Halligan

Oh, I doubt you will have to wait that long. If your done with electives, than look at taking Patho. It will give you a leg up on the material when you take N155 and N221,N222

Thats a hard question to answer nowadays. They used to take about 40, than changed it this year when the implemented a new schedule and they took twice as many. However there are big changes, announcements coming soon, regarding admissions to the program and the structure of the program. With your waitlist date, make plans to start in the winter. But as anyone who has gone to HFCC knows, nothing is written in stone. You never know, you still may get called for the fall. As for taking night classes, heres how it works. Prior to this past Winter admission, all first semester classes were days only. This past Winter, they started a nights class/weekend clinical arraingment along with a days class/clinical group. Spots were done by lottery (your date on the waitlist). This was something new. This program was different in that the weekend people had 2 summers off, and instead off graduating May '10, they are set to graduated Dec '10. Those people were told that their schedule would remain the same all the way through. However, that has changed for some people. It is unknown at this time if those people who's schedule changed will graduate when they were told, or sooner. It is a big unknown right now. Hopefully this helps. HFCC is a good school with a very good program. However, it can get to be frustrating with the way certain things are done there, but than no school is perfect. But the school doesn't exist out of the goodness of it's heart. It is a buisness, and it is run like one. It is THE money maker for the college. The big thing to keep in mind is there may be a few hiccups, and there are a few teachers who merely show up to collect a paycheck, but they are outnumbered by the instructors who truly want students to succeed. Hope this helps

Madonna is a private school and there is no waitlist so you will be looking at roughly $13k for the year. But on the brightside your done in 3yrs with your BSN. If you can get financial aid and you don't want to waste time on a waitlist go for it.

I currently hold both licenses. I started out in EMS with the goal of nursing. I maintain my paramedic license by taking a small amount of continuing education credits every three years even though I do not work in that capacity any more. Keeping it reminds me where I came from and the difficult road that was traveled to get to graduate school. As for the response from Mysimpleplan, maybe I didn't use the right words when describing a paramedics' function in EMS in an ambulance outside the hospital as opposed to a nurse in the hospital. So here it is again... A nurse in the hospital cannot order and administer meds based on diagnosis of a problem they made themselves without a doctors order. A paramedic can. A nurse cannot make a decleration of death. A paramedic can without consulting with a doctor, although they still have to call med control for TOD, (thats time of death). Nurses don't intubate, doctors do... and for the most part they already have been by the paramedic who brought the patient into the ER, and it was even without consulting with the doctor while they were on scene. As for codes, a doctor runs them in the ER, nurses follow the orders. In the field paramedics give and follow the orders. That's why knowing the difference between Torsades and a second degree type II block is important when deciding which meds to push. Hopefully this explains my statement regarding paramedics having more pt responsibilities Pre-doctors orders than a nurse. However its sad that paramedics get paid on average only $12-15/hr to work for a private ambulance company.

As I said I'm sorry if came across as insensitive. I really understand you when it comes to letting out frustration. My point was instead of letting it get you down, look at it as a situation in school that can give you strength and confidence. I have had a similar event take place in school and after a little bit of feeling down I came to the realization that I'm not perfect and I can't do everything. I know you were not looking for sympathy, and there is no doubt that you know what it takes to be a nurse, and if you keep a positive attitude you will succeed. I just want to let you know however, that if your doing your best, you can't ask for more. Please don't think or let anybody tell you that if you are and it's not good enough, that it sucks for you. Look at any setback as just that. A setback. Not the end of the world. Keep positive and keep focused.

I have found this site to be informative and entertaining. And although I have, for the most part, refrained from posting, after reading some recent posts I just have to say this: School is what you make of it. It can be easy or it can be hard. In the long run, you the student are responsible for how hard school actually is/was. Yes you may have a bad teacher, or you may have to juggle your schedule, or you may have to study alot. But really, if you can't do it while your in school, are you going to be able to do it when you are an RN? The hardest part of school is playing by the " rules", not the material. And when I say rules I mean the rules that are set by the instructors: be on time, nails trimmed, scrubs in a bag, no jeans, no tats, etc,etc and etc. For the most part posts to questions are very helpfull. However, there are enough posts on this site that are just scary to new people, and working while in school is one of those. For the most part, if you don't have to work while in school why work? That's understandable. However most people need too. Yes, the schools don't recomend it, and they throw out figures that represent people working while going to school who fail. But what about the amount of people who fail that do not work? Ask that question. What about the amount of students who drop after the second or third semester? Once again it comes down to this: Desire, Motivation,Scheduling and remembering school is what you make of it. Remember, nursing school can be difficult, no one ever said it was a breeze. But it is not, as a previous poster stated, the hardest program in a two or a four year school. This I know for a fact. So let me offer some words of encouragement to anyone who may feel overwhelmed. Go take a paramedic class. A certificate of achievement is all that is needed to take a license exam. And when it is said and done a paramedic who works outside of hospital has more patient responsibilty (pre-doctor)than a nurse in a hospital. If one thinks nursing school is hard than consider paramedic school. You have to learn ethics and laws, micro, patho, pharm, advanced airways,IV's, a&P and ecg interpertation with drug and electrical treatment. A&P was a two semester college course crammed into three weeks. ACLS completion was mandatory for class completion. These courses run from 10 to eighteen months long on average. As for me.. class met two days a week for 7 hours each day. After the first four weeks clinicals started and they averaged betwen 24 and 32 hours a week. All this was done in ten months. I also worked full time. To obtain a license, a written and a practical test had to be passed. Remember, a paramedic is responsible for intubation, starting IV's, adminstering drugs, running codes and following all protocoles before talking with a doctor on the radio. Am I bragging.....NO, far from it. I want to share my experience with any current or future students who may get frustrated , scared or turned away after reading some posts regarding the "toughness" of school. Once again, it's what you make of it and how bad you want it. To all who may get offended from this post, I'm sorry, but I felt I had to speak. I will go be quiet again for another few months or so...

Sorry you got a bad grade, but how is it the teachers fault and really, if you know this isn't the forum to complain, do you do it anyway? Look at it this way, If you were an RN and you gave the wrong dose of medication to a patient because of "away from work distractions", and it killed the patient, do you think you would be deserving of sympathy from the family and or supervisors? Sorry ahead of time if you think this is insensitive, but as you said, " life doesn't cut you breaks". Better you learn in school that distractions can cost you than in the working world.

NSG. office said if you were on the list by the end of winter 07 ( end of semester may07) expect to enter Fall 08. They were not sure on the end of spring 07, however, they said at the end of Summer 07, expect a wait of at least 18 months. They also said though, they tell people it takes longer to get in than it actually does. The reason is the list is fluid and people who voluntarily defered entry into the program can delay entry for someone else. Once you get an acceptance letter, you are encouraged to complete all electives, and given the option of defering to the Winter semester in order to complete classes. The longest a person can defer is one year, after that you lose your spot in line

I took it last year and I have to say that aside from the teacher, the class was a dissapointment. I expected the material to cover certain subjects in depth, however we just scratched the surface. In fact, the textbook is good for information, but my class only covered about half of the book. I don't know if the class layout is standard for all sections ( we only took 4 tests, no final), but if it is, and you read the whole book, you should be over prepared for whatever comes your way. I would suggest that if you arent familiar with basic medical terminology to go ahead and learn some. We spent about a week (not part of the syllybus) going over terminolgy and body mechanics to help bring a couple of students up to speed. All that being said, the class was a very easy A.