180Chick

There are a few people in my class that have CNA experience, but most people don't. I have EMS experience, and that has helped me GREATLY. Maybe you will be more comfortable working around people since you are a dental assistant. Don't worry, though. The people in my class who do their readings and study are the ones that pass, whether they have experience or not. You will be fine!

countryboy, i know who you are! lolololololol i know because of that message you sent me. it gave me your email in the message. we used to go to school together at cacc. it's Steph! lol

I like to write my notes in the margins of my books, lol. I get one of the little Sharpie pens with fine points and go to town! That way, when I'm reading the material, I already have all of my notes right there. If I absolutely HAVE to, I will take notes on notebook paper, but not often. It's just what I've always done.

The main campus in Harrogate, in my opinion, is not disorganized at all. You start out with about 40 students in your class, maybe a little more. It is difficult to keep an 80, and they WILL kick you out if you have a 79.9. (I had a friend that happened to, actually). The best thing you can do is to put nursing school first, study like crazy, and get assistance from the tutors. There are only two nursing tutors for your entering class, that being myself and another girl. The NP students (who mostly all seem great) tutored my class last semester, but your instructor for NURS 115 told me the other day that she is only going to allow your entering class to see myself and the other girl. My class, which is more advanced, will continue to see the NP students (because they kind of put things on a hard to understand level). The new CRNA program is my ultimate goal, and from what I have seen, there are so few of NP and CRNA students, that they're mainly in classes together. You will have a locker that you can put your stuff in. For your first semester, clinicals will be at a nursing home (there are only two that you can be assigned to). One is about 5 minutes away from LMU, and the other is about 15 minutes away. You will get to do things like IM and sub-Q injections. You will get to give meds and maybe even do some wound care. You will feed a lot of people, and do a lot of AM care. It's just learning about the basics of nursing. You will have 7 weeks of lab and 5 weeks of actual clinical in the nursing home. Lab is just to familiarize you with the procedures and to get you comfortable with them. You will be checked off for things in lab before you can do them in clinical. There are about 3 clinical instructors that you could possibly be assigned to. How much you will actually be allowed to do will depend upon which instructor you're assigned to. One of them will let you do ALL KINDS of stuff (the one I had). One will let you do quite a bit, and the other (I have heard) will not let you do anything -- not even sub-Q injections. I would advise you to be familiar with Erikson's 8 stages of development. There will be test questions on these. Remember, ABCs (airway, then breathing, then circulation) *always* come first on any test question. The instructors will be very big on seeing what kind of "nursing judgment" you make. I took 17 hours my first semester in nursing school with 115, which people said I was crazy for doing. It all just depends on your learning style and how much YOU can handle. I will also be tutoring Micro, Anatomy, and Physiology (if you are taking any of those). Every semester, it gets harder. Your first semester, you will only have lecture on Fridays (if it hasn't changed), and your clinical or lab will be only 1 day a week. Every semester thereafter, you will have at least two nursing classes. Second semester you will have Psych and Med-Surg 1. Third semester you will have OB and Med-Surg 2. Fourth semester you will have a seminar class, Med-Surg 3, and Peds. I assume that you are taking care of your medical profile now over the summer before class starts. The instructors do not like when people don't have those packets totally finished. Make sure all your immunizations are up to date, get your physical, get CPR certified (if you're not already), and definitely get a copy of Henke's Med Math! I got mine off eBay, because you will learn over time that LMU's bookstore is SO expensive. I did the first 10 chapters in that book and made CERTAIN I knew how to do every single problem in it before the first day of school. They want you to learn the "ratio and proportion method" only. I was confused about that, because there is a ration method and a proportion method, but no "ratio and proportion method." Do the problems that look like this: x mL : x mg :: x mL : x mg (the formula with all the little colons). Do not do the one with fractions. For your first semester, you will have 100 question tests with 5 math problems at the end. Within your first few weeks of the semester, they will give you 3 chances to pass a drug dosage quiz. If you cannot, you will be kicked out, so please get that book! lol Most of the instructors are really awesome, and I haven't seen their "bad sides" that everyone warned me about yet. Just do what you're supposed to, don't complain, kiss a little butt if you have to, study, and give it your all. If you call "special attention" to yourself, they may "get it in for you," as I have heard people call it. They DO try to weed out the weak from the strong, and by the time you are starting your third semester (like me), your class may be down to around 20 people -- reduced by half. One of my very best friends decided to spend her time this past semester with her boyfriend. I would always ask her to study, but she would put me off. She ended up failing and is trying to catch back up by taking 125 in Alcoa over the whole summer. Do not do that. Make sure to study and try very hard. That is all I can think of for now, but if you need anything else or have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I am sure we'll be meeting in the fall for tutoring (if you decide to take advantage of it), which I highly recommend (as will your instructor). Tutoring doesn't mean you're "dumb" or don't know the material. Many in my class spend HOURS every week with the NP students for tutoring, whether they need it or not. It's very invaluable. Sorry the post is so long, but I tried to share everything I can remember. From what you have said about your grades, you should be just fine. Try not to be nervous, and good luck!

