YupIt'sMe

I have the 4th edition, and I love the book so far. It's easy to follow and corresponds closely to my med-surg book, Ignativacius. The major problem I am having is that I cannot get the CD to load. I have a mac and the instructions say to drag the folder to your hard drive (which I did). I cannot get anything to load. I have the latest software on my 6 month old MacBook Pro. I also tried to double click the icon directly from the CD to no success. Did anyone have a similar problem w/a Mac? What did you do? Thanks.

I am not NurseSF. I don't mean to say not to be proud of your accomplishments or your experience, but whatever it is you bring with you, you are not an RN, and you've never received the specific education that an RN has. The point is to not be a know-it-all. You will be a student. Practice humility, it goes a long way. No offense, but even that last post about how you shine at work and how it results in others having an inferiority complex is kind of a funky statement, wouldn't you say? This is not to tell you what kind of person to be, we are all adults and our personalities are pretty set at this point. I got into the program my first time applying, take what I say with a grain of salt. If you get in, you will see that your decade of healthcare experience is not exceptional. Many of us have tons of healthcare experience under our belts. Use what you have learned to clarify your educational and career goals. You will see that there are specific nursing skills that can or can not be delegated to assistive personnel. I am assuming you have been an assistive personnel so it would have been impossible to have obtained the RN skills that are taught the first year. A lot of it is RN assessments. Because it is an accelerated program, you take exactly what is required by the state to obtain your license. The "chill out" statement was regarding this message board, nothing else. I was just adding my unsolicited 2 cents to the reactions I read of this board to comments toward someone. I say now and before you start school are great times to take vacations. There's nothing else to do but wait. Good luck again people.

I am a current MEPN and it's interesting to read through all your posts. I remember being in that same boat one year ago. I got my letter re: the interview right before I left town before Christmas. Just be supportive of one another. There is no reason to want to feel smarter, better prepared, or more capable than the rest of the applicants. I remember that issue was addressed during one meeting we had. Apparently, MEPN applicants tend to be extremely competitive among each other. Half way through my first year, I would have to say that I saw a bit of that in the beginning mostly. Perhaps it was insecurity that drove people to really try to demonstrate what they already knew, that they felt the cohort didn't. I would recommend chilling a bit on that, because you will just be irritating more than anything. The first semester is HELL, maybe a combo of it all being new, the speeding-through of an intense amount of material, and adjusting to clinicals and being a student again. It is great that UC doesn't require a whole lot of pre-reqs, but I would suggest kicking butt on the one's they do require. Not so much for them, but for your own knowledge. The last pre-req I took was physiology and it was tough, but it completely prepared me for the patho we take the first quarter. Is UCSF disorganized? Well, yes, quite a bit actually. I've gotten frustrated with admin on more than a few occasions, but had to quickly get over it and stay focused. They will tell you during orientation that they get "creative" around trying to give you credit for courses you've taken previously so that you don't have to repeat them once in MEPN. This is not true, actually, and they discourage and don't really like students to "test out" of courses. You will not know much about your schedule until the week of, or your first day. They are often scrambling to hire faculty to teach courses. There's also a control thing that happens with admin. Some students tried to coordinate their own clinical placements by actually doing the leg work that the school would otherwise have to do, i.e., meet nurse managers, seek out preceptors, stay within UC system, etc..., but the school really wants to be in charge of this, even though they end up obtaining clinical placements at the last moment, and the clinicals turn out not to be so great. It would be great if they would allow students to be involved in the planning, especially as you will be expected by the school to behave as "adult learners." Even more argument for being involved in your own education, right? This is not a gripe-fest, I am sharing my experience. Despite the imperfections of the school, I know that in 6 months I will be able to take the NCLEX, and then move on to the courses I really want to get into. The first year is completely RN generic. You take nothing that has to do with your specific specialty. Good luck to you all. I am on break all month, and let me tell you...it's great!!!!!

Hey PotreroLCSW, it seems like we have very similar backgrounds and I started MEPN this year. Shoot me an email if you'd like to chat.

I started MEPN this summer and it has been pretty intense. During the week, your days are pretty much filled with either classes or clinicals. I would say the first quarter was more intense than this quarter (in 2nd quarter now), probably because I was still adjusting to being a student again and figuring out how to get through all of the reading required. Good luck to you all. It's a huge wait game...