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Congratulations lola_noelle!!! We'll see you there - and then hopefully around Lackland too!

Carolinapooh, First of all - Congratulations on your graduation! Secondly, I found out in November that my NTP and my duty station is Lackland (Wilford) in L/D. Thanks so much for all the great information about COT that you've provided, I just have a few questions about Wilford specifically. I would really appreciate it if you could give me your opinion about Wilford and Lackland, or maybe some direct pointers on how to get "settled" in the area. Also, I know that the base realignment is happening as we speak, but do you know when the hospital is actually consolidating across town? Thanks so much!

I am also going to be at COT in August! I will graduate with my BSN in May 2010 and then shortly thereafter take my NCLEX! I submitted to the October board, and found out in late November that I was accepted and where I was going - I was VERY pleased to find out that I got my first choice for both NTP and duty station! I'll be stationed at Lackland AFB in the L/D unit after NTP. Anyone else going to Lackland, or COT in August, shoot me a PM or a post reply!

I personally love my maternity textbook - Lowdermilk's Maternity and Women's Health Care. This is published by Elsevier and I LOVE IT. I use it all the time, and I like that the care plans are scattered throughout the book (like in the sections they pertain to). It helps me because then I don't have to try to find a care plan in a book and then figure out which complication the care plan pertains to. Hope this helps, Amber N

I do not know what the priority classifications for the H1N1 vaccine is. I do, however, know that my nursing school is MANDATING that we receive the vaccine or we must wear a mask to provide patient care. Our hospital systems in our metro area are kind enough to provide the vaccine to us on a priority level, but I do not know if all nursing students are considered priority to the government, different local health agencies, etc. I would encourage you to contact your specific board of nursing to determine your priority status. Hope this helps, Amber N

I personally do notecards. I put the drug name on one side and the information I need to know on the other side. Then I just do the notecards over and over until I know them by heart. I liked this method because I know them by heart and when I get to clinical I do not have to stop and think about the drugs, I can simply recall the knowledge I had memorized. There are also several study aids and websites that offer pharm study products. Hope this helps, Amber N

Hope this will help you, I know it worked for a few of my friends. A friend of mine used to say that when she started getting faint in the OR she would pick one focal point in the room and focus directly on that spot while systematically relaxing each part of her body. I know it sounds a little weird, but she swears by it! You will catch her staring at the ceiling, counting to 10 while "loosening" herself up. Of course you can also do what my other friend does - eat a jelly doughnut 30 seconds before scrubbing in! Hope this helps, Amber N

I felt that it was an enormously valuable experience! I was a CNA for several years before I started nursing school and I think it had some huge advantages. The main ones that I can think of is that your CNA work experience will A)acclimate you to the care setting (working in the environment, with pumps, with other staff, with technology and monitors), B)acclimate you to the time schedule of a day C)REALLY help with your organization skills, D)give you a valuable observation of actual nurses doing actual nursing tasks, and E)give you a great opportunity to connect the concepts you learn in class with the actual nursing critical thinking skills before you go to clinical (i.e. before you actually HAVE to get those critical thinking skills right!). All in all, I think it won't hurt you, and that it will definitely help you. But if you don't get a CNA job, don't worry about it, it won't break you! Hope this helps, Amber N

I can tell you that (well, this may just be me) I was just as overwhelmed as you are! I was a CNA for several years and thought that I was overprepared for nursing school, but nursing school is just a totally different environment than anyone can prepare for. The terms and language that is used takes some time to get used to; even when the concept is simple, it seems very complicated because of the complexity of the terminology and language. As for the review, check out the publisher's website for your book. My A&P book for pre-nursing and nursing was through Elsevier. Hope this helps, Amber N

Nursing school and working will work if you make it work! I personally worked full time to put myself through school - the secret is to find a job that is flexible, or work several part time jobs that can be scheduled around your classes. I was also told not to work during NS because it would be too much. You just have to get (and stay) organized, manage your time, and stay on top of things. The margin for error while working and going to NS is much smaller, because you have a lot less time to do things over or fix things than others. This decision is a personal one, you will have to be honest with yourself and figure out if you can work and get your school work done on time and fully. Hope this helps, Amber N. -

