colta

Not a nurse yet, just a student but.... When you're watching an abdominal surgery being performed around lunch-time and all you and your fellow student/nurse can think of is how much different pieces of anatomy look like weird versions of food. (Hysterectomy - removed ovaries looked like deflated grapes.)

What I had done last semester seemed to work out fairly well for me. That being said... there are a few things I would do a bit differently. -start studying earlier than 2-3 days before the test/final... while it did work out and I made excellent grades, I'd like to feel a bit more confident in my knowledge than I did last semester. -READ!!! I had started out reading everything that was required and by the end of the term, I had completely abandoned that plan in favor of having that time to relax. Well, no more of that! -Starting assignments and finishing them as soon as possible, instead of the 'leaving it till the end' kinda thing I did last semester. It kind of bit in the butt around the end of the term. -Enjoy myself!! I did get caught up in some of the class drama and I kind of regret it.

Thanks for all of the kind words everyone. I did speak with my clinical instructor, and she was really great in helping me set goals and answering questions that I had about how things work and what to do. I felt my clinical day today was much better because of it and I'm starting to get my 'clinical legs'. .... But yes, thanks for all the kind words... It really helped to buoy my confidence.

Hey all, this is somewhat of a vent, but more of a plea for guidance. My class is currently in our first clinical. We're in nursing homes caring for geriatric patients and this is our first time out into the real world after a semester of theory and lab practice. Now, before we went out to clinical... I felt great! As far as marks go, I'm top of my class and I feel like I have a really good grasp on what we were taught. That being said... I feel like a total dummy when it comes to clinical. I'm nervous, terrified and feel like I don't know anything. I don't know what to do, what to say... and we're not even doing anything crazy... just bed baths, am care, feedings, ambulation and suppositories.... so nothing too major. I don't know if it's just me or what. None of the other students in my clinical group seem to mind. They're all doing great, while I still struggle on the most basic things. I dunno. I don't know if maybe my lack of experience in the health care field (all of my clinical classmates were CNA's previously) or what? I mean, as far as myself goes... I've never been around an ill geriatric person, or someone who is severely mentally or physically handicapped, which I feel has been a huge part of my not doing well. Have any of you felt/feel this way? If so... how did you cope? Any words of wisdom would be very much appreciated... I feel like I'm drowning and this is only our first time out!

Well, as far as this semester goes we were slammed with courses. We had six different classes a week, 8:30am to 4pm, plus lab... where we went over all the skills necessary for our clinical. So, I guess they just decided to lump our clinical all into one. We have two weeks where we're in the hospital/nursing home setting every week day. We're going to be there from 7-3, so five, 8 hour shifts a week. It's going to be my first time in the clinical setting and my first time really working in the clinical environment... I've been a patient plenty of times, but never the care giver! The nursing home I'm going to is a fairly large facility and I'm really nervous, I hope I do well! As far as care plans go, we were pretty lucky. We don't have to do up care plans, but we do get patient assignments and have to be aware of everything going on with our patient, including dx, tx, meds and all that good stuff. We haven't really gone over the whole process of making a care plan... we've done one, but I think the raeson for that is because of how my class is setup. My class is also a LPN student/PSW (personal support worker) mix... so there is about 16 lpn students and 20 PSW students. Next semester we are doing another week or two week long grouping of clinicals and then when we split up from the PSW students in April, we have another two week clinical block in the hospital. It's really great how they've set it up in my opinion... having classes and clinical at the same time would completely mess me up! Especially with 6 courses. ... That was actually part of the reason our instructors decided to hold our final exams before clinical... so we could be able to retain the information and do well on them. But that all being said, next semester, our skills work is done without the PSW's so we'll be learning much more advanced skills. (catheters, wound care/dressings, IV's, med pass, etc) But yeah, that's my course . From what I've read on here it does seem a bit different or unconvential from most schools. Thanks for asking about!

Hi all! I just wanted to celebrate a bit... I've finally made it through my first semester of nursing school! ... My exams are all done and over with and now we're on to two weeks of clinical! The clinical group I'm going with is going to a local seniors facility with 81 patients and a very big mix of full-care to fully mobile patients with varying levels of dementia and whatnot... it's going to be a great learning experience! We start on Monday! I'm also so very very excited about my overall average right now! I'm rocking a 92% average for my 6 courses! So yeah, you could say I'm excited and very happy!!:monkeydance: So yeah... haha, I just wanted to share my excitement and my nervousness about my upcoming clinical! If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears!

I'm in an LPN course and it's 75% to pass.

Hi... I'm a current nursing student. I don't really know anything about the TEAS, as my school didn't require it. But as far as research, writing papers, speeches and doing projects go... yeah, you will get those in nursing school. I'm in an LPN program and have only started on September 11th, but we've already had one 20 minute group presentation, and 2 essay, research projects and we have had two take home tests.... So yes, you are going to need to know how to research information, write it out or prepare a presentation. Usually each school has a specific writing format that you need to know as well, but I'm not sure what yours would be... for us it is APA format. The best advice I would give is to take some writing courses/english courses as well as some sciences, (biology/chemistry) and any health related courses available to you. Make sure you have all the necessary courses to get into the college/university of your choice. Good luck!

