VanLpn

I am applying for 2024! Working on my Bio 235 through Athabasca right now. It's awful and have to basically learn it on your own. I just scheduled my Casper exam for Feb 1st. I have applied twice before ? . I didn't do well on the Casper and that was what did it for me last time. I have a strong application and decent grades.

Hi 2023 hopefuls! I have a question about the CASPer exam. I applied in 2022 and when I did the CASPer it was vignettes and we had 5 minutes to write our answers. I am reading that they have added an audio part to it which some schools use and some don't. I don't love the idea of recording myself, it would feel like an interview. I plan on applying again next year and plan to practice so I can hopefully improve my score. Any insights would be helpful, along with any tips. Thanks!

Just got my rejection email. Looks like CASPER and grades were the decider. I got a 3 for both and 1 for my supplemental. My GPA is 78%. Not sure what I’ll do now. Is it even possible to improve CASPER score? They don’t give any feedback. Congrats to all that got accepted!

I've only done quiz one and two. I found the quiz harder than the midterm. I think it's a good practice for the midterm though. I got the same mark on both. The orion practice quizzes aren't very helpful, they are way too easy. I found using quizlet helpful, they have flashcards there and I'm also watching Anatomy GMC on Youtube, she does a good job of going over the whole chapter which I find a lot less dry than just trying to read it.

I’m doing mine through Athabasca. I’m in a mad rush to get it done by the end of may. I’m on ch 14. ?

I have just under 80 average. IMO I have a very strong supplemental application. I've taken care of foster children with medical needs, worked in addictions on the Downtown Eastside for years, fair amount of volunteer work and did the Care Aid certificate at Douglas. I know a lot of folks that have done the UBC program and a fair number of them had GPA's in the 70's. I think it will really depend on how strong your supplemental application is and your CASPER score. I hate not knowing my CASPER score. I'm frantically working to get through the Anatomy and Physiology pre req and if I knew how I did on CASPER it would help motivate me to get through it...or not. If I don't get in I think it will be the CASPER score that does it for me.

I thought I liked night shifts until I stopped doing them. After a couple of weeks off I felt a fog lift. I just got used to feeling crappy. Now that I don't do them anymore I eat better and have the energy for exercise. It's unfortunate because I liked everything else about the night shift other then how it made me feel. I loved my coworkers we were a great team...day shift not so much but life is about trade-offs

Where I live there most nurses work rotating shifts. We're all union here (British Columbia, Canada) and most people don't like night shifts so this spreads around the misery to everyone. I'm not a nurse yet but I do work in mental health and currently work all days but have worked all nights. In an ideal world I'd work only days but I would prefer rotating shifts to straight nights. I know it's not good for you but most night shift nurses flip their schedules on their days off anyway. A full time line in a hospital here is 2 days, 2 nights 4 days off. Then two days, two nights 5 days off. Health care is 24/7, I don't get nurses that are shocked once they start looking for a job that they can't find something 9-5. There are things about night shift that I prefer so when I've worked it I keep an upbeat attitude and focus on the good parts rather than ruminating over how rough I have it. I think that helps a lot. I also think many of the problems associated with shift work can be lessened by eating well and keeping up with regular exercise.

I did nights for 3 years, then went to days and it took about five weeks to not feel totally wiped out on days. I've recently gone back to nights, although, for general life balance days worked better for me.

John Stossel is an outspoken libertarian. Hardly the picture of someone impartially evaluating another country’s healthcare system. Why did he pick Cuba a poor country with very little in common with the U.S? Why not choose from one of the western Countries with some form of universal coverage…any western country..we all have it in some form. France, England, Canada, Australia…etc…yet he chose Cuba…interesting.

Fair enough. I don't necessarily disagree with that per se. In Canada, however, we all pay for the health care. No one is really getting a "free ride". The only people that don't pay or those who make precious little or are on disability or social assistance. I assume those groups don't pay down south either, so really we're just talking about middle income and working class people having equal access.

Well to each their own of course, I want people to be all they can be as well. I don't see how having access to health care means that someone can't "be all they can be". I want to root for my fellow Canadians to "be all they can be" however if they need health care to be all they can be I want them to be able to access it because without it, me simply rooting for them won't do a whole lot.

Me too. It baffles me that people wouldn't want a universal healthcare system. This discussion has also highlighted to me how individualistic the U.S as a whole is with an "every man for himself" kind of philosophy. I am very grateful that Canadians want everyone to have equal access to health care and for no one to go bankrupt over an illness. It's not a perfect system to be sure but I'm glad to have it.

U of C for sure. Way cheaper, and the job market for RN's seems a bit better here.

I'm not going to lie...it is usually very very hard. There have been a couple of times that I just couldn't do it...I ended up regretting it that night though when I couln't fall asleep until 2 or 3 am. If my wife is home on Saturday she has a nice big starbucks coffee waiting for me when I get up. That helps. Also it's helpful to plan some family activity for Saturday afternoon like taking the kids to the wave pool or something, that way I have to get up.

