awoods0042

I am a medical records coordinator, which means i get to do coding/billing.. i'm 21 and never taken a class about coding in my life..i'm in nursing school lol i got promoted from activities because i'm so "organized" it's really easy once you get the hang of it.. i have been doing it for 3 months, and i know most codes without looking them up, and havent had a complaint yet. It's much easier if you know about the human body! It's definately worth it to learn, it comes in handy =) good luck

The second alarm clock thing works! My clinical instructor scared me to death last semester so she was my alarm clock.. i was so scared of being late i'd wake up an hour before i was supposed to. We could only miss one clinical, and if you were more than 10 minutes late it was an absence.. and you failed out of the program.. blah!

Last semester i worked 40 hours a week as an IPS designee at a nursing home. Plus 32 hours of school a week. It was rough! This upcoming semester.. which starts my last year will be much different. I dropped down to 24 hours a week.. and I cant wait! But if i would have the means I would do this nursing school thing without working.. or at least only work like a shift a week to stay with my company. =) hope all works out.

Umm.. well. Even when my grades were A's i knew that if i got lazy, and failed a test, that i could fail the class... its sad that one test could fail you in the class.. and at least in my program if you failed a class you failed out of the program for a year. My first semester I worked 40 hours a week, and it honestly was too much for me, but some people can do it. This semester im going down to 24 hours a week, and i'm pretty sure with all the extra time to study my stress level will be down. =) just stay focused.. you can do it.

The Nursing Instructors, aren't really that bad. They want you to learn, and be able to possess the skills that it takes to take care of people. Your dealing with life and death as a nurse, so they want to make sure your competent. Until they realize you are competent, they can be a little hard on you.. but that is what they are there for. You will never find 2 nursing instructors who will give you the same answer to a question; but that is part of being an expeirenced nurse and coming into your own. They are also there to answer your questions; never forget that!

Nursing school is INCREDIBLY HARD. It's the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Your life is suddenly ripped away from you.. you lock yourself in your bedroom, for 6 months at a time, and you come out long enough to go to class, eat && work if you dare attempt too. Everything becomes more complicated.. you can't just take a test and pick an answer, all the answers are right. You will never find two teachers who agree on anything, and the teachers are strict. They are nurses themselves, so they know how hard it is. You don't have homework, as much as reading and careplans. You have to stay a chapter ahead so that you can know whats going on in class. At the end of last semster you couldn't say the word nursing around me without me bawling. It's hard and emotional. but It is so worth it. School starts back in about 20 days, and i'm already preparing. You have to be very organized. I do everything before school starts, I clean my room from top to bottom, and clean my car, because you never have a chance while school is in. And i spend a lot of time with my friends because once school starts.. you don't see them much. It's a big committment, but you have to know you really really want this.. after that all the tears, and loss of sleep and the exhaustion becomes worth it.

he he.. This is funny. I started my first semester of nursing school in january. I was always a straight a perfect student, and up until then i had always worked full time and was used to my lifestyle, only being 21. =) After my first failed test I became a whiner. I didnt understand why no matter how hard I worked it never seemed to pay off. It looked like I was going to fail out of the program because of one class.. then i started clinicals, and then i realized that i really wanted this.. so I pulled my grade up 22 points in 3 weeks. =) Its definately hard.. but no most of the whiners don't make it. We started with 30 people in the program and were down to 17.. were only in the second semester of it.

Well.. Last semester we had 8 hours of class 3 days a week, and one day of clinicals. Let me tell ya.. i lived in my sweat pants. Not only did we have to be there by 730, we had to sit there for 8 hours.. sometimes i would get fancy and wear jeans. But it all depends on your school. My teacher's were pretty awesome, but sweats were my main staple. it was the closest you could get to going to class in your pj's =)