WorkingTowards2011

Okay, here's the deal. I go to a community college in Alabama. I have received a Pell Grant, and a full scholarship from a local hospital that pays all my tuition, fees, and books. The Pell Grant gives me $1500 per semester Since my scholarship pays for my schooling needs, the grant money has helped me pay for daycare and other living expenses, since I cannot really work with going to nursing school and having a family. (I know that it is POSSIBLE to work, but I am trying to avoid it at all costs. I don't get to see my kids enough as it is.) So, here comes the summer semester, and since I received my grant money for the fall and spring, I'm not going to receive any this summer. I am really stressed because we can't make ends meet without that money. A friend of mine suggested student loans, which I have been trying to avoid at all costs, but would be open to for my summer semesters. My credit isn't good enough for a "private" loan, so I was going to go talk to financial aid and ask about a federal loan. However, I have two issues with a federal loan. #1- Since federal loans are paid to the school, and my scholarship already pays for all my schooling needs, will the school cut me a check like they do with the Pell grant? #2- On the school website, under the financial aid heading, it says "We do not participate in any federal or private student loan program." Does this mean iIcan't even get a federal loan because of the school that I go to????? I am super stressed about this, because we will not make it. I have no family members that are "well off" enough for me to borrow from. Even if I wanted to get a job, the well is bone dry around here. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for me? Maybe someone has been in this boat before?

It sounds to me like the scholarship would not be a good thing for you. If the areas you want to specialize in aren't even an option, then chances are you will be unhappy for as long as you are stuck there working off your scholarship. And you don't want anything to stand in the way of getting your master's either. I would pass, if I were in your situation.

I am in the rn program at a community college, and the difference between rn and lpn is only one semester. I say, just put your head down and plow all the way through to be an RN. Then you won't have to go back at all. I would be so depressed to go back to school after just graduating to be an lpn, but that's jmho.

Yep, 25 pounds in just a year. However, I have leveled out for the last several months. I am a bigtime stress eater, and since nursing school is stressful, well... i don't see myself on the carrots and grapes diet anytime soon. I do try to emake overall healthy choices and not eat out too much. There is no time to workout, so I don't even go there. If I can maintain the weight I am for the next two years, then I will get it off after I get out of school. It is only temporary. And no I am not one of those people that uses any excuse to eat/not work out/be overweight. Before nursing school, I lost 25 pounds by eating very well and going to the gym 5 days a week. I am just realistic and know my limitations, and my family, school, and job are more important right now than being skinny and hot.

Thank you, that helps so much. See, if I had already done some of my clinicals and known how things were done normally in a certain area of the hospital, this wouldn't be so difficult!!! Feels like throwing darts at a bullseye, while blindfolded! Man, it's really scary thinking about facing those types of situations when I become a nurse. I desire so much to be the hope that pulls someone through!!!

Thanks for the perspective, daytonite. I knew that there were a few holes in the string, but the instructor seemed happy with the plan, so we stuck to it. She never mentioned that we shouldn't take him to the psych ward (even though what you said makes perfect sense, that they wouldn't send a patient with respiratory problems to the psych ward), so I am hoping she won't hold that against us. I really wanted to put all three of the diagnoses you listed (I already had them listed to the side), but my instructor was adamant that we only take ONE synptom apiece, and since the girl before me took suicide, I was dangling between which one would sound better to her. IF a patient were in the psych ward making hopeless statements like the one in my last post, should he have restraints? I assume yes on the restraint since he is suicidal (or would a sitter be more likely and sound better to the instructor?) And what about medications? An antidepressant? Antipsychotic? Stimulant? Tranquillizer? I looked all of them up, but became frustrated after a while. He seems depressed, so an antideressant makes sense, but they increase suicidal thoughts. That doesn't sound smart. A stimulant would elevate his mood and make him more optimistic, I assume? But everything i read on them just talked about ADHD. Antipsychotics focus on schitzophrenia, which he doesn't have. I mentioned the tranquillizer to my instructor, and she didn't object, and she objects to almost EVERYTHING, so that made me wonder.... I know it will get easier from here. It is just so hard in the first semester, because you have such basic knowledge of diagnoses and diseases and symptoms and medications, yet you have to figure out what you would do. It's even more aggravating to hear the people who have previous medical backgrounds talk so easily about this stuff, like they aren't having trouble at all.

I live in AL and I have a scholarship that pays full tuition, including fees, books, and uniforms. In exchange, I have to work 3 years at the facility that granted my award. I am still in school and therefore I cannot tell you how it will be for me after graduation. However, I asked the facility if I would be automatically placed in a position of the facilities choice, or if I would get to choose. They told me that I would get to apply for any opening within the facility that I desired, just like any other employee. They said that they were not going to place me somewhere that I would not be happy, because they wanted their employees to be satisfied where they are working and stay beyond the three years. I was happy with that response. I also have the benefit of having clinical instructors from that facility, and I will do all my clinicals there also. I think that this will give me more of an advantage as I will be very familiar with the place and people where I will be working one day. I am already considered an "employee" of the hospital, since they are paying my tuition, and therefore I will get the "5 year" perks after 3 years of actually working there, including an increase in pay and days off per year. I also have first priority in the "student pool" to be asked to work small shifts while I am in school, which I am excited about. (I can't start working there until my first round of clinicals is over.) I have found many perks to the scholarship. I am also excited about coming out of nursing school as an rn with absolutely NO student loans to pay off. That will be wonderful! That being said, I am very happy that I chose to apply for the scholarship. However, I am not sure if i would have taken the scholarship if "the board" got to place me wherever they wanted. Is it a financial neccessity that you have help from school? have you thought about student loans, grants, or other scholarship opportunities? Are there any people that have accepted the scholarship and are working at the hospital now that can tell you how they like it?

Absolutely, I feel the same way. We just finished week three, and I am loving every minute of it. I have already met so many friends that I feel like I could have in my life for a long time. My instructors, overall, are absolutely wonderful! It is tough finding time to keep up with the demanding courseloads of work, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Don't offer to be the LEADER if YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO LEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I forgot to mention that this is my very first care plan, which is why I'm so confused. It is so intimidating to see people talk in "nursing/medical lingo", and I think, what are they SAYING??? Am I REALLY gonna be able to tak like that and understand what it all means in 5 semesters???????????????? How overwhelming.

Okay, so I hate to be one of those people that asks for help with an answer, but I have spend hours researching and I have to finish this care plan. My situation is sort of different than most of the care plan posts on this website. I don't have a situation with detailed patient specifics and so forth like everyone else lists. Basically, our instructor split us up into groups of 7, and assigned a leader to each group. (I am not the leader.) Each group had an overall problem. Ours is cystic fibrosis. Basically, the teacher put it this way. She wants us to come up with a patient, who enters the hospital with some sort of problem related to the overall issue. (Cystic Fibrosis) Basically, the leader starts out as his burse, and treats one symptom. She fixes the problem, but another problem arises, and the next person deals with that problem, so on and so forth, until we have all had a shift taking care of the same patient. We had about an hour to come up with an overall plan of what symptom each of us have. I'm not going to be ugly, but basically our "leader" is scared to death and has done absolutely nothing. The only reason we have gotten anything accomplished is because several of us stepped up and tried to piece this together in our "leader's" aftermath. All the leader did was state that she had ineffective airway clearance, and then attempt to work on her care plan during our meeting time, instead of help the group as a whole make a storyline that makes sense for a cystic fibrosis patient. Our teacher has not explained care plans to us, except for a very confusing ten minute lecture, in which the whole class was lost. I have read and researched and done my best to try to wrap my head around care plans, and I THINK I put together a pretty good one. I just had one question and wanted an opinion on what sounds better. Basically, this is the chain of events/nurses that happens to this guy. James Reed, 19 yr. old male, with a hx of cystic fibrosis is our patient. Nurse 1- Ineffective Airway Clearance Nurse 2- Deficient Fluid Volume Nurse 3- Chest Pains Nurse 4- Noncompliance Nurse 5- Anxiety/suicide attempt Nurse 6- This is me, will explain in a minute. Torn between two diagnoses. Nurse 7- post mortem care Basically, our instructor said to create an overall story, and make it interesting, but believeable. We went over our basic storyline to her, and she was happy with it. Basically, this 19 yr old kid ends up coming to the hospital because he is developing pneumonia, that is where nurses 1-3 come in. He is sick and tired of being in the hospital for all his life and boycotts his medicines and treatments, which is where noncompliance comes in. Finally, he gets so frustrated with his illness, he becomes basically depressed and tries to kill himself. (nurse 5) Nurse 5 transfers him to the psych ward, and I am the psych nurse assigned to him. For my subjective data, he is saying that ""I'm so tired of being sick all the time. It's never going to end, so why even try? I've been sick my whole life, so what's the point of living at all?". For objective, I have "Patient shows apathy and resignation towards illness. Shows possible intentions of destructive behavior towards self. Withdrawn appearance." The two diagnoses I am on the fence about is powerlessness and ineffective coping. Both make sense for his problem, I think. I want it to sound serious, because after my shift, he finds a way to kill himself, and the next nurse finds him dead andis responsible for post mortem care. it's a crazy, mixed up story, I know, but the instructor liked it alot, if we can pull it off. The only other thing I am wondering about is what medications to list (as "ordered by the doctor, of course, since nurses can't order meds). Our instructor says she wants meds in there. I have looked up what feels like 10,000 meds. Does he need a tranquilizer? Antidepressant? Antipsychotic? I DON'T KNOW, THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME AFTER AN HOUR OF LOOKING!!!!! I assume that he would be on a 4 point harness to keep from hurting hisself. Does he need a consult with a psych dr or counselor??? I have worked on this thing for days, and still fell completely ignorant and lost. I am one of those people who are annoyed at people that ask for help, because they should work it out for themselves instead of taking the easy way out. But after days and days of research that has me feeling like I am going in circles, asking for help doesn't seem like the easy way out anymore. Sorry for the long post. Any imput would be appreciated.

