skicheryl

I completed the post master's nursing educator certificate from University of Nevada Reno. Good program with interesting group projects and practicum. I enjoyed it and have worked in academia since.

Passing score is at least 96 correct out of 130. There are 150 questions but only 130 count. The others are trial questions that may or may not be used on future CNE exams, depending on stats.

Hello, Anyone attending the DNP - Educational Leadership program through American Sentinel University? I understand one or two cohort groups have started the program since summer 2012. I am interested in ANY feedback from current nurses in the program and those that already completed the DNP Nurse Executive program. I think at least one class already graduated in the Executive track and there are current cohort groups. I currently work in an online leadership role and plan to remain in nursing education online. This degree seems to be a good fit and one of the very few programs with an educational focus for DNP. No desire to complete a PhD even though I anticipate another 20-25 years in my career AFTER DNP school. I plan to work online until I retire as an online director and/or educator. Cheryl

For medsurg teaching on specific diseases we start with overview, assessment, management, then potential nursing diagnosis with examples of related to and evidenced by followed by outcomes and nursing interventions. We wrap it up with evaluation ....the plan of care is considered effective if....... Report is ISBARR format completed on every pt in clinical. For care plans the students must prepare in same format we teach. They are required to include the related to and as evidenced by specific to their pt.....takes them awhile to get it but when teaching is presented in this format it helps.

Tabitha, Could you share the list of drugs you use for teaching? Thanks! Cheryl

I did not support unions until CA nurses union was able to get mandatory pt ratios passed without the BS language most states nursing associations support that doesn't really mean anything. After working tele floors with up to 7 very tough pts wondering which one will code because of unsafe staffing levels and seeing all the nurses leave in droves to go over the mountain to CA where they have no more than 4 ... I now view nursing unions as a benefit not a negative.

I grade about 30 APA papers each week and don't pay attention to the editing time in the documents. I use Turnitin to check for plagiarism.

GFR less than 60 is stage 3 kidney disease, at this point the pt shod be referred to Nephrology. When I worked disease Mgmt Nephrologists stressed how they want to see these pts at the earliest stage possible to start treatment in order to delay progression of the disease. Less than 30 is stage 4 and at this point a fistula is initiated because once the pt reaches stage 5 it's ESRD and pt starts dialysis.

RN for 23 years. Various experience. MSN in 2005 and completed Educator certificate May 09. Have been teaching online for 6 months and start full-time teaching RN program next week!

I also signed the petition. Our current healthcare system in the U.S. is unsustainable and is only going to get worse until some major changes are implemented. I wish the ANA could push the needed changes through but I'm willing to work with whatever organization is able to help fix our broken system. Cheryl

Depends on your ability to be organized and handle stress. Nursing is very high stress and excellent organization skills are a must. If you can handle the politics without becoming burned out, that will also help. If you do burn out, get out, find another area of nursing to work in for awhile. There is so many opportunities for nurses besides acute care hospitals. I do recommend nursing to people that ask, I know many don't. I clarify it with the above info and point out that while many jobs have high burn out rates, nursing has been good to me so I can't slam it too much. I've always had a job, good paying when I choose to do acute care, and alternative options are out there when I decide to change directions with my career. Good luck!

After 13 years in home and community based case management work for a Medicaid Waiver Program, I'm back in acute care. The other was nice but after 13 years, I was burned out, mostly because I was a supervisor and had 12 case managers with 50 clients each to oversee. Pay also sucked compared to acute care. Hours and benes were great though. I did 4 years acute care before that job, 2 as a travel nurse, left d/t burn out and wanted better hours while I raised my kids. Now they are raised, I don't care about having weekends and holidays off. Day shift is nuts in acute care, very stressful. Thank goodness I took three 12 hr nights, it makes the job bearable, but just barely. Nurses are leaving d/t laziness noted in charge nurses on up the ladder, pts and family members too demanding, and too many high acuity pts. Fairness in assignments and lazy NA's also factor in. In the 2 months since I started, 2 full-time night shift nurses have left and 1 FT & 1 PT day shift nurses have also walked. I personally think the unit is not too bad, it's M/S Tele but some pts are very high acuity, days has 5-6 pts, nights has 6-7. There is usually a NA, but sometimes they are so useless you can't find them when you need them. Other NA's are very good. The worst thing for me on nights is admissions at change of shift makes everything start off behind schedule. Seems to happen every day. And some nights are just crazy of course while others may have an hour or two of down time. I committed to 18 months and at this time think I can do it, if it gets worse, I'll pay back the relocation and COBRA $$ and look for something else. I want recent acute care experience before I finish my MSN and the pay for me is pretty good with 17+ years experience. I probably won't stay in this job over 2 years but may decide to stay in acute care till my tens of thousands in student loans are paid off, then I'll look for something less stressful. Cheryl

