Rob27

Do not worry about the other nurses "outgoingness and confidence." The best nurses I have ever seen are shy, quiet, and ask lots of (good) questions. If you don't know it, then that's OK, you can find out. The most dangerous thing in the world is to *think* that you know it, and proceed as such. I see these "outgoing" nurses like this come, and I cannot wait for them to leave because they annoy the hell out of me, and make newer nurses afraid to ask questions.

Exactly. Nearly everyone I work with sleep techs, CT, MRI, US, RT, PT etc makes more than nurses, bosses the hell out of us, and can just dump the patient off in the room and walk away, never having to deal with them for the next 12 hours. Do any of these, just not nursing.

I got sidetracked by your thread, and felt compelled to reply. I do not think it is wise to leave the job you have, UNLESS you feel that you are not happy, and will not be happy in life unless you are nurse. Even then, I nearly promise you will even less happy. I am not sure about the cost of living/pay scales in the area you live in, so all of my opinion is based on default assumptions. If you are making $26-33 per hour, that is more than most patient involved RN's make, in my area at least. I have been a RN for over 6 years, BSN, won awards for patient care, I still work on the same floor(PCU) I started, and I make 28$ base pay. Yes, I could leave for more money, but I have the exactly schedule I need for my child, and I am not sure anyone else would give that to me. My point is, unless you want to travel, (With a child would be hard) I feel like the golden days of nursing are behind us. If I could restart my career when I as younger, it would NOT be nursing.

I don't really understand why it's even in question. Of course the programs weed you out in order to keep their NCLEX rates up. It's in their very best interest to do so. I would be more amazed if they didn't do this. In North Carolina, for example, our State Board will put a school in warning status (and if not corrected pull their approval) if the schools do not keep a 3 year avg above 95% of the National Pass rates. Nearly every college is judged (right or wrong) on the NCLEX pass rate. Administrators pimp that rate if it's good, and start firing people if it's bad. Anyone who thinks this is not the case needs to really wake up. This is why colleges make you take the ATI CARP and HESI? Their excuse is that it makes them able to plan the program better, but if that was the case why require the student to make a certain percent? Just think about it a little bit.

I got accepted into two programs both are small CC programs and I have no idea which to pick. They both have their Pros and Cons. How should I choose? One major Pro is that one program I can get student loans (Stafford) and the other they do not allow you to apply for loans, so the extra money would be a big help, this school is also close to my home. Their NCLEX scores are about the same, however one program this last year admitted 32 and they only have 11 remaining. This scares me a lot because it seems like a huge drop rate in less than 2 semesters. The other program (without student loans) admits around 40 but normally has about 20-25 remaining. It's also a larger school with a newer program. I just really have no idea how to decide or which way to go. Do I go for the student loans or do I shy away from the fact that only 11 is remaining out of the 32? Also one of the programs, the larger one, there is a guy I know that got in, and he is going to it as well so he would like to be study buddies. This could be a major help or distraction I feel like. Any help would be wonderful. I have to turn in my paper work tomorrow.

Could have been my instructor, but it was probably one of the most boring classes I have ever had. I was yawning with tears in my eyes every day. Was not really hard to me though. Just dry and boring as heck. Very Ben Stein like.

Grats

That's not true by any means. I got accepted into two programs this Fall and I have never stepped foot in a CNA program. I know of several schools that is close to me that does not require this. Also to the OP, In my state you can be a visiting student to another school, and your Pell Grant will pay for it. Also the credit hours will add to your "Full Time" student status. It's called a consortium agreement. I feel for certain you should be able to do this with your college, even though it's in a different state. The reason I believe this is because the Pell Grant is a Federal program and it supposed to have the same rules across all states. If it were me, I would check into this. The worse that would happen is that you pay for the CC class out of pocket, which would cost what? $300-400 dollars? Then you take your consortium agreement and receipt to your college FA dept and you get reimburised. I would check with your FA dept and see if they do something like this, and you would be ahead of the game, I feel like.

So one of the programs I got accepted to requires students take the ATI CARP (Comprehensive Assessment and Review Program) at the end of every semester. This will cost us $150 the first time, and $104 every one after. It appears that this is used to make sure the ones still in the program will be able to pass the NCLEX becaue you are required to score a certain percent to stay in the program. Seems like it's not what the CARP was made for, but that's besides the point. So my question is: Does anyone else's program require this? Would this be a "red flag" for this school? I have heard that they admit 40 students and only 10-15 finish the program, partly because of this exam.

The first thing that pops in my mind is: 1) Look up what the condition does, and look at how CO2 is packaged or carried in the blood. Put the information together and you should have an answer. 2) Look at what the by-products of breaking those foods down are. c) I will give you a hint here, look up ketoacidosis, to get an idea of what's going on. Minus the Diabetes. 3) Find out what ADH is, if you don't already know, and that should give you the answer. 4) You should come across the answer for this while searching for question 1, 2, and 1.