I did not have a summer health care job either. I will be a senior in the fall and have finished all my med surg clinicals and will start OB/PEDS in the fall. I don't feel that concerned about not having the summer job. I think if you stay fresh in the information and stay prepared throughout the school year, you will not be behind. Remember that whatever people tell you, the people with summer jobs still have to practice within their scope of practice. While they might be learning new skills, they are not allowed to practice them independently (with a few exceptions), so don't stress yourself out. Go back, review your knowledge and get ready to come back with a vengence! Hope this helps! Amber N. - Elsevier Student Ambassador

Every class is different so I can only give you my experience. My first semester was slightly overwhelming. There is a lot of material, but the thing I had the most trouble with was learning that nursing is a whole different beast. You cannot expect to study for nursing like you do your other classes. I relied on flashcards, pocket guides, the CDs in the back of the textbooks, hand written outlines and I mainlined caffeine to get through. It will seem like there is a lot to do and learn, but know that it is normal to feel overwhelmed. They are trying to transform you into a critically thinking nurse so you have to learn to think in a different way than you probably ever have before. Get a group together - this will help you overcome the frustration, and be a great support through your courses! Hope this helps, Amber N.

I personally have the pocket version. Your right, its not much smaller than the regular. I bought it with the purpose of carrying it with me, but after a few weeks I didn't need it anymore. I think mostly it's going to be a matter of personal preference as to which book you decide to buy. Amber N.

We ALWAYS practiced on a mannequin first. I was never allowed to touch a real patient until I had shown proficiency on a mannequin. I was thankful for that, although I came into nursing school after working as a CNA through high school, I still appreciated the real time run through with the professor (if not only for the look at what she would expect in "real" clinical!). Hope this helps, Amber N.

I personally use the Saunders Q&A Review for the NCLEX. It's an orange book published by Elsevier. I like it because it has mostly Q&A, not a whole lot of review (text). If you like a text review, grab Saunders regular RN NCLEX review (it's a BIG blue book). I did not have much success with Kaplan, but that is just personal experience! Hope this helps, Amber N.

my advice is as follows: 1. find out what your instructor expects by asking him/her if you are not provided detailed guidelines. don't rely just on the advice of others as every student's experience with a given instructor is different. - absolutely! relying on what you're told by other students will get you into a lot of trouble - and make you look like the unprepared one. 2. don't pretend you know something if you don't. you are there to learn. it is expected (or should be!) that you don't know everything. - however, try not to ask the same question every time! get yourself into a routine, and then if something comes up, ask. but don't be the student that asks where the water fountain is every clinical day - it makes you look like you weren't paying attention the last time your instructor answered. 3. that said, prepare as much as possible. make yourself skill cards with pictures for common skills, and review them often. - check out some of the small pocket guides for the clinical course you are currently in. i carried these for all my clinicals and they are wonderful! helps for those things that you just can't remember or need to look up quickly. 4. don't allow yourself to fall into the pattern of doing cna/tech work. critically think about all data you see. what does this mean for the patient? - as a first clinical student, you will do a lot of tech work. but while you're doing it, think about the nursing implications. ask your lead nurse later about what you saw and your thoughts - they are generally impressed if you are already thinking that way! 5. think to yourself "what is the worst-case scenario that could happen to this patient?" and "what would my top interventions be if this occurred?" i always did this! you always want to look around the room, at the chart, patient, etc and think "what could kill them first?" kind of morbid i know, but it puts things into perspective. once you have identified the problem, then you know how to prevent/prepare. 6. ask for practice doing "real-life" nursing tasks such as giving report, pretend to call a physician using a chart and know where to find the information, practice charting as much as possible, administer meds. try to find a nurse that will let you safely perform as many things as possible. or if you can't find a way to do this, follow the nurse and pay attention/take notes while they do it. one day very soon you will have to do it by yourself. 7. if you see a patient deteriorating and your nurse quickly acts on the patient's behalf, ask him/her how they made their decisions later when things are calm. what signs and symptoms did they see that led to their decisions? or better yet, observe and then say "i saw you doing (blank). was it because of (blank)?" 8. get really organized. - post it notes will become your best friend. 9. ask a lot of questions! 10. care for each person in the manner you would want your favorite family member cared for, even if it makes you want to scream!!! there are times when you will want to cry, scream and throw things, but you have to remember that they are in a lot of pain and are usually anxious about their stay so just do your best. best advice ever was given to me by an experienced nurse - if you need a break, take 10 minutes to yourself to chart or just get a glass of water (provided you have that time). it will release some of the stress and prevent meltdowns. 11. have a sense of humor. nursing is funny - just remember not to laugh at people. 12. realize that you can't be perfect. in school we are teaching you an ideal standard of care. we don't always work in an ideal world. do your best always, but don't beat yourself up on the days when you aren't the "perfect nurse." and believe me, at times, you will be disappointed with yourself because you can't do what the other nurses can. it's normal. all those nurses were us once upon a time, and as we gain experience we will gain expertise as well. just stick with it and be determined. attitude and determination are half the battle. 13. look up some common diagnoses prior to clinicals. for example, if you are going to the med-surg floor, you might review chf, pneumonia, hypertension, diabetes, asthma. again, get a pocket guide. they are life savers! hope this helps! amber n.