This is probably going to sound banana's but....... So far I've made 102% and 108% on the first two A&P test of my lpn program! (after bonus marks of course).... I've never, ever, ever, ever made that good of marks... I know that the grades don't necessarily reflect how good of a nurse I'll be, but darnit... I'm going to be proud! I struggled all through high school and have really worked hard at this and I'm extremely proud to say my lowest mark has been a 92.... I've never felt like I could do this more then I do now! BTW... this is a great thread! It feels good to tell others of hard earned accomplishments.... kudo's to everyone who's posted a 'for the win' moment in their lives!

Something I would love to say to a fellow student would be to stop grabbing my notes and knocking me out of my seat when you want to see what I've written... if you can't even make the effort to pay attention and take your own notes, you sure as heck aren't going to get mine. On that note.... Don't ask me the answer to a question that the teacher JUST GAVE THE ANSWER TO!... it's once again on the same vein as the previous complaint... PAY ATTENTION!! Okay... vent done ...

Hey all... I've been lurking around for a while now, and finally got to get a start on my end goal of becoming a nurse. My 18 month LPN program just started this past Tuesday.... and I'm already overwhelmed!! We received some homework for today, chapters in A+P, Clinical Skills, Elder Care, and Healthy living... plus, we have a skills lab test tomorrow on proper hand washing technique (admittedly, not that hardest thing in the world) and a chapter of work to do in our A+P workbook. Just trying to read all the chapters alone is difficult, but trying to study them and glean any actual info from them just seems impossible! I know it's only the first real day of studying... I just can't seem to get any of it to stick! Right now, I'm reading the chapters and then I plan on highlighting and writing down any seemingly important info... afterwards, outline the chapter and go over the notes I've made as well as the things I've highlighted. I don't know if anyone finds that to be an effective way to study... but if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears! Anyway, that's my vent for the night! I'm off to do more reading/studying!:nuke:

I managed to fix up my student loan issues... so now, I'll be able to get my books before class starts on Monday (tomorrow!!). I'm starting to get nervous and excited and jumpy and all those other things. I've been driving my husband crazy from all my bouncing around. I just can't contain myself!! I've got so much nervous energy... tomorrow morning can't come fast enough! I'm going nuts with how many books I have to pick up for first term! I have to buy 13 books!! ... it's crazy!

I'm in an 18 month LPN course starting tomorrow... We start skills labs the first week of school and then our clinicals start the last 4 weeks of the semester.

I start the same day as you do. I've been having first day jitters for the past week or so... It's been aggravated by the fact that my student loan won't be coming in until 3-5 days AFTER school starts... so, I've been kind of freaking out. I won't be able to buy books, scrubs (thankfully I already have a pair for skills), blood pressure cuff, bandage scissors, lab coat or shoes. I've managed to get some school supplies together, so I'll be able to take notes and what not, I just will be without reading materials. Thankfully, I have some good friends who are willing to let me photocopy the pages of books that we need to read. So hopefully I'll survive until my funds come in! I have orientation tomorrow, so I'm going to speak to the teachers and find out if they have some slightly older books kicking around that they might want to lend me. Best of luck to everyone on their first day! We're finally here!

For my LPN course, these are the books we have to have for first semester. Clinical Nursing Skills and Techniques - 7th Edition - Text and DVD Skills Performance Checklists Manual of Nursing Practice 9th Edition (freaking huge book!) Caring for the Older Adult Holistically 4th Edition Medical Terminology 5th Edition A - Short Course LPN Notes - Nurse's Clinical Guide (optional but highly recommended) Mosby's Dictionary of Medicine Nursing and Health 8th Edition PR Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology 5th Edition Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology SG 5th Edition Communication in Nursing 6th Edition What Every Student Should Know About Citing Sources With APA Health - The Basics 4th Edition Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses, With Resource Kit CD-Rom 12th Edition (Freaking huge book too) There are way too many! haha, ah well... guess it just means I'm in for a lot of reading. uhoh3

Thanks everyone for the replies. I went to my school and registered today, so I got to at least do that. It's nice to know I'm actually in the system, I am for sure a student (got my shiny new student badge to prove it), and this is actually going to happen. That being said, I went to the school bookstore and picked up my book list... when the book store attendant asked me what course I was taking and I said "LPN", she just laughed and handed me the book list. I have to purchase 13 books for this semester!! It's crazy... I was daunted by the sheer number of them and then I saw how huge they were... the bookstore attendant said I'd need a pack mule to carry them home for me! Thank goodness I have a rolling bag to put them in... I'm sure I'd put my back out for sure carrying all of those. But anyway, the days are getting closer... I do my CPR class this weekend and then I have orientation events until the 3rd, and then on the 3rd I have an actual orientation with my instructors and what not. Should be fun!

