VegetasGRL03RN

Most of the studies I've seen through obtaining my BSN mentioned education was the greater factor past the beginning years and, of course the best scenario is at least BSN with several years of experience in that particular specialty. Off the top of my head, I know Linda Aiken has conducted several of these studies.

Thanks for providing these links. There are some clinics that have given me good reason to invest in some stationary lol.

I have my hospital's number saved in my phone... And the ringer is silent -- vibrate is off, too. Takes away the pressure of answering when I don't even know it happened

The STEP program allows students that are enrolled (usually at least half-time) the opportunity to earn income working at that particular VA facility. My experience? You must be matriculating at one of several schools that the medical center has an agreement with. Throught the fall and spring semesters, you must maintain your credit course load & culmulative GPA minimum and agree to work at least 15 hours a week. This program is limited by which school you attend, not your major (I have co-workers/students that are in accounting, music, african-american studies). The SCEP program I am not extremely familiar with, but it is limited to your course of study, such as health administration (nursing NOT included in the major options). The big difference I am aware of for SCEP vs STEP is that with the SCEP program, after you graduate, your student position converts into a permanent position. The STEP program lists you as a temporary employee that must wait until open VA positions are publically available in order to apply.

Where are these amazing places you speak of? LOL I can set a goal for myself once I get a few years of experience under my belt.

It does tie into the topic since it deals with the misrepresentation of the title "nurse". I'm in the last weeks of nursing school with graduation on the horizon & boards soon to follow, however while in my preceptorship, I make sure the patients understand that I am still a nursing student, but I will graduate & take my boards to earn my title. I might be close to finishing, but still has some months to go til I'll be a licensed professional.

the one that really gets me is "alot"...... a lot! a lot!! space in the middle, please! let's get it together people!!! probably came from a grade school teacher putting this on every spelling exam given. guess that teacher got the point across... (of course this applies only if the intent was not to say/spell "allot")

I would have more respect towards the person that told me this information in a one-on-one, kind, but matter-a-fact way than if it was an anonymous note. The latter sounds very passive-aggressive. I believe mental health nursing would call the former approach "presenting reality". The note would make me feel pretty paranoid and disrespected as though I was not worth the consultation so I could at least explain to someone what's going on. If you couldn't just tell me right away, the hints or strong (lol) suggestions should come first. The OP's approach was pretty smart; you can tell he put a lot of concern and thought into it. As long as you stand behind your opinion/complaint and we discuss the concern in a polite, understanding, professional manner, it all could go a long way to maintaining the teamwork. If one-on-one attempts don't work, then find a neutral third party to act as a mediator if one is not provided by your facility. At my job, the mediator comes from a sister facility so it's truly neutral & gossip is a bit controlled. I agree that involving management is not required at this level. If all one-on-one suggestions and reality presentating manners with consultation prove unsuccessful and continue to make the workplace uncomfortable, then management should be brought in by means of the mediator.

Fourth semester student here with finals today @ 1300 The fulltime online program is really dependent on if you're self-motivated. It depends on the online instructor if you'll get case studies or discussions to prepare for a test, but you only show up for mandatory days as the instructors designate, skills lab meetings, and test dates. For exact information on when evening/weekend program meets, I suggest you look at the syllabus at www.pbcc.edu/nursing.xml and click on "Nursing Syllabi & Handbook" on the left navigation column. They contain the current meeting time this school year for the evening & weekend program. As a fulltime student during the first semester, I didn't come in contact with them until NSA Day. I believe during the first semester, you would have lecture with skills lab one day a week each & the summer term would be clinical. For your second semester, I believe this repeats. I'm not completely sure, but check the nursing handbook and syllabus to confirm unless an E/W student can personally let you know on here. Studying time would depend on your study habits, style, and determination. Our instructors suggest that for each credit a class has, you should be spending 3 hours studying. Some of my classmates actually do this where other state they have more effective study measures that have proven very successful for them. We have students in the live classes that work 30-40 hrs a week that do fine, meaning they don't squeak by. I've personally been from two part time jobs to none and back to one part-time job during my time at Palm Beach State. Some are more comfortable with online with their work schedules/personal lives. I started live during my first year, switched to online during third semester, and finishing up the last semester live. You can switch semesters from online to live since they are both fulltime, however you are allowed only ONE SWITCH from fulltime to parttime or vice versa. Hope everyone is getting the info they need and if not feel free to ask! Make sure to vent as necessary lol