I go to the main campus of LMU (the Harrogate site), and I'm starting my second year. Last year, the book they told us to get was Henke's Med Math. Make sure you get the newest version. I found mine on ebay. I'm sure that's what yours will be called as well.

Hello! I attend the Harrogate campus and am past the first year. I am starting my third semester in the program, and I will be a tutor for the nursing program. You will be encouraged by your instructor to come to the Tagge Center to see me and another girl who will be tutoring as much as possible, lol. I absolutely LOVE your instructor for NURS 115. She was my instructor as well. She was also my instructor for NURS 126 (Psych) and will be this semester for OB (246). Let me know if you have any questions. I love it there at the Harrogate site. :)

At my university, we learned 7: 1. Right patient 2. Right drug 3. Right dose 4. Right time 5. Right route 6. Right reason (You, as a nurse, need to know WHY your pt. is receiving this and if there are any side effects or interactions with other meds. A lot of MDs will make mistakes sometimes, and if you administer it, it's YOUR butt -- not theirs). 7. Right documentation Hope this helped! :)

Wow! Oh my goodness. I have never heard of only one chance to pass the math. Our program sent us a letter in the mail over the summer saying we had to get a certain med-math book and study 10 chapters of it. They wanted us ready to pass the math when we got there. Within the first week or two, we started taking the quizzes. We were allowed 3 tries, and you had to make an 80 or better. You have to make an 80 or better on EVERYthing in our program. It sucks, but keep trying! You WILL make it! No one else will believe you can unless you believe it first. :)

I didn't see this part of the post, sorry to make so many lol. Trust me, it has gotten so bad that I TRY so hard to keep my grades to myself. When she hands the tests back, my friends lean way over and look over my shoulder, etc. Our grades for our last test just got posted on the internet Friday morning before class. My friend sends me a text message so early that she woke me up asking me if I'd checked it yet. I get on there and look and saw that I made an A. I didn't want to tell her that. She kept sending me messages asking me what I got. I said, "well, how did you do?" she said, "not so good. what did you get?" i tried to ignore the question by sending, "i can't believe that. we studied together, so i thought we would both do so well." she just kept asking until finally, I just typed 'A.' She said, "you suck! what am i doing wrong? we studied the same amount of time, right?" and i said, "yes. maybe we will just have to study harder. i will keep helping you." then she says, "i HAVE studied hard. you know that. and yet YOU do good." she hasn't talked to me since. this is getting ridiculous. every kid in class is like, "what'd you get? what'd you get?" i don't know what to tell them? should i lie and say a B-, barely passing? should i tell them my real grade? should i just say, "i don't want to tell you."?? that will make me sound like a snot, lol. do you have any experience or advice for this? i feel like people in class are starting to resent me like i'm the big dorky nerd or something. blah. i hate this.

