sh1901

I'm hoping to get some advice regarding ACLS. I'll be graduating in December and they are offering an ACLS course for us to take in October so that we would have that certification when we graduate. Do you think that it is worth the effort mid-semester to take a weekend to get my ACLS certification or should I just wait until after graduation? Any advice would be great. Thank you so much!

Ours is 75 with 70% of your grade being from exams throughout the semester and 30% being from the final exam.

I'm 33 and in my last semester, but there are MANY folks older than I am (both male & female) in my class - so please don't let your age be a hurtle for you...you will have other hurtles, don't create one that isn't really there! I would think that both CNA and Pharmacy Tech would work out well. With the CNA position you would get more hands-on patient time, even if it is just bedpans and such. Many new student have to get over actually touching the patients, so you would be over that already.

Well, after all this hard work, we find out at orientation this semester that we will probably NOT have a pinning ceremony at the end of the semester. I'm kinda upset about this. Our first semester they started hyping up the pinning ceremony, how moving it is & that it was such an important rite of passage. Apparently, they were blowing smoke up my rectum...grrrr!! Apparently the reason behind this is that the instructor who normally heads up the planning of the ceremony in on sebadical this semester - really? You are going to deny a class of graduating nurses of having a pinning ceremony because someone is on a sebadical? Are you seriously unable to take any extra time out to do this? I would not even mind working on it, but apparently at our school you need a faculty member involved or it doesn't happen. Am I wrong to have my nose so out of joint over this?

I had the same suggestion as Silverdragon...as a student I would find it very useful to have someone come & talk about the different areas of nursing. Have you thought about doing a quick survey of your classmates to ask what they might be interested in?

I use good old fashioned pen & paper. I also use a digital recorder & use it to "fill in the blanks" after class. Our instructors post their powerpoints as well and I print them out before lecture and will use them as well. Be sure you don't take so many notes that you confuse yourself. We have a guy in our class who does that frequently. Good luck!

If you are going to volunteer for something where you will have hands-on with patients, make sure you check to see if you need a preceptor present. I know that we had to have one present when we were doing community service that involved hands-on.

Were they to send the background check to you or to the school? Relax, make a couple phone calls. :)

I think that you really need to think about this test anxiety thing and if you do decide to go back, you need to seek out some support to deal with that. If you are going to have that much anxiety over an exam at school, what are you going to do when it's the NCLEX? I'm really not saying this to be mean - I used to have really bad test anxiety & worked with the academic support office at my school while I was still doing my pre-req's so that I could get past that. I know you have a lot to consider and I don't want to put more fuel on the fire, but it would be heart breaking (in my opinion) to make the commitment to go back, get through and then not be able to pass NCLEX.

Good Luck with A&P...my best advice for A&P is that when you get that blank diagram of something that you need to learn (muscles, nerves, organs, etc.), don't fill it in until you've had a chance to make a bunch of copies of it so that you can keep doing it over & over until you could do it in your sleep. that will come in handy when you start your nursing classes...not having to think about where the appendix is frees up your mind to concentrate on the signs & symptoms of appendicits...hang in there - you can do it!

I'm almost 33, but there are plenty of other student in my class at NS that are 50+ and I don't think that any of them feel that they are over looked or treated unfairly. As for the nursing shortage - well, I think that it is difficult to determine if the shortage is a myth when we are still in a financial downfall and most places are limited for financial reasons rather than staffing needs. I just don't see how they could NOT need nurses when we have such an aging population in the US...but I could be wrong. I'm reserving judgment for now...ask me in January when I'm looking for a job...I may be singing a different tune!

Gee...anyone get the sense that there is some tension with the start of the semester?? (BTW, that was sarcasm)

Hi zc727 - I think that it really varies by campus. We needed to have our "packets" from the book store for our orientation for 101 (which is typically your longest orientation). Did you get any letters from the school stating what you needed? If not, call the nursing office for your campus and they should be able to let you know. Good Luck!

Hey Paco386 - Thanks for the encouragement. I have indeed thought about how I can use my education degree, I guess that I just get frustrated that I've had that degree for 10+ yrs and its just been sitting in my safe collecting dust while I worked in a non-related field and yearned to go to NS. But...that is the past, this is the present and the future is just waiting for me!! I'm sure your law degree will come in handy! You can help the rest of us understand all these laws related to medical care!

I'll be 33 in a few weeks and will be finishing NS in December. I have a full-time job, husband, 2 kids in middle school and my Mother In Law lives with us. If you want it bad enough, you make it work regardless of what else you have going on. BTW, I could also kick myself for not going to NS right out of high school...instead I have a very useless BA in education...boy do we make bad decisions when we are young.