RescueGrrl211

I also took my digital camera with me and took pictures of everything, so I could study at home. I dont know about you guys, but I had a hard time with identifying different tissues, etc under the microscope.. everything always looked the same! It did get better as the class continued.. The only other thing I did in AnP1 and 2 was study, study, study. I constantly reviewed my notes, used the textbook websites, READ THE BOOK (I dont know why people dont do that one more often!!), and had a really great study group with a couple of girls in my class. We spent 3-4 hours every Saturday afternoon drinking coffee and quizzing each other over the lab stuff and the powerpoints. It worked!

If you have trouble getting into ADN/BSN programs you could try to find an LPN program and bridge over. I know some Community Colleges (like mine) do entry into the LPN program based on first come/first serve (or a lottery system). Then you could bring up your GPA and apply to ADN/BSN schools later.. You may have to wait to get into an LPN program but its a good option as a last resort.

Good looking out 86Tornado! I'll absolutely remove that word, I actually didnt even realize I had included it. Ha! Thank you!

Hey guys.. I just graduated from an LPN program and am looking for a job while I wait to get into an ADN program. I applied for a plebotomist position and was sent back a list of questions to send back.. Mind looking them over and giving some feedback? I have never applied for a job before where I was asked what wages I expected, I dont want to sound like an idiot! Thanks! (my answers in bold, and I eliminated the non pertinant questions) 1. Why do you want to work for the American Red Cross in this position? I would like to work for this organization because I feel like being a part of the American Red Cross would be very fulfilling. I became a nurse because I want to make a difference in people's lives and being part of a team that services people in need would do just that. I am also looking forward to furthering my education, and training in phlebotomy would give me an opportunity to advance my skills in nursing practice. 5. What are your hourly salary requirements for our opening? Answers along the lines of "open," "negotiable" or "competitive" will not suffice. I would like to be paid a wage that is competitive compared to local LPN wages. I expect that would be $16+ hourly and also compensated for travel.

I second the above, ATI is what my school uses and its kept my skills sharp as well as had loads of review modules. Check it out!

Good luck!

I would choose the Patient Representative job.. I think it would look better on your resume! In the current economic climate, the more resume padding you do the better.. and customer service experience always looks good to potential employers. I wouldnt sweat not having much practice doing procedures, etc.. Truly, you will learn it all in nursing school anyway!

Just dont do what I did.. and go without! I ended up with 3 ER visits due to severe respiratory infections, numerous doctor visits (depressed immune system due to nursing school related stress anyone??) and a broken ankle. Im now about 15 grand in debt from medical bills! Ahhh! And I thought "No big deal, I can live without it." After medical bills and student loans, maybe I'll be able to enjoy a paycheck or two before I retire!

For me, it was hours of studying! For lab, when we had to identify all the bones, tissues, cat anatomy, etc I spent hours and hours in the lab using the bones/models/etc to study after class hours and occasionally on the weekends when my instructor could open up for us. I also took my camera in once a unit and took pictures of all the bones, models, even the slides under the micorscope (yeah, it really works!) to study at home. It was pretty great. Toward the end of ANP11 the whole class got involved with the picture taking, which saved time, and we all posted our photos to photobucket.com and shared the password. Other then that I quizzed myself using the lab manual, A LOT. For lecture, I had a great study group. It was 3 or 4 people, all of us top of the class (meaning, we had the same goals for grades and everyone contributed evenly). We would go the the local Panera, grab a coffee and spend a couple hours every Saturday talking through all the topics that were on the test.. We asked each other questions, like "Tell me everything you know about about the large instestine and how it works". Then whatever they missed, we would go over it. After hearing this stuff a few times, teaching it to each other when someone missed something, and studying the powerpoints and book, we got to the point where we could pretty much recite the powerpoints. Obviously, that means we got awesome grades! I know how you feel, by the way. My A and P 11 was a summer class, 8 weeks, and my instructor was moving across the country so he missed class regularly going back and forth to his new city, where he was buying a house. It was a joke. But I survived, and you will too! It was hard work, but having such a solid physiology foundation has been a life SAVER in MedSurg! Good luck!

