vindy

Congratulations!!!! :w00t:

thank you!

Hi, just wondering for those of you who used studyguide101...does the content match EC's content guides? For example, EC's guide goes over impairment of blood vessels (HTN, PVD, AAA, etc)...does the studyguide101 go into all of those as well? I am deciding whether to go with studyguide101 or make my own outlines... Thanks =)

Update: I took out my private loan and well, in order for it to be certified by EC, I had to enroll in EC... so I had to use a credit card (or debit card) in order to enroll. So I signed up for the 6 month payment plan (to have a less IMMEDIATE pay now enrollment cost), pay the $25 fee, and voila! I'm enrolled! So I am officially enrolled despite wanting to wait until I took the first two courses, but oh well. When they certify my loan, which takes about 10 days, I will be able to use the funds to pay for the remainder of the enrollment fee and the exams and so on.

Hi! I just applied to EC and got in. I haven't enrolled as yet as I want to take the 2 tests that are available prior to enrollment: Health Safety and Transitions (as per the admissions dept). On the degree chart on EC's website, it says you have to be enrolled to take Differences and so on, BUT it also says with Differences (and only this exam) that it can be waived, just speak to your advisor about this. I took out a private loan (Sally Mae) and am waiting the response on how this works with not being enrolled and taking the 2 exams. I will update you all when I get this info. Also, when taking out a private loan, EC recommends only $7000 be loaned, but you can take more (as per my private loan provider). Hope this helps for now =)

Congratulations!!!!!!!

Congratulations! Thanks for your sharing experience! I am scared about the CPNE, but like everyone else has said, do the exams first then worry about the CPNE. But reading about your experience along with those who say, as long as you study hard, you can pass. Thank you!

Have you tried recording your readings as you study? I always fall asleep while reading so I started recording voice memos on my iPhone to help me stay awake (although you hear an occasional yawn, lol) and then I can replay it throughout the day. That helped me in LPN school. I am also getting ready to start EC's ASN program, so I am so excited!!! Good Luck!

Hi everyone, I'd like to share a story... On a Friday morning, a regular clinical day, I was assigned to a patient that was a 90 y/o F. She has a history of cancer, htn, a-fib, COPD and so on. I had taken care of her two weeks ago and she was absolutely wonderful! I joked with her how her elizabeth arden face lotion is the secret to looking so young because she looked 65, not 90! =) So back to this friday morning. I went in to her room to measure her V/S. T 97.4 axillary (i took it axillary b/c she was breathing thru her mouth and had rapid respirations), HR 93, BP 98/64, RR 40, O2 80% (so I put her in high fowlers and it went up to 90%) , she is also on O2 2L via Nasal Cannula. I asked the patient how she slept last night, and asked her questions to see if she was A & O x3 and her speech was hard to understand. I thought her voice was dry from mouth breathing and she was also SOB. So I gave her a sip of water, and she she sipped it fine until she began swallowing. She started to cough. I was like uh-oh! she tried talking some more but I just couldn't understand her. So I immediately reported to the nurse and then my instructor. My instructor and I went to speech therapy to ask for an eval to be done with this pt and then we went to see my pt cuz then it hit my instructor that OMG, it can be a stroke! So we went in my pt's room and assessed her. She only had the garbled speech. She smiled evenly, her hands were raised evenly, etc. The nurse also came in and retook her V/S. the nurse then called the Dr to inform him. He came in a little while later and assessed her. He said she was fine, and in front of my eyes she answered his questions clearly! granted they were a few words but she sounded fine! when he left and i asked her a question, her speech was garbled again! She also tried to itch her face and her arm just kept falling down! So I told the nurse, and went back in to stay with my pt and her hand was fine again! ST also came in and said something is wrong with her while they were assessing her eat, and changed her diet from regular to puree with nectar liquids... the Dr. then put her on a nebulizer treatment and put in an order for hospice to come in an evaluate her. he also told me this is what happens when it comes to an end...interesting i thought, I never been around anyone who was dying to know the s/s of death like some people describe it to be...is she really dying?.... Now comes for the most horrible part of the day... the handyman came in and said there is an order for her to be on an air mattress. so i said we'll get her up after I am done giving her her bed bath. So after the bath, me and another student tried to sit her up in bed, but the pt was so slooped we decided not to put her in a w/c. so like a half hour or so after leaving my patient in her room to rest, I was informed they put her in the wheel chair so they can put the air mattress on. WHAT! that is so ridiculous i thought! so i went in to her room and made sure she was okay. she was tired, but okay, so i thought id check on her in a little bit while I tend to my other patient. I left her room for ten minutes, only ten minutes, and when i went to check on her, she was on the floor! omg, my heart almost stopped! I was so angry and shaken! So finally we got her up, and where did we put her? on the other bed next to her bed, w/o an air mattress because the air mattress wasn't even on her bed yet. go figure. So, we took her V/S, BP still low, RR still high, HR 94, O2 sat 77% and desatting! We tried to tell her to breathe thru her nose and out thru her mouth... so my teacher raised her O2 to 4L...and finally her O2 went to 95%...the aDON thought nothing was wrong cuz her O2 was fine..um hello? She is on 4L (w/o a Dr. order and because of a nurse's judgement) and she is a COPD patient and her original order was for 2L!!! oh well...ignorance is bliss i suppose =)....so after a while I lowered her O2 back to 2L and O2 sat was stable... So later on i went in to do her wound treatments and treat the abrasion on her leg from the fall... I tried to wake her to tell her what I was doing...no response....I shook her, yelled her name, nothing...my teacher came in and performed a sternal rub....nothing.....so my teacher told me to take of her wound care and she will be back. So i performed my wound care telling her what I was doing =)... Another nurse came in and performed the sternal rub even harder I suppose cuz the patient lifted her hand to remove the stimulus...but she never opened her eyes. Her pupils were slightly reactive when the nurse used the penlight and forcefully opened her eyes. So, unfortunately she never got sent out as we had hoped because we wanted to rule out a stroke with a head CT and we figured with the fall she would have gotten to go out to the hospital...but all she got was an in house X-ray of the hip and arm...hospice did come in, but not on my shift, and the next day, my pt passed away. even though my patient passed away, I was satisfied to know I treated her with respect and dignity as she probably began to leave the world the day of my shift. this makes nursing worth everything! thank you for reading, =)

