MikeH2013

I was a new grad not all that long ago and feeling like a lost sheep once I hit the floor. I couldn't control the learning curve (more like climbing Mt. Everest with a gas station map), but I could control my attitude. I got psyched up every day I we...

Leave Florida? Seriously. Maybe Florida just has a shortage of mental health patients... sunshine and all, but elsewhere psych nurses with a psychology background would be offered a position with the red carpet rolled out. Places in this area active...

I think it depends on the instructor and the academic coach. It also depends on the student as well, I would venture. The bottom line is that this class is designed to generate a "thesis-lite" and preparation for students wanting to progress further ...

Capstone could be renamed Tombstone... if you fall behind. It's an unbelievable deluge of writing, but so far I'm swimming with a 4.0. I know that I'm getting tired and cannot wait for the 5 weeks to end. In week 4 now, and it ends on the 12th of Sep...

If there were Purple Hearts for a nursing class, everyone who survives nursing research would get one. If you don't trust the rest of your group, then you're going to have to take control the rest of the way. That means almost around the clock monito...

From personal experience, the answers to 90% of both quizzes were in the class notes. The other 10% came from the book. Scoring a 90 on each quiz won't hurt in the least. If you have the time to do the work AND read the book, then you won't go wrong....

The book is good to have as a fail-safe. This class is extraordinarily time consuming with OOH, JC club, and article critique. It's like trying to arm-wrestle an octopus with both hands tied behind your back and a fork jabbed in your eye for spite. I...

There are no textbooks for Capstone. This is what you have learned in the previous 11 months (if you ran through it like I did) or two years or so. Think of it like a 'Choose your own adventure' book, where you are given a handful of vague directions...

Well... by this time you probably have already submitted the goal. Future reference, the goal just needs to be S.M.A.R.T. specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound (during the course). There three areas for which you will choose a goal...

Purdue Owl is really the only reference needed - it's online and it's free. Some formatting tricks for Word 2010 and better for those who really "enjoy?" inputting their references one at a time. Type up your reference in Times New Roman 12 pt with ...

Sorry that your experience is so difficult. We had a good group for the most part, and it was still a brutal grind. There are advantages to fewer members involved - less editing for one. There is another user on here, MBrickle, and I would suggest c...

It's no joke, there's a whole lot of researching and citing articles and there isn't a whole lot of time. The AP RN-BSN was designed for working nurses (obstensibly), but apparently these nurses don't work more than three days a week, have no familie...

The quizzes are the easiest part of the course (download and save the notes that the professor has provided). The hardest part is the team - you are assigned a group by the instructor/coach, and each member of that group has to pull their weight or i...

The only book you would be required to buy is if you take the elective 'Medical Terminology' - if you choose not to buy the book, you would still have to purchase the course code, so it's a wash. The other books that I would recommend buying are for ...

Leadership and management will not push you too hard. Follow the rubric and your paper will be fine - side note - some coaches ding hard for minor grammatical errors (my experience in another course), so be thorough and use the spell check. Avoid con...

The JC club paper was the killer. If only I had known about Wiley and Cochrane at the time, so much wasted effort could have been spared going in circles with CINAHL and EsbscoHost. From what we experienced (and read), our group was graded much harde...

I used to use online citation machines like son of a citation machine, but now I prefer the citation managers for ease of use. Google scholar is a good choice for locating documents - I use it as well. I also agree that Ebsco is a nightmare. When I u...

Do you want to take two years to finish this course? Everyone has their own pace, and if that works for you, then by all means it's the path that's best, but you can stack the classes to finish them more quickly. The courses you do not want to stack ...

It is a 5 credit hour, graded course that allows you to really learn time management (can I write a cited paper in under 30 minutes?), presents you with multiple opportunities to stretch your writing skills (or develop carpal tunnel syndrome, but I'm...

Capstone is the final course in the RN-BSN transition and it is ... "undefined". There is a paper that is to be written, but it is up to you as the student to put all of the pieces together. This is proving to be challenging because the directions (a...

As an ADN nurse, you take work where you can find it. There are jobs available, but they may not be the "dream" job you were hoping for when you enrolled in nursing school. Places that are actively seeking employees: DSHS - public mental health inp...

Co-op in Nursing is writing intensive and also requires input from a supervisor where you work. Other than that, it is a fairly easy course and shouldn't give you too much trouble. Note: The course only requires you to cover 120 work hours in the wor...

It's doable, but there are some classes you don't want to stack. Nursing Research tops that list. That is one class that you want to dedicate your undivided attention towards or you will regret ever signing up for the RN-BSN program. I took Research ...

Now that I am awaiting Capstone, I can run back through the courses and state which are killers, potential killers, and just plain serial killers. I tremble at the thought that I might have to bump Nursing Research from its coveted position as the wo...

When in doubt... oh nevermind, there's always doubt because there's no clear answer.