student005

CEN worked for me.

Starting at 27 and will be 30 when I graduate.

I just finished my last week of Professional Nursing B today. I was very satisfied with the courses. The lectures and assignments were interesting and the workload was very reasonable.

This is from the Q&A on the website of Debra Medina, RN: How are middle and low-income families helped by expanding the sales tax - isn't that a much more regressive tax than the property tax? First, we would ensure that items such groceries, medicines, basic health care and other basic needs continue to be exempt from the sales tax. It's the disproportionate percentage of such families' incomes spent on such items that makes the sales tax regressive, and we would actually work to expand this exemption to make sure that those individuals and families are not disproportionately impacted by reform. Second, it's not at all clear that the property tax is in fact less regressive. Although the recent Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study showed the distribution of the Texas property tax burden to be fairly neutral across income groups, this study ignores the "invisible" burden borne by renters for their landlords' property taxes, and the "stealth" property tax passed by Texas businesses to their customers in the form of higher prices. Once those factors are taken into account, and once we realize the dramatic expansion of opportunities for Texas workers to earn a decent living and to feed, clothe and shelter their families, we believe that middle and low income earners will be foremost among this reform's beneficiaries.

She has my vote!!! Wow... she wants to eliminate property taxes-- AND just think of having an RN as governor to advocate for all of us in the healthcare field!

I laughed when I read your post because you sound EXACTLY like me! =) As a current (successful) nursing student looking back, I would suggest the following: 1. A&P - The more you study the better! It will help you in understanding disease processes and reason your way through test questions/subject matter you're not familiar with. 2. Pharmacology - I wouldn't focus on specific drugs so much as on drug classes. If you can get the basic class info down, it will help you remember specific drugs later on. (I love Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses and Pharmacology Made Incredibly Easy!) 3. Introduce yourself to the nursing process and care plans. They'll teach you all the nitty-gritty in nursing school, but having a general idea about what they are and why they're used will give you a huge advantage! 4. Lab Values - This isn't really vital info for starting out, but it's quite a bit of info to memorize. Starting to learn the normal ranges and the clinical significance of elevated or decreased values now will keep you from having to cram later. Good luck to you!!!

i've seen a lot of questions/discussion about how to study in nursing school and requests for helpful learning tips. at the beginning of our nursing program, our instructors invited an education specialist to come and talk to us about study skills, goal setting, test-taking strategies and learning styles. they were very helpful so i thought i'd share some of the highlights. the key to determining the most effective way to study is understanding your learning style. we completed the barsch learning style inventory. it tells you if you're more of a visual, auditory, tactile or kinesthetic learner. you can find out what your learning style is by taking the quiz online at: http://ww2.nscc.edu/gerth_d/aaa0000000/barsch_inventory.htm here are specific tips for each learning type: visual - take lecture notes and mark in color; underline, highlight or circle important information; compare your notes to others'; draw pictures in notes to illustrate ideas; use a variety of colored pens, highlights, note cards, etc.; use annotation to reinforce learning from reading; study pictures, graphs, diagrams, charts and outlines in your text; rewrite or redraw things from memory; make and use flashcards (use color) auditory - study with a friend and talk things out; use a small tape recorder to speak your notes or summations; reduce lecture notes to main ideas and details, then record them to listen to; read your text out loud or into a tape recorder; sit in the front of the class; participate in classroom discussion; create musical jingles or mneumonics to remember things; explain ideas to other people tactile/kinesthetic - study in a lab where you can get hands-on experience; use models to study; draw charts or diagrams of relationships; use a straight edge as a guide when reading to help you focus; use bright colors in notes; trace letters/words to remember facts and learn spelling; edit and rewrite notes on the computer; move while trying to learn (walk around, knead a stress ball); study with a friend or group; try listening to non-distracting music the speaker provided a lot more information on this and other subjects, but this post is getting long and i need to get after some reading. =) this was very helpful to me. let me know if any of you other soon-to-be-nurses find it useful! if you do, i'll try to get some more info from the seminar posted.