So... I start the first day of my LPN program on September 7th. The day is fast approaching and I'm losing my mind! Pulling my hair-out, dancing around the kitchen kind of losing my mind. I found out I was accepted in Feb of 2010 and have been waiting ever since. On top of that, with my school system, you don't get your student funding until about a week or two before classes start. I don't get to register until the 24th of August, and then my funding won't be in my account until about 5-10 days from then. I haven't had a chance to buy any of my supplies or anything fun like that. I just want to get my stuff, get registered and get into class!! How has everyone else been dealing with the wait, or how did you deal with it? Are you or did you go crazy like I am? I've never been this anxious to start school!! Hahaha, please someone help keep me sane!

It's so interesting to see what everyone is going to be taking this upcoming semester. I can't wait to start. Classes for me start on Sept 7th. I'm going through a 20 month (with summers off) LPN course through my local community college. This is what my schedule looks like: Monday 0830 -1030 - Anatomy and Physiology 1045 -1230 - Healthy Living 1330 -1600 - Intro to Nursing Concepts and Skills (lecture) Tuesday 0830 -1230 - Anatomy and Physiology 1330 -1600 - Elder Care Nursing Concepts Wednesday 0830 -1230 - Interpersonal Communication 1330 -1600 - Medical Terminology Thursday 0830 -1600 - Intro to Nursing Concepts and Skills (lab) Friday 0830 -1030 - Healthy Living 1045 -1230 - Anatomy and Physiology 1330 -1600 - Skills Theory or Lab Time. So that's my schedule. I think it's a bit intimidating... but I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy it. I've waited a long time for this and wish the next couple weeks would just hurry up and get here. I register and get my photo ID and whatnot from the school on Monday, so that'll be nice and then I have orientation from the 1rst to the 3rd of Sept. Until then it's just buying school supplies and checking out my books . Oh and I start my first clinical the last two weeks of December before christmas break.

I wish I had the option!! haha, we have to wear white scrubs, but we luckily get to wear whatever color we want when we do labs in the school...

The program I'm attending requires us to to wear scrubs during class/labs, and then we have class 5 days a week. So I plan on getting at least 3 colored pairs of scrubs for class. After that, we have 2 full weeks of clinical for the first semester, so I'll be getting 6 pairs of white scrubs, so I'm safe for the week. I'm a huge worrier and I don't want to leave myself hanging with white scrubs. I can see some not so white stains in my future . I also plan on getting some white, long sleeve shirts to wear underneath. I tend to get cold in the hospital, and I just prefer to have something underneath the scrub top.

I am starting Nursing school for my lpn this fall... I'll be 21. I had originally never even considered nursing or anything in the medical field for that matter, as a career. I was in and out of hospitals so much as a child, I despised the whole institution. I ended up going for my animation degree straight out of highschool and I hated every minute of it. I ended up leaving, and while looking through the colleges available courses, I came upon nursing. It just seemed to click, and now that I've grown up a bit, my dislike for the medical field has turned a complete 180. I do feel kinda foolish for not figuring it out sooner, and for wasting so much time in high school, not getting my pre-req's... but what can you do? I'm glad I'm starting.... and even though I'm 21, I still feel like I wasted A LOT of time. Ironically enough though, I am the youngest person in my class Ah well, best of luck to everyone, no matter what age you are!

My program is 18 months long, with summers off. 830 am to 430 pm m-f.... oi, that's going to be rough!

I haven't started my classes just yet (not until Sept), but I do know what classes I'll be taking. I'm in an 18 month LPN program... so it's not the same as an RN course, but I figure every little bit of knowledge helps. So, I'll be taking 6 classes, A+P, Skills Lab, Elder Care, Communication, Med Terminology and Fundamentals of Nursing. We start clinical a few weeks into the semester, we do 2 full weeks of clinical from 7am - 12pm and then go to class afterwards.

I think nursemike meant that it was a backwards idea that if patients can't tell difference, to up and change the nurses uniforms and not the housekeepers. Don't take my word for it though, thats just what I got from it.

Congrats to all that have been accepted! I've been accepted for a 20 month (2 year) LPN program through my local community college. It's a great school (New Brunswick Community College - Miramichi), located in eastern Canada. I'm so excited to start and I cannot wait for summer to get over so I can start school... FINALLY! I plan on taking a Medical Terminology course over the summer to get more acquainted with the lingo so I'm not completely out in space when we start learning about stuff in school. I also plan on buying all my supplies over the summer, especially my stethoscope! Even if I don't know how to use it, I sure want to play with it . Good luck to everyone! Just a few short months and we'll be actual nursing students! :clpty::dancgrp: :hpygrp: