dorkalicious

Hi all! So I'm a recent New Grad and I will be starting in a NICU in the near future. I wanted to know what all of you recommend for me to read/brush-up on before I start my orientation. I'm excited and nervous, and want to walk in feeling somewhat prepared and not completely clueless. I know that the unit offers an extensive orientation, but I always like to prepare myself ahead of time. I feel like having a journal with notes already placed in that I can reference on top of the material they give me will help me transition better into the new role as a NICU RN. Any advice will help!!!

From my research I hve found that there are the following online Midwifery Schools (correct me if I am wrong!): Frontier School of Midwifery University of Cincinnati Philadelphia University Eastern Carolina University They all require 1-2 years (depends on school) of nursing experiance. I graduate in December (yaaay!!), applications are submitted in May/June, classes start up in the Fall/Spring. So technically I would have a year under my belt. HOWEVER, I've mapped out my future just right (or so I hope!), I am a Birth Doula: for Frontier, they will consider other experiances such as Doulas and Lactation Consultants in lieu of nursing experiance. So thats where I am keeping my fingers crossed for acceptance into Midwifery school soon after graduation. Hope the information helps! And if anybody else has any input/advice, please feel free to comment!!

LoveANurse and HappyNurse The schools that I have researched and contacted are nowhere near what you have mentioned LovaANurse. ECU, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Frontier all only require that the graduate applicant have a BSN. With that BSN and an impressive resume and some experiance, you qualify to apply for their Graduate Nurse Midwifery Program. ECU & Frontier are 2 year programs, Johns Hopkins a 2.5 year program dual masters (CNM & CNS) and Georgetown is a 16 month dual masters (CNM/WHCNP) program. So essentially, you can obtain your BSN and your Nurse Midwifery education in 6-7.5 years (given no breaks in between). Thanks to all the previous posters. I graduate with my BSN in a few short months, and plan to immediately apply to Nurse Midwifery school. I am hoping my Doula experiance will be a bonus credential to balance my lack of RN experiance. All I can do is try right?! All your information and personal experiances has helped expand my kowledge and know what to expect when I become a CNM

Hurricane Bells: If you think that you are going to end up miserable "hating life-part 2" at UMB because of the "community college experiance" then you should just call admissions and decline the admissions they have granted you. I believe you are going into this competitive and highly intensive nursing program with the wrong mindset. If your focus is anything other than receiving education and training from one of the TOP Nursing schools in the nation, then you probably will have a hard time dealing with the extra hours and sleepless nights needed to be dedicated to your studies to just pass the classes. The BSN program at UMB is a 2 year, intensive program that will grant you life long friends. HOWEVER, age ranges from as young as 20 all the way to 50. So, according to your previous postings, the age range might be something you will struggle with. Those of us that have been there, done that before you, have learned to appreciate the vast range in age, experiance and wisdom. Sure looks like you're starting off in the right direction............................................

My pleasure ;-) I had so much to respond to you, since I read this thread at a ridiculous hour in the morning while working a 12 hour overnighter shift at the hospital (not school related, btw). However, once I got home and to something more than my tiny iPhone screen for typing purposes, JR already beat me to it and thoroughly answered the questions you have asked! Indeed, like JR mentioned, without allnurses, I would have went totally insane during the application process! You are absolutely right about the relationships that are build through this adventure of nursing school! JR made a really good speech to the new juniors that had started in the fall at their orientation saying that they should take a good look around the room, because those were the people that they will be spending the next two years with, relying on one another for help, helping one another to succeed. He also went to mentioned (JR: hope you don't mind me paraphrasing everything you said!) that the competition is OVER, from this point forward, you will be helping one another to succeed, there is no longer need to try and out-do one another in grades or anything, its all about helping each other out and making sure nobody is left in the shadow feeling clueless about anything. Also, a little side note, there are SO MANY resources available that if you are failing, there is truly no excuse why you can't get help to bring your grade(s) up. But I'm sure that the folks reading this knows how to take full advantage of the resources and won't have issues with staying on track and passing your classes ;-) Uniforms: Ditto to what JR said, but I'd like to add, please make sure the shirt you wear UNDER your scrub top (if you chose to do so) is PLAIN WHITE!!! Please don't challenge the authorities by wearing colored tops underneath, or even worst, white shirts with gigantic colored logo names on it!!!! I have a pet peeve about uniforms being worn correctly (thats the prior military in me) and it urks me to see people wear their uniforms in manners such as the above mentioned. I purchased myself 2 sets of uniforms, to eliminate the risk of having a spill on it on a Wednesday (hypothetically speaking) and then not having a clean one ready for Thursday morning! Don't spend too much money on your scrubs because the novelty wears off it really soon!!!!! You don't want to feel like the one Grey's Anatomy top you bought that is triple the price of a just-as-great Cherokee top was a waste of money a few weeks in. Indeed they are nice, but save the money for the cute scrubs for when you nail your first job at the hospital, whether it is as a CNA while in school, or as a RN upon graduation :-)