I have no idea about pay but I can tell you the cost of living is cheap in southern Ohio but not in Columbus. You will make more $$ in col but it will all go to the higher cost of living. And traffic is a nightmare in my opinion! Very big city and the roads can't handle all the traffic. If you move there, live close to where you work if possible. Traffic is backed up for hours on some of the interstates, esp downtown area at rush hour and north of town. Riverside or St Ann's would be my choice of hospitals in Col. Mount Carmel east is also OK, Grant used to be good but I heard it's went downhill. I worked at SOMC in Portsmouth years ago and was not impressed but I think they have gotten rid of a lot of the negative staff that used to work there. Not sure though. The cost of living is very cheap because there is nothing there!!!!!!!!!! No joke. Not even a place to shop without driving 30 minutes to Ashland unless you count Wal-Mart and K-mart. Hope this helps! Cheap property and cheap cost of living though, all through southern ohio, very economically depressed area. And the weather sucks too so be prepared. Cold winters, way too many grey days, a lot of rain during the hot humid summers. But fall is a beautiful time to enjoy the weather and changing of leaves! Ashland Ky is right across the river and has a couple of hospitals that are better than most in Southern Ohio. Just my opinion. Hope this helps some!

After you study the algorithms for VF/VT, PEA, and Asystole in the AHA bood, go to http://www.acls.net/ and do the mock code. You are presented with a code situation and choose each intervention in order. It is great for seeing how much you remember from the algorithms and will give you hints also. I had 5 days notice of the class and spent a whole weekend studying and passed on first try. Learn the drugs for VF/VT including dosages. Use the mneumonics to help you remember them. ie: for VF/VT, after the epi or vasopressin is given, when it's time for the next drugs, "Always Let Maggie Pee" stands for Amiodorone, Lidocaine, Magnesium, and Procainamide. PEA is treated by PEA, Problem (find out what caused it), Epi, and Atropine. Asystole treatment is learned by "check me in another lead, then let's have a cup of TEA" (always check the leads first, then TEA is Transcutaneous pacing, epi, and atropine) I took a lot of notes while studying the algorithms and the other material in the AHA book and used them to review. We did not need to know all the different tachy's, just VT. Your class may be different with that part! Good luck!

You may want to consider University of Phoenix Online MSN program. I am starting my 7th class in the program tomorrow. Other than working in learning teams, I really enjoy the courses although they are very intense. Each class (except a couple of them) is 6 weeks long and 3 semester hours credit, you will work hard during those 6 weeks. Learning teams are fine until you get on a team with a slacker, then you do your part and the slackers part, or your grade will suffer. In about half the classes I've taken there has been a slacker on my learning team but if the team has 4 or 5 students and everyone does their share it works really great. Some classes I have spent 30 - 40 hours a week on homework. Others have been 15-20. I really like the fact that I can take up to 4 weeks off between classes. It helps me stay sane! Good luck.

I like the concept map, it's similar to the brainstorming process to me. I've also found that doing presentations with slides showing concept mapping helps the audience to understand the info. However, I don't think students would be any more accepting of concept mapping than care planning, at least at the ADN level. I agree it may be a better way for them to learn the information, if they can see the relationships/nursing process specific to a patient within the map. Presenting it in another way such as the concept mapping is always helpful to those that are visual learners. I've seen students totally stressing out over writing individualized care plans with nursing diagnosis, interventions, goals, and implementation. Anything to enable students to learn the nursing process and apply it to real life patient scenarios is always welcome. In the MSN program, I still have trouble writing goals that are measurable enough to satisfy the PhD's teaching the courses!

Online 100% for me too. - doesn't matter what shift you work - can work at my pace and take my days off when I want (2/wk) - classes are only 6 weeks long and I can take up to 4 weeks off between each class for my many vacations!

Online 100% for me too. - doesn't matter what shift you work - can work at my pace and take my days off when I want (2/wk) - classes are only 6 weeks long and I can take up to 4 weeks off between each class for my many vacations!

