blackberrie_281

Im 20 and i am currently in a bsn program. I graduate in may 2013. I then hope to experience a variety of fields over a 7 yr period, such as flight nurse, er, psyciatric nursing before spending at least 2 yrs in the icu as well as start a family. Then start Nuse anesthesia school when im 30. I also have vague plans of teaching in my 60s and/or joining the peace corps.

pvnursgrad, hows you job going? and did anyone else in your class find a job?

k your 16, so your prob a junior right? take general AP or dual credit courses if your highschool offers them, classess like english, us history, algebra and statistics. That could cut off an entire semester or more for college, did in my situation. Go directlly into a bsn program if you can afford it, which is usually only offered at a University. your major would be nursing, and thus you would take the required courses for that degree at the university you choose to go to. a counselor will be able to tell you all the classess that you will take. once you get your degree, you must pass your nclex to legally practice at whatever hospital you choose. to get in a crna program you must complete the minimum amount of yrs for whatever program you wish to get into, usually this is 1 yr, and in the specialty that program accepts, which is usually any icu, sometimes er, depends on the program. each program has different reqs, such as organic chemistry or statistics, but that can be taken during your summer breaks or a yr or 2 before you apply to your chosen crna program...hope i made this clear enough for you.

wow thats great! im surprised to hear you get paid that much cause your not in the medical center you know? and i didnt even know st catherines had a cardiac icu, thats the floor where i really really want to work as a new grad. Well good luck to both of you!

Hello! Just wondering what yalls pay and benefits were at st christus. And do how has it been working in your select specialties? I live in katy and plan to apply there when until i graduate (may 2013).

So how was your experience with UTs CRNA program? Also for the pre req do they want organic chemistry 1 or 1and2?

Well thank god I didn't go there! I'm sorry for your bad experience. At least u came out there with ur degree And u can walk away and never look back

^^Hi fellow semester 2-er!! lol Its crazy, it feels like this semester just flew by, I still have to pinch myself sometime cause i cant believe its summer lol GREAT job with patho, I could never get more than a 87 on test, idk why. For my final grades I got 2 As in health assessment and clinicals and 2 Bs in patho and basic concepts. Health assessment was easy and most of the questions were straight forward, if you read i dont see why anyone would make a C. Patho was harder and a few questions were completely outta left field (do you remember the leukemia and carrrot question?? lol). However if you did read and stuff then a C or B is definitely possible.For me, basic concepts was harder than the other subjects. The tests in that class had most of the 2 or more answer questions, and they had some question based on psychosocial skills and theuraputic communication, which is too fluffly for me.

^^^ I agree. The material isn't hard its just that nursing school demands so much of ur time. U have to learn time management, itll kill u if u dont. They also ask the "nclex style questions" that for the most part can be memorized or studied for, just critically thought through. I took pharm health assessment, fundamentals, and clinicals and got a B, A, B, A, repectively.

Ill give you a free pass... If you have low sodium blood levels, how is homeostasis maintained? Osmosis and diffusion? Homeostasis is maintained by water and solute movement, therefore by osmosis and diffusion, respectfully...this is the simple, short answer btw. Water will travel into the cell? Yes. If the ECF is hypotonic, water will move into the ICF because the fluid there is more concentrated with solutes by comparison. Thus, the cell will swell and could rupture (lyse). Sodium in cells will move out to the bloodstream? Yes, the solute, in this case sodium, will move out of the ICF and into the bloodstream.

also pvnursegrad: wth happens 5th semester, is it all school nursing? or do you get to go to the hospital, like maybe on a floor you wish to work at? Cause "community health" seems broad to me and I havent been able to ask a 5th semester student about what 5th semester is all about

Uh yea pessimistic. Read over what you wrote if you have a question about why I said that. In NO WAY does that mean I dont wanna hear what you have to say, or that I want to hear "fluff" from you, now thats putting words in my mouth. I appreciate all your experiences and opinions you have about this program, if i didnt i wouldnt bother replying to you But thats good to know that its possible to go thru this program without taking summer courses. For fall 2011 1st semester students: Alot of my peers were in danger of failing health assessment and patho. Take the study advice we have suggested to heart, and you will do fine in these classes ok :) And if you find yourself doing poorly on exams, like getting 2 exam grades in the 40-60 range, dont forget you have 2 withdrawal opportunites and 1 fail before your kicked out the program. Dont hesitate to use a withdrawal. My friend failed outta the program her first semester because of this.

:) you are being very helpful, if kinda pessimistic. People actually get the test bank from ebay though OMG, that scares me. I dont ever wanna get that desperate to pass a test. Also I forgot to add im finishing up semester 1 so im sharing my semester 1 experience. So you could be right about alotta the things you say about further semesters, but i wouldnt know. And Congrats on getting hired right outta school! So, did you take summer school classes? Or have to repeat any courses? And, lol how was 4th semester? All i hear are horror stories.

"First the teachers are very unprofessional. They talk to you like you are an idiot and are late for almost every class (somewhat correct, depends on the teacher). Nothing starts on time and they are horribly unorganized (the teachers or the school, such as scheduling dates?). The tests are ridiculous (hell yea). The questions are terribly written (a few are badly written, some are dumb because its info ud only know if you were a LVN and most are just difficult because its application style questions, no knowlege based questions) and have numerous grammatical errors that make it hard to understand them (way true for my first basics test, after that it stopped and my teacher apologized to our class). Enter at your own risk." "Read every chapter they tell you to. If the test is on cardio, read ALL the chapters on cardio, including all the charts and tables. You wont learn anything from their lectures (not true in my experience, but each teacher is different) and the test is based on the book not their lectures (In my experience of health assessment and basics, its 65% the teachers powerpoints, which is available to everyone via e courses, and 32% from the book. The other 3%? from those just off the wall questions. However for patho, READ HER POWERPOINTS, then READ OVER THOSE SECTIONS in the textbook. Study normals and abnormal, and do patho trees on the disease). If you rely on their lectures YOU WILL FAIL. Read the book and start early. You will find that a lot of the questions on the test will test your test taking skills, not your knowledge (agreed). Each question will have 2 correct answers (not alot of those questions are asked in 1st semester). You have to figure out which one they want. I know it sounds crazy but thats honestly how it is. You'll see. Trying to work while at PV is a disaster too because they are ALWAYS changing the schedule (Its a disaster anywhere really, but yea). You'll be calling in every other day. They cant get organized worth nothing." My words are in italics. The bolded words are what I agree with. Any advice or tips you would like to share regarding semester 2, 3, 4, and 5? Also what are your plans after graduation?

I suggest attending nursing school on a part time basis. Like 9 hrs a semester.