dhelin

Thank you Thank you Thank you. I start my new grad program in a few weeks and this will help so much. I was very confused about sutures when I did my clinicals in the OR during school. You are a wealth of knowledge!!!

I graduated from DSN in December with my ADN. My NCLEX is scheduled for next week, and my new grad program in the OR at Littleton Hospital starts at the end of February. I have classmates with job offers from Sky Ridge and Swedish. Getting a job is going to mainly depend on who you know and where you are placed for some of your clinicals, not necessarily the school (in my opinion). DSN has its share of problems - very disorganized communication from faculty regarding schedule changes and other important information. Clinical placement is a little spotty, we did several rotations in nursing homes rather than hospitals. I won't lie, it was VERY frustrating at times and I will not return to obtain my BSN. But, I also did not want to wait for some of the other schools or pay even more at some of the other private schools. So I guess it is a give and take situation. I do feel like we are very prepared clinically and I feel confident about the NCLEX because of the HESI testing that DSN requires each quarter. Good luck in you decision.

I also am doing my senior internship in surgery. I am very excited, this is what I have wanted for years. The educator for our OR loaned me a couple of books to review before I started. If you are going to a larger hospital, they probably have an education dept that has resources for you. The most helpful has been "Competency for Safe Patient Care During Operative and Invasive Procedures" by Phippen. I had a couple of weeks to look things over and get a little bit of head start. I just completed my first week - it was a huge amount to take in - but I loved it. Good luck to you!