JSB

My program is front-loaded, meaning we do a year of full time didactic and then have clinical along with an online class every semester and a once a month testing to prepare for boards at our school. During our clinical portion, we go to the OR 4-5 days a week. I get there around 6 am, earlier when I am at a new site, and stay until the cases are done. This could be around 4 or 5, but I have been there until 9 pm at times, and frequently until 7-8 pm. During our clinical phase, we write care plans (no, they never go away!), study for the next day's cases, study for our monthly exams, study for boards on top of our monthly exams, and do our work for our online classes. Oh, and we have a capstone project to complete too. Focker is right, the clinical hours alone really don't matter. Just be prepared for school own a large part of your life for the duration of your program. Getting in is the easy part.

Kaplan was good preparation for me. Do the tests and read the rationale for what you missed or were not sure about. Concentrate on the quantitative section. I felt that there was little I could do to improve my verbal scores quickly, but there were several math concepts/formulas that I had forgotten, and I could quickly refresh my memory on those things versus trying to learn a bazillion vocabulary words. Good luck on your GRE!

ASN 2004, GPA 3.3 BSN 2008, GPA 4.0 GRE 1420 CCRN - did well enough to send in my actual scores, not just a copy of the card ACLS, PALS 5 years MICU, SICU, NSICU experience shadowed 80 hours good references

Before I was a nurse, I worked as a patient care tech in the ER. I did get lots of practice with different procedures, and had lots of patient interaction. However, now that I am a nurse, I think that the unit secretaries actually learn a lot of things that may help in nursing school than a patient care tech/nurse extender would, such as when pts have to be NPO before procedures, or what the protocols for treating certain problems are, and ust the general way things are run in the hospital. I think that when it comes time, everyone can learn how to do a certain skill, but patient care techs do not always have to use any critical thinking skills - they just do what the nurse asks them, or follow pre-established patterns for care. You may actually be better off in the unit secretary position IMHO. Both patient care techs and unit secretaries are invaluable staff members - the good ones are like gold.

We do report skin alterations daily. I work in ICU, and we do grand rounds daily with the intensivist, respiratory, charge nurse, wound care, dietician, social work, infection control, etc. We report to them the Braden score for each patient, and if there are any pressure ulcers, what stage it is, and any other alterations in skin integrity. The physician and wound care nurse then can make any recommendations they have for the care of that patient. We also use a turn audit tool twice daily, filled out by the charge nurse. We have a turn clock in the unit, and every two hours the patient must be turned either to their left side, right side, or back, usually corresponding to the correct position on the turn clock. The charge nurse writes the time of day she conducts her turn audit, what position the patients are in, and if not in the correct position according to the turn clock, the reason for that. If a patient turns themselves, s/he writes that on the tool, and also whether their skin is intact. This has to be checked by every nurse for every patient every day, and even better, with every turn. We also make sure to remove TEDs/SCDs to look at skin, and check behind ears if wearing a nasal cannula, monotherm cable contact areas, etc. The turn audit is done twice a day, and is turned in to our unit director. Each week, she places a compliance chart that graphically shows how well we turned our patients. If there was a good reason for not turning detailed in the tool, that still counts as compliance. We are just now instituting the practice of having patients sit up in chair position during their turns to their backs during the day if tolerated. This helps to redistribute the pressure off of their sacrum onto the ischium instead. Hope that helps. Our unit acquired decubitus rates have dropped significantly after doing these things. We also make sure to assess and document on admission for decubiti so that if the patient comes in with one, we will know that we did not "give" it to him/her. It sounds as though it would be time intensive, but it is really not too bad. The Grand Rounds take the longest, but the goal is to only give a quick rundown, and take about 5 minutes per patient. Of course, that doesn't always happen, and then everyone, including you, the staff nurse are stuck for a while longer. The turn audit tool takes hardly any time at all to do.

That's wonderful - congratulations! I can't wait until I can say the same. I'm doing my RN-BSN coursework online, and I agree, it's not all it's cracked up to be, but it is a great opportunity. I'll have my BSN in May 2008.

We do have a lift team in our hospital. They are designated people from the SDS dept., so they are good for things like turns, but they don't know how to do things like help to change the sheets with the patient in the bed, for example, so some things are easier to just recruit a few nurses from our unit to do. They are in house from 9-5 or so, 7 days a week. We really do appreciate them when we have a very heavy patient, but it would be nice if they had a little training in how to properly position a patient, and things like that. If we don't ask them specifically, they'll leave your patient slumped over or caddy-corner in the bed. I guess they just don't realize that they won't be comfortable like that.