Thank you, amj! :) I am very happy about my grades and gift, but it's hard for me to be happy when my friends are starting to hate me and get angry with me. Blah. I try to help them. I am like the other poster that likes to teach others and help them understand what we went over. I gave them a lot of mnemonics for memorizing stuff (like what order you go in to assess each part of the heart - aortic, pulmonic, Erb's point, tricuspid, mitral, which intercostal space each is at, where to listen for murmurs, etc), but nothing is working. I even made flash cards for all of us, and instead of letting them quiz me, I sat and quizzed them. Maybe they'll come around. I have taken those tests, and they all say that I'm a very visual learner. I can look over some material once and know it. Thank you for the encouragement. :)

Thank you, James! :) Yes, I told her that as long as we continued to study and try to do our best she would make it, but I think she has her mind made up. It is pretty rough having to have an 80 and getting failed if it's a 79.9. I told her that if she quit, I won't have many friends in it anymore. Maybe that'll make her stay, haha. We started out with 40 people, but we're only at midterms and have lost 10 or so. It's looking like they want to cut half of us out down to around 20. That's amazing that you guys get to have the 75! I wish! lol I am not a mother and have never been pregnant, so I don't know how OB will go for me. I'm an EMT, but school is so stressful that I'm not currently working at it. Before school, I worked at an ambulance service, but not right now. Too much stress! lol I had to study OB to pass the NREMT portion, and it was pretty rough. I would say with nursing, you'll definitely go way more in-depth with it than just the emergency aspect. Thanks for the encouragement and good luck to you in Peds. I can't wait to do that rotation.

Well, that sounds really awesome. That's how it was at the cc here. You became an LPN year 1 and an RN year 2. My school just started a medical school, a nurse practitioner program, a nurse anesthetist program (which is why I'm attending this university. that's my ULTIMATE goal), and now they're starting a PA program. they're really moving up, and that's why I chose here instead of the cc.

Yes, it is rough. One of the girls that I studied with (the one that made a C) is actually trying to quit now. You have to have an 80 to pass. I had a friend last semester who failed with a 79.9, which is a little harsh I think. But this friend has an 80.2, so she is still passing. She's just worried that she will accidentally mess up, because she's so close to the borderline. This makes me feel TERRIBLE, because we both studied the same amount of time and the same things. I'm trying to help her and beg her not to quit, but I don't think she's going to listen. It's like she's mad at me and asked if I studied more behind her back. lol I told her (and everyone else) no, but no one believes me. How is OB/Peds, btw? I've heard OB is ROUGH.

Wow! This is some really helpful advice! I'm in my very first semester as a nursing student, so of course, I'm all doe-eyed and excited about this stuff, haha. My first week of clinicals comes this Wednesday, and I am assigned to perform mine in the nursing home. I was kind of dreading it, because I am a person who wants to most likely work with Peds or NICU. Your story about the Navy man has made me think of it entirely differently now. I know that I will probably not become a permanent presence to them or someone they even become accustomed to, because I will only be there for 5 weeks, but this has still changed my attitude. Thanks! :)

I'm in my first semester as a nursing student. I have the pre-reqs out of the way, except for one more science. You?

Um, I'm not exactly sure where Galen is. Is that near Louisville? I am in a TINY town in southeast KY. Well, I was. I moved now to TN just right across the line. In Middlesboro, they had a small two year ADN program, but I wanted to get on track for the BSN. I'm going to LMU in Harrogate now, and I like it pretty well.

I am sorry to hear about this! It sounds horrifying. Here is something I came up with while reading this: When she kept badgering you asking if you were sure you wanted to do this, I would've just said, "Yes. Is there a reason I shouldn't want to do this?" Because - what's the worst that could happen? She's sitting in the room with you. Even if you were wrong, she would NOT have let you administer that medication, because it would have gotten her in trouble (if it was, in fact, wrong). See what I'm saying? You're under her supervision. If she was to let you push the wrong med or push something at the wrong rate or ANYTHING like that, she's the one in trouble. Not you. So don't let her get you tore up like that. Don't let them get to you or get inside your head. You know what our instructors told us our very first day? "Boys and girls, you've basically just entered a military boot camp, only for nurses. This WILL be the hardest thing you've ever tried to do. If you have children, GET A SITTER NOW. We better never catch you taking that elevator. (because our program is on the 3rd floor of a huge medical school) If you ARE taking that elevator, you better have a disability. And if you have a disability, you better tell us now. More than half of you won't make it through this, so get ready, because this is tough." See? They try to get into your heads like that! You can't let 'em do you that way. Be confident in what you're doing. Because even if you WERE wrong, that instructor isn't going to LET you be wrong - or it's her butt.

