sawms

Acceptance into the Ft. Benning RN program is competitive just as most nursing programs are. Of course the difficulty of acceptance is based on the pool of applicants when you apply. I had completed all of my pre-req's upon entering and had a GPA around 3.5. Only 13 were accepted into my program (4 of which held professional licenses as LPN's & respiratory therapists). I am a graduate of July 2012, Ft. Benning's first traditional RN class. The program was challenging and I feel that I learned tons of information. I am not sure how their clinical sites are set up now, but we went to MACH, Columbus Regional and St. Francis. I started working immediately upon obtaining my license (first try at NCLEX) in the OR and I love it. I took one semester off to apply to a follow on college to continue my education. I only kept in touch with two other classmates and we will all have obtained our BSN by December. I complete my BSN this semester and begin my MSN in January. I felt my BSN has been a breeze and it builds on all the information you've previously learned. I only mention this to give you more insight into how thorough the program is. I feel just as prepared if not better than my colleagues and classmates. The instructors were awesome for teaching, as well as educational and career guidance. Good luck!!!

I was a scrub tech for about 13 years in plastics before returning to nursing school. When I started nursing school I only knew two things about my nursing future: It would not be bedside nursing and nowhere near Ped's. Anyway, I did my practicum in the OR and knew I was home. I went right into the OR after passing NCLEX. I am one of the fortunate OR nurses that also scrubs. Sadly, this is a skill that is no longer taught in nursing school, but definitely gives you a heads up when you want to be in the OR as a circulator. I am considered a perioperative nurse as I work in all aspects of surgical care, preop, OR, and PACU. Currently I work a steady "PRN" job two days a week and agency two days a week all at ambulatory surgery centers. This works best for me as I get exposure in different specialties and different aspects of care. my steady "PRN" is in the OR circulating and my agency assignments can be pre, post or scrubbing. Typically if an OR nurse is looking for more responsibility in the OR and an increased pay (I can't validate if it is more), they will move on to first assist or RNFA. Perioperative nurses are more involved in patient care as Sweet_Wild_Rose stated in her post. CRNA's focus on anesthesia and don't really carry their "nursing" role into the perioperative setting. They are not always familiar with the equipment used in the OR or the instruments for each case. CRNA's are independent providers and definitely have more decision making authority in reference to the care of the patient. For me, perioperative nursing is about being there for the patient, being their voice when they are most vulnerable and cannot speak for themselves. I enjoy perioperative nursing, I think there is more autonomy in nursing in this arena. Duties are different depending on the facility, but for me, I check all the equipment before each case, bring in what equipment is necessary, pull extra instruments and suture that are frequently called for to cut down on time outside of the surgical suite, do my own preoperative assessment on each patient, and never leave the patients side until they are asleep. With that being said every setting is different and so is everyone's experience. Good luck with whatever you choose!!!

You'll do great!!! I graduated and sat for NCLEX at 40. I can say that I am a more disciplined student now than I was way back when. I thought I was on the older end of the scale also, then I saw nurses returning to school to get their advanced degrees. So now, here I am at 40 attending my MSN classes and many of my classmates are older than me. My incentive are the words of a close friend who always pushed me to continue when I would say I was to old to return to school. "I was 36 when I applied to medical school." I knew if they undertook medical school at 36 I could do nursing school at 40 :-)

Take your vacation. If you are concerned about the test and prep, just get a couple of the pocket study guides and flip through a few questions just before bed while away. I recieved my ATT within a week of graduation and didn't schedule immediately.

I would say get it now. If nothing else, it will give you one more thing over another CNA applying for the same position you are. Whether or not it is needed" it shows you took the time to take an extra step.

I received my acceptance letter just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Of the two schools I applied to Nova and UCF, I chose Nova. Pretty excited about getting started. We already completed our first orientation. I used to live in Davie/Ft. Lauderdale and Nova's library was my community library. Even though I am in Atlanta, I plan to travel down to take full advantage of their library resources at least once a semester.

Things happen, but you will get it together and try again. At least you know what to expect when you go test. There are many different resources depending on your weakness, but I found that most all of them repeated the same "most importantly" motto. I personally found my greatest success with NCLEX RN Alternative Format Questions (Lippincott) and Priorities, Delegation... (Lacharity). If I had to sum it up, I would say use the thought process of answering every question as if YOU are standing at the patients door and YOU have all the available resources and staff to complete the task (and remember, it is about what YOU know, not how well you can get someone else to help you). I found that if you knew your priorities and how to delegate, you could answer any question except a med calc. As you have probably heard before don't try to memorize Q&A. There are thousands of possible questions they can ask and at most you will get 265 adapted to you. So don't take the memory approach. I found the alternative format questions to be a good study guide because the more questions I studied, the more comfortable I became at seeing and answering them. I reread them as "True / False" questions for each possible option. Good luck

RN (ASN), New Grad (Prior surg. tech) OR-Days $32/hr, no differentials since there is no call, evenings, holidays or weekends Ambulatory Surgery Center, Benefited position (ins. and 401K) Atlanta PRN OR-Days (on days off) $38/hr

Currently in the application process for the SPR13 term. I am looking more towards Nurse Educator track at this time. If you get any information from anyone, let me know. The application process has been easy, just have to wait for a decision. I have also applied to UCF, we'll see what happens. :-)

I started the program in January and so far so good. The only part that has been challenging is Adult Health I/Med-Surg falling in the summer semester for my group. It is all the same material at a condensed summer semester. I am enjoying the challenge, I figure if this semester is a success and my time management is up to par, then the other semesters should be easier to handle (fingers crossed). My best advice for anyone considering the Darton program is utilize your time wisely!!! I love it so far!!!

I agree with Peacekeeper and the Darton A&P. I took both 1 and 2 received my specimens at home and all my exams WERE proctored at our regional library. Let me also say that if you plan to pass these classes you will be doing a ton of studying. No classmates to answer the questions that you might not have thought to ask. It is 100% your responsibility to learn the material. I would say that you will probably learn more than the average student that sits in a class since you have to read EVERYTHING. No open book tests and easy assignments in this course. You will have real dissections and need a good digital camera and lots of patience. I think I took at least 20 pictures per dissection to narrow down 5-10 for submission. Keep in mind that if you are taking these from a truly accredited state university or technical school these classes will transfer just check with the transferring school for credit conversion and hours required. Good Luck!!!

Sorry it took so long to reply. I have been submerged in schoolwork and not on any of my support sites. I received my acceptance letter, but I transferred my application to the Darton Hybrid program at Fort Benning. We are military and my husband is based out of Benning so I qualified for that program. Our orientation is on January 10th. I hope that we just have not heard from the rest of our posters due to them being busy and that everyone has secured a spot. Congratulations to all, let's do this!!! :clpty: Steph

The testing proctor said that they try to have them all mailed be November 15th. However, he encourages all applicants to be patient and not contact the school inquiring about the status of your application until the end of November. The number of applicants this semester is unusually large. Good Luck, Steph

Do not give up. The testing proctor gave these words before the test began: "There are far more of you applying for the number of spots available. The programs acceptance is very competitive. If you do not get accepted on you first go around then apply again. Don't give up." You can do it. Now that you have taken the HESI, use it as a learning experience to be better prepared for the next application. You will do well and you will succeed. So you might not be starting in the spring. Check into the campus requirements for the evening program and apply for the next class that begins. Good Luck, Steph

Passed the HESI test :clpty:, now the waiting begins !!!