I am not a UGA or an MCG grad, but I have lived, worked, and gone to nursing school in Athens and know a little about those schools. UGA's nursing program is actually a pre-nursing program. It is not affiliated with MCG, but many students do apply tp MCG after their 2 years of "pre-nursing" classes at UGA. There is also an MCG satellite campus in Athens where students can get their BSN. It is called SONAT - School of Nursing, AThens. If your daughter was to go to a community college and get her RN (Associates), MCG (and SONAT) have an RN-to_BSN program and an RN-to-MSN program. Hope this helps. Jen

Elidel did not work well for me, and I don't usually have too much trouble with my eczema, but recently it has been worse. No one ever mentions Curel lotion, but that works better for me than even Eucerin. I also like Neutrogena hand cream. Hope you find something that works for you.

Take it ASAP after graduation. Statistics show that graduates have a better chance of passing the NCLEX the sooner after graduation they take it. You probably know a lot more than you may think, and you've heard the saying, "If you don't use it, you lose it." I guess that applies to taking the NCLEX. Good luck!

I copied and pasted this from an email I got from the Pearson-Vue people when I got my Authorization to test. Have you tried this?: NCLEX QUICK RESULTS SERVICE Candidates in the following jurisdictions may access your 'Unofficial' results via the NCLEX Candidate Website or through the NCLEX Quick Results Line. Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia-PN, Georgia-RN, Illinois, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina , South Dakota, Texas RN, Texas VN, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia PN, Wisconsin, Wyoming Effective February 20, 2004, this service has a charge of $7.95 via the web and $9.95 via the phone Your "unofficial" results will be available two business days after taking your examination. Via the web ( $7.95) - Go to http://www.pearsonvue.com/nclex, sign in with your user name and password. After logging in, you will see your Examination Information. Under Past Examination Information, find the top row with your current test, go to "Actions" and double click on "details". Under the screen labeled Registration Details, go to the box at the bottom of the screen and click on "View results". If your results are available, a credit card payment page will display. Fill in the payment date, click ONLY ONCE on the submit button, and your Exam Results will appear. In order to receive your results, you must provide a credit card number to which the $7.95 charge can be billed. (Please note: Your credit card will only be charged if your results are available.) Via the phone ($9.95) - Call the NCLEX Quick Results line at 1-900-776-2539 (1-900-77-NCLEX). Please note that this is a 900 number and NOT an 800 number. This service will be available 24 hours a day. The $9.95 fee will appear on your local telephone bill under "NCLEX Test". (Please be aware: When you use the NCLEX Quick Results line, you will not be charged if your results are not yet available. However, once your results are available, if you call more than once, you will be charged for each call.) Only the board of nursing to which you applied can release your official results. The NCLEX examination results in the Quick Results Service are unofficial, and do not authorize you to practice as a licensed nurse. Please wait 2 business days after your test before you request your results!