Patho for me was much harder than pharm. Pharm was a lot of memorization and straight recall so if you spent the time doing the work you were rewarded. However patho is not that way. You have to understand the concepts to pass, so the amount of time you spend studying and preparing may not necessarily correspond to the reward. I suggest checking in at your nursing school to see if tutoring services are offered (or any other assistance) that you could use if you feel that your patho class is getting out of control. Sometimes even just group study put the concepts into perspective for me - you can sometimes hear something differently one time and then it clicks, even if you have been studying the same thing for three days! Hope this helps, Amber N.

Well first off, every nursing school is different! I can give you my experiences, but realize that they will be similar in some instances, and very different in others. But for the most part, nursing school is like anything else in life - it's what you make of it! If you go in expecting to succeed and learn everything possible AND have a good time, most likely you will have a better time. Just keep a positive attitude! For me, the worst part of nursing school was writing out CDBs (Client Data Bases which are what some schools call care plans). They were very long and intricate at my school and we did them for every patient we had. It's not bad when you only have one patient, but by the time you have 3 or 4, it gets pretty rough. There were lots of late nights and pots of coffee! The best part, or parts I should say, were the times that I could look at my patients and realize that I was making a very big difference to them. Its a very rewarding feeling to know that you are able to make an impact in someone's life. Also, you will remember the funny experiences, the laughs you have with your fellows students, and the bonds you form as you all go through the same things together! Don't let yourself get too stressed out, just buckle down for the rough parts, get through it and laugh about it later! Hope this helps! Amber N.

I agree with the above reply. I really like flashcards - they're easy to make, conveniently portable, and highlight all the important information to make it stick! Not all classes are flashcard friendly though, so for those I like to make outlines and study guides that include the information that I need to learn, but in a format that I can understand easily. Check the textbooks that you buy too. Some of them come with study guides and most will come with an attached CD that has quizzes, reviews and diagrams. I never bought a book that didn't have a CD for this reason. I thought they were an invaluable way to prepare. If you don't have one already, go ahead and purchase an NCLEX review book. They come in several varieties, some have mostly question and answer, while others have a more theory based review. I personally like the Q&A type so I have Saunders Q&A Review for the NCLEX-RN which is published by Elsevier. Hope this helps! Amber N

Thanks for all the wonderful advice! Most of it has put me a little more at ease. I'm in nursing school for my BSN (no ADN, came in right out of high school) and had never had any knowledge of the military at all. Most everyone on here has been incredibly helpful - thanks a bunch!