That isnt allowed at my college either.. They want us to take it onsite too, there is not an online option. I agree with That Guy.. Out of all the classes I have taken so far, A and P was probably the hardest and most relevant to my nursing degree. Its really important that you have a good, solid grasp on the material to succeed later on and I cant imagine that you would get that from 2 8-week sections, while most schools require almost a year. Good luck hon! :)

Just my .02.. But I think that working with the existing CNA's would be the best place to start. Personally, (not that I have any valid experience at this sort of thing) I would have a 'come to jesus' meeting and just say, point blank, if you want to keep your job your going to have to step it up. If not, kick rocks. :) Then I would devote as much time as possible with supervising/modeling routine care procedures out on the floor with the CNA's. Some of this could be delegated to the floor nurses, but unless they are on board 100% the RN would probably run into the same cycle as before. The hard part of the RN's job is going to be checking up on the CNA's work and calling them out when they make a mistake, offering to teach them the correct way or, for non compliance or repeat offenders, get rid of them. Hopefully that would light a fire under the existing CNA's butts to get them moving in the right direction... I also would do my best to make sure that I provided the equipment the CNA's needed on the floor and maybe get some incentive programs running for the CNA's who perform well. This might help the CNA's establish a trusting relationship with the new RN. I like the idea, too, of having a "Quality Assurance" inservice every once in awhile.. Customer service really is a huge part of what CNA's do, and if people cant provide good qualtiy care then they obviously dont belong there! I would also start advertising for CNAs and LPNs to apply, making sure to mention that the LTCF is under 'new management' or is doing an 'internal make-over' or whatever. Once the patient care issues are cleared up, depending on the budget, I would start thinking about working on the building.. I work in a top tier facility that has very, very few issues with unsatisfying patient care.. It couldnt be a better place to work, actually. We all groan when we find out that the 'new hire' came from "insert name of nursing home with poor reputation here" because we know that we all spend the first few months breaking the bad habits they have formed there. That was fun!

I dont have anything else to add about your instructor, because it seems everyone else has hit the nail on the head! I do, however, have a suggestion about getting lectures online. I used to listen to/watch Marian Diamond on YouTube during my AnP 1 class. She is one smart cookie from UC Berkely, and I got more out of her lectures then I did out of my own instructor! You can search my topic also, and there is TONS of them to watch.

I like to float around, too. Where I work we have about 120 residents ranging from completely independant to skilled (were transitional assisted living). We split the floors up into 4 'lists' and each girl is scheduled a different 'list' each night. We also have a rotating bath aide, which we all take turns getting scheduled for. I prefer this because Im the type of person that gets burnt out quickly so switching around helps out, and since we dont have a TON of residents we all get to know everyones needs/wants/routine pretty quickly.

In any normal climate I would agree that sucking it up and going in would have been the best bet, but considering I havent been to the Dr yet I decided against it. My college is pretty up in arms over the spread of H1N1, and a faculty member told me this morning that any student with visable signs of flu like symptoms is sent home immediately. I dont know where you guys work, but working in health care while contagious is incredibly dangerous. I seriously hope someone takes initiative and contacts the health department before you kill someone with a compromised immune system. Do you know how many elderly people die each year from the flu?

Wow.. This is why Im just a nursing student. The entirity of your last paragraph is way over my head. Gonna get out my handy dandy medical dictionary now.. Just to clarify.. Im not asking for advice, per se. I just hadnt considered and dont understand the complications involved with obese women and epidurals. I supposed I knew that anesthesia warrents airway issues (Im guessing difficult intebation? Others?) but I wasn't (in my head) putting anesthesia and epidurals in the same category..

Yeah, your probably right. Im going to the doctor for a note tomorrow too, just in case something happens later on and I miss more classes. I took some mucinex and Im not coughing as much but that crap wires me and I won't sleep well.. oh well.. lol Im such a clown.

Obviously, that was my first step. The response was clear as mud. "Don't come sick", yet she recanted the entire attendance policy to me. Anyone wanna just commiserate with me about strict attendance policies?

