MickeysMom

school starts back up august 15, after a 2 week break from summer classes. i'm in an adn program that switches classes (concentrations) every five weeks, so here is my schedule for fall term........ first five weeks (aug 15-sept 19): med/surg ii monday: lab 9a-12p tuesday: lecture 9a-12p wednesday: lecture/lab 9a-12p: data collection 1p-3p thursday: clinical 7a-12p friday: clinical 7a-12p second five weeks (sept 22-oct 28): ob i monday: lecture 9a-12p; clinical/data collection 1p-5p tuesday: clinical 7a-3p wednesday: lecture/lab 9a-12p thursday: lecture/lab 9a-12p friday: no class!!!! third five week (nov 2- dec 9): med/surg iii monday: lecture 9a-12p; data collection 1p-3p tuesday: clinical 7a-12p wednesday: clinical 7a-12p thursday: lecture/lab 9a-12p break 1p-4p friday: no class!!!! i absolutely love the way our school sets up classes because if you really hate the subject or teacher that you are studying you only have to focus on it for a month and then you move on. the new fall 2011 cohort will have 7 week classes but they won't get the 2-3 day "break" between classes. the downside is we have two test and a final with no extra credit each five weeks, so if you fail a test horribly you have almost no chance of passing the class, but you can always repeat it the next five weeks. also the set up allows you to focus solely on one concentration at a time, unlike some programs where you have 2-3 test in a week all on different subjects. another possible downside is that our school graduates anywhere form 15-30 students every five weeks because they have 7 start times a year with each cohort starting out with 40 students, most not making it through the first year for various reasons. this makes for a really tight job market in my area due to about 7 adn/bsn programs in a 150 mile radius, the highest concentration in the state. but there are a lot of hospitals in the area so it isn't so bad and the non-metropolitan areas are always hiring so you wouldn't necessarily have to move out of state just out of the area. my cohort started september 2010 with 38 students, now only 12 remain of the original class with 14 that we have picked up along the way, making it a total of 26 students that just finished up our med/surg i class this past wednesday, we are due to graduate september 2012. i am also able to work 3rd shift at the hospital part-time (24hrs a week, 8hr shifts) and still have time to pick up my 5 year old from school most days.

i also am attending greenville tech, just finished up psych (116/117) and will start med-surg 1 (118/119) in two weeks. for my cohort (b-10) psych (116/117) was the make it or break it class. we lost about 8 people alone in that one class, some due to failing and some due to personal reasons. many people, including myself, barely slipped by, most of the class grades were somewhere in the low 80's high 70's with maybe one or two people doing very well. i usually do very well on the test but this class was completely a different cup of tea for me. stay focused and do the test questions from the book, also don't stress over ati, its a piece of cake. also for those of you who are not yet in the program and are pct/cna certified please take the cna skip as i did, it was the best thing i ever did, apparently a lot of people failed 108/109 and they qualified for the skip. why take and extra class if you don't have to and possibly fail it as well. and don't believe that you have to take 108/109 for the care plan help, mrs. todd does the care plan class for those who skip and she makes it very easy to understand and they offer care plan help for those who are struggling. so if any one has any questions regarding the program i'm here for answers! mickeysmom

jslovex2 "i'll tell you what did drive me nuts as a cna who was running my butt off is when people who were getting paid to sit down and watch tv, eat snacks, read books, be on the internet, etc. would call out and ask when they could take their break when i hadn't even taken mine! if you're known to ask for breaks you should expect that kind of response. if you don't ask for breaks and only take the one you're supposed to get then there's no reason for them to be that way. just imagine being on your feet for 8 hours, starving, and literally you haven't had a chance to sit at all (not even for a few seconds). you haven't peed. you haven't had anything to drink. then, a patient safety tech calls out and wants to know (while sitting in their chair with a coca cola and a laptop) when you can "relieve" them. i don't know that this is you, but i'm just sayin - it does happen." as a sitter i am not paid to watch tv, read, or play on the internet, i am paid to make sure i provide patient safety. my supervisor doesn't allow computer use or eating in patients rooms. we are encouraged to bring our school work and study if it helps us stay awake and all sitters are allowed two 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch break. i always ask at the start of my shift what time is good for the floor for me to take my break and i don't bother the pca or nurse unless it is something out of my job description; if the patients brief needs changing i will change it, if it's time for their bath i will do it, if they need to use the bed pan i get, ect. i am in nursing school anywhere from 4-6 hours during the day and then sit for an 8 hour night shift so there is a need to be relieved. it doesn't seem outrageous to me to relieve a person while they sit for 8 hours, sometimes 12, without food or being able to use the restroom with a person who is combative, suicidal, pulling on every tube/line, and trying to ambulate (by the way they have fallen no less than twice while at the facility), all while trying to stay awake. maybe the sitter just needs some time to lay her/his head down,eat, pee or take a breather from the patient.

