WorkingTowardsBSN

I was just thinking about this today... One year ago today my acceptance letter arrived. Today I had a group presentation for mental health, and I have a pharm exam and a health assessment final tomorrow, with other finals next week. And then I'll have completed year 1 of my 3 year BSN program. It's so funny looking back because I know exactly how you felt. I also know exactly how amazing you're going to feel when that acceptance letter arrives! Keeping my fingers crossed for all of you!

A drop of peppermint oil in each nostril has helped me. I put it on a qtip and swipe.

water bottle, lunch bag, great crock pot recipe book, good planner, LOTS of highlighters, post-it flags, good shoes, good desk or work space, good condensed study guide sheets (I like this and this). And be social! My best study guides have been the friends I've made.

That is going to depend entirely on your school and program. For us, you would have the option for a leave, but it means you're out a year (so if you step out during fall, you can pick up the following fall and you're now a year behind). Personally, I would NEVER choose to have a kid during school. Having a baby while taking your pre-reqs is hard enough, but during nursing school? Its 4x worse. My winter semester started (just for pre-reqs) when my youngest was 8 days old. You don't ever get that time back with your baby, and it goes by SO fast. Is it doable? Yes. But if you have a choice, make a choice. School first, or kids first, but I would never advocate for doing them together.

I'm so over the sexist crap. "Aprons for women." On the whole, I don't complain about my school's uniform because it's all black with red trim. That is, it's black with red trim for women. If you're a guy you can just pick out a top. But we're required to have that red trim because we're women. So our options are already limited unless you have the time, skills, or $$$ to have trim sewn on. Kinda hard to talk about everyone being treated equally when you start day 1 with differentiating between sexes. *rant over*

I turned 28 in June and am about to start my 2nd semester of my BSN program. In fact, there are a lot of other students my age in my program, as well as many older than us. No real advice because I haven't seen this as a disadvantage of any kind. You've got life (and school - I hear you on the 10 years of college!) experience to help prepare you for entering the program. I'll tell you what I tell anyone starting a nursing program: it's an entirely different kind of experience, no matter how much college experience you've had! Like you, I've been in college for 10 years before starting my program and this really is unlike anything I've done to this point. Don't beat yourself up if you struggle with it at first. Make friends and study with them. That was hard for me, but it really does help. Don't be afraid to talk to your professors, whether you're struggling or excelling. They're there for a reason. Good luck!

I'm going to pray that it snows so I can play in it with my kids! Will be getting ready for Christmas (wrapping, cooking, cleaning, decluttering, donating, etc!) and then also celebrating my baby girl's 2nd birthday. Mostly just looking forward to NOT studying, NOT reading (textbooks, at least!) and just enjoying my family! :-) Break cannot come soon enough!!!

Do you hate this because of the hospital you're in? Have you felt like this during your other clinical experiences? Maybe it's just the floor/specialty you're working in? I'm sorry I don't have any real advice for you. I'm hoping that your frustration is due to feeling overwhelmed combined with not liking the facility/floor you're working on (or maybe the staff you're working with?). IMO, I wouldn't walk away from it. There are so many other options available to you with your degree.

But that's just it - you aren't the only person working with your patient. You don't have to like it, but it's vital.

First of all, HUGE props to you for making it happen as a single parent. It's hard enough to do having my husband to help me, I can't imagine how you're doing it on your own! That's AMAZING! Next, I hear you about finishing the pre-reqs! It took me a long, long time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, but I'm so glad it's finally here! Keep your chin up - you'll be in a program before you know it!

I just started my BSN program this fall. We are fortunate to be able to live off of my husband's salary, so I quit my job when I started the program. My kids are almost 4 and almost 2. My rule is that my books do not come out until the kids are in bed (or once in a while I get them playing a game or watching a video and I'll read while they're doing that). I do homework during nap time and once they go to bed. It was really important to me to give them my full attention, and to not let my relationship with them (or my husband) suffer because I'm in school. So far we're all managing really well. I won't tell you it's easy, because it's not. But there is an end in sight (April/May 2015 to be exact), and I do have summers off, so we're all just dealing with it a semester (or week or even day) at a time.

I think it's great that you're trying to help your students get as much experience as possible! I start my clinicals this week and I know I would appreciate that. Have you asked your students if there is anything specifically they would like to observe/practice? That might vary greatly just from student to student. I know I hope to observe and assist with as much as possible, routine or not.

The paperwork is how you protect yourself and your patient. Like you, I'm not really a fan of all the documentation, but it helps me to view it as a way to continue to care for the patient (make sure the most UTD and accurate info is there for the next shift/doc/etc). I can't think of a scenario where you're not going to have to chart. It's part of the game. But there's always an aspect like this of anything you do, ya know? Any career is going to have an aspect that doesn't appeal to you. It's just a matter of how much you enjoy the other parts and if that's enough to make up for how much you despise the charting.

Are you meeting with your professors? Are you talking to anyone in the year ahead of you who can tell you how they studied? Are you meeting with tutors? Are you spending extra time practicing your skills? Are you spending enough time studying your texts? Are you making flash cards? Are you recording your lectures and reviewing them at home or in the library? Are you involved in a study group? Are you reaching out to an academic advisor for study tips/advice? If you answered no to any one of these questions, I would reassess how you're studying. Don't assume that this isn't meant to be your path if it's what you're passionate about. Nursing school is difficult, an accelerated program even more so. Utilize the resources available to you. But don't wait for the end of the semester to figure out that things aren't working for you. You may just need to shift how you're reinforcing the information. You can do it!!! Just find what works for you. You seem very dedicated, so I absolutely believe you can find a way to not only pass, but do even better.

2015 here, too! I started last month for my BSN program.