I did transplant nursing in early 90's. I'm not sure how it is now but at that time, transplant units were very willing to train med/surg nurses and it wasn't a problem for me to learn it even as a travel nurse with 3 days orientation to the unit. I loved working with those patients, I entended that assignment at UVAMC and went to UKMC after that and stayed for 7 months on the transplant unit there. Good luck to you. It's a very interesting field. Cheryl

I could never find any concrete information aka "actual cash for tuition" so I bit the bullet also and will owe a fortune in student loans when I'm done with MSN. The info on those websites all sounds great, but will have to wait until I graduate I guess to see what is available then to help with repaying student loans.

my fave uniforms are made by lizzy b, and maple sheild (canadian). inseam in size small is 33.5" exactly. (go figure). i always thought that i was better off being tall, as i hear the shorter girls talk about having to hem their pants. could you post the websites? i have trouble finding pants long enough, would also love to have link for tall flare uniform/scrub pants! i need at least 33 inseam. thanks, cheryl

Thanks for sharing your story llg. I enjoyed reading your post. I am currently working on MSN degree at UoP. The instructors for the nursing courses I've taken have all been PhD trained and I must say, they do a good job with the online environment. I did not think I would be able to learn theory and research at MSN level without losing my sanity in the process. But I have learned it! And it wasn't as bad as what I expected, although schoolwork consumes an enormous amount of my time. I am finishing up research now, getting ready to start my 6th class next month. Advanced Community Nursing. Teaching online seems like a great job and really interests me but I doubt I will be able to afford to pursue PhD after I finish MSN next year. I would encourage you to re-visit the page you mentioned in your post. There seems to be a large number of nurses now pursuing advanced degrees online and I would bet $ there is a job there for you! Good luck. Cheryl

Kim, Pay scale at Washoe starts at 19+/hr for new grad RN's. I have been RN 17 years so I will make about $30/hr which I consider good pay. I consider Reno to be a nice city to live in with easy commutes to main hospital regardless of where you live. The area around the hospital leaves something to be desired as far as housing so I would look at the suburb areas of Reno. It wouldn't take longer than 15-20 minutes to get to work from almost anywhere around the city. The south is the nicest in my opinion but also the priciest. $800-1100/mo for a nice one bedroom apt at the more upscale apt complexes. I like the South Meadows area. It new and growing. Lakeridge apts are also nice which are in the southwest part of Reno. The northwest is a really nice area also with some great views but plan at least 20 minutes commute on I-80 which is under construction right now. It's closer to California and Squaw Valley/Truckee area out there so I did consider driving a little farther to work for that convenience. But I think I'll try to get a place south of town. We are still finalizing all those plans so it could change. I don't care much about gambling but I love to hike and ski. With Lake Tahoe nearby, it is exactly what I'm looking for at this time in my life. It is absolutely beautiful. And plenty to do year round. The city is growing so rent isn't cheap for a nice place. Compared to Southern Ohio which has very high unemployment rate and poor economy, it is a big increase in our cost of living. To me it's worth it. Plus I only make about 22.50/hr where I work now. But my benefits are better here. 5 wks vacation, 3 wks sick leave, all holidays off with pay, 3 personal days, one weather day, etc. plus 403B with 7% contribution by agency. Those type of benefits just aren't available at many places. But I'm not staying here because I have a good job, live cheap, and have a bunch of vacation and sick leave time! My quality of life is more important. Washoe will send you a packet of info if you call Darlys or Brian in nurse recruitment there. The number is on the website I think. The packet has an apt rental guide, map of city and Lake Tahoe, plus all the benefit information. The apt rental guides are also available online. Good luck! :balloons:

Looks like I'm moving to Reno this summer. Washoe Med Ctr appears to be nice place to work, nurse friendly. I'm going to give it a try. Not sure what floor yet, the place is growing so there are several options open. I like the high desert landscape with Lake Tahoe a short drive away. Skiing and hiking in abundance. Not yet an overpopulated city but I'm sure that won't last long. It's a fast growing area.

Hi Kim, I'm going to Reno next weekend to check out the area and interview. The pay there is better than California for me. I called UC Davis in Sacramento and they only pay based on years of experience in the area they hire you for. I've been a nurse for 16 years but out of the hospital since 1991 so I will make more $ going to Reno. I'll be closer to skiing in Reno and that means a lot to me. I can let you know more after I visit there. Washoe Med Ctr and St Mary's are main hospitals but St Marys didn't want to interview me since I've been out of the hospital for so long. They must not have much of a shortage there! Cheryl