aleii

Yet another reason why we need mandated nurse-patient ratios!

So I saw some spam faxes at work which I usually just pitch, but one of them caught my eye for a medical market research company because it is saying that if a nurse "consults on an upcoming research study" they will pay $200 for a 90 minute focus group session. My 'too good to be true' red flags are going off but I figured I'd ask about it here on the off chance that this is legit. Has anyone done any of these?

hi crazy good to get another side to the story. So maybe nursing school isn't that insane everywhere! It was a very stressful program to be in, excellent students were afraid of failing class/clinical in more than 1 class. Yes, I had heard about the probation as well. I got different theories of why that was so, everything from that they failed such a high portion of the class, to the idea that NCLEX passing rate wasn't that good, (though, they failed so many of us out that the ones left passed easily, so I heard.) At least one of the teachers was on probation as well. They changed directors, and from what I heard, were supposed to do a complete revamp of the program. Apparently that's not working out too well for them? Too bad. Had I the money and a time machine, I would have taken A&P at Parkland, then gone to Lakeview. Had I the money and the time, I would have taken A&P at Parkland, and then gone back to U of I. Parkland is not a school I would recommend, especially now, after hearing that things haven't changed over there. During clinical, we would sometimes see 1 or two U of I students on the floor with us 8-12 students from Parkland, I always wondered how that worked - did you have 1 clinical instructor per 2 students?

I graduated from U of I, and I had a year wait until I was accepted into Parkland. I took the prerequisites while I waited, and got straight A's. I went to the director of the program who said she had no idea why I did not get accepted the first time I applied, and she called one of the 'scorers' who said to write down "15 hour rule" on my application, and that way my application would be based on my straight A's I got at Parkland rather than my A and B record at the U of I. I did that and got accepted. Parkland has a fantastic anatomy and physiology program. It seems like the teacher I had is no longer there though, unfortunately, and it was not that long ago that I took those classes. The way it is set up is excellent, and A&P I and II have companion books which are excellent. These classes were the highlight of my experience there. It is a very convenient school to get to and interact with online, it is also a fantastic price. Nursing school there is difficult. We had 400 applications for 75 seats. Out of those original 75, we had 22 graduate. Approximately 10 were from the original class. Getting my ASN was by far harder than getting my Bachelor's at the U of I. You have to make a huge sacrifice in time - significantly less family time, and a significant amount of hours studying. Some of the teachers are very good, others seem to create their tests out of random insignificant lines from the book. You have to be very self-sufficient in your studies. The class books are structured very well, especially the med-surg ones. I liked those. The selection of nursing classes in the summer is abysmal. You have to follow their preselected course path for you - there is no way to graduate early, no fast track program. They were still figuring out the pharmacology course when I attended. From what I hear it is now thorough, but hard. Clinical hours there aren't very long, 4-8 hours for each. But you need to be on the ball when you are there, and be completely prepared ahead of time. They have no qualms about failing you out of clinical, which means you fail out of the class. Many of my friends ended up failing class or clinical, and I'm not going to lie - we were all pretty scared we would be next. Tests where 75% of the class fails happened too. I, and the others I graduated with that I know of, easily passed the NCLEX Most of the teachers I had are still teaching there. Remember to memorize your patient's K+ level If you can, having previous CNA experience will be especially helpful, as is taking medical terminology. But, a lot of this reflects others' posts of their experiences at nursing school. I wish you luck in the path you choose to go!