jdd112

I love how passionate you are, and I'm happy for you that you have found your way back to this population! I saw you commented on my post a while back. This field has a high burn out rate because it can be so demanding and has a lot of non-nursing duties that go along with everything else we do, so it's that much more important for our clients/residents/consumers to have people that are going to stick with them and love them for the long run. Also, let's keep this discussion board active! I LOVE being able to bounce ideas off of others, and I'm all by my lonesome in my organization!

Congrats! I hope you find working in this field as rewarding and enjoyable as many of us! I am a member of the Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association, and they have great resources and networking for us DD nurses. Many times nurses in this field feel very alone because we are very autonomous and have few other nurses (or none at all) in our companies. The BEST thing you can do is reach out and seek out others in this field!

I recently got certified! :) I bought the book "Core Curriculum for Specializing in Intellectual and Developmental Disability" by Wendy Nehring. It's really great for studying. I don't know what all I am allowed to say, but if I did it all over again, I would focus a lot more on specific cause and effect type of things... like if a person has Y syndrome and takes X med, what labs should you watch? Not sure if that makes sense... Another thing that was really helpful (but I can't find them now that the DDNA website has changed) were the powerpoints from past conferences.

I work for an adult day care, and I can honestly say that I absolutely love my job. I do all the admissions, get orders from the doctors, take care of almost all of the paperwork the state requires the facility to do, as well as my nursing paperwork. I administer meds, take care of a couple g-tube feedings, a trach, modified diets, and usually a handful of seizures a day. Our facility serves DD/MR clients as well as elderly with Alz/Dem so things are always interesting around here. Sometimes I feel like I am losing some of my skills that I learned in school, and sometimes I wish I made as much money as my other nurse friends, but I don't think I would be this happy working anywhere else. Knowing I have an impact on each of my clients lives makes me feel really good about the work I do. People in other fields don't really understand just how close we get to our pts, and it would probably be considered crossing the line by their standards. The large majority of the families I deal with are amazing... but there are a few that make my life a little bit difficult. Anyone else dealing with a family that "knows better" than all the doctors, nurses, speech paths, etc?

I graduated from NCTC Gainesville in December.... 3rd semester clinical for us was very different than the first two. We did about half the semester at hospitals, then the other half we were separated into much smaller groups or even on our own to go to the different sites. Some went to a psych facility, some to doctor's offices, and some went to both. I don't know if that is the way they will do it with yall, but we really liked it. Being on our own really helped us learn to do things for ourselves than rely on having a group of people to help you with every little thing. Any questions yall have about the program, help with testing, whatever, just let me know. (I don't want to brag, but I was valedictorian so I know my stuff!)

I usually go over the chapters in the NCLEX book that go along with what we were learning. A LOT of questions are from the book, only changed slightly. If they give you case studies as a part of notes, go over those and re-write them so that you have all of the info you need and cut out the extra stuff. Mine usually look like this: Disease and definition Patho/causes: S/S: Dx studies: (any labs that would be done to diagnose, xrays, ct, etc) Medical treatments: Nursing: interventions and diagnoses And my biggest key to survival--- study groups. I love the girls I study with and it helps so much to be able to figure things out together. We all have different learning styles and are good at different subjects, so we can help each other. We come prepared, and the evening before tests we meet at Starbucks and go over everything.

I go to the Gainesville campus, and I know you are not interested in going there, but I just wanted to let you know that MedSurg is like that wherever you go. From what I understand, the syllabi are all the same for every campus. It does get easier to know what to study for as you go along. We don't get any review materials either, and we were warned of that from day one in orientation. Good luck with everything in the future!!

My biggest piece of advice is to get a GOOD study group together. There are 5 or 6 of us that go to a coffee shop and study the night before each test.:smilecoffeecup: We all make our own reviews beforehand, then when we get there we go over everything in the unit and discuss things. If you don't understand something the way the instructor taught it, one of your friends probably did, or y'all can at least try to figure it out together. It also helps being held accountable to show up and study. I can't get anything done at home, so if I'm out of the house AND I have people there to keep me on track (and vice versa) I'll get a lot accomplished. Also- know when to take a break. For example, our classes are Monday through Thursday, so Fridays are my day to relax. I don't do anything school related. I go out with friends, lay around the house, and get errands done. I only have one semester left, and I've made all A's and two B's (both 89s!!:hdvwl:) so something I'm doing seems to be working!

yeah... thanks!

Thanks for clearing that up for me! I just bought my books, and they were A LOT more expensive than I had anticipated!! Anyone else figuring this out the hard way?

I have a question for the other people starting the traditional classes on Jan. 20... since it is a Tuesday, thus a "clinical day" we are supposed to wear white, right? I think they said something like that during orientation, but I need some reassurance! I would be mortified if I walk in the first day wearing the wrong thing!!! :imbar

I just got accepted also! I'm so excited to start school... there's something I never thought I would say. I'm glad I'm not the only one looking at nursing sites already!