HM-8404

You are seeing why the burn-out rate is so high it the ER. I have been an ER nurse for several years, from level 1 trauma center to a third world type hospital in the US. The problem I see with ER's is administration does not want anyone sitting in the "waiting room" when there is an empty bed in the back. Even if the nurse for that empty bed already has three critical patients that will be going to an ICU. ER's are chronically understaffed, but that has no bearing on the quality of care administration expects. They are more concerned about your charting so they can bill for everything than they are if the patient is safe. I have had jobs where the nurse transports their own patients upstairs along with doing total care. I am at the point where I am looking around to see what else is out there. The stress starts taking a toll on your health as well as your family after a while. Beware taking travel assignments. Most places that bring travelers in it is because the place is so crappy to work in they cannot get local nurses to work there.

I just finished my 4th semester and will start my last in January. I am a solid A/B student. I will put some info here that may be helpful to those just starting out and still new to nursing school. 1. Nursing school is NOT hard. It is VERY time consuming. Those not willing to dedicate the time to actually learn this stuff will not be in nursing school long. 2. The amount of work required each semester is insane. If in the past you studied by reading the entire chapter you need to find another study system. Often tests will be 2-3 weeks apart and cover multiple chapters in several books. 3. Learn how to do dimensional analysis dosage calculations ASAP. You can get by with the others in the early semesters but later you will need to know DA. Learn it now and get good at it. Get so good you can do it in your sleep. We had several people fail to reach 95% on the dosage calculation test this (4th) semester and they were put out of the program. 4. If you must join a study group make sure there are not more than 3-4 or it becomes a social hour instead of study time. Also, make sure you are all on the same level. If your group just wants to keep their grades up do not allow someone that is struggling to pass in. Your group will suffer trying to teach the other person. 5. Remember why you are in school, to become a nurse, not to make friends. Passing must be your priority. Don't get involved in fellow students drama (boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, kids, job, teacher problems). 6. On your first day of class look to your left and to your right. Chances are only one of you will be at graduation. For the next five semesters you have to make sure it is you.

I started reading this tread to see what those in the medical community would be suggesting needs to be done to prevent many of these deaths since they are occurring in your "place of business." The more I read the more perplexed I became. The same group of people that are all for revoking the 2nd amendment because criminals use guns to kill tens of thousands a year in our country will make excuses for and deny the fact that hundreds of thousands are killed each year by their own peers (medical professionals) due to sloppy work. Are the lives of the sick entrusted to your care less deserving than those gunshot victims?

The best route for you is whichever you decide is best. You stated either way you do it you will have BSN in 2016. Can you afford to wait until 2016 to get a job or would starting to work in 2015 be better? However it is often unrealistic to think one can grad with ADN one year and have BSN the next. My local university for example admits RN-BSN students only in the Fall. They must be licensed RN's by the June admission deadline. The local ADN programs don't graduate students until May. Grad in May and have passed the NCLEX-RN by early June is often impossible. Not to mention there are often pre-reqs that still need to be completed.

Your Father-in-law's statement is so bizarre I would like to know his thinking. Is he saying this because his son is working 75 hrs a week to pay all the bills plus put you through school? Is he realistic enough to know your husband cannot do this for the next 4 years? Does he have serious doubts you will be successful in nursing school? I would really like to know why he feels the way he does. I have been trying my best to get my daughter-in-law off her butt and back in school because I see how hard my son has to work to support their family.

Too many people enter nursing school thinking since they breezed through English, Speech, and Anatomy they will breeze through Nursing School. Most of those people breeze their way right into the parking lot as they fail. Every program in my area has close to a 70% attrition rate. My class started last Fall with 150ish people. Over the past three semesters we have lost some, picked up some that failed last time around, and picked up some LPN bridge students. There is currently 53 registered to enter 4th semester on the 19th. It is better for people to go in thinking it is much worse than it is rather than to go in thinking it is easier than it is. There are a lot of rude awakenings after that first test in nursing school, and it just gets harder from there.

I don't pay for a syllabus but I do pay technology fees and testing fees per hour as part of my tuition. I assume those fees cover my syllabus and such.

If your back is too weak to carry a textbook and a notebook in a backpack how on Earth are you going to help reposition a 250# pt? The main point I was trying to make is students don't need to bring everything they own that is nursing school related to class everyday. It does not take but a couple of classes to determine what you will need for that class.

I HATE rolling backpacks! It should be illegal to bring one into a school building. Here is what happens, you have 75 or more people trying to use the same hallway at the same time and in the middle is students with rolling backpacks creating a tripping hazard with everyone bunched up behind them. They then try to drag the things down the isle or up the steps, if stadium seating. Once at their seat they block half the isle with their backpack causing everyone to have to step over or around it. Once everyone is settled in they take out their notebook and the textbook needed for that class. You may have 25 nursing books but you will never need all of them in class at once. I've noticed the slowest moving people in class are those with rolling backpacks. Just get a regular JanSport style backpack, take inside only the books you need for that class, you will not need your Psych Nursing books during Pharm. You will also not need your Medical encyclopedia, or your Made Easy and For Dummies books during your Pediatric Nursing lectures.

After 18 replies I noticed not a single nurse said they needed APA to do their job. Nursing schools need to focus more on the important "need to know" stuff and not the "good to know" stuff. Teach me what I need so I will be somewhat competent my first day on the job, not what I may need several years down the road if I get burnt out and go into research. Who's to say APA will not be outdated by then? Who's to say we will still remember that 5+ years from now?

I'm not sure if the standards are local or national, but in my area the ADN students graduate with many more patient care clinical hours than the BSN students do. In the last semester of nursing school both are doing preceptorships, plus while the BSN students are hanging out with the nurse managers for their management class the ADN students are doing more patient care clinicals.

Often people get inked or pierced to show they are unique. They fail to realize so many people have tatts and piercings now there is nothing unique about it, they are the status quo. I have 5 tatts, all over 20 years old, that can all be covered with a t-shirt because there are times when I didn't want them showing, ie.. church, meeting a woman's parents for the first time. I regret all of them except one. The tatts that look cool with nice color and great detail will look like a prison tatt after many years.

I wear a Luminox diver's watch everyday I have worn for over 15 yrs. I like it because it is lightweight, waterproof, easy to read in low light, and almost indestructible. It is actually on it's 4th or 5th band. To replace it would cost about $300.

I would suggest not taking micro in the short summer semester. Take it in the Spring with your A&P 2 class. Many of the people I am in school with did that. You can then take your humanities class in the summer.

I am wrapping up my third semester of nursing school. I never took a terminology class and have not needed it. You will learn the terminology you need as you go along. I suggest saving your money.