gabriella, I see you are from KY. What nursing school will you be attending there or what part? I have a lot of family that lives there, and I am right on the TN/KY line myself. I just moved here from KY last semester and was actually thinking about attending a KY college, but they didn't have the 4 year BSN - only the ADN.

We have this huge book that has the different procedures in it. For the first 7 weeks of this semester, they had us in a setting called "campus lab." It basically looks like a big hospital room, only with dummies instead of humans. lol They would give us an assignment to read out of the huge book (usually around 100 pages or more), and every Wednesday, we would go in there, watch the instructors do it, then practice these things all day long ourselves. First thing in the mornings, though, we would have a quiz over everything we read. It was only 10 questions, but it could be ANYTHING from any part of the reading, so you had to pay attention. I just read the readings, and if I had a particularly hard time with it, I would maybe write down the steps in a more condensed order. If a friend is available, practice on them. There's no kind of experience like hands-on experience. Now that the 7 weeks and check-offs are over, I start my first ACTUAL week of real clinicals this Wednesday. I know it's going to be stressful, but at least I don't have to do those huge readings every week! :) Good luck!!

Wow, I have no idea. All I know is that most [if not ALL] of my classes are set up on 10-points. 90-100 is an A, 80-90 is a B. It's like that for my nursing and non-nursing classes. In my nursing program, we are kicked out unless we have an 80 or higher. My friend failed last semester, because she had a 79.9, and yes they use those .9s lol. They don't round up because "they don't believe in it. nurses shouldn't have extra credit." I kinda think that's a little too harsh. That's only .1 away, but that's just my opinion.

thanks, hanna. :) i hope she comes around and stops being angry with me. i don't know what she wants me to do. i can't just lower my grades and dumb myself down to make her happy. anyway, yes, i have heard that m/s ii is very difficult - and ob. are you in those classes, or have you already taken them? i am sure that i will definitely be studying a lot more when i get to those classes. maybe this one is just a bit easier, because it is foundations. our textbooks have nclex questions at the end, and we have a workbook with them that also has nclex-like questions. our tests are set up to be like the nclex as well. other than stuff like that, i've not been reading or studying any nclex material. i think when we get closer to our last semester, we get a big nclex prep book. it's pretty expensive, but i don't think they start really focusing on that until toward the end. maybe i should run out and get myself one right now just to read? but then again, it's only my first semester. what if i don't understand the advanced questions that are in there? lol it would be useless if i had no clue what the book is talking about.

Thanks, lizmatt. :) I have heard that M/S II is extremely hard. . . and OB. Next semester, I will be taking Psych and Med/Surg I. I know I will have to study more for those classes than I do now. I might not have to study as much b/c this is just Foundations? I mean, we still learn lots of stuff (like lab values, oxygenation, health assessment, vitals, drugs, math, I & O, catheterization, injections, etc, etc, etc), but maybe I don't have to study as much because we don't go as in-depth with it as a more advanced class. I think if I were in M/S I, I would be studying much much more. I guess we'll find out next semester, lol. I will try not to let that happen to me, and thanks for the advice! :)