Hi girls! Im actually a nursing student that is hoping to get into OB eventually, but I was wondering if your would share your opinions or experiences regarding a situation that is bothering me lately. My friend has a 7 year old and a 9 month old, and is currently pregnant (due late november) with twins. Her first birth wasn't complicated although she had gestational diabetes. The second was concieved with medical assistance and the birth was also uncomplicated, and had no GD. She had epidurals with both and both were lady partsl deliveries. The problem is that my friends weight has gone from just over 300#'s with the first baby to now just over 400#'s, and she is having a heck of a time finding a anesthesiologist that is comfortable giving her care. From what I understand, its risky for obese women to have any kind of anesthesia. I feel so bad for her! Her OBGYN sent her 2 hours away to a bigger hospital today, and the doctor chose to tell her a story of a pt that DIED from complications. Isn't that heartbreaking? I guess what Im wondering is what the normal procedure is for this scenario where you work? Since she has had 2 normal, lady partsl births wouldn't going drug free on a natural delivery be your best case scenario? I mean, I know they have to prepare for the worst by fiting her with specific equipment, but she said that nobody has even mentioned a natural birth to her.. Also, do you see this often where you work? Do you see complications often? Are the anesthesiologists attitudes regarding the saftey of obese pt's generally the same? Is an epidural less dangerous then full on anesthesia? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer! I know this is my friend Im talking about, so its a bit personal, but I'm curious about this from a clinical standpoint as well. It concerns me that the population continues to gain weight (myself included) and that Dr's are feeling the heat from liability issues and could potentially refuse to treat.

I'm a first year LPN student (been in college for 2 years doing pre req's and waiting) and I can't believe how strict our attendance policy is! I mean, I can totally understand why regular, prompt attendance is important, but in one of my classes you can only miss 10% of the total hours of the class (including clinicals), which evens out to 4.5 hours, so if you miss more then 1 class period you FAIL. I have the flu! AND tomorrow is our midterm exam! What should I do? Go to class and interrupt everyone with the constant hacking (and hope I don't puke), potentially infecting everyone else? Or stay home and take the atomatic 5% decrease in points to take the test late, plus pray that I nor my 3 year old daughter gets sick again until December? I'm so conflicted! What would you do? I'm running a slight fever and coughing excessively. What is your attendance policies like?

Is that the only class your taking? I bet youll do fine! Just go into it with a positve attitude and work your butt off! I took General Bio during a regular semester after being a high school dropout (passed the GED exam, but I dropped out in 9th grade so it was tough) and still got an A. I dont remember being stressed out over it at all, either. Maybe it depends on the instructor you have too. You could get on Myspace Rate Your Professor or Ratemyprofessor.com and see what other students say about the courseload?

For the LPN program at my CC, you just have to take any developmental courses you test into during admission, nursing perspectives and CPR. However there is a pretty extensive waiting list so most people end up taking their RN pre-req's before they even start the LPN program. The RN ones are Psych, Soc, Developmental Psych, Nutrition, Micro, AnP 1 and 2, Chemistry and Oral Communication. For the BSN, you must take a certain numer of humanities, Comp1 and 2 and some other electives that I cant remember! lol

Im taking it this semester also, so I can commiserate! Here are a few things Ive been doing, and they seem to be helping! 1. After the first lecture test I (quietly) sought out the other girls who did well, and formed a study group. It helps so much to have 3 or 4 sets of notes to compare to your own, work through essay questions together, etc. Just dont get in a group of people who arent doing very well or arent motivated coz youll get off track easily and waste time. 2. I take my digital camera with me to lab and photograph everything we have to know for the lab practical. The pics actually come out quite well through the microscope and lets face it, the slides the teacher has arent going to be as great as the ones in the book which will make you falter when test time comes. 3. I study! I know that sounds stupid, but realistically I probably spend an hour a day everyday on AnP. Its tough stuff, and you HAVE to work for your A. Hope that helps!

congrats to you and welcome! im pretty new around here too, but this is the perfect place to procrastinate my homework... lol btw, our letters werent supposed to be going out until mid march or april either... yet... guess what i got today... i got in too!! whoot! im so excited, i could seriously spit sparks! good luck to yall who are still waiting.. hopefully some of your schools are early this year, too!

I would suggest brushing up also, and hopefully testing out of those courses you really dont think you need. Be aware though, that if you really dont remember things from high school or whenever you last took them then more then likely your going to be sorry. ALL of the heavy science courses (AnP, Micro, Chem, etc) have been taught with the assumption that you have a strong hold on basic biology and algebra at my college. I actually tried to take a short cut and dual enrolled at another college (one that thier math is just "college algebra" and would have transferred into my current college as credit for both the pre and regular algebra classes I tested into) and failed miserably. Not only did I fail miserably, but I also had to drop the chemistry class I was taking at the same time because I didnt know didly squat about demensional analysis, etc. I tried taking the easy route and ended up screwing myself in the end, costing me tons more money and and 3 more full semesters then it would have been to just take the developmental courses in the first place. Hindsight is 20/20 though, and after all that crap I start the program in the Fall! Whoot! It is possible, dont get discouraged!