Yup, its there. I remember it being on the left hand side on the corner end of a block.... The mall directory says Neighborhood 4, but I can't remember which major store its nearby to help you pinpoint exactly where it is. Also, Scrubs and Beyond gives 10% discounts to UMB students (at least they did a year ago, so be sure to ask!).

I searched high and low for the holeless crocs. If you are on the Southern side of things, especially in Montgomery County, they have them at the Famous Footwear in Aspen Hill. I've also seen them at most Journeys shoe stores in the malls as well. They are all white, no holes on them at all. The most COMFORTABLE shoes you can ever wear, in my opinion :D Luckily for you all, they have opened up a Croc store in Arundel Mills since I've started at UMB, so you can walk in there and find you a pair of white holeless Crocs without having to search all over town for it. I just recently bought the ones with the ventilation holes on the sides and haven't had any complaints yet, but it all boils down to how strict your clinical instructor is. Again, we weren't specifically instructed to wear a particular type of shoe, we were just told "all white shoes" (although tiny logos are perfectly fine, but again, check with your clinical instructor!!) Hope that helps!!

JR's advice on med/calc and Health Assessment was pretty dead on. Also if you aren't familiar with medical terminology, then you might wanna surf the net for some quick breakdowns of prefixes and suffixes just to make things a bit easier for you once you start. Another thing the instructor encourages is brushing up on your A&P, especially if you haven't taken it for a while. This will be a major focus in pathopharm (and everything else) that you will be expected to know the basics while they breeze through the diseases and meds for it.

For you all in the 1st semester, you'll need all the required texts. You'll see information come from the every aspect of every book that is specifically required for each class. Old editions are absolutely fine, you're just responsible for making sure you find out what pages the chapters are on, tables, pictures, etc. Recommended textbooks you can wait until you start class to see what your instructor advises you to do.

Congrats NEWBIESSSSSSSSSSS in getting accepted!!! I just took my last final today, and have just successfully completed my 1st year at UMB, so Senior year here I come!!! I started reading some of the postings on page 1 and 2, and wanted to touch on some things in case some of my other classmates on here hasn't responded already.... SHOES: As long as they are white and have no holes in front, then you are good to go (I love my hole-less Crocs) Financial Aid: If you are relying on grants or scholarship, start making sure all that is applicable to your student account NOW!!! Financial aid is a tedious process and they WILL hold your money from you if you are lacking any paperwork (trust me, I've been there, done that!), and they will hold it from you without even telling you that you have outstanding requirements!!!. Its your responsibility to go onto your SURFS account and check under the Financial Aid tab and look to see if your money has posted to your account, and it is hasn't then it means they have no record (or have not yet processed it). BE SURE to check outstanding requirements, there's a handfull of paperwork that needs to be filled out, and if you don't submit those, they will not process your money. Also, if you are receiving outside scholarships or Loans, then it will most likely be something you have to deal with in "student accounting" (yes, there are TWO different offices that manages grants and loans). Not sure what else has been mentioned on here, but you all seem to be very anxious about school starting in January. I attend the Shady grove campus and absolutely love it there, so if you have any questions, feel free to PM me, I don't come back on this thread too often, so I might miss any direct questions.... be ready to put on your rollerskates and say goodbye to your life as you know it, because it will be nothing but nursing school for the next 2 years!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy your break now!!