You might also consider "Impaired Physical Mobility" and "Risk for Peripheral Neurovascular Dysfunction"...

you might want to look for a school with a program like mine. the first year (summer i - spring) you go through the lvn program. at the end of the year, after passing boards, you automatically start into the second year of the program (summer i - spring) which is rn training. you're not required to go directly into the rn program. if you wanted to stop at the lvn level, you could. some students practice as an lvn while they are in their rn year. this means they have nursing experience and are rn's upon graduation...and it only takes 2 years! this program is in the north texas area and has a very high success rate on the nclex at both the lvn and rn level. if you aren't able to move to attend a school with a program like this, you might go ahead and pursue rn and try to get an "externship" with a hospital. they'll work around your school schedule and allow you to get experience. the only draw-back with this option is that you'll be contractually obligated to work for the hospital for a period of time upon graduation. good luck to you! :redbeathe

In my experience, nursing instructors are positive, encouraging and professional individuals who are there to help you learn and to challenge you to reach your full potential. I cannot imagine any of the professors in our program yelling, cursing or belittling a student. Those behaviors are neither professional nor conducive to learning. They have told us that if we encounter a rude/combative/unprofessional nurse in the course of our clinical rotations, to simply say, "I do not deserve this kind of treatment. If you have a serious issue with the quality of care I'm providing, please feel free to inform my instructor," and then to walk away. I've never encountered anyone like this in a clinical situation, but we've all run into rude people occasionally. People who act out in these kinds of ways are usually angry/stressed about things totally unrelated to the situation at hand...they just don't have adequate coping skills. So, rather than dealing with the actual problem, they lash out at innocent people around them. Just repeat to yourself, "This is not personal, this is not personal...." :redbeathe

Yes, there have been several studies done to determine the correlation between GPA and NCLEX pass rates. The quote below is from: http://www.nursingcenter.com/library/JournalArticle.asp?Article_ID=818345 Academic performance in prenursing courses and on standardized tests has been investigated to determine if NCLEX-RN failure can be predicted by these scores. Grade point average (GPA) has been identified as a predictor of NCLEX-RN failure wherein students who do not pass NCLEX-RN on the first attempt exhibit lower GPAs as compared to those who do pass NCLEX-RN.2,4,8,9 Moreover, students who passed NCLEX-RN had significantly higher science GPAs, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), or American College Test Assessment (ACT) scores as compared to students who failed NCLEX, who had significantly lower scores.2,4,6,9 In contrast, another study reported no difference in SAT scores of those who passed as compared to those who failed the NCLEX-RN.37,10 Finally, prenursing standardized examinations, such as Nurse Entrance Test (NET) or Arnett Pre-RN Readiness Examination, have been found to predict NCLEX-RN failures. The findings above make complete sense. Prerequisite classes are the foundation for gaining nursing knowledge. If you don't fully learn and understand the anatomy and physiology of the human body, how will you ever understand a disease process? If pharmacology didn't make a bit of sense to you, how can you possibly provide safe, competent patient care? Your pre-req GPA is based on your performance on knowledge-based assignments and exams. If you have a low GPA, the logical conclusion is that you did not have a solid knowledge-base in the given subject. I know there are some people may have a rock-solid knowledge base, but just aren't good test takers due to anxiety, etc. Well, you're still in trouble because you have to take tests in nursing school and you have to test to pass the boards. :redbeathe

Agreed!

That's kind of what I was thinking, too. The ones I've heard using the term seem to have a difficult time in theory and lab...The ones they talk about turn their work in on time, make good grades and know the right answers when they get called on. It's not like they're doing anything super abnormal! LOL

I keep hearing the word "overachiever" used to describe certain nursing students. Do you think there is such a thing? If so, what makes a person an "overachiever"? I've been pondering this for a few days and would love to hear your thoughts! :redbeathe

Our instructors have told us that our goals/outcomes are derived from the problem statement of the nursing diagnosis. For example, if your diagnosis is "Acute pain R/T injury sec to MVA AEB pt states "The pain in my right shoulder is an 8 on a scale of 1-10", then your goals/outcomes will focus on alleviation of the acute pain. In your diagnosis, your goals/outcomes should focus on maintaining a clear airway. These might include the patient expectorating secretions readily, demonstration/absence of congestion with breath sounds clear, noiseless respirations, improved O2 exchange (absence of cyanosis, ABG results within client norms), etc. Just remember to include measurable criteria and a specific time period in which the goal is to be met -- without those two things, you cannot objectively evaluate patient progress. Hope that helps! =) :redbeathe