I was one of the 30 Bishop State students who received a scholarship from Mobile Infirmary. I wanted to clarify that the Infirmary pays for everything your whole way through (5 semesters at Bishop), and you have to work three years for them. It pays for EVERYTHING, books, fees, tuition, uniforms, supplies... I haven't paid a dime. I don't think that the Infirmary is offering the scholarship anywhere but Bishop State, but I could be wrong about that.

Absolutely not. At our school, and most others I'm sure, it is made perfectly clear that random drug testing can and will be used, and that if your test shows a positive, it is immediate expulsion. As it should be. And showing up drunk is just icing on the cake. If she would have wanted to become an RN badly enough, she would have chosen to say no.

I am one of those people who is not satisfied unless I get the highest grade in the class. It sounds so bad.... It's not that I want to "beat" everyone and be "better" than they are, I just have extremely high expectations of myself. If I get a 95 and someone else got a 100, I feel like I didn't do as well as I could have, therefore I did not study enough. I am one of those people who, even through high school, never had to study and still made A's. I don't think I am any smarter than the next person, God just gave me a gift- academics come easy for me. And I am very thankful for it, since I don't have a lot of time to study after work and kids. It happened today. I got a 90 on our first assigment. Most people got the same grade, and many got below that, and I was thrilled, until I saw three people with 100's. I was not thrilled anymore. It makes me feel like such a bad person to feel this way. I try to tell myself that I did my best and that is all that matters, but it's hard to get rid of that bitter feeling. I am a horrible person!!!!!!!!

1. Thank you for being so strict! Maybe it will get rid of some of the people who really don't need to or care to be here, because they are wasting the time of those of us who do. 2. PLEASE don't make me work in a group for a "cumulative group grade." Half of these people are incompetent and could care less, and it's not fair that they are going to bring my grade down. It's also not fair that me and one other person do all the work in order to get a descent grade, and the incompetent, non-caring individuals benefit from it with no effort involved whatsoever. Groups are fine, just let my grade be my grade.

"Didn't you learn how to add fractions and decimals when you were in MIDDLE SCHOOL???????" "Not all of us have medical working background, so please talk in LAYMAN'S TERMS, at least for the FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!!!!" No one understands what you are saying and you come off as a egotistical know it all. "Quit whining about how "hard" nursing school is! There are over 200 people who applied and didn't get in who would KILL to take your place, and NOT COMPLAIN!!!"

