MaggieJo

Just wanted to say that I really love Skyline Medical Center. I've done clinicals in their CCU. Personally, I think that the nurses and the care (at least in the CCU) is incredible. I guess it all depends on the unit, but I would certainly reccommend Skyline to anyone. -Maggie

Just wanted to say that I really love Skyline Medical Center. I've done clinicals in their CCU. Personally, I think that the nurses and the care (at least in the CCU) is incredible. I guess it all depends on the unit, but I would certainly reccommend Skyline to anyone. -Maggie

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Just wanted to tell ya that I've loved your updates!! I graduate May 2005, and I sure like this heads up from new R.N.s. 'Cause I can't wait to graduate, but at the same time it terrifies me!!!! -Maggie

Thank you so much for your kind words!!! I really needed that tonight. (Guess you could tell by my last post, huh?) :kiss Thanks, -Maggie

I love nursing school, but LIFE is very tough right now. I'm a single mom, so I've got all of these other worries on top of nursing school. Ya know, they made nursing school to be your single focus. In fact, we had advisors tell us that if we had other obligations then we didn't need to be there. :angryfire That really made me angry... Anyway, that's off the subject. School itself is great!!! Lectures are usually very interesting and clinicals are extremely challenging and enjoyable. It's just the other things that's going on in my life that make school so hard. I think, that if you were to look closely at the lives of the other people here, that's probably also what makes school so tough for them. It's not that we don't enjoy nursing school or the career that we've chosen for ourselves. It's just hard to do 15 page assessments, drug cards, care plans, research papers, etc... when you have a three year old hanging on to your arm screaming, and you're trying to figure out how you are going to pay bills.... sigh.... sorry, I guess this became more of a vent for me.. Anyway, traditional students seem to do very well as long as they keep their focus on school. The point of this whole reply, is, YES, I do enjoy nursing school. And I believe that it is worth all of the hard work. I would recommend that ANYONE (traditional or non-trad) go through nursing school if that's what you want to do. -Maggie

I know of a place close to Gainesville!! Starke, Florida is maybe a 30 minute drive to Gainesville. It has all of the charm that you could ask for in an old southern town. It is very close to Gainesville, so it has all of the amenities of Gainesville, yet without the college/party town atmosphere. All of my Dad's family is in Starke, and frankly, I love it. I think that it would be very feasible to live in Starke and work at Shands. Anyway, if you want anymore information about it, either reply here, or PM me. The Gainesville area is really beautiful, and personally, I think that it would make for a great change from the South Florida atmosphere. JMHO Good luck with your decision, and I hope that you continue to consider the area. -Maggie

I hated my prereq classes. They consisted of who slept with who last night, and what party they went to. Most of the time, I couldn't hear the professor over these types of conversations. So, I wasn't a favorite classmate of the traditional students because I would ask them to be quiet. I mean, ya know, unless you're going to give me the nursing interventions for the STD's that you switched with each other, I don't want to hear about it! Anyway, as someone said, the actual nursing classes are much better. In fact, there's only one row of about five traditional students that sit and talk. The other 70 of us are there have family and job obligations, so we are there to LEARN not to socialize. I have made a lot of friends and good study partners (with kids my daughter's age!!!) since I started the nursing program. Maybe it will get better for you! I would guess that the median age of my class is anywhere from 30-35. -Maggie

Hon, everyone's not going to get their letters the same day, unless you all live in the same house. Slow down, and take a few deep breaths!! Give it a couple more days, and then call the school of nursing if you haven't received your letter. Of course, I know that's easy for me to say. I felt like that letter was worth 100 times it's weight in gold!! -Maggie

You are so correct!!! Shoot, if that was going to be the case, wouldn't nurses be running to the bank to mortgate their houses to get their BSN? Something interesting, I heard an MD call nurse practitioners paraprofessionals!! What in the world? :angryfire I suppose that we're the only profession ( excuse me career) that a Master's Degree is considered a paraprofessional and not a professional!!! -Maggie

I have read the thread in its entirety. I have kept up with it since it started. Maybe you should re-read my post. I wasn't being defensive, and I wasn't trying to make you defensive. I just want people to understand that YES, judgements do come across. And SmilingBlueEyes, don't tell me that you see things that are far beyond my understanding. I live with memories that might be far beyond your understanding. If you would re-read my post, I didn't say that all teenage pregnancies are the result of abuse, or even that some teenagers don't try to become pregnant, but that is not your job to decide who is what. I'm not here to advocate for teen pregnancy at all. As someone that has experienced it, I KNOW the difficulty that arises from it. I live with it every day of my life. The point of my post, which maybe I should have made more clearly, is that society does NOT romanticize teen pregnancy. You need to have genuine care for these girls. I was ostracized, had to endure stares, and comments from total strangers, because they were "doing society good" by their comments. My case is not isolated; this is the norm. I don't understand exactly what you want society to do to these girls. Life is hard enough. Anyway, yes, your responses to me did make me defensive. This is something that is deeply personal to me. Therefore, I'm not going to reply again to this thread because I don't want to make this a debate. I know that this is a board for you to come to without having to feel badly for your opinions. -Maggie

hmm.... I saw this post and thought over and over how I needed to respond. I was that young labor patient that many of you are talking about, and I think that the majority of you are probably very good L&D nurses, so don't take offense to what I am about to say. I think that a lot of you are forgetting the patient. All of these "what's the world coming to" type of posts really bother me. Have you ever looked at that little girl that's laboring, and wondered how she got in that hospital bed? Sometimes---especially with the very young ones---the girl is not there because she wants to be, or because "being pregnant is romanticized." I would guess that a lot of them have been sexually assaulted. Did you know that the statistics now are 1 in 3 women will be sexually assaulted in their lives. Just think about it. What would make a 12 year old girl want to have sex!? She's not matured physically enough for sex to be pleasurable. It is probably extremely painful for her. So, before you start to judge these teenage girls that come to your unit, just ask yourself "What has this girl been through?" And, so what if she is the stereotypical "I want to be pregnant" teenager? It's still your duty, as her nurse, to be her support while she's in labor. Because I assure you that your attitudes towards her do come across, and they DO make a difference -good or bad. I am junior nursing student in a BSN program because of the excellent RN that I had while I was in labor with my daughter. This woman is a lot of the reason that I'm not going to become another statistic. Census was down at the hospital, and I was her only patient. She sat with me the majority of the time that I was in labor, and encouraged me to make something of myself, and to not let my circumstances become what defined me. So, to make this post a little bit shorter, I just wanted to share with ya'll. I'm not trying to step on people's toes, I just want you to understand the kind of impact that you could possibly have on one of those girls. At least be a kind face to her, because she's getting the lectures, stares, etc... everywhere that she turns. -Maggie

Hey, just wanted to let you know, that I used to volunteer for L&D, and at this particular hospital, they did have an LPN that worked in L&D. I don't know what her job description included, but she had been there a while and was very highly respected. Make sure that you research your area. -Maggie

Thanks for the advice. I know that no one can give me questions that they were asked, and I would never ask someone to do that. I'm sorry if that came across in my question. All I want to know is the name of the study book. I know there's one out there specifically for HESI. Oh, well, I think that I'll just take the advice to relax, and take it one question at a time. Our tests and material build on each other, so if it's mostly just to see what you've retained, surely I won't have a problem. I hope not. We have to have an 85 just to get to senior year. We're allowed to take it three times, and if we don't get the 85 the third time we're just out of luck. That's what scares me so badly! All of this work, for possibly nothing. :uhoh21: Terrifies me. Anyway, thanks for all of the advice. I still have two months before I have to take it. -Maggie