I lived in Hawaii for 4 yrs, and really loved it. The lifestyle is definitely slower paced than what we are used to on the "mainland", and is sometimes inconvenient, but I got used to it. You have to kind of lower your expectations for efficiency. So many people see Waikiki and Honolulu and think they've experienced Oahu. I lived on the North Shore - it's very different from town. Of course, this was about 10 years ago, and things are probably different now. We could hop a puddle-jumper to the other islands for $39 then, so you could "get away" for cheap. There's even skiing and snowboarding on the Big Island. I got 3rd place in a snowboarding competition the very first time I was on a snowboard! :) There is a type of reverse racism towards white people (haoles), but I believe this was felt less in the professional world. I am half Indian, and with my darker skin I was often mistaken for a local, so I did not experience any of this racism. Probably a lot of that could be diverted by just simple respect for the locals and their culture and way of life. The aloha spirit you hear about is very real. True, you are thousands of miles away from your family when you are a non-native living in Hawaii, but I had several "adoptive" families there who treated me like their own. Cost is somewhat prohibitive - you won't be able to live at the same standards as you do here with the same amount of money, but then you may not need to. Wh spend a ton of money for a fancy house when you'l spend so much time outside anyway? I rarely spent a lot of money on entertainment - the ocean is free, and a surfboard is entertainment enough. There were many bonfires on the beach, and we would just go out at night and play guitars together for fun. To me, this seems like a much healthier way of life than sitting at home watching TV. Everything is just more natural. We left Hawaii when I was pregnant with my first child. We wanted our children to know their family, and get a good education. The school system in Hawaii was pretty terrible as far as mainland standards go, and even if we could have afforded private school, they weren't that good either. (Maybe homeschooling would work for some of you?) The locals often speak a dialect called "pigeon", which they can "turn off" when speaking professionally, but there are some who cannot really speak in proper English. All in all, I would love to go back, but the children are still young, and I am really enjoying being near my family again. I still have good friends there that I keep in touch with, and I can listen to a "Bruddah Iz" CD and be transported back instantly. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. If you are thinking of visiting, there is a special on roundtrip airfare through American Airlines. Round trip to Honolulu is $350, and to Maui is $450. Let me tell you, this is dirt cheap. The only problem I had was finding available dates to travel - many are already sold out, but the prices are good until April 2005. If yo can, GO! You'll never forget the beauty and wonder that is Hawaii.

Congratulations, EmeraldNYL! You should be so proud of yourself! I can't wait to hear about your experiences in school. Good luck!

For those of you in school - what do you all do to help focus your studying and use good time management while you are studying, writing care plans, etc.? I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I sometimes find myself spending way too much time "perfecting" a paper (or whatever) when what I already have done would be fine to use as is. Maybe it's just a matter of being efficient because there's simply not enough time in the day to agonize over these things - I don't know.

Athens Technical College in Athens, GA has an LPN to RN bridge program that is excellent. It starts with an intensive summer bridge in June, and then the LPNs go to regular classes with the graduating class of RN students from September to June. It's a 12 month program. PM me if you need contact information.

This topic really hit home for me as an aspiring SRNA. I am planning on applying to schools in about three years, and am pretty confident about meeting the requirements, and will have about $25,000 saved up. That plus loans should get me through. But here is the clincher - I am the single parent of three children. They are 6, 4, and 2 yrs now, but will all be in school by the time I start school. My plan is to hire a nanny, but I wonder if this will be good enough. I live in Athens GA, and there are no CRNA schools close by where I would have lots of family support and help with the children, so we will have to move away from our support system in order to go to school. This is a huge issue for me to address in order to be successful, but so far my life has really been in divine order, and I believe that will continue. Does anyone know of other single parents who have gotten through CRNA school? I would be very intersted in any suggestions you all have.

You can do it if you put your mind to it and have some support. I work 24 hours/wk and have 3 girls, 2, 4 & 6 yrs old, and I will be graduating in June. I will be an RN after I take boards in July. The main thing ou will have to work out is who will watch the children because clinicals start at 6:15 am and are often not over until 7:30 pm. I have also had late linicals that go until after midnight. The scheduling has been a struggle because I am a single mom, but it can be done. I often feel guilty because I don't spend enough time with the children even though I never study when they're around. I do wait until after they go to bed at 8 pm to start studying - I just get less sleep than I would like, but it was only for 2 years. So to answer your question, no, you probably cannot be a "good" wife, and a "good" mother and work and go to school - but this was a sacrifice I felt I had to make. I could not support my children properly on the salary I was making, and I want them to see the importance of having an education and working hard to improve yourself and your lot in life. You can do it if you really want to, but know that it won't be easy, and there will be big sacrifices. You can do it all, but it is very difficult if not impossible to do it all well.

I took ACLS before I graduated and was certified. But I do believe that ACLS means a lot more and makes a lot more sense after you have been working a little while and have seen a few codes. The people in my ACLS class who had not yet worked in the hospital (except clinical rotations) really had a hard time.

Oops - sorry nervousguy, I didn't address the fact that you live in Canada. My post is referring to nurses in the US - I don't know how it works in Canada.

