ParkerBC,MSN,RN

Perhaps you should try not to be so damn judgmental yourself. THAT is what creates the drama.

I suppose you are correct. It's sad!

So, these community hospitals will close their doors, creating a more compounding effect on rural healthcare. Who comes up with this crap? Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to quote The Commuter :-)

I too think it is a ploy to decrease reimbursement. I am interested in knowing how this will affect staffing ratios. If administrators see a correlation between staffing ratios and patient satisfaction, then maybe adequate staffing will become priority. Let’s see…losing money because of poor patient satisfaction or decreasing the bottom line to add staff to make patients happy. Hmmmm. Let’s be honest, hospitals are becoming Hilton Resorts. While I think it is nice to have a comfortable ambience, it sets expectations higher than what I feel can be delivered unless staffing changes are made. What do you suppose will happen to the smaller hospitals that do not have the capital to renovate or pay fair salaries?

I work PRN now on an Acute Rehab Unit. I have never really looked at my paystubs closely until two weeks ago. I work two 12’s for the pay period and did not take a lunch. The hours on my paystub equated to exactly one hour less in pay. I brought it to my manager’s attention. The response was, “we take out a half hour break automatically for lunches.” To which I responded, “funny, I never clocked out for lunches those two days because I did not have the chance to a lunch break.” My manager said, “That’s your fault for not taking lunch.” So, three days ago I told my charge nurse that I was taking a lunch. She got mad and was verbally unprofessional. I grabbed my lunch and went into the break room. About ten minutes later, the unit manager came in and said, “The floor is too busy for you to take lunch, you need to get back on the floor.” To which I responded, “I’m sorry, but if you’re taking time out of my pay for lunch, I am taking lunch. Besides, it’s your fault for not appropriately staffing the floor today.” She left upset. Who knows, maybe I will not receive another call to come in or perhaps I will be told that my services are no longer needed.

There are so many different options to take in order to get a BSN. If you chose to take the ASN route, you will be able to gain experience and a salary while going back for a BSN. You will be finished in two years and although I am no economist, the markets will be changing. People are seeing their 401K balances increase and indicators that are alluding to a bettering economy. Once people feel that we are secure again, nurses will go back into retirement while others will decide to retire. If you already have a foot in the door, I would take it. Also, whichever facility you decide to work may pay for you to go back to school to earn your BSN. So, that will be money you save in tuition costs. Also, the RN to BSN program is not as competitive as the ASN and traditional BSN programs. Good luck to you and congratulations on being accepted into nursing school!

You’re preaching to the choir. I just completed an accelerated program (63 credit hours in 14 months). During the summer, I had: Peds and OB in 5 weeks, Adult Health II and Pharmacology in 4 weeks, and Nutrition and Mental Health 4 weeks. We had one day off, Sunday. We were required to complete the same course work as the traditional student. In other words, the care plans, papers, exams, ect… I do agree, not everyone learns the material the same way. Perhaps that is why there are so many different learning theories. However, learning still takes place. For example, you feel that the amount of work is overkill. I learned something about your comment that caused me to question the amount of work a nursing student is required to complete. You taught me that…yeah perhaps a change in the nursing curriculum is needed. I agree. It is a lot of work. There were days when I was like, I give up. There is no reason to continue putting myself through this stress. But, then I realized why I was in school again. You sound very intelligent...although I know the work is a lot, you will do exceptionally well on the assignments! Summers are difficult!

Tips for those accepted into IWU’s accelerated program: 1. DO NOT wait until the last minute to complete your assignments. I have seen a person fail because of this. 2. DO NOT be one of the nagging complainers. This is not a reputation you want to create for yourself. Professors talk! 3. Plan you assignments accordingly. It is okay to plan a day or two out. I learned quickly that planning for the entire seven weeks on the first day of class doesn’t work. There will always be hiccups. 4. DO NOT feel overwhelmed by the amount of work that you need to complete in the seven or four weeks. Students in the past have been successful. So can you! 5. If you are a good test taker and don’t need to study much, don’t share that with your cohort. You will develop enemies quickly. Also, don’t try to downplay you score or knowledge of content. People see right through that. 6. Develop a bond with everyone in the cohort. You will never know who will step up to bail you out. EVERYONE needs bailed a couple of times in the program. 7. DO NOT DISRESPECT the professor in front of the class! If there is a concern you have, e-mail the person and set up a time to meet with him/her. I have seen this happen and the results. By disrespecting the professor, you will surely expedite your exit from the program, guaranteed. 8. Skim the chapters…and read the sections of content you don’t understand during lecture. Read the ATI parts assigned. If you don’t, this will bite you in the rear when you get ready to take the ATI exam at the end of the course and Comp Predictor. 9. Do not talk trash about others in the cohort. This brings the morale down and it will get back to the person. Also, people, during stressful times, really don’t want to be associated with someone who is negative. 10. LASTLY….have fun. You have to have a good sense of humor to get through the program. You DO NOT need to be serious all of the time. Everyone needs a good laugh from time to time, including your professors. Good luck in the program…

The practice of writing papers enhances one’s overall communication skills. If you are thinking about graduate school, you better know how to write scholarly. I think it is a good idea to have a required paper each quarter on a different culture. Knowing what to do for a client and his/her family of a different culture determines the okay nurses from great nurses. Our country continues to become more and more diverse. If future students are not prepared adequately, I think those students will be left behind. I don’t believe there is a single assignment that isn’t conducive to learning.

It depends on the number of credit hours you are taking. For a sixteen week semester, you attend class one hour for each credit hour taken. So, if you are taking Adult Health 1 that is 5 semester hours, you will be in class for at least five hours a week for the course. There are also additional hours, lab hours for example. With the information you provided, it is hard to say. You should know more when you attend your school’s orientation. Congrats on being accepted!

I would encourage you to visit the Indiana State Board of Nursing's website. If you look for the "Board Meeting Minutes", you will see all of the individuals who appeared before the board along with their criminal history information. This will help you get a feeling of how our board decides cases. Don't forget that they are decided on an individual basis. Don't forget too that although you may be able to participate in a conversion program, you will still be required to check "yes" on the application. The reason is because you technically pled guilty to the charge. Good luck to you!

No rounding at my school. I have a 94.96%, still got an A- Care plans and written assignments are part of our final grade, but only a small total percentage, life about 15% of the total grade. The majority of the final grade comes from exams.

95 to 100 A 4.0 92 to 94 A- 3.7 91 to 88 B+ 3.3 87 to 85 B 3.0 84 to 82 B- 2.7 81 to 78 C+ 2.5 77 to 75 C 2.0

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

first, papers are subjective not objective. if you present your paper to five different instructors, expect five different grades. since you mentioned that the instructor gives the entire class lower grades, no particular person is being picked upon. some instructors focus more on content while others feel the grammar is more important. some will actually take the time out to read your paper and provide feedback whereas some will simply skim your paper and award full credit. “you will (typically) find that the instructor will be much more reluctant to give you a poor grade as the class progresses.” i don’t believe that. any good instructor will stand her ground. i do agree with meeting the instructor to find out what she/he is looking for in a paper. this will shed light onto what is most important to that instructor. remember…you will get further by being proactive and not reactive. in other words, the next paper you write, spend more time on it and use all of the instructors suggestions. she will notice you took her comments to heart. that, i think, will earn you a higher grade.