We have a preceptorship program incorporated into our ADN nursing school curriculum as the final 1/3 of our semester. We, in essence, get "matched" to a preceptor at a hospital in a specialty after we provide the school with a list of our preferences. You can either provide a RN you have come in contact with or the school will set you up with one. During this period, we are meeting weekly at our school to prepare us for "transitional shock" (nursing student to practicing professional) along with reviews of delegation, management, legal, and other issues while keep a journal throughout the process geared towards specific topics. The goal is to handle some of our nurse's patients in the beginning and hopefully be able to take her whole load by the end of preceptorship with the nurse as a guide. We have to complete 120 hours for preceptorship in a 1.5 month period. We get to start the registration process for preceptorship during the 2/3 of our last semester, however you cannot go into preceptorship until you have successfully passed the clinical and lecture portion of the semester. Final exams are the day before preceptorship orientation. I mentioned this to say that some schools offer "match" programs as well as hospitals/facilities. It all seems to depend on a school's belief/curriculum and the facilities availability. Every final class is always abuzz and excited during this time of their semester.

Thanks for this post with info all in one place. It's helping decide between master's programs =)

If I came off as snippy (only word I could think of), then I apologize. You are definitely right with this tip! It may help the OP focus in the right area to become familiar with what to listen to. And listening to sounds on the web; our instructors did the same for us. Some of my classmates had the same issue, so they lived in our skills lab practicing as much as they could with an instructor and even pulled random students as pseudo-patients!! It's hard for some people, but it definitely gets better with more practice.

I don't think of the other learning assignments as worthless; they just don't allow me to work efficiently. Doing more work doesn't necessarily make you a better student if come test day or in clinical, it still doesn't click for you. When I complete a required assignment, I make it so the assignment meets the required criteria, yet still applies to my preferred method of learning. For example, when I had to give a group presentation on PTSD during my mental health clinical rotation, instead of using the science board to post paragraphs and pictures of information, I created a slideshow that utilized flowcharts and bullet points to foster logical thinking. When we had to pick NCLEX questions to give to the group, instead of using handouts with lower level questions, we put it in the slideshow with application and analysis type questions and handed out lettered cards for the clinical group and instructor to hold up. Instead of them just giving the answer, they had to justify the rationale. I chose to do the powerpoint presentation because I am familiar with the program although it was above what the clinical instructor suggested. It cut down on the project cost for the group since two of us were financially-challenged and bytes were cost-effective. It saved study/personal time because we didn't have to meet up to create the presentation on a board; they just did the research on their own time and I incorporated it into the slideshow along with my own info. I mention this example because it is a way to stand out from a crowd of students while still completing the course requirements in an effective manner that facilitated my learning, yet impressed the instructor (she said "we knocked it out of the park"). I don't believe I gave the impression of seeing the hypothetical assignment as a short-sighted means to an end. If so, I apologize because that was not my intent. I disagree with adding on another assignment in the hopes of gaining more understanding and getting "brownie points." I'd rather alter a required assignment in a way that meets the designated guidelines yet effectively allows me to become secure about a topic while dazzling the teacher at the same time. If you want to impress instructors to improve your standing with them, become involved with the local NSA chapters or committees within the nursing school that have faculty/instructors on board... all while performing successfully on the required materials. For example, in my final semester, I have stepped in to become the student chair of a committee to plan our pinning ceremony, which has three of my current instructors and one from last semester ... all while using the "Studying Backwards" method described in Imprint to perform successfully on our exams thus far. I think this is better approach to displaying abilities to potential instructor references since it demonstrates more sides of a student than just by exams/assignments alone. At my school, some of the full-time faculty mention in lecture repeatedly how they want us to study smarter instead of harder, but I came to this conclusion through my own learning experiences (AKA mistakes) throughout the previous year ago. Thanks for the replies and I appreciate our ongoing discussions!

YAY! Can't wait to see everyone on NSA Day! Make sure to bring cash to buy tickets for the baskets in the drawing. Half of the money raised goes towards your class's fund for planning their respective pinning ceremony. The other half goes to NSA for activities like going to the FNSA and NSNA conventions. My class knows me well cause I'm always hustling them for money and now I'm on the committee to plan our pinning. If you are bringing notes with you to study, please be discreet cause they don't like it (I like to be efficient so I will anyway lol). How are your exams thus far? And where are the future students at in their applications?

I suggest not using this approach because the diastolic sound may become inaudible, but the needle still ticks down. It can also happen with the systolic reading. You should go by the SOUND primarily instead of the needle movement or you may get an erroneous reading. I think you would benefit by listening to as many blood pressures as possible so you can become familiar with it. If someone is available, ask them to double check your reading either on the opposite arm OR wait one minute if using the same arm. That's another alternative to using the teaching stethescope. :)