SarahIN

WWYD if through your training you had nine different preceptors? If sometimes you got a new preceptor mid-shift? If you weren't on the upcoming schedule, though you're scheduled to be off orientation very soon? If you weren't able to get feedback about your performance? If everyone else on the floor knew what holidays they were working - but you still had no idea because you're not on the schedule? If you didn't know how to request vacation time? If your unit PCC thinks everything is a joke and won't answer a direct question? I'm getting worried. This is my first RN position (second career, I'm no twenty something) and these are all big red flags. Your thoughts?

I would agree with 4boysmama: that sounds a lot like my ASN program. We do what you do, minus the phoning physicians. I've never done an arterial blood draw, but I have started an IV. And we have 8 hour days. Some students in my program have 12 hour days.

Wish I had some advice, but I don't. I don't think I can read one more assignment, complete one more online tutorial - ugh. A classmate & I were just talking about how we all look "fluffy" because we've all spent so much time on our behinds studying, and taken in so many calories with stress-eating. (Chocolate chips, anyone?) I'm taking the night off to watch The Walking Dead with my husband. (And no, I don't mean I'm going to stalk my classmates. I'm actually watching the program on AMC.)

There is never a perfect time to have a baby, and there will always be reasons to delay. Just do it. (Says the mom of 5 who had a baby right before entering the program!)

I had my 5th child the semester before I entered the nursing program. He was born in March, and I entered the program in August - he was 5 months old. My husband works nights, so he watched (watches) the kids while I'm in class/clinical. I pumped all through my first two semesters. I found that my clinical instructors were great at helping me find a place to pump at clinical, and my theory instructors were understanding, too. This is a female-dominated field. We get motherhood. You just have to be good at time management!

Hmmm... I'm stuck on Bicitra. I know that it's given to reduce the acidity of stomach secretions prior to c/s, as an aspiration precaution. But I'm stuck on the nursing implications for it. Am I on the right track if I state that a nurse should watch for metabolic alkalosis as a side effect? Is it that potent?

That's helpful Esme, thanks! No, I haven't taken the NRP cert yet. I don't think I will - when I graduate, I hope to be a cardiac nurse (adult) so I'll probably end up ACLS certified.

This is my last semester (WOOT!) and I'm working on a med list for OB that's due 1/25. I have the drug books & references I used for Med Surg and I have my OB book. I'm using Medscape and Epocrates, too. My problem is that some of the meds that I'm looking for are used off-label in OB, so when I look them up in my usual resources I'm not getting the REAL indication for their use in the OB setting. (Like Terbutaline or nifedipine.) Does anyone have a favorite resource for OB drugs that they'd care to share?

Thanks! That makes the picture clearer. I get it, now!

I have five children (ages 12, 9, 6, 4, and 1), I'm in an ASN program, and I work as a student nurse extern one day a week. It's a lot! I have a husband who works nights, and that helps. On days that I'm not in class, I study. When hubby leaves for work, I'm "on duty" as Mom. Everyone in my house knows that I'm getting my degree to help ALL of us. So everyone pitches in. My husband is a HUGE factor in my ability to juggle this. I do struggle, though, with feeling like I can't give 100% to the kids or 100% to school. I balance the best I can.

I'm studying for a neuro test that I have Thursday, trying to figure out why patients who have head injuries (or really, any pathology that causes increased ICP) would have hyperglycemia. Is it related to the brain not getting enough oxygen, leading to anaerobic metabolism? But why would that cause increased glucose? I get that anaerobic metabolism causes acidosis, that it is inefficient, that it doesn't promote the energy needed to propagate an action potential - but why the hyperglycemia?

Before I went back to school, I looked at IUPUI, Ivy Tech, and Marian. Marian was my first choice, but money was a huge factor. When I compared the credits I had at IUPUI already (my first degree is there) and figured out what I'd need to do to get into the program there versus Ivy Tech, Ivy Tech got me out a semester faster with a HECK of a lot less tuition! Then I found out that IUPUI has a program for RN to MSN for people who have an unrelated bachelor's. So currently I'm a year away from graduating from Ivy Tech with an ASN, and I plan to go back to IUPUI in a couple years and go straight to my MSN, skipping the BSN altogether. (And hopefully my employer will pay for it!) My suggestion? Sit down and figure it out, timewise, how long it will take you to graduate from each program, and then look at cost. That helped me quite a bit. Good luck with your decision!

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'll be using them!

I'm a 37-year-old mother of five children aged 1-11. We homeschool. I go to school full time. My first semester I got my 4.0. My second semester, I have one B (Med Surg II, missed the A by 8 points.) If you want to do the full-time schedule, it can be done, but as a previous poster said you must, must, must be organized. And you also have to be able to say no to people who want to suck your time away. I'd do the full-time schedule. Being full-time in an organized program won't take any more time than being part-time in an UNorganized program. The time you're saving by being part-time gets wasted by making up for others' lack of preparation.

56 weeks!