I know you just asked for night shift mom's opionions but being a night shift dad whose wife also works shift work fulltime, I thought you might like my opinion. I work Wed-Fri 12 hr nights. I have a little nap wednesday while the kids are at school then pick them up, homework, then dinner, then wife home and I leave. Thursday and Friday I am pretty much not available. I sleep and work. I commute for 1.5 hours each way so that's all I have time for. If my wife works a day shift on either of those days my night will suck. I have to get up at 2:30 to get the kids and then I'm pretty much done with sleep. Most weeks this isn't a problem. On Saturday morning I just sleep for a few hours as I want to go back to a regular schedule, if I sleep all day it's hard to sleep saturday night. This means I spend most of saturday being a zombie. On Sunday, I still feel a bit groggy but I am able to sleep nights on my days off. By tuesday I'm feeling great. It took me a full month of doing this to not feel tired ALL the time. I felt like a zombie at work and on my days off. I like the flow of nights, however even though days have alot of different challenges I'd prefer days. At this point my working 3 12's of nights means no after school daycare so it will have to go on like this for awhile. Just don't count on being of much use to anyone at home on the days you work. If you have to pick your kids up and only get 5 hrs or sleep or so you will be wrecked by your last day.I absolutely could not work nights unless they were clumped together. Working a night then a day off then a night would kill me. I want to get the pain over with and then have my days off.

An excellent book on addiction is "In the realm of hungry ghosts" by Dr.Gabor Mate. Great book!! Really helped me find my compassion for addicts. Something to keep in mind about addictions is not to get to attached to the idea of the addicts "recovering". Relapse rate is very high and is a part of recovery.It often takes many attempts before someone stops using. I got really upset when I first started as I developed a really good relationship with someone and I really thought he'd "make it"...3 months later he was back. He would have been back sooner but he felt like he "let staff down". I realized then that it's important not to project my expectations onto people. I don't want people avoiding getting help because they are ashamed. I also realized that some people are going to use until they die. There is one woman that I've gotten to know really well over the last 18 months. She's been in detox 3 times since I started. She has been an IV drug user since she was 14. She is 56 now. She has detoxed doxens of times and been clean for streches of 18 months. I think success for her and some others is just being clean for several months, gaining some weight, fostering relationships etc. Where I work it is much more of a "harm reduction" approach. Sometimes people just need to detox and take a break from "street life", they have no illusions of life long abstinance and neither should we. Good Luck!

ugh... I make $19 an hour before nursing school in healthcare support. Nurses start at 30 here and make more then 40 with a couple of years and some shift diff's. I would not work as a nurses for 20 bucks an hour. I do not think that is "good money" for an educated proffessional.

My wife makes alot more than I do.She makes about $75-80,000 a year as an RN. I work 2-3 days a week 9 hour shifts for $21 an hour. It makes sense for her to work fulltime (and pick upthe occasional O/T) while I work weekend nights and take care of things during the week. I'm certainly not lazy as I cook,clean, take care of the kids etc. Also while I work part time the work I do is very demanding (psych, addictions) and I don't think I could cope with doing it fulltime. I plan to start an accelerated BSN program next year so maybe when I'm done she can take a part time line.

Don't let it bother you, she is clearly wrong, so no sweat. We can't change other people's minds but we can change how we react to what other people say/do. Actually, where I live she'd be right because most places in Canada have two year lpn programs. You need a BSN to be an RN here unless you got your diploma beofre 2008.

That just tells me you were grossly underpaid before, not that nurses are overpaid. Where I live paramedics get paid $20-25 an hour and nurses start at $30 an hour.

I find that bringing healthy food is easy if you do some prep work.Twice a week I spend about 30 mins chopping a wack of veggies, spinning romaine and spinach and making a grain, usually quinoa. Then I put them all in tupperware in the fridge and just scoop out what I need on my way out. I also soak and cook some beans to go in the salad then store those. I like chick peas the best in salads.

I always bring my own food. Otherwise all that is available is crap. Last night I brought a spinach salad with cucumber, tomatoes, chick peas, raddish,thinly sliced kale, red/orange peppers, strawberries and celery. I brought homemade lentil vegetable soup. I also brought a hummous, cucumber, tomatoe, sprouts and spinach sandwhich. For snacks I brought veggies and hummous, an apple and a banana. i usually make a big pot of soup twice a week and then eat it all week. It's usually some kind of bean, vegetable or green soup. Also I make sure to have left overs. The night before I brought lots of curried veggies and tofu over quinoa. Also I like to make veggie chilli's and bring that. If I'm in a rush and haven't got much I always have canned soup to bring (usually spicey black bean or curried lentil) and i always have hummous and pita in the house.

i'm considering entering douglas college for bachelor of science in psych nursing. here in b.c, psych nurses are under the same contract as rn's (same $) and with the exception of a few specialties(maternity,peds) they can work in many environments that the rn does. i have a lot of family in alberta so i was considering moving there once i complete my studies. do rpn's and rn's get paid the same wage in alberta?

My monthly payment is $820for 15 years.