ky_grl82

I work in an inpatient pharmaceutical research company. NO VISITORS, locked units, no phone calls (other than to their cells), strict bedtime and subjects have to obey all the rules or risk getting kicked out (aka not paid complete payments). We get some interesting characters but for the most part, its is the best job ever. Look into research companies in your area!

I finished my BSN in Feb 2015 at WGU. You simply can not beat the cost. The assessments are not that difficult. I hate to admit this, but I rarely read the text books. I would work through some of the other information available and then take the assessment if I felt comfortable. If it is an assessment class, all you are required to do is pass the assessment to get past the class. Same thing for the class that requires a paper to be written. Usually its just one paper and you are done. Everything else is just a bonus for you to learn. I will say the classes do get a bit harder towards the end. The questions were not as hard as NCLEX or anything. I only had one class where I failed the test and had to repeat it the test. You get several chances to pass. They actually did away with this class because so many people had trouble passing it. The only thing I hated were the weekly calls from my mentor because I am NOT a phone person. Email is not accepted, only phone calls. I got in a little hot water after not answering calls for a while. Another problem I had was the final 120 hour practicum. You have to do interviews, site visits, etc for this. NO HANDS-ON CLINICAL STUFF. You can only imagine how difficult it was to get people to call me back for interviews and site visits. It took me 2 semesters to finish the practicum (they did let me roll over my hours from semester to semester). Now I was not very motivated after the first 6 months so it took me 20 months to finish. If you are motivated, you can probably get it done in a year. Hope this helps! I do recommend WGU to all my friends. If you want, PM your email and I can get you a promo code to get your application fee waved.

I start at the end of this month. How has it been so far?

YMCA pays $250 a week plus free tuition the week I was working for only 1 child. Another option was to do 2 weekend stayovers in exchange for 1 weeks tuition for 1 child. The camp is over an hour away and I wasn't working at the time of hire last summer so I was doing a lot of running back and forth. This summer I am ONLY doing stay overs. Its usually just 10 kids or so hanging around watching movies and playing games. It a cake walk compared to the whole week of nursing!

Congrats! I just graduated myself earlier this month. Do you have your foot in the door anywhere (working as a CNA or Unit Clerk)? Or was any particular nurse or clinical instructor impressed with you during clinical. If so, start with these avenues. It will be the best way to get a job. If you don't, then you will have to be a little less picky. While I appreciate your instuctors advice to be picky, I am afraid she doesn't get what it is like to be a new grad in this economy. And the longer it takes for you to get a job after graduating, the less attractive you are to employers as a "stale" new grad. Most likely, you will be grateful to have a job as a nurse. My instructor told us the exact opposite of your instructor; take the first job you can! I actually live in a decent part of the country where the recession hasn't devistated us but still, that was her advice. My advice (and my instructors) is to apply for jobs even if its not the type of nursing you want to do, even if it's not your preferred shift, or your preferred hospital/place of employment. However, everyone has standards and you shouldn't lower your standards for a paycheck. I refuse to work anywhere that uses and abuses nurses (sorry nursing homes, its true). In any case, take into consideration your local ecomony, the number of new grads, the number of positions accepting new grads, and how long its been since your instructor has been a working as a nurse in a hospital setting.

Have you checked your mybin account? Thats how we found out last year. Go to https://mybin.bluegrass.kctcs.edu/ and enter your KCTCS username and password. Then click on Check my selective admission file. If there is a Yes it means you are in. If there is a No means you are not accepted. If there is a number that is your alternate #. You may not find out until a week before classes and obviously that puts you at a disadvantage as many of the earlier time groups are filled (10 in each section). Hope this helps.

I would ask to see something in writting if they say yes. The recruiter is there to sign you up for the military... they don't give a crap where you end up. I was raised around a base, attempted to enter the military, and befriended my recruiter. After I was denied acceptance for medical reasons, he gave me the low down on their tactics. They will promise the moon and don't mention the miles of red tape and years of delays. Edit: find out what accredited means in their standards.

I think you can find about a million nursing school videos on youtube that do the trick. I wouldn't waste money on something I could get for free.

I honestly had an intructor tell me (RN nursing student) we could not apply heating pads or ice with out a doctors orders... I nearly laughed so hard I peed! I doubt that is true (I had other instructors contraindicate this) and even if it is, I will never make a call to get a flipping order for a heating pad. Sorry, that is just dumb. However, a CNA might need to ask the nurse first. I am sure there are times when a heating pad would be contraindicated that a CNA might not be aware of.

Oh my, bless your heart. That sounds really scary; you got my heart pumping just reading it! While a lot of things COULD have gone wrong, you handled it the best you could and it all worked out. I would think the pressure of pushing would be more than enough to push out the balloon. Try not to be so hard on yourself and be thankful mom and baby are doing great. Just take this as a learning expierence.

My brother is a doctor and he is really supportive. No way do I have the time, energy, or interest to become a doctor. He tells me how proud he is of me for going to school to be a nurse. Sometimes, I get lost when he talks to me (still being a student) about medical stuff. A few months ago when my dad passed, all of us kids were there at his bedside in my parents home. He had only days left so we took turns being at his side. My brother and I made a great little team. We handled giving the array of hospice meds, kept in touch with the hospice nurses, and generally just tried to explain the process to my other siblings. While it was hard, I knew it drew us together even closer as a family.

Just pick off the label and no one is the wiser! I love mine but don't like the show and what it stands for so I won't advertise for them.

I have those shears and I LOVE THEM! They are quite large though so I usually leave them in my bag and opt for a smaller pair. I need to use them more because they are great. I have a pocket holster as well but I never used it. It weighed down one pocket so much that it looked strange. These holsters look more like something I would use.

