Michael076

Wow, 10 minutes!! In my Hospital every bathroom and shower room has really loud irritating emergency call bells which ring louder and faster than a normal call bell so we respond rapidly always within one minute max. Because the bells are so loud they become a priority. I have been an RN in only one Hospital for 2 years and I would imagine these same bells would be used in other Hospitals but do not know for a fact. Well that is a very sad story and unfortunate.

Well maybe some skills came easier because I was an aide in my last year of school and had more hospital exposure. Someone completely new to the environment may be more intimidated by spiking an iv bag. I too wish we had more clinical time in school. Unfortunately my clinicals consisted of me doing mostly aide work which was frusterating. It just seems that nursing is learned on the job. I'm not sure how much school can prepare a person besides mostly theory. I always thought role playing and the use of more case studies during classroom time would be most beneficial. To be honest my instructors reguritated power point slides that I could read on my own time. I don't know, after rereading my above post it sounded a little insulting. Although, I was quoting my instructor. Well I have my own fears such as all the multi tasking, being assertive with delegation, taking orders, constantly rechecking myself etc....but I am new and hope this improves with time - I have lots to learn. Additionally as a student nurse you really never know your role so I empathised with the BSN student you first mentioned. To me it seems all of those skills come with repition. Have a great weekend!!!

Honestly who cares if he did not know how to spike the bag. My instructor told us you could teach a monkey how to spike a bag, hang a piggy back, give a shot, etc. Not to mention as a student he is obviously a little nervous and insecure. Big deal after 2 weeks on the job he will be spiking with his eyes closed. Over time that theory he learns will transfer into practice while connecting the dots and pay much bigger dividends. Just my take...

Believe me I am a few weeks in as a new nurse and injections and iv's are easy now. Just take your time my school had bad clinicals as well but my teacher always said you can teach a monkey those skills and they focused on critical thinking. She was right. Do not be worried it gets easier and you become more efficient with each iv/im....What I would worry about is the organizational skills and writing everything down....The hardest part of the job to me is being bombarded with information plus always check id bands on patients for me i'll confuse patients often because I can not conceptulize yet who is who and some names sound similar so checking id bands is tantamount..I could see clearly now how mistakes happen...Good luck you will do great....

I graduated from nursing school with a 3.6 adn - however when I was young and dumb I got a 2.7 overall for my bachelors in business. I hope my business degree doesn't screw me going forward from a gpa sense. I hope schools look at the difference in time frame cand take most recent gpa..

1. How many questions did you take on NCLEX? 75 2. What study materials did you use? Did you take a test review course? saunders, some kaplan, ati practice exams and videos 3. Did your SON offer any testing (ERI, ATI, HESI)? ati 4. How long did you wait for results of the test, or are you still waiting? 2 days 5. What were your thoughts coming out of the test (total disbelief, certainty you had failed, confident you had passed)? thought i failed 6. Was this your first attempt at NCLEX yes passed with 75 questions

Congratulations!!! I just ended my exam and the computer shut off at 75 questions. Not sure if I passed or not. I am going to be a mess for 2 days now until the results post. I was a great student but that test was really whacky I just don't know. The first 50 questions were extremely hard and them I seemed to be doing better toward the end but I guess i'll have to wait and see. Right now I am working as a GRN and my continuing employment requires me to pass this exam. Well Take care and i'll keep you guys posted. Congrats again....

Since you had chickenpox naturally you are immune. I have heard of some breakthrough cases of chickenpox after natural immunity but these are rare and mild maybe a lesion or two, and you can think of it as sort of a booster dose for your immunity. I recommend you tell your coworkers who are not naturally immune to get Varivax the chickenpox vaccine from Merck. Chickenpox is not as benign as people think especially in older people where the complications can be quite serious, why take the risk.. They are doing studies now that show the vaccine may attenute the reemergence of Shingles which would be a great thing.

I go to SCCC and I can tell you nursing exams are much harder than A&P. I got straight A's in all my sciences now i'm consistent B or B+. I feel anatomy is more memorizing while these exams are based on critical thinking and it seems there could be two answers to most questions. When you get into nursing school I recommend buying the Blue Saunders NCLEX review book and focusing on the segment pertinent to the semester your in. Do the questions and read the rationales which will put you in that nursing state of mind for when you take school exams. After doing this I have improved my test scores and wish I did it in the first semester. Honestly the notes are important but try to incorporate this into your studying as well. Here's some more tips while answering questions on the computer always have two pages open one for the internet the other for the questions. Example you get a question on BP med's with 4 options available...Minimize the page and google each med - then go back and answer the question...Finding the info aids in long term memory..Remember you don't want to cram because this stuff needs to be retained. One teacher told me a nurses best friend is it's closest reference. Good luck and congrats....