Some people say that I come off as a jerk, when I do not mean to, so please forgive me if that is the case here. I find that I come out of a course learning more from a harder professor from an easy one. AP is certainly a course you would like to know as much as you can from. Mine was hard as well, he had class sizes drop down to 1 or 2 people or none. I understand where you are coming from, but if you can somehow get passed his course, you will feel like you can do anything from there out. Basically what I am saying is, use the energy you have as far as hard feelings for your benefit. Be glad knowing your still even in the running to get the B, and that you can pass any other class going forward.

Welcome, welcome. I have not been here long myself, but I stop by every chance I get to read up. I learn something new everytime I stop by, and I am sure your experience will be the same.

Education people on risk, especially young folks, seems to never work for whatever with sun risk. It's been a good 15 years into strong anti-smoking campaigns and higher taxes on the products, and it's still a problem. I don't see this as any different. I tell the teens in my family who tan regularly about the dangers, I have showed them photos and there attitude is "Well I will deal with it when that time comes". If you choose educations, just don't read over a list of "risk". I would, in some way, try to drive it home. Show them how easy it is to apply lotion or whatever vs how costly and difficult it is once you have this condition. Ask them if they like how pretty their skin is now, then show them some photos.

...and if you do choose vaccine. Be sure to check out the FrontLine documentary. It was fairly interesting, I felt like.

As a fellow male student, sucks you didn't make it. At first I thought you were saying that the quality of paper they used was nice haha. It seems that things do happen for a reason and I am sure it will work out nicely for you.

I hate online classes with a passion, although sometimes they are necessary. I cringe everytime I have to sign up for one. To me, it's just a lot of busy work. I like being able to ask a qustion live in class, not through email which I may not hear back from until the next day when I don't even remember what I was talking about myself. Of course, I could have a bias because my school does it a little differently. Most online classes you are allowed to work ahead or at least within a time frame. The online classes at my school for things like exams, you have one day to complete it. So the exam will open up at 6am and close at 6pm or sometimes 11:55pm that night. The problem I have with this is that the 6-6 ones do not give working students or regular students to go through it properly if it's a 1.5 hour exam to start with. My advise would be to tip toe into online classes, one or two at first and see how you like it.

Your GPA and grades seem decent, you just need to up your TEAS scores, as you already noted. The good news is that you have a plan of action and you have already taken it once, so maybe you will not be as nervous the next time around. I know some disagree with this method, but next time around apply to several programs, especially if they require the TEAS, because you already have it. I applied to a couple of programs, both having different entry exams. I found one easier than the other just because it was presented a little differently. Either way I am sorry you did not make it this time around, but I truely believe things have a way of working out, and I am sure it will in your case as well. Good luck.

The kidney's almost sole end goal is to control blood volume. It does this through all the little jobs that it does along the way like filtration, waste removal, etc. I would say that you are on the right track, you're just going the wrong way. Anemia is very common in people with kidney dysfunction. So, bad kidney causes the anemia, anemia doesn't cause the dysfunction. I guess to answer your question, if someone is anemic, the answer could be the kidney.

Grats. It's a great feeling.

I too must report all medications. There was a paper in my acceptance package and I had to list all medications I take regularly, prescribed or otherwise, along with the dosage amount and use amount. i.e. Zoloft 50mg qd

The American Heart Assoc. calls them back blows. Uses the words "gentle blows". I mean I am not sure of any type measurment for this. This is according to my CPR & First Aid book from them.

I agree with above, I don't think she is that great of a friend. If it's your dream, then chase it. Do not let anyone else dictate otherwise.

Well everyone certainly is entitled to their own opinion, that is merely mine. I wouldn't expect everyone to agree. I am perfectly fine with you disagreeing with it. So, let me tell you what I find ridiculous. That would be for someone to apply to a major that they know little or nothing about or what would be expected of them through-out the program as well as the actual career. I have no problem with someone doing research, because Lord knows that's very important. I just think it would have been wise to do it...you know...before actually applying for the program. Not after. I just feel like Nursing is something that you need to be dedicated to. The fact that she/he is already questioning if she/he even wants to do it or not before the first day of class even begins tells me she/he may not be totally invested in it. This is why I said if she/he has to ask someone that could be in another country about if she/he should do it or not, it problably wouldn't be the best field for them. The OP wants to know if there is a chance for her to become "squeamish". There are actually girls I know that have this television show idea of what nursing is like, and that they will just be playing with babies all day. If you have to ask if that's nursing or not, then once again, you probably need to pick another career field. Like I said, Only my opinion.

I don't mean this to sound rude, but if you even have the ask that question then it may not be the correct field for you.

First of all, great thread, read my mind. I am in the same boat. I was thinking about getting the Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment book? I know it's a NCLEX review book, and I have heard good things about it in that respect. I was thinking it could help with some of the exams during nursing school as well.