Well, I'm pretty sure I can help you here! I go to Nursing School in Texas and I am starting my senior year, so I know exactly where you are and what you're getting into :) First of all, know that it's doable! It may seem overwhelming, but you can do it. Half the battle of nursing school to me was figuring out how to survive. Once you've figured out your patterns, the rest is not so bad. Just some tips: 1. Buy your books. Some people will tell you not to waste your money, but buy them. These classes require a level of devotion that you probably have not encountered before, and you will need the books to study. 2. Get organized if you aren't already. 3. Buy all your supplies before the rush. 4. Get a planner and actually use it :) 5. Realize that you may not have the amount of free time you used to - you may have to cut back on work hours or social events to study for exams. 6. Clinicals are hard - PREPARE for them and sleep the night before. 7. Make friends with older students in your program. They can help you like you wouldn't believe. 8. Check out what kinds of assistance your nursing school offers (i.e. tutoring, group mentoring, etc). 9. Get into a routine for studying, don't wait until the night before the exam to study. In fact, realize that they way you studied before nursing school may not work in nursing school. Nursing is a whole different animal and sometimes you have to adjust your whole study routine to make it work. 10. Relax! You're going to have the best ride of your life! HTH Amber N.

I don't know about adding anything that's not asked for. Talk to the counselor at the school and mention some of the things you'd like to add and see what they say. I know our school won't look at anything extra so it doesnt' benefit you. It doesn't hurt to call and check though! Amber N.

It depends on what you are looking for. I can tell you that I work 2-3 jobs during nursing school and between them, I work more than full time. If you are like me and need to pay for school and living, then you might want a job that pays well (CNA or Patient Care Tech, etc). IF you do not need to work for money, then consider any job that will get you into the hospital or nursing setting (unit secretary, pharmacy tech at a community pharmacy like CVS, etc.) Just a little pearl of wisdom from someone who's been there, if you are struggling in your classes, cut your hours back. It is so much nicer to have an awesome grade on a test than a large paycheck sometimes LOL HTH Amber N.

I use a paper calendar and my phone for really important things. I use the application on my laptop for class schedules and things that repeat (appointments things like that). I also use a paper planner to carry with me. I love the ones that are small, like legal pad sized, and that show each day individually. I find that the ones that have each day lined out make life so much easier, because you can put each day's activities into it's own space and not cram them into a small box. You can find these at any Office Depot, Staples or any bookstore probably. I usually buy mine from the campus bookstore. HTH Amber N.

Well, I don't have children, but I do work full time in addition to nursing school ( I actually nanny so maybe that's something like having kids LOL). I can tell you a few things that I absolutely have to have to stay organized and preserve my sanity in nursing school 1. A HUGE calendar - compile ALL your families activities onto ONE huge calendar and then you never have to go looking for appointment reminders or anything. 2. Post-It notes. I cannot function without them. I put them EVERYWHERE. If I need to do something and can't right now, I write a note. If one of your kids needs something (like an appointment) right a note and get to it the next time you can. 3. I organize my school stuff by class. So all my notes, books, flashcards, everything will be color coded to not only help me keep it together on the shelf, but also find it quickly. For example: all of my maternity stuff is pink. The book cover is a pink color, the binder is pink, the flashcards are pink, the notes are highlighted in pink - this seems like overkill but it's a life saver when it's finals time and I don't have time to sort through notes to find what I need. 4. I take notes on a laptop but if you don't I suggest one of those spiral bound notebooks for every class. It helps to keep all the notes in one place and you don't have to worry about dropping your stuff and mixing up all your notes. 5. I pack lunches the night (or sometime days) before. I work a lot and do not always have time to pack a lunch. In order to prevent myself from eating junk, I pack my lunches in advance and then I can just grab them on the way out. (**My mom used to do this when my brother and I were in school to help us out in the morning...might be useful for your kids too ) 6. I designate a time of the week for house related stuff. My Sunday afternoons are for house cleaning, grocery store trips, laundry and anything else that needs to get done. I find that if I schedule it in, it will get done instead of putting it off because you have other stuff to do. It has it's own time so there is nothing else that you have scheduled during that time. (I know with kids this may not always work, but for the most part it might.) 7. Keep your school stuff separate from everything else. I HAVE to do this or I lose everything. Especially if you have kids, this may be really important to keep it from disappearing. I really hope this helps! Amber N. - Elsevier Student Ambassador