jcox121

At my facility, they have cut our sick time from 6 to 3 days, the nurses have to clock out for lunch, we are on a wage freeze, and the staffing has an increased load. Patient care is definately affected. Sometimes I feel I just do not have the time to spend with my residents like I want to. And it is not even the patients, that keep you busy, it's phone calls and therapy and getting new orders and admissions and all the little things that steal your time, and then your 12 hour shift turns into 13-14 and it's frustrating.

Isn't a weird feeling? It's like you wanna be happy because you u finally took it, but you cant be happy because you can't see the official results yet. It kinda sucks!! I took it yesterday, it shut off at 75, and I did the trick and got the good pop up, so I really just want to start calling people and say I'm a Nurse, but, what if.....?

Did you take it in East Pittsburgh? I took mine there @ 0800 too! I am still freaking out and have checked the board at least 100x. Shut off at 75. Nervous about all those stupid SATA!!

Hello! My name is Jaime and I graduate next Friday from KSU with my ADN. I am looking to start Chamberlain in August. I have two small children and will have to get a full-time job (if I can find one!) or my husband will shoot me :) I really want to get started on my BSN because I am still eligible for some financial aide since they used last years income. I want to take at least two classes every 8 weeks and am wondering if those of you who have taken classes think this will be doable with my situation. I see the theme is that there a lot of writing assignments (which I am not liking) but I am pretty sure that is with any school. KSU online was cheaper per credit hour, but I think it will be more expensive in the long run. Their classes run on a carousel, so if I need it and it's not available, I'm screwed. I am very greatful for this thread!! Also, I talked to Christy for like, an hour, and she is amazing!! very helpful and pleasant.

I am married with 2 children and graduating in may 2010. I plan on continuing as soon as I pass the NCLEX. I have taken several courses towards my BSN already and I am afraid if I take time off, I won't want to go back!!

One more thing, I don't know what kind of set-up your school has, but sitting in those little chairs with the half desk connected for 3 hours when your 8/9 mo pregnant is NOT comfortable!! :)

I am 27 and had 2 children during my pre reqs for nursing. Both were C-sections and I had them on thursdays and was back in class on the Mondays that followed. My sister (22) just had a baby in April, at the end of our fisrt year of school. She only missed one clinical and she made it up on another clinical day. We couldn't be happier and THANK GOD for our mom who now has 3 grandchildren within 3 years. If you have a good support system, you can do it. I must say though, we were both blessed with wonderful pregnancies and babies. No colic, no morning sickness and no bedrest. I hope all goes well with whatever you choose. We are starting our second year. I have a 1 and 2 y.o and her baby is now 4 months. We both took OB and PSYCH over the summer to lighten our fall load. You do what you have to do to get what you want.

I'm LUCKY if i get 2hrs a night. generally I read the chapters (LOTS of reading) try to do the SG but usually don't have time. I review the notes and Power points from lecture starting the week before the test. We have these things called Virtual Clinic Excursions(VCE's). They are 5 points ( too much work for 5 points if you ask me, they take like 4 hours to do.) it's a workbook set of 4-6pages and you also have to take care of a virtual patient on the computer and give meds and asses and print out reports for the instructor. I like to look over the posts here because they give you a lot of interesting ways to think about things from a real RN point of view. The poster DAYTONITE knows everything!! She has a lot of good information and websites posted on a lot of threads. Good luck in your studies.

Maybe you are doing too much. I would do a lot more without two little kids clinging to my legs, but i work with the time I have. If you think that all your that helps you though, I would keep it up. Everything you posted is exactly wat they told us to do at that study seminar. I was a crammer in high school, but i've learned that doesn't work in nursing!! :)

I don't know what your situation is or what you have done up to this point, but I have medled in healthcare since high school and I think the exposure helped me grately. I am a 26yo mother of 2 (10mo and 22mo). I study in small increments as much as I can and I think about what I've looked atwhen I'm not studying. It seems to help cement it in my brain. I got fairly good grades last semester, but our instructor babied us through a lot of last semester. It may hurt me this semester. My clinical instructor this semester is so intimidating. I heard everyone in her group last semester cried at least once. I don't break down easily, but it's not gonna take much for her to ruffle my feathers.

what are you doing to prepare?

I am a first year nursing student and I just have to say, Nursing classes are TOTALLY different than any other classes that you take, including the sciences.You will not be able to study the same way you did for those classes. I think you are being too hard on yourself. Nursing classes are not memorization classes. You have to understand why things happen and how things work. The tests are totally NCLEX style (at least at my school they are). There is always more than one right answer, but one is more correct. What are you going to do FIRST? The only memorizations might be lab values or meds. Maybe you need to adjust your way of studying. If you read that normal oral temp range for an adult is 97.5F - 99.5F, you need to understand what a temp of 101.0F is indicating and how you are able to correct it. Read a section in your book, then ask yourself, what does this mean to me? Another thing we learnded in a study workshop is to trust your "glimmer". Don't second guess yourself, your usually right. Keep your eye on key words in the questions like - What are you goung to do FIRST? What is you PRIORITY? Critical thinking is not only memorizing the info, but knowing what to do with it. If you don't have an NCLEX study book, get one. It's never too early to start looking at these types of questions and get yourself familiar with them. I hope this helps you! Good luck on your next test!!

btw, my gpa was 2.75. i came back after a long hiatus, but my previous grades weren't so good.

our school chooses candidates based on a points system. you get so many points for your gpa, so many for the pre-reqs you have done and you get points deducted for classes you had to repeat. I didn't get in at first, but after summer classes were factored in, somehow, thankfully, i got my acceptance letter!!

you may want to see if your school allows recording of lectures before you go out and purchase one. my school only does if you have written permission from the instructor so that " no one has an advantage over any other student". hey, i'm not stopping anyone from buying one!!

i have used salliemae, astrive, thinkstudentloan and my sister used chase bank. be careful though, i have taken out way more than i should to avoind fighting about the money situation with my husband, but he doesnt make enough to support us or his spending habits and we have 2 kids who qualify for healthy start if i don't work. i still have 2 years left(nursing classes only) but i dont even want to think about the money i'm gonna have to pay back when i graduate!!

i see you all like rn notes. has anyone used mosbys pdq for rn? which is better?

I start Nursing School in a few weeks and was wondering if there are any ways to improve my critical thinking skills. Any help will be greatly appreciated!!

oops!! error in link above http://www.stark.kent.edu/Academics/Nursing/upload/Dosage%20Calc%20Tutorial.pdf

Here is a link to a tutorial you can print, but it's like 60 pages, but it is very hepful!! http://www.stark.kent.edu/Academics/Nursing/upload/Dosage%20%Calc%20Tutorial.pdf

Check in your book store to see if there is a syllabus available. It should give you a list of required and reccommended materials. GET EVERYTHING!! advice I got from a nursing student last year. It should tell you what will be covered and I would definately read for the 1st weeks lessons. This way you'll be able to ask questions when the material is gone over in class.