CarlJ

No, I don't mind being called a nurse. I've worked very hard to earn that title. But the word is very feminine. To me, the act of nursing (i.e. breast feeding) will never allow the title of nuse to be netural, so I wouldn't mind if another term is found. I wonder what they were called before women took over the role? Was it nurse? Carl

I am planning on getting a pin and going to the pinning ceremony. There is a lot of ritual to ceremony that I am not too keen on but I am going for two reasons. One is because the ceremony is more personal than the graduation. There will be less than thirty people graduating, most from my program, and this will be the last thing that I will get to share with all of them. During the past year we all went through a lot together, so this is something just for us, rather than having to share the day with thousands of other graduates from other programs. The second reason, at least in our ceremony, someone of significance to you can put the pin on you. This is a way of honoring those who worked with you as you persued your degree, and I look forward to being able to do that. I have skipped other graduations, think they were just a bother. But I am a bit sad that I let those moments go by without sharing it somehow with my friends and family.

I am still doing clinicals for my BSN (graduating in May :smiley_aa ) and I have had my beard for the past two semesters. I have asked several of my instructors if it would be a problem, but none of them discouraged me from wearing it. Before starting nursing school, however, I worked as a nursing assistant in the OR. During my orientation in the hospital, I was told I would not be able to be fitted for a respiratior with the beard on. Since I had close patient contact, that would be important, so I shaved it off. I am still not sure what a fellow with a beard, nurse or otherwise, is suppose to do if he had to deal with a TB patient. So, if anyone found a way to work around that, I'd like to know! Carl

The ERIs are a required part of my program. At the end of each semester, during the time we are also worrying about finals, We have to take the ERI exam. If we do not pass certain sections of the exam, then we have to go through a remedial program. Frankly, it seems like a waste of time. The first couple of exams we were all worried about it and tried to review everything from the semester. But what it did was stress us out and perhaps not do so well on the class exam. That went to your grade, not the ERI. Now we barely give the ERI a second thought and just show up for the exam and do our best.

Hi I am in an accelerated BSN program and has to take about 26 preq. credits before I could apply for the program. The BSN program is from a private university and its per credit costs are very high. So I was able to go to a local community college for the preq., where the per credit costs were much lower. The university accepted them with no problems. Make sure though that you discuss the courses you plan to take at the community college with the admissions person at the nursing school to make sure you are taking the right level course. I had to take a higher level statistics and chemistry than what I thought was acceptable. Carl

I am currently in an accelerated BSN program at Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. One thing you have to be prepared to do before starting this program is to be ready to put ALL your energies into it. In this program, the fall semester is the killer, and I am almost through it now At this point I can't even imagin going on for a masters after this, though I did think about it before starting. I think any ABSN program will be intense. Good luck in your search. Carl

You will really need math for any chemistry courses you will have to take! :uhoh21: Carl

In our OR we have to date the saline and water bottles and remove them after 3 days in the warmer. We warm them to 112 F. It seems this is acceptable by the manufacturer and the saline will still be waranteed. After 3 days they will not.

I am a pre-student nurse and volunteer at a magnet hospital in NJ. This is a second career for me. I only have a rough idea about what it takes to become a magnet hospital, but I do have many years of experienece implementing and championing other quality processes. So I know where you are coming from, trying to get the old guard to buy into a new process, especially if they don't see what's in it for them. I would not doubt that they have seen a lot of things come and go over the years that has not improved things much. So how is this idea going to be different? Actually, that's not a bad question. What do you think is going to change as a result of persuing the magnet? Why should the old guard get excited about this? What is in it for them? From what I understand, in a magnet hospital, nurses are much more involved in decision making processes that affect them. But that of course requires the full support of the management. Are the managers really supporting this? Are they willing to change how they do business with the nurses to make it happen? Do you and the nurses in general trust the managers? And with power comes responsibility. Are the nurses willing to put the extra effort into being an active part of the decision making process? My best advise would be for you to truely understand what is being done and why. Then as the notices come out about the various meeting and changes, it will make sense to you and you can better explain why this endevor is different and is important to them.