Guys, I am a bit worried here. I want to know if I'm normal or if something's wrong with me. Please don't get angry with me like the rest of my friends and fellow classmates have. I am HONESTLY going to tell you that it's my first semester of nursing school, it's a ROUGH program, we've already had around 10 or so people drop out/get the boot, so I know it must be a bit difficult. I'm really confused about this. All of my friends say they study HOURS every week. I am taking the maximum load a full-time student is allowed to take, AND I'm taking it with Anatomy. I have As in all my classes, including my 6 hour Nursing class. I never study. What is wrong with me?! For example, the last test we took was particularly difficult. I didn't study any until two days before the test. I studied around 2 hours that day and 2 the next, totaling 4 hours of studying for a 100 question test. I studied even less for the test before that. I have made As on them. My classmates are always like, "we don't believe you. we know you must be a closet nerd who sits around doing nothing but studying. you're lying. how long did you seriously study, because WE studied for X amount of hours and only got X grade and barely passed. how are you doing this?" my answer is: I DON'T KNOW. For this last test, I studied with 2 of my best friends from the class. We each studied the same exact amount of time, since we were together for it - 4 hours for the test. I made an A, the other made a B, and the other made a C (which is technically failing in our program). The one that made a B won't speak to me anymore, and I have no idea why, and the one that made a C is thinking of quitting the program all together. I'm trying to encourage them and tell them I'll study with them more, but it's not helping. I'm just worried that next semester will roll around and I'll be used to not studying, which will cause me to fail. It's just like I really understand everything and kinda grasp the material -- like maybe I was born for it. Now I've lost a best friend all because of my test grade.

Yes! My nursing exams are the same way. I think it is supposed to prepare us for the NCLEX. If I'm not mistaken, my instructor said the NCLEX questions would try to trick you like that. It's all about "critical thinking." I will tell you what has helped me, and I have an A in the class thus far: **If there is a question asking you about what to do FIRST or what is priority, etc, go in order of stuff. {I know what I mean, I just have a hard time explaining it, lol} For example: if there is a question in which you could use the ABCs (airway, breathing, circulation), go in that order and put those things before everything else. Here is a similar question we actually had on one of our tests. It went something to the effect of: a patient has been admitted to the hospital with a blood pressure of 138/88, pain rated as an 8 out of 10, a respiratory rate of 33 breaths/min, and (something else i can't remember, lol). basically asking which is most important? the answer always has to do with the ABCs, therefore, his breathing rate would be most important, even if he is in extreme pain. if there is a question dealing with something like Erikson's stages or Maslow's hierarchy, always go in order on that as well. think of what's MOST important in relation to the stage the person is in or their needs. **From what I have seen, my instructors always try to try us by using absolutes. Absolutes are words like always, never, all, etc. Something can never be absolute all the time. Nothing is ALWAYS anything ALL of the time, because everything changes. For example, on our last test, one question had 3 answers that had the word ALWAYS in it. I picked the one that didn't have the absolute and got it right. **This is not always true, but usually, the longest answer is the right one! **Always pick the answer that has to do with a NURSING diagnosis, not a MEDICAL diagnosis. For example, if the question is talking about diagnosing something, you as a nurse cannot diagnose a patient with diabetes. You CAN diagnose the pt. with something like "Innefective airway clearance r/t . . . " Anyway, as this thread implies, I am SUPER tired (lol) and clearly not thinking straight on this Friday night. I'm off to bed, but I hope you actually understand what I'm trying to say. I'm having a hard time expressing what I mean by typing at this hour, haha. I hope you do better with these tricky ones!

MzAttitude, I read your post, and all I can say is, "Wow." This sounds terrible. My clinical instructors are similar. They call it "weeding out the weak." They said too many of us did too well on our last test, so they need to make things more difficult. We started out with 40 people, and we're already almost down to 30. AND we've not even started our first clinical day yet. We have been in "campus lab" learning each and every skill on different fake patients, haha. This Wednesday is the first day, and they put me with the most difficult instructor of all. Let me tell you what I've learned: BE FIERCE. Go in there with that head held high, know your crap, and just do it. Show them who's boss and that you CAN do this. In my program, they always tell us to "ask questions. Of course questions are always welcomed!" Yeah right.... I thought they were being literal when they said this. So, I asked a question about locating one of the landmarks for doing an IM injection. I basically got a new one ripped, haha. I never asked another question again, and now my instructor (who seems bipolar) likes me for the time being. I learned to never ask her a question and definitely never whine. What I am trying to say is: be competent and confident. If you know your stuff as well as you say you do, and you obviously have the grades to prove it, kick butt! Seriously.