DalRN_07

Hi there, my mother has been diagnosed with fibro about 5 years ago. She uses glucosamine as well as calcium and magnessium. I forget what else she's on. I know that she's on antidepressants as well as some sort of sleep agent.

I'm a first year student at Dal and I can honestly say that I'm enjoying the program. Since it is first year I can honestly say that I thought that we would be doing more clinical than what we have done...wait we haven't had any yet. We actually do 5 weeks in the springtime...but from what I understand you get more clinical experince as the years progress. I have also been told that you can go through clinical with little experince doing things or you can make the choice to actively p[articipate and learn...Not sure the truth behind that but I guess I'll find that out in May. As for the placements outseide of Halifax, the university does offer clinical bursaries which give some financial aid for expenses during that time. I have made some good friends and I've found that the professors are there to talk to you as are the upper year students. It's a tough choice to leave somewhere and try something new, but Halifax isn't a bad place to live and Dal isn't a bad university! Good luck!

I'm at Dal in Halifax. We are surrounded by hospitals but that doesn't seem to make any difference. There are 135 in first year so I imagine that the numbers are similar for the upper years. I guess a lot of us were expecting more clinical time. We almost didn't get taught vital signs including BP becuase of the hurricane. But the program is going through a review this year so it should be interesting.

I've just finished my first semester of first year and so far physiology is the most challenging course. Mind you doing all the required reading and organizing notes certainly isn't a breeze...but there's biochem to look forward to this semester along with physiology. :imbar

Although I am enjoying my program I feel that we are not getting enough practical training. Yes it's great that we have to learn the basic concepts from a book before we can perhaps apply them but it seems to me as though the emphasis is more on book learning instead of clinical learning. This sentiment was also echoed by my recent tutorial leader who is also a clinical instructor for third year students.