Nervousguy, If time is important, you can go to a community college and get your associates degree in nursing, and take the boards (NCLEX) to become an RN. You will get paid the same entry level salary as an RN with a Bachelors degree. If you still want to get your bachelors, you can bridge to a BSN. Many colleges offer RN to BSN programs completely online or almost completely online, and this may take as little as 1 - 2 years, and you could work as an RN at the same time and hav a decent income. You can also bridge from an associates degree RN to MSN through many programs, and it works in the same way - online for the most part - then you would be able to be a burse practitioner, etc without actually getting your BSN first. You go right from ASN to MSN. About being a surgical nurse. If you mean being an OR nurse, this does usually require an extended orientation time in the hospital. Many hospitals will make you pay $3000 to $4000 for this extra training, and some hospitals will train you for free, but in exchange you have to sign a 2 year contract that begins after your orientation (which may take about 9 months). If you break the contract, you have to pay back the $3000-4000 immediately. Also, at our local hospital, if you work in the OR, you immediately get paid $1-2/hr extra over the normal entry level salary while you are orienting for 9 months. After orientation, you get $4-6/hr extra over the entry level salary your peers in different departments will be making (plus differentials). Many hospitals do require their OR nurses to take a lot of call, but on the other hand, you work pretty nice hours - at our local hospital, they work Mon-Fri from 7A - 3P (plus call), no holidays or weekends (except if you are called in). This may go without saying, but you have to be ACLS and PALS certified (Advanced Cardiac Life Support - Adult & Peds) to work in the OR. Hospitals will generally provide these courses for you. Hope this is helpful, and good luck in your endeavors. Nursing is a wonderful field to get into!

I live near Athens GA, and used to manage a band here. We went to Austin for the SxSW (South x Southwest) Festival. It was so much fun, and Austin seemed like such a neat city, plus everyone was really friendly. But my heart belongs to Athens - there's no place like home.:)

I may be putting too much thought into this, but I can't help but think that this type of posting started when I asked for advice on how to pay for CRNA school. I am the single mom with bad credit due to bankrupcy that Roland mentioned. I just want to clarify that I do want very much to go to CRNA school, but I did not mean to imply that I am willing to use unethical means to get to the end. Also, someone posted that they would be uncomfortable working with someone who had abused credit cards and filed bankruptcy. Let me say that my credit issues are largely the doing of my ex-husband. This was a man who became severely abusive, and at the time I left him, he had racked up all my credit cards, drained the bank accounts, filed child neglect reports with DFCS about me, and told the police that I planned to drive my car off a bridge with my children in it. The day I fled with my children (when he got into the shower) was a December morning (it was sleeting out). I had $9 in my pocket, and the children had no coats, shoes, or socks on. It was a life or death situation. I had a broken cheekbone and a broken rib, and bruises from head to toe. I filed a police report and pressed charges, and he was arrested and is now serving a 3 year prison sentence. I filed for divorce and bankruptcy too, started nursing school, was elected class president, and my grades were at the top of our class. I worked 2 jobs while going to school, and also took care of my children. When I left my husband, the children were very young - 4 yrs, 2 yrs, and 4 months old. My reasons for posting all this are threefold. First, I believe that I am able to overcome huge obstacles to acheive my dreams, and my accomplishments so far support that. I believe that I will find a way to become a CRNA too - ethically. Second, I want to reinforce the importance of being nonjudgemental - a person should not be labeled as immoral or unethical because of a bankrupcy or poor credit - you don't know how they got to that point. Lastly, I want people who may be in a similar abusive relationship know that they are not alone, there is a way out, and you can be happy and successful. Now I can get off my soapbox. I didn't realize my post was going to be this long.

Athens Regional Medical Center pays new grads $18.50/hr to start. It is a wonderful hospital. My guess is that you would get paid a little better at Northside since it is in Atlanta. Jen

Tinbird, You can research jobs in the local paper, The Athens Banner Herald. I think their website is http://www.onlineathens.com. There are 2 major hospitals here: Athens Regional and St. Mary's. The Athens Regional website is http://www.armc.org. You can search the jobs on the website. I can't remember the web address for St. Mary's Healthcare System, but you could just do a search. Athens is a great town - I love it! There's nowhere else I'd rather live. Welcome. Jen

I had a friend who applied to Emory (this was about 10 yrs ago) and was offered an acceptance to the Oxford college, which is affiliated with emory, but located in a different city - can't remember where exactly. After doing the 2 yrs at Oxford, she was able to continue at Emory for the last 2 yrs. Sounded like Emory tested the students who didn't quite make the cut,a nd if they did ok at Oxford, they could finish up at Emory. Hope this made at least a little sense. Jen