your child crying, laughing, or playing and you want to be apart of that but you know you have to study or you have to go to class, or you have to go to clinical. I just felt like I was really missing out on all the important bonding that only a mother and child can have. So what I did, no matter what was happening, what test was coming up, how stressed I was, ect ect, I made a special time for me and my baby that was just ours and nobody elses... I rocked him to sleep every night... Not one night has gone by that I have not rocked him to sleep... My point.. you have to find time for both or you will drive yourself crazy! It only takes me 15 minutes or so to rock my son to sleep, I get a nice break from studying, he gets to snuggle with his momma, and I get to feel like I bonded with him.

ohhhh. if you study with Flash cards there is a great flash card app for Ipad,phone,pod that has been an absoulte life saver for me.. you make up all your flashcards, you can do a deck for each section. You can even share flashcards with other students and download flashcards from the website. orangeorapple.com My first semester I hand wrote all my flashcards and tried keeping them organized with countless containers... although writing them does help me remember I had flashcards everywhere and its not easy to carry around a gazzillion flashcards on the off chance I might be standing in the line at the grocery store and have a second to look at them.. BUT it is super easy when they are on my phone,pod and pad and I can just pick it up and read through a few. So thats how I keep that organized.. also I started scoring much better on my exams once I started using and studying by my flashcards. Do what is comfortable to you and what makes sense.. but most of all pick a method and stick to it!

Get in there and make those awesome connections.. That first hand experience you will be getting is so valuable and may not hinder your grades as much as you think but actually boost them!

Here are a few things you could do.. apply for nurse aid positions at local hospitals, let them know you will be a nursing student... Be careful trying to learn nursing on your own, it can confuse you. Nursing is a process that is learned by building one concept on top of another, Jumping into pharmacology before you learn the basic assessment concepts might end up confusing you later when your instructors begin teaching you. (thats just my own opinion) If you want to get a head start, start with the basics... Patient saftey is HUGE, HIPPA is HUGE, How to take vitals, bed baths, ADL's. Also take a look at medical abbreviations like MAEW, and PERRLA, LOC x 3. Read up on how to do a head to toe assessment- know the normals for a Head to Toe assessment, and practice it on your family members. Get a stethascope and listen to heart sounds, bowel sounds, lung sounds on a wide variety of people and see if you can start to distinguish differences in the sounds (its not important to know what it is at this stage just that you heard something different on different people. Most of all, have fun! :) Nursing school is SO hard, but SO much fun! I love it!

That Zuca bag looks cool... But, have you considered buying an IPad or laptop and downloading ebooks or something... I have EVERY single nursing book I own on E-books. So much eaiser than lugging them all around, I havent cracked open any of my hardback books... So for clinical all I take with me are my careplans, nursing gear, and Ipad if I need to look something up, but really I never have time to look anything up while at clinical anyways...

Yah, I would call them and find out.. I was not an alternate but I am pretty sure Orientation was mandatory for accepted students as well as alts to hold their spots... My Dad passed away last summer, and orientation was the day after his funeral... I was at orientation (well my body was) There is another orientation on July 7th that should also be mandatory for all (If I am remembering correctly, but I could be wrong)

Hey Beamom Hang in there if you are on the alt list... with my class, they pulled people off the alt list up through (I want to say) the first few weeks of class... so there is still hope. :) good luck!