Hi Everyone, This is my mini story from the beginning, My patient's BP is 138/60 and apical HR of 57. She is on carvedilol, a beta blocker, and nifedipine, a calcium channel blocker. My instructor and I held nifedipine due to pt's low HR. So the next day, I asked my other instructor because I was so curious as to why we held nifedipine instead of carvedilol. She said that nifedipine is given to treat V-Tach and will bring the HR down very quickly compared to carvedilol. So I looked up nifedipine in my Davis drug guide, and it doesn't mention that it treats V-tach and nor does it say to hold med if pt is bradycardic, just to notify HCP if HR (I will also ask the original instructor I gave med with to find out her reasoning. I hate to doubt teachers, but I just need to know WHY, lol)

Hello, I hate math! but I LOVE nursing math!!!! I am a C student in math- algebra and statistics, but I totally get nursing math and I am an A student in math =). If you're thinking about retesting, keep practicing the math. Have you signed up with the TEAS practice tests via ATI's website? That helped me lots to since I know I am not good with those kind of math questions. Hope this helps! Good Luck

Hi, Thank you for responding. Yes I looked through that chapter but that's not what I was looking for. I thought there was a large box or table that listed all the diets, I guess it must have been my imagination =) thank you!!!

Hi, I was wondering if anyone ever came across a "box" or a "table" in the deWit Fundamentals textbook that contained therapeutic diets for a renal diet, cardiac diet, soft diet, etc.? I thought I had seen one but now I can't seem to find it. Thanks in advance!!!

Then maybe that's your answer =) Personally, I am enrolled in an LPN program (1st semester) and am going to take humanities (starts Jan) and political science (starts March) and then two more classes during the summer (flex classes) (while continuing with the LPN program) to complete my Associate's Degree so I can finally have a feeling of accomplishment. Am I taking on too much as well? Maybe, but at this point in my life, I am tired of being held back because of deadlines and want everything to fall into place and I am the only one who can start to put things into place. I think if you truly believe you can handle this workload, then do so, see what the expectations are during the first week of class and if maybe cutting down to 3, 2 or even 1 course is best then at least you can get a refund =)... it doesn't hurt to see where your limits are.

Hello, Are you currently working or just taking those four classes or are you working and taking those four classes? Are you good in math and history? Is English your first language? Have you ever taken four classes in one semester before? How did you do? Some questions to help get you thinking because only you can truly decided if this workload is too much for you... =)