I feel lucky to get an hour each weekday... many days that doesn't happen. I usually spend about 3-4 hours each weekend day, or at least on one of those days. I work and have children, so I don't have all the time in the world to study. I get so jealous on our half days, or the day before an off day, when my friends say, "Yeah, I'm gonna go home and do the assignment tonight, and finish my reading for the week." And inwardly I am thinking, " I won't have the opportunity to study for three more days. And I haven't even started on my reading. She sucks!" lol Fortunately, I am a fast learner and academics come naturally to me. So my grades are still excellent. For now. :wink2:

I totally understad how you feel! I am a 27 year old in my first semester, getting my ADN. I have two girls, 6 and 3. I have been itching every since my youngest turned 2. It seems like everywhere I go, I am haunted by preggos and babies! Yesterday at lunch, TWO babies AND a pregnant woman sat within spitting distance of my table. Talk about torture. My husband and I have decided to wait. Stress is synonymous with nursing school, and I know that stress has many effects on a baby while in the womb. I also want to be able to ENJOY my first year with my baby and not have to worry about studying or work. The first year goes by faster than you can blink, and you will never get that precious time back. I will graduate before i turn 29, and I stil have plenty of time for #3- hopefully a boy this time! Good luck with your decision!

In a way, I think it's a good thing, because it shows you who your true friends are. tTe ones you can call at 3am if you are upset, the ones who will come help you move with no complaints and without expecting anything in return. It reveals the friends that will be around for life, the ones that care most about your well-being and happiness. Everyone has alot of "friends" that "love you to death" until things get hard and they aren't getting any of the benefits from your friendship. Then those people fade away, and you are left with a small number of truly incredible, special friends that would do anything in the world for you. I would rather have my two supportive and caring friends than ten fairweather friends that will be gone at the drop of a hat when things get hard.:wink2:

Thank you so much, DaytoNite! I already had all of the other information you listed, so I guess I am on the right track!

I am a new nursing student doing my very first assignment for Fundamentals- create a shift report. My instructor gave us a very informative page on shift reports, including a sample. I understand the concept and feel that I am making a good bit of progress, HOWEVER... Although I know what I want to write, I am trying to write it in nursing shorthand, and not in normal language. But we haven't been taught that yet. I have been able to get a lot from the sample and my book, but I am stuck on a few... How do I say that my patient is receiving a treatment of albuterol through a nebulizer every 2 hours? I don't even know how much albuterol to put, or how it is even measured. My "patient" is 19, if that matters. I also put that "Mr. Johns has a peripheral IV intact in the left forearm, infusing 500 mg of erythromycin q 12 hrs. next dose due @1200." Does that make sense? I question whether this is worded correctly. I have no problem looking information up for myself and I am not one of those students that expects for everything to be spoon fed, but I cannot find any basic information on nursing shorthand. Any help would be so very appreciated. I have never felt so stupid or lost.

I completely understand how you are feeling and I feel the exact same way! I have always considered my self to be a confident, self assured person who can do anything I put my mind to, and after my first day, I thought, "What was I THINKING?? I CAN'T DO THIS!!!!" But if thousands and thousands of other people graduaet as nurses every year, then why not me??? I keep telling myself to just focus on this week. The harder stuff will not be as hard as it looks now, because every week builds upon the next. And I know this can come across as ugly on a nursing website, but I'm sure many of you know someone that you think, "How in the WORLD did she make it through nursing school and become an RN? That girl is CLUELESS!!!!" So I tell myself in my head, if she can, then I KNOW I can! We CAN do this, and we WILL.

We have about 45 in our lecture classes, but only 6 in our clinical group.

I TOTALLY agree. My two best friends are completely supportive. The rest of my friends... are gone. And I say, if they chose to bail instead of step back and be supportive of me improving my life, then they weren't real friends to begin with, and good riddance! I have tried and tried to explain to my friends what it is like. However, stay at home mothers with one child (or friends with no child or husband at all) do not understand the life of work, school, two children, and home life. I wanted to smack one of my friends when she said, "Certainly there is something you can give up. I mean, you have too much on you." I was like, "Ok, and what do you presume I give up? Work? I wish, but we kinda need power and FOOD and gas and CLOTHES. Kids? Nope, I'm kinda the only mama they've got. And I kinda like the little rugrats! ;-) Home? My home gets neglected enough. Would you like to see the lovely mold specimen growing in my toilet? Isn't it lovely? School? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I have waited 10 years to go to school, and I do not want to be scrubbing toilets FOREVER!!!!" But they just cannot comprehend it because they are not going through it. So just let them go and move on. I am sure you will meet mroe understanding friends in nursing school. I know I have!

Not me. I have heard that the pay difference is minimal. So my plan is to get my ADN, be able to take a short break from school since I will probably be exhausted, and be able to work. Then after a year or so, I plan to start the ADN to BSN online, and still be making better money and enjoying what I do in the meantime. That's my plan, anyway!