HolliT

The presentations are pretty laid back and can be done in a power point format. No stress really.

I'm not sure about ORMC, but MRMC does hire LPN's. The majority of jobs are in a nursing home setting, either long term care or sub-acute. Home Health is another option. But like I side I know that MRMC hires them. A few in our class are CNA's there and will be staying there and not just because they are "grandfathered" in. Its an exciting time, Congrats on the start of your journey!

Lovelyflyaway Yes, I am at CFCC. We had a few each semester but not what I would say is alot and its always in a group setting. Mudslyder, The list of books are usually not given until the day of orientation along with cost of tuition for 1st semester. FYI for orientation.........Bring some cash or a check book. The ADN students will be coming in to sell the patches for uniforms. I recommend 4 sets. 3 for uniforms and one for your lab jacket. They will also be selling bandage scissors, pen lights (I don't recommend, the broke frequently this year), t-shirts, clipboards and all kinds of other stuff. You do NOT have to buy it, you can buy it somewhere else on your own....its a fundraiser though and its nice to support our fellow nursing students. I should see everyone at orientation, I am the V.P. of the PN student nursing association for this year. Oh BTW....did you know your first semester schedule is available! http://www.cf.edu/departments/instruction/health/adn/calendars.htm Scroll down to Practical Nursing and click 1st semester! If you wanna see what our summer/fall was like you can look at those too as they are still for this year. The schedule is not written in stone and they may make some changes to it, but the hours will remain basically the same. Let me know if you have any other questions. Holli

Congrats lovelyflyaway! I am in the program now and will be graduating Dec 11th. Its been a long hard exhausting road and I can't wait for gradution day to come!

We finish our first semester in the next two weeks. So far, other than being extrememly stressful at times, everything is going good. We started with 52 and are down to 38. We will see how many are dropped at the end of semester for not maintaining grades.

We have had A LOT of reading, power points and terms. We have already had to be signed off on hand washing and proper use of isolation gowns/goves/mask/eye protection. We were demo'ed full head to toe physical assesments yesterday and we have to do them for instructors Tuesday (and we don't have class Monday!) We had an all day long hospital orientation today! We have three tests the last week of January (Funds, A/P, Growth and Development) and two test the first week of February (Geri and Personal, Family and Community Health). Yup...feeling the pressure!

I've just started and have a long 2 -3 years ahead of me....but I already have my secret list to treat everyone for putting up with me! I want to get my hubby a new truck. He is driving a 2002 ecomony car right now to save money (its paid off and the gas mileage is good) and he hates it. It will be about 10 years old when I am done.....praying it makes it. Take the family on vacation! Like someone else posted we also are used to vactions once or twice a year. It will be hard not seeing our extended family for two years! Pay of student loans. Besides our mortage it will be the only debit we have. Save for retirement. We cashed out some over our current investments so that I can go to school and not have to work full time. I would say that I want a new Dooney and Bourke purse, but my hubby got it for me for Christmas as a huge surprise! Finally, I want a new soft-top 4 door Jeep!

Well, I had my first 3 days of class this past week (we started on the 7th). I am thankfull that out of the 6 classes this semester I only have to take 3 of them. Kinda eases me into it. (I took some prerequisites for the RN program so I can bridge when I am done) The first couple of days were ok for me. We went over alot of procedures/policies kinda stuff. We went through our syllabus and decoded it.....its written really weird! Alot of people still don't get the calendar and abbrevations on it. We met our instructors, made sure everyone had the right books etc. The second day we dove into lecture and on Friday we went to the clinical lab and went over the do's and don'ts and schedule of the lab and free time to practice. I am still trying to figure out the routine of things. I am very OCD and having to adjust to not being on a day by day routine is a little overwhelming to me. I have a friend that suggested I get a year-at-a-glance calender (one where you see all 12 months) and write all the IMPORTANT stuff on it. It sounded so simply and silly but I did it and it was such an incredible relief of stress. I put all my tests/exams in red, papers due or things that were special (not daily stuff) in green and days that we don't have classes in blue. It hangs right next to my desk. All of the sudden it didn't seem so overwhelming....just idea for anyone else to try! OH and don't forget to write GRADUATION in big bold letters in your favorite color. It will make crossing off each day a little more fun. Good luck to everyone be sure to keep us all updated..I need to go and finish my chapter reading and notes for tomorrow! Yeah!

That's generally what it is....bladder spasms. I work for a Urology clinic and ambulatory surgery center. If our patients need to have a foley for any length of time and are having severe bladder spasms, our doc's usually prescribe an anticholinergic such as Detrol, Ditropan or Vesicare.

I agree with everything has its time and place. I am just starting school this January, but I have several friends that have done either the PN or RN program and watched how it affected the family/social circles. Just like you have to plan for studing and school, you have to schedule family/spouse time that doesn't involve nursing talk. They deserve some of your undivided attention.

I start January 7th! I am having a hard time finding stuff to do keep myself occupied and going crazy with anticipation! We had orientation on Dec 10th and it wasn't very informative. I suppose it was for those brand new to the college, but I have been taking classes there for awhile now. It was mainly about the general college aspect, and not the PN program. So I am going stir crazy. We got our syllabus and I have read it cover to cover three times now! Like the above posted asked, please let us know how your first day went.

I am getting ready to go into the LPN program (Jan 7th!) and will do the bridge to the RN program. Like others have said, I am doing it this way because of family (two young children) and finanical obligations.

Kay1982, Does that mean you are sticking with the LPN class? Are you getting excited? I am....I just got all my books today and used Half.com as well. See ya Wednesday....is your name Kay? Just wondered if I would find ya there or not. Do you know what you are wearing that day? I'll try to find ya.

To be honest, I didn't ask why YOU felt that way I asked why "KAT7AP" felt that way. But since you felt the need to respond. I disagree, I am sorry but we (MY OFFICE) don't assist our MD's. We do it ourselves. We draw the blood, we start the IV's, we place and remove foley catheters, we do the injections and bladder installations, we do incision and wound care, staple and suture removals. We do the patient care teaching and education. We don't just stand there and had stuff to our doc's. They are busy seeing patients and in surgery. They ONLY thing we have ever assisted our MD's on is the occassional pelvic exam to check for bladder/uterine prolapse and that just because all our docs are males. Also, I didn't quote Webster's definition of NURSING, I quoted the definition of a NURSE. If its not "snooty" and just different, then RN's should just treat it as so, give credit where credit (They should treat LPN's better too!) is due and stop being so self-rightous about it.

Go to the main page....http://www.gocfcc.com The left hand column under "quick links". Click on Bookstore. The third "red" section says "Buy Your Text Books online now" Click on Spring 09 Semseter Click on PRN for program Then click each section Just follow from there....any more questions just ask.