Has anyone completed the RN-BSN online or traditional classes at the University of South Carolina-Upstate. If so was it very rigorous, did you go full time or part time, and were you able to work a full-time job while attending?

We tend to turn sort of grey or ashy depending how dark the skin is.

HIPAA

how long will it take you to graduate?

In order to remain PRN you have to work 2 shifts per week, but I thinks it's their way of not having to offer me part-time benefits such as PTO and insurance, but after 6 months I can apply to a part-time position like PCA\PCT or a nurse extern position where I can actually use my clinical skills (and get the benefits):).

we are not allowed to say which school we are attending (had to sign a contract because some students found it wise to bash the program and some of the faculty members online).....but i will say that i live in the upstate sc area and attend one of the local community colleges. but i also said that i have only finished fundamentals.....so i may be in for a rude awaking come next term, we have med-surg i, psych i, and mom\ baby i for the spring\summer terms. i also think its they way the program is structured that makes it less strenuous, we only take two classes at a time (theory and lab\clinical) every 5 weeks. it sounds like a lot of info to be completed in a one months time but we attend school 4-5 days a week and our test or completed out of class in an online testing center and we get a mandatory 5 weeks off during the summer to relax. but for the fall 2013 cohorts will have 7 week classes because some of the students and faculty don't like trying to cram all of that information into 5 weeks. i personally like the 5 weeks class schedule.

the questions are difficult at first. you normally get 4 multiple choice answers and you have to pick the most correct one but the trick is they all look correct. the nclex study books show you how to eliminate false answers by using the information taken from the question that is being asked. now you still have to know the material but it does help you throw out what they call distractor questions.

i worked very hard for my grades as well.... i was just stating that nursing school (at least my program) is not that hard to me but some in my class would state other wise. it's just when you come here or listen to others that are ahead of you in the program they make it out to be this impossible task to complete. my first degree is in biology so that may have something to do with me not having difficulty absorbing the info but i also use the utilize information given to us by our instructors. we are given the course outline weeks in advance with the pages that we are to cover and all of our notes are purchased from the book store and we were told that all of our test are nclex-style (they even tell you what nclex books to purchase and i have found that some of the questions are very similar to the questions found in those books). in addition we are given online quizzes that can be completed as many times until you receive a passing grade (again these questions are very similar to test questions). we are also have an open 3 hour lab that is always staffed so if you don't understand something in labs you can always go to the open lab for extra help. i'm just baffled as to why any one in my program would not use all of these resources to there advantage, but i have noticed that the students that don't do well haven't read the material before class and they often come late to class or not all. so my point is that my program is not that difficult to me and i just wanted to know if anyone was in the same boat .

i would get an nclex review book and glance over it. after getting low b's on the first couple of test i bought two books and did some of the practice test and now i've been getting all a's. i recommend kaplan's- rn review and test success. at this point you may not understand some of the question and the rationals behind them but they show you how to pick the most correct answer, because as you will soon find out all the answers look correct but you have to figure out the most correct:icon_roll, it'll all make sense soon:d. also surround yourself by positive people and get a hobby outside of nursing school because school can be draining if you don't take some "me" time. oh and the crock pot will be your best friend after a long day in class and you just want to wind and eat a good home cooked meal. well thats all i have for now:)!

....does nursing school seem easier than some make it out to be. i am not trying to come off as cocky and i have only completed the fundamentals (1 term) portion of my adn program so i'm certainly no expert, but the information seemed to come relatively easy to me. now i don't have a 4.0 but i did manage to pull a 3.391 this term:yeah:, while some in my class could barely get the required 78% on the exams. maybe i'm being over confident....but early on i figured out a way to study that has caused my grades to jump from low b's to a's. but who knows i could be setting myself up for future failure:eek:!!!!

I already have a Biology degree so I really don't want 3 BS degrees.....but I will look into the RN-MSN programs in my state in the mean time. Getting my BSN would allow me to work as a clinical instructor at the CC level until I obtain my MSN. But who knows maybe I'll will love teaching clinical and not bother with the MSN at all.

Thanks for the quick replies..... The hospital that has offered me a job as a Patient Sitter while I am currently in school still gives out tuition assistance if you plan to stay as an RN after graduation ( of course I will be signing a contract to work for X amount of years) so the money wouldn't be the problem. I wouldn't go for my BSN but my long term goals (10+ years) are to become a Nurse Educator (MSN) and teach at the local CC or University. I'm just afraid that I will have every intent to go back and never do it.