Good luck, They should not expect us to perform every procedure perfect during clinical because humans are much different than working on dummies in lab. The one thing I can't stand is not getting enough quality clinical time, then they expect you to know everything. This semester my instructor is good but I was used to being treated with kid gloves previously. I have a long break before my final med surge rotation so I guess I better brush up. Alot depends on how your instructor is because clinical is much more subjective grading wise so basically if they don't like you your gone, very scary. You seem persistent and I know you will prevail, take care.

Were you working many hours while in school? What led to you having to do the lab work to begin with? Believe me I am not placing blame, I do not know the complete details pertaining to your situation. However I was fired from a high paying job a few years back which I was not fond of anyway and really stopped putting forth my best effort. After 2 years of placing blame on everyone else I reflected and realized that is was nobodies fault but my own. This doesn't make me a bad person I was just working in an environment where my true talents could not thrive. While reading your post it reminded me of how angry I was at my manager but in truth I was mad at myself. She told me to practice my presentations but quite frankly I kept winging it because I hated selling and was burnt out. I am guessing you could have worked a bit harder and got those skills mastered. Again, i don't know the details but in my experience this is normally the case. For example last week my nursing notes were a little sloppy at clinical. This week I practiced writing them so i'm prepared for the next time. I'm sorry to hear what happened and I hope everything works out for you. It does sound unfair that the school was not forthcoming in telling you about the lab testing. If you were putting forth the effort they could have been more flexible. I hope you are being honest and were putting forth the effort because I have no sympathy for students who complain about failing a test/pratice skill that they never really studied for. Those students have to take acountability for their own actions. Well good luck.

As a second year nursing student my biggest pet peave is the lectures are something I can do on my own. In my program the lectures are power point slides that instructors read. Writing or rewriting is the worst way to learn and does not promote critical thinking, only memorization. To be honest lectures should be interactive. Some ideas: 1. Have notes complete and online for students to print and read prior to class. 2. In class utilize role playing, concept mapping, group case studies, what if questions , etc. 3. Put students on the spot and ask about signs and symptoms of disease, meds, situation - action - result questions. 4. Why not occasionally give a short answer quiz. I find many of my classmates will do good on tests however they can not articulate the material, hence they will not retain it long term. 5. My best class was health assesment because my instructor demanded us to articulate the material. I tape recorded my assesments and then practiced it verbally with other classmates. we worked together then refined our assesments and made them our own. I still remember this information one year later. take care, Mike

Sorry did a double post.

If I were you I would apply to both Stony Brook and Suffolk. If you get accepted to both go to Stony Brook and get your BSN directly. Call them and make an appointment to see what prereqs you need for Stony Brook or check website. I met with the assistant Dean Phil Tarrantino(I think thats his name) real nice guy and explains everything clearly. I have a previous Bachelors so I wanted stony brook but one of my letters of recommendation was recieived to late. For Stony Brook you may need organic Chem and take Physics as well because it makes you look more attractive as a candidate. You may want to get a part time job/volunteer as well. Again don't quote me on prereqs for stony brook you have to look into that. For Suffolk try to get above at least a 3.5 between all 4 of those classes although nothing is guaranteed. If your GPA is weak find out about the hospital partnership program between suffolk and the 5-7 local hospitals then get a job at one of those Hospitals - this is a round about way of getting in if your grades are not up to par. Basically the Hospital will pay for your school with a commitment to work their afterwards and grades are not as much a factor for this specific program.....Good Luck and please repond with any ?????'S Mike

That's great and good luck with getting into the program. I will be graduating in December of 2008. My advice is try to do everything in your power to get A's in those 4 core prereq classes such as A&P 1 + 2, Micro, and the other one forget the name. They should make the requirements less objective and more subjective in my oppinion. Well good luck and if you need any advice on studying and the like I could lend a hand. I think the program is great but you may want to get a job as a nursing assistant because there is never enough clinical time. Plus it helps boost your confidence during clinicals.