megykilo

It sounds like you have it all sorted out; that's great! You will stay busy and get lots of time for studying! There is one guy in my class whose family lives in Vancouver and he rents a studio apartment here and goes home on the weekends. It seems to be working out for him. I kind of know how you feel about the seperation thing; about 5 days after we got married my husband left for the east coast for 8 months. We 'reunited' right before I started nursing school. It's a military thing. Well, I wish you luck and I'm sure we will meet very soon. Small town :)

You shouldn't worry about it. This is just me having a meltdown as we get to finals week and being on allnurses instead of studying ha ha! You are blessed to be able to bring your family with you. I was going to school and working on prerequisites for 2 years while my husband lived in Alaska, and I know how it is to want something to work so badly you'll do almost anything to get there. Astoria is gorgeous and if you don't mind the rain everything will be great! Do you plan on working at all while you are in school? What does your husband do? Will you live in Astoria or a nearby town? If you have any questions I've lived in the area for a total of 12 years I might be able to help, feel free to email me. You are going to have a blast in the Nursing 50 course, or at least my buddies that did it last summer say so.

i did my prerequisites at clatsop, and live in the area. it is definitely cool to live within walking distance from school and 5 minutes from the hospital. i don't have much to say about clatsop...if you've attended before then you might have an inkling about how unorganized and frustrating it can be...this is rural nursing at its 'finest.' anyhow, congratulations on your acceptance, you will be in school with a couple of my friends and pm me if you have any questions!

i have a white pair of pants and they are completely see through. didn't expect that because they were kind of expensive. i have to wear white for school. twas a bummer

Well that was sweet! I'm another one of those soon to be nurses that won't ever take a CNA for granted.

In LTC you will have between 8-15 residents and be responsible for incontinence care, feeding, ambulation, dressing, transfers, getting them to the dining room and making sure they all eat enough at meals. Plus vitals and coordinating with family outings/activities etc. I'm sure you knew that and realize by now that it is not easy. In the hospital I do clinicals at for NS, there is about 1 CNA for 8 patients on MedSurg, most of whom can transfer with minimal assistance and are continent. They don't typically require help with getting clothes on (they will stay in a nightgown as admits and very often there are family members with them to help) and they eat in their rooms. Expect to do cath care with all indwelling catheters, vital signs, I&0 and baths and showers for those who need help on day shift. There are more nurses to help in the hospital, plus PT, OT, dietary, RT to help with the various issues patients will ask you to resolve. I thought the same thing that you did about hospital versus LTC. I never ended up taking the hospital job as a CNA and will graduate with my ADN next year, but I feel like my 3 years in LTC is priceless. You learn SO MUCH about time management, multitasking, management of behavioral issues, patient/family dynamics. There are coworkers of mine in school with me, and those who have worked as hospital CNA's. It seems that those even with experience in the hospital become easily frazzled; it almost makes me glad for all of those hectic shifts in the nursing home. The wealth of knowledge to be gained in LTC is SO much more than meets the eye; don't ever think that 'settling' for the nursing home could ever be detrimental to your career. I'm glad I stuck it out.

funny! my husband is an AMT3 as well, and he graduated this past august. i hope you get stationed somewhere fun too! i wish i was already done with school like you are! elizabeth city is pretty neat, i lived there for about 4 years when my dad was in the coast guard, and i went back for my husbands graduation this summer. good luck with everything, and my bet is that we will probably cross paths some time. :)

sorry to hear that. my husband is also in the coast guard, but we arent due to transfer again until 2 years after i graduate. i know what you mean about some health care facilities not caring about anything but a dollar. i would feel discriminated against, too and i hope everything works out for you. where is your husband transferring to?

I started pre-reqs at 17, started NS at 19, and this year will take the NCLEX PN (at 20). I will graduate with my ADN at 21.

all i have ever heard is that hospital cna's have it easier. i work in LTC and know exactly what you are talking about. despite being a 'lift' hoyers take a lot of energy and it is so easy to throw out your back. my first experience in the hospital came this year in clinicals. the cna's work side by side with the nurses and there are lift teams for the big stuff. plus they arent getting everybody up, dressed and to the DR for meals. i read in a nursing journal that the average nurse lifts 2 tons in an 8 hour shift. from what i have seen, the cna's in LTC are probably exceeding that statement and those in hospitals don't even come close. i'm not sure about exactly what unit is best, but in my situation based on my hospital i would go with med surg. good luck with everything!

one of my clinical instructors is a '99 grad of chemeketa, and a girl in my class did her prereq's there but i really don't have any helpful information. my teacher described herself as a 'survivor' of CCC and said that when she was in school, everyone had a 4.0 in prereq's...that's all that I have heard. i'm at the other CCC- clatsop community college in astoria. good luck!

I'm a first year student at a rural community college and we had around 200 applicants for 24 positions....i can imagine in portland the numbers would be baffling. my best advice is to get really good grades in A&P and definitely do the CNA work. I think i had a year of full time experience before i applied and i got 6 points for it. good luck!

yup, it sounds just like the LTC where i work. so sad. what a system.

my school will not round up for us. our care plans do count towards our final grade, but it is very minimal. too bad. so sad. i spend a lot of time with my careplan and get good grades on them, but as far as theory tests, no matter how well i feel like i know the content i always get thrown by a few questions.

i'm beginning my ADN program in september. i'm really excited; i've worked so hard for the last year and a half to get in...but it's almost frustrating to think that if i went to a U (closest is 2 hours away) I could be getting my BSN in the same amount of time. moving is not an option because my husband is in the military and it was a stroke of luck that we got stationed in the town i was accepted into nursing school for. i plan on doing the RN-BSN bridge anyway...i guess i can suck it up. so...here's to the class of 09! megan