Get sized and then try on Playtex 18 Hour comfort lace bra. No, it is not a sexy bra but OH MY, my back is not killing me at the end of the day like with other bras. Wire free but the boobs don't sag like with other wire free bras. Heres a link: http://playtexbras.com/bras/styles/4088/ I get mine from Walmart or JC Penny's for about $20

WOULD LOVE TO SEE A PHOTO OF SAID UNIFORM!!! lol

Can't figure out how to post the picture but I saw this one flipping through a Lydia's catalog. Flash back to the eighties! Bring back the Aqau Net hairspray to match this monstrosity! http://www.lydiasuniforms.com/scrubs/products.asp?sku=8415L&cat=180&t=scrubs_-_landau_rosette_mandeville_scrub_top

Never mind! I found out (it's galaxy, BTW)

I am excited to be in an externship at UK this summer. I need to get my uniforms and they said the color is "UK blue". Scrub colors are so close I can't tell if it is royal blue, patriot blue, or galaxy blue. I think this is the color the RNs wear. Thanks!

I have heard the Hurst Review is good. Available through different formats, online being one of them. http://www.hurstreview.com/ I plan to skip Kaplan and use them when my time comes. By the way, if you paid for the Kaplan review and failed, you might want to check into their gaurantee policy found here: http://www.kaptest.com/NCLEX/Home/nursing-guarantee.html

Maybe switch to hard candies or breath mints if you need to replace gum. My instructor made a student spit out gum in class... felt like I was back in 3rd grade. I wouldn't give a second thought if someone taking care of me was chewing gum or not.

I am doing an internship this summer too. I would go with #1. Keep on as a prn tech after the program ends (if yours is a summer job) to keep your foot in the door if you can. I know the drive is extra but if you already have your heart set then I would go for it.

I'm not sure what the app is called but it is by skyskape. I think KCTCS and skyskape made a custom package. The cost is $180 for the app from the bookstore. They just give you a paper with a website and an access code. What I wrote earlier is what is on it. For the uniform, it is from Meridy's. The site is http://www.meridys.com/ and enter the code BCTC53 . Please know they changed the uniform colors from the class before me to my class so they may change them again. I would ask an instructor before buying anything. The sizing runs big so I would order a size smaller than you normally wear. What you'll need for clinicals is a scrub top and bottom, the lab jacket, name badge, pen light (buy several- they die), stethescope, watch, and white socks/shoes. A pair of bandage scissors and some tape is a good idea too. Don't buy the cheap sprague type of stethescope. Several people in my class had theirs fall apart and generally suck. You can get a cheap Littmann for $50 or so. Auscultating (hearing) quality is so-so on the cheap one but they are much better built.

Nurse Jackie and some other shows ALWAYS put their stethescopes on backwards. Drives me batty. Each time they do it I just say "Aren't hearing much, are ya?" lol

I am planning to finish my bachelors at UK after I graduate next May from BCTC. The stats 200 class is SUPER easy and I am horrible at math. I had to take algebra three times in high school. In order to not do any gen ed classes while finishing my BSN (other than the stats) I am finishing out my associates in science (but it could be the associates in arts). Apparently the ADN doesn't satisfy the no-gen ed requirement. In any case, the EKU program is one of the best in the region and is really hard to get into. Plus Richmond is a great small town and not all the traffic of Lex.

Yes there were a few alternates that got in last year. I don't know the exact number but #8 seems like you have a fair chance. Many people have told me there were 140 rolling admission students who applied and as usual, only 100 accepted. Just a few other tips.... uniforms, don't bother buying them until they give you the link for the Meridy's site (if they are still using them). They are picky about the uniforms.. if the color is the same but a different style as the regular uniform, they will not let you wear it. Shoes... only white.. no color at all on the shoes (except maybe a little on the bottom). As for the required iphone/itouch and expensive app... yes it truely is required. You will need it a lot in clinicals, especially the first semester. You don't need an iphone or itouch... you can buy the skyscape software from their site for several smartphone platforms. The site can be confusing because it is not the set pack on the app like I got. The things included on my app is Archimedes, Medical Surgical Nursing, Mosby's 2010 Nursing Drug Reference, Mosby's PDQ for RN, Mosby's Pocket Dictionary, and MosbyLab. Honestly the only things I have ever used are the bolded ones. But you may find you need the others. You will need the BMI calculator under the PDQ.. took us a whole semester to figure out we had one built in! As for the schedule, you will sign up for NR 115 for the 1st semester. The teachers team teach so don't worry about picking the right one... you will have them all. The times are all correct but you will have to sign up for your media class which is an extra 1 hour per week. They are pretty relaxed about the hours, so don't get stressed about going on your assigned day and time. Just sign in the time you're supposed to be there and do it within that week. For your clinical days, that is the long 7 to 5 day on Wed. or Friday on your schedule. Fridays are better because you have til Monday to turn in your work. If you go with Wed then you have until the next day to turn it in. There is a lot of paperwork---- 14 page assessments, care plan, and med sheets. Yeah, sounds like fun, eh? As for clinical instructors, some are really really great instructors who want you to be hands on. Others are big paperwork sticklers who could care less about hands on stuff. Lets see... skills can be tough. First big one is physical assessment... it is about a 20 minute skill check... that is a LOT to remember. Get past that and you're good to go. Also if you are coming at the end of the semester and you are close to failing, just drop and reapply. If not, your GPA will be crushed (9 credit hours for a D!) and you will not get back in. This just happened to a friend of mine. I know I include way too much info.. and quite honestly don't want to think about my pharmacology test on Monday... so hope this helps. I just wish I had this going in.. type A personality and all.