mama2four

I agree with other posters that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and you need to invest whatever time you need to succeed. I will say though that the investment in A&P I&II will pay off in spades later when you are in the core nursing classes. Having that solid background will make it easier to see the big picture later on. Unfortunately all of these grades count (even the English classes) whether you like the class or not or even see the relevance -- nursing school is so competitive that you need solid grades to maintain a high gpa. Keep working hard -- it is all worth it in the end.

you are right, it is terribly frustrating and entirely unnecessary and unfortunately she won't be the first rude person you will have to deal with as a student or as a professional nurse. i know that as students we tread lightly because we want to fit in, etc. with that said, we do need thick skins in our profession to work with difficult patients and sometimes co-workers, but we need to pick our battles. from your post, she is clearly under your skin and has rattled you. as a student you need to take criticism because we are constantly critiqued. you did the right thing in asking her if you should give report differently - it just seems like there is no pleasing her. i know you asked your instructor to intervene, instead why don't you ask your instructor to be present when you give report to her to see if you are executing it appropriately. put it all on you wanting this to be a learning experience and you feel like you are missing the mark somehow and would appreciate her expertise and feedback so you can hone your skills. a few things can happen with this approach: you very well may learn something new, your instructor should give you credit for trying to turn the situation around and maybe it will transform that nurse's attitude for at least the one report that your instructor observes and hopefully the rest of your encounters with her. it would be beautiful if your instructor said a "good job" in front of the nurse so if in a future report she starts up again you can gently remind her that your instructor approved of your report-giving so unless you are omitting something or if she has any additional constructive criticism, respectfully request that she let you do your job! i hope this helps...good luck j

I graduated in May and my school used ATI as well and counted toward our final grade. We also had a new test every week with which we had to get a minimum of a level 2 and we also had several proctored exams (good practice for Nclex - similar feel, but these are timed) that we also had to score a minimum level. Yes, some of it was tough and even when I looked at the "Topics to Review" to look up what I got wrong I didn't always find the answer. I didn't like that the books weren't indexed to look things up quickly. With all of that said, I think it was a good prep for the Nclex. When I took the 180question predictor test at the end of the semester it said that I had a 98% chance (up from 93% at the beginning of the semester) of passing the Nclex if I had taken it that day. After we graduated we were required to take a 3 day live review where we got a great comprehensive, condensed review book (that was indexed, btw :). I did a little bit of the review book almost every day and did several sample tests and did some questions from a Saunders book and I passed the Nclex in 75 questions. Having taken the Nclex now and looking back - I do think it was helpful. It's unfortunate that they are making such a big part of grading and actually dropping people from programs for not passing -- that's a lot to hang on someone. I think that there is so much emphasis on it because these schools are all in hot competition to recruit good nursing students and one of the factors that is a selling point for some of these programs is their Nclex pass rate (I know it is at my school). I hope this helps. Stick with it because no matter what hoops they make you go through to get there, once you are there it is all worth it. Good luck :)

Hi Nana Dee. Congratulations on your new license! I too recently got my RN. As for hourly rates: from talking to some friends who are RNs and LPNs this is what I have heard: For new grads RNs make about $28/hr and LPNs are about $18/hr depending on the facility - these are just averages and not taking into account any shift diff. I hope this helps. Good luck to you