When you all start I will be begining my senior year here at UMB-SG campus (yay!!) You can certainly use Mac laptops. Most students prefer Mac, and have not had issues with compatibility, just make sure you have the Microsoft Office software for Mac so that you are able to open up PowerPoints and Word Documents. You don't have to have a laptop if you don't want, although if you do, it will certainly save on money on paper and ink (from having to print ppt slides). Its really your own personal preference. I've seen many come back this semester with new laptops, but I personally prefer the old school paper printout of my slides. Again, its personal preference. But I'll have to just add that in your first semester you are carrying so many books around that you might want to cut back on weight in your backpack! Just go for the first week or two and get a feel for what you would prefer and then decide then if you prefer to purchase a laptop. Hope that helps

Congrats to all those who made it into the BSN or CNL program! Be ready to put on your rollerskates and take a two-year long race to the finish line! Any Shady Grove folks on this thread? ~soon-to-be Senior, class of Dec 2010

Agrippa: Drug refs don't change much from year to year, like you said, its just more or less the publication company trying to make more money off the newer editions. I bought a PDA and got the drug ref softwares for those. They came in handy at times, but I can honestly say I still don't feel like my money has been well spent yet. Between pathopharm class and gaining experiance through clinicals and my externship, I notice that overtime you just get used to what the diff drugs are and what their uses are for. Hopefully I will get more use out of it as I banch off into the different specialty clinicals. I noticed during book buy backs that some of the textbooks are being switched to new editions for you guys. I don't think any of them truly need to be new edition. For sure I can tell you that 333 and 304 class can be used editions. Pathopharm however is different. Dr. McClesky gives you a bunch of different pages to read for each section, not chapters... so if you are working on an old edition, you'd kinda have some trouble there.... at least that is how she did it last semester. She is in charge of pathopharm (315) classes for both campuses, so there's no getting pass her, in case you're wondering. I found Potter and Perry (for lab) to be very useful, and I don't think you need the new edition for that either, used will be fine. If I think of anything else I'll let ya'll know!

Graceland: IMO, they each had its own difficulty aspect! Pathopharm class is difficult because you have to remember all the drugs, both generic and trade name/classification of it/MOA, etc. You really need to know it inside and out... BUT it is also the most straight forward as far as tests go. However, because there is so much information to remember for exams that it is difficult to study for it... thats a 5 credit class.... also the same class that a handful of folks fail their first semester for! Fundamentals (304) is difficult too. The exams are NCLEX style question, and if you aren't used to it, the first exam grade will make you cry! But with practice you can pull your grade up.... there are only 3 exams in that class, which makes it difficult to try and pull up your grade if you had a really bad start. Also there are skills testing involved for your labs and stuff too, so don't under estimate those, because you need to pass those to pass the class as well. There's so much more detail to get into, but I'll be there at your orientation to talk to you guys at SG next month. Until then, freshen up on medical terminology and your A&P again ;-)

Graceland and JR - Yes, I did do (and am currently doing) an externship this summer. I LOVE it! I am learning so much, and my preceptor lets me do everything under the sun! I was able to take everything I've learned and apply it clinically with a one-on-one preceptor that found plenty of trust in me to let me handle one or two patients from 7am to 7pm. I feel like this is going to be very beneficial to me in the next few semesters, as I have built a comfort level with dealing with patients of all kinds, and has learned that being pro-active is the best way to expose yourself to learning more. I was pleased with my grades last semester. I did pretty well I thought. It seemed like many students ended up getting by with below a 3.0 average though. Like JR mentioned, you only need a 3.0 to get inducted into the honors society, and so far I'm still in the running ;-) Agrippa- used textbooks are fine. There were a handful of students that used an edition older and didn't seem to mind the slight page difference. I'm sur eyou already know from previous experiances, but it just makes it a bit tricky to find the right pages or certain tables the instructors are specifying. I would not recommend buying a totally different book, but just an edition older than the current one being taught.... because after all, the exams are based off the textbooks as well, and sometimes opinions are different from author to author... so stick with the same title and author, but different edition is ok. Sorry if it sounds like I am repeating, I thought what I wrote may have sounded confusing... Ahh... as for communication module..... its part of 304 (Fundamentals)... at SG campus it was held the second month of school, every wednesday (4 classes total). It is an EXCELLENT way to bring up your grade! the assignments you do are easy A's therefore it will contribute as 10% of your 304 grade (and believe me, you will NEED the help in this class). Again, this is speaking for SG campus, Bmore might be different.