BEW612

I know a couple of very educated nurses that work for Taylor. Although I didn't go there myself I will offer one piece of advice. A lot about nursing school is what you make of it and how much you apply yourself, pay attention and learn the material. Good luck to you!

Patients that come in for N/V/D/ABD pain. Then in the same freaking breath tell me the nausea and pain meds didn't work and also that they are hungry and want a sandwich. One or the other folks. Either I can get you something else for the nausea or you can sign out, go home, and eat whatever the heck you want. Patient says "My ICD fired and I passed out." I call St. Jude to come interrogate pacer/defib. St. Jude rep wakes up and comes in only to find out the patient has no defibrillator. Patients who request not to see certain doctors. Patients who yell at me because the basin doesn't fit in the bedside commode to their liking. Why can't they just be happy they aren't the one that has to get it out of there after they crapped in it? I walk out of a code to get something important...patient family member in another room stops me to ask something to drink then looks put out when I tell them to give me a few minutes. Patient visitors that stand in the doorway and stare at me while I chart. Obviously I'm lazy and surfing the net. The floor asks me to hold my patient 30 minutes because the same nurse just got a patient 15 minutes ago. Patient has surgery at another area hospital. Comes to see me 2 days later when the wound is infected and I have to transfer them back Mom signs in all 5 of her children for multiple complaints under the "since were already here" philosophy. Mom and Dad bring in all 5 children when one is sick. Calling ambulance for non emergency events that could wait til morning. Guess what folks, my ED will take you off the stretcher, pull the line and send you to the waiting room. Wasting my time doing a full work up on a patient who ends up signing out AMA because he/she really needs a cigarette right now. Patient unresponsive since 0800. Nursing home calls 911 at 2000. And the list goes on.... This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Anything I need I can usually find on amazon for cheaper than the nursing supply type websites. My school gave us a little kit to start off. I would wait and see what they give you and go from there. The one thing I got in addition to what they gave us that was helpful was a clipboard that opens up and can keep papers inside as well. I also keep extra penlights on hand and sharpies for writing on dressings.

Old Opie Occasionally Tries Trig And Feels Very Gloomy Vague And Hypoactive Olfactory Optic Occulomotor Trochlear Trigeminal Abducens Facial Vestibulocochlear Glossopharyngeal Vagus Accessory Hypoglossal

Alegrias are really comfortable...I have those and a cheap pair of nikes from TJ Maxx that I rotate sometimes.

I have an extra...mostly because sometimes I lose an earpiece or something while I'm at clinicals and don't have time to replace it before I go back to clinicals again the next day. My nursing school gave us a crappy prestige one though, so I only actually paid for one of mine.

We practiced on a plastic arm in lab and are allowed to do it depending on the facility and the nurses...always with either the RN or our instructor. I have only had the opportunity to attempt one on a very tiny old lady with tiny veins and it didn't happen for me...but it made me feel a little better when my instructor, a practicing ER nurse, couldn't get a good stick either.

I found that it helped to focus on how I would communicate with a person who had each kind of disorder that we studied. Such as with someone having a hallucination saying "I don't see anything, that must be frightening for you." Most of my questions were focused that way and not on simple comprehension of conditions or medications. It took me a while to get it right and I didn't end up with an A is psych because of it.

I don't feel like not having it has created a huge problem for other people in my class, but they always have a lot more questions than I do related to terminology.

Medical terminology was very helpful for me and I would recommend it. My class was online though, so it was basically reading the book and doing the book work which you could do on your own. We used the medical terminology book by Davi-Ellen Chabner. I think it was called The Language of Medicine. That one is very in depth and much more worthwhile than the other book she authored which is a short course version.

First, congratulations on your acceptance into not one but two nursing schools! This is just my two cents as I live in Virginia Beach and don't have experience with either of those schools. I would go to Germanna and get the RN. Then get a job and go back for the BSN and hopefully find a place to work that has tuition reimbursement for the BSN. Of course, it's ultimately up to you and I hope whatever you decide works out well for you.