margritamix

I'm starting tomorrow :)

To anyone in the Winter 2013 cohort......I am excited hopefully meet (or at least, see) you guys this coming friday for our orientation. Hopefully we will finally get all of our questions answered as we have been waiting to start in the program.

bump!

Thanks guys for your invaluable comments and suggestions! :)

Hello everyone, I am going to be starting nursing school in this coming Winter 2013. In the meantime, I have been perusing this sight, reading what other students are currently going through as they start their own journey through nursing school. I then got to thinking that a lot of these students are having a tough time transitioning their critical thinking skills and study techniques from a "pre-requisite state of mind" to "nursing school state of mind". Since I have almost 3.5 months to go before starting school, I would like to know if there is anyway I can prepare myself in order to be able to land on my feet when I start in January, besides reviewing anatomy and physiology and reading the "Test Success" book by Ms. Vitale. Can I try to learn more effective study skills or get a head start on learning how to think critically for school? Is there even such a thing as learning how to think critically? Any help will be appreciated!

Thanks hereshoping and goodluck to you all! :)

Hello everyone! Long time no talk :) I am very excited for the Bellevue Fall 2012 cohort, especially since you guys are going to be starting school soon. Good luck and I hope you guys totally take advantage of the rest of your summer days before the craziness of nursing school begins :) On a different note, I would just like to ask the Fall 2012 cohort if you guys have already received reading and workbook assignments that need to be done before coming to class. I have been reading the General Nursing Student section of allnurses.com and I couldn't help but notice that a lot of nursing school across the country have already started to assign pre-nursing school homework. Are you guys in the same boat? If not, have you guys done any preparation before the start of class on Sept. 18? Or are you just going to enjoy the rest of the summer with friends and family? Hope you all have a good one!

Thanks for all the thoughts and comments!

Thanks for everyone who's responded and I'm glad that other people have found this thread to be helpful. Keep the thoughts and comments coming! :)

Thanks a lot of your input GrnTea! I have read your other posts before and I truly enjoyed them :) I do hope I get more responses! Any advice from the "old-timers" or new grads, or anybody who has "been there, done that" is like pearls of wisdom from a newbie like me!

Hello guys! Recently, I have been looking at threads in the career section of allnurses and I noticed a disturbing trend. Namely, that there is a big disconnect to what the internet says about job projection (ahem, Yahoo! News) and the real world of nursing grad jobs. I have been talking to some of my coworkers who have recently graduated from NS and have already passed their NCLEX and were also lucky enough to secure a nursing job right away. I then talked to them and asked them what they wish they knew/had done before and while in nursing school. Almost all of them stressed to me that I should find a CNA job while in nursing school in order to have an easier time to network after graduation, which will ultimately lead to an RN job. Anyway, for new grads (or anyone who is almost done with NS!) do you have one, ultimate piece of advice that you would like to give to someone like me who is about to start nursing school? Any help will be appreciated!

I was very young when my family and I moved to America. I remember being 11 years old and not knowing how to speak english to any of my classmates. It was a very frustrating year for me. However, I was able to learn how to speak english, use proper grammar, and above all, spell english words correctly simply by reading a lot. I remember going through newspapers, periodials, short stories, comics, scientific journals, anything I could get my hands on just so I can read and learn more english. I also tried speaking and writing to other people, such as my teachers, friends, and family members and have them correct any grammar or spelling mistakes that I have made in my notes. I learned how to speak, read, and write English 11 years ago. If I can do it, you can too!

Thanks hereshoping! I bet you're excited to get started in the fall!

Hereshoping, is the student success class like a study techniques class?

Thanks Bandaide for all the info! By the way, I hope you are enjoying your vacation time before you start looking for your first nursing job! Well guys, it seems like we have our work cut out for us in nursing school

Thank you Hygiene Queen and Abigail612 for the replies! I am comforted by the fact that even the both of you (who have more experience than I do) have been able to get past these challenging situations. I think that it is now very important for me to gain more knowledge and experience in order to work with more challenging clients and as Abigail as said, take the time to gain the patient's trust.

Hello everyone, I would just like to know if you guys think that I don't have a chance of being a good (or at least competent) nurse based on what happened to me at work today: I work in a home health agency and today was my first day working by myself with my new client. She requires quite a lot of help since she cannot really move around anymore. She is a particularly detailed person and she wants things to be done exactly as she wants. I had no problem working with her up until I had to transfer her from her bed to her mobile chair using the hoyer lift. Now, I have used the hoyer lift before with other patients, so I was by no means new to the idea of it. However, I could not transfer my patient because she said that I wasn't aligning the sling properly against her body. When I tried to roll her over so that we can work on realigning the sling again while she was on the bed, she then got really frustrated that I couldn't just pull the sling underneath her so we could straighten it out without having to keep turning her over. So I then tried to pull the sling to the side so I can straighten it out and she just told me to stop, presumably because it was rubbing on her skin. She then had me call someone else to do the transfer. I am not really sure what I could have done better other than just making sure that I aligned the sling against her body really well to begin with so that we didn't have to go through the whole pulling thing. Now, I am really nervous because I feel like if I can't even do a simple hoyer life transfer, how can I become a competent, confident nurse? I'm sure many of you guys have met challenges at your workplaces (be it LTC, home health, etc.) but how were you able to overcome it? I felt like a complete let down and I really had to hold back tears just so I wouldn't cry during my shift. I really appreciate any replies!

wow. Thanks for the reply hereshoping!I am wondering though why med-surf seems to be the weed out course for nursing students. It's making me nervous now to take it

Thanks downton! Did they also give out assigned summer readings for you guys?

Thanks hereshoping! Wow, those averages seem higher to me than they have been from previous years' cohorts. What did you guys find out during your fall orientation? I'm just curious because I would like to know if they are going to talk about our schedules during school. I've had to say "I don't know" to so many people regarding my schedule for next year because I don't know when we would do clinicals and have class time and I don't want to commit to a trip or vacation without knowing that I will truly be able to attend. Thanks in advance for any responses!

So guys, how did your Wednesday orientation go?

I'll probably email Chie tonight about the waitlist. I'll let you guys know what she says.

Good question! First pay off car loan and/or credit card debt. Then invest the rest!

I hope that we'll be able to hear soon about people getting off the waitlist and into Winter quarter! I wonder if there will be as many people getting off the waitlist as there were last year especially since there has been quite a change from Bellevue's admission policy this year.

Wow, thanks for your post! It totally inspired me for when I hopefully start my clinicals this coming Winter quarter :)