JamieJCST

This is how I was taught in Surgical Tech school.

I have been a CST for 5 years and am now in my RN orientation. I am trying to get a good flow for doing preop interviews. I always seem to forget to ask something. Can anyone give me examples of how you do your interviews?Thanks!

All of our new hires have to spend 4 days in SPD learning all aspects of the department. They spend at least 1 full day assembling instrument trays and they find that this helps with learning some of the instruments.

I took the Kaplan Review course and then scheduled my test date about 1-1/2 months after. I did all if the q trainers and about 95% of the q bank questions. I only did 50 questions a day, unless I got below a 60%, then I did another 50. I read all of the rationales for my questions. I also read through the study guide from this site a handful of times.I got 75 questions with 9 SATA and passed!I know some people that studied for hours a day using multiple resources that also passed with 75 questions. That way of studying is not for me. You have to determine what works best for you and stick with it. ETA - I suppose I should change my user name from CST to RN. :-)

I answered 50 Kaplan Qbank questions almost everyday. I read most of the rationales for all the questions. I took my NCLEX last Monday and passed with 75 questions.Good luck!

There are definitely jobs out there for ADN. 4 people I graduated with had jobs before we even finished school.Another thing to think about is tuition reimbursement for the RN-BSN. I currently work for a hospital that will pay 100% for me to get my BSN (minus books).

I will be taking my boards probably in July and I will give feedback afterwards. It looks like a great study guide! Thanks for sharing!

I would also love any info you have. I don't know how to PM with this new format.:)

We always count on laparoscopic assisted bowels. Rule of thumb, whenever a cavity is opened, no matter how big the incision, instruments are counted.

This is a great strategy and I plan on using it for my seconde year. Thanks!

I am in my first year at PSC. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!

Advocate Christ & Hope Children's Hospital are only hiring BSNs because of their magnet status.

I'm curious as to how the RNs on here feel about CNAs/PCTs, CRNAs, PAs, NPs, etc. Are they all just "cheap labor" as well?

I think this is a great assessment worksheet!! The only thing I can think of that you might want to add is a section on the last page for discharge planning. I'm only saying this because we have to do an asignment on discharge planning for one patient this semester and I know it's a part of PT care.

I have been a CST for almost 4 years and I love it! I am currently in an RN program but I'm glad I started out with ST because it got me into the OR quicker and it worked for me at the time (plus the tuition reimbursement is nice). I was looking at your schedule here and it doesn't seem right for an associate's degree. I graduated with a certificate and my schedule was as follows: First semester 1st 8 weeks was classroom M-Th 8-4, F 8-1. 2nd 8 weeks was classroom M 8-4, F 8-1, & W was Micro 3-5. Clinical T&Th 7-3, W 7-12. Second semester and summer semester was classroom M 8-4, Clinical T-Th 7-3, F 7-1. It seems to me that I spent a lot more time than what your schedule shows and, like I said, mine was a certificate program. I just think this is something you should double check with your program. Good luck in whichever you decide!