itk3838

Do we have any prototype in US? My search engine is showing me regular Foley catheters, none of them even close to the one above.

Thank you, Heather! I looked at the link, do you know how it really works? From 3 small pictures I can't imagine the right procedure? Do you have any more info on that?

Dear follow nurses, one of my friend needs help with interpretation into English one term - "the electrode catheter's for bladder stimulation" - is it even exist? Do you have American brand or company who produce such a device. We are trying to help oncological patient, and his doctor suggested that this catheter can prevent bladder inflammation. Sorry, my specialty is in Adult Psych/ Neurology. If you know anything about it, really anything even a link, please let me know. I thought of this InterStim neurostimulator, but may be I'm wrong. http://professional.medtronic.com/pt/uro/snm/prod/interstim-ii/index.htm#.UjUHtdK1Gjs Greatly appreciate your help! ITK

Day 6, Monday -10/22/12 1. Finished Saunders Chapter 12 and 13 - "Nutrition and Parenteral Nutrition". Questions 77-102. 2. Nursing skills review: Chapter 31 " Nutrition"- "Basic Nursing" by P. Potter and A. Perry 3. "Medical terminology" by A. Prendergast - Chapter 6 - "Plural endings". 4. La Charity - Chapter 6 "Respiratory problems" ( questions 1-35). 5. Pharmacology - Anti-Infective Meds for this week - 6 day -Antibiotics - Penicillins /Beta-lactams, penicillinase-resistants (13) 6. Anatomy and Physiology - Lecture 7. Links are included in my first post. You can listen them on iTunes. 7. Pathophysiology - Lecture 6. Can't do nursing without it!!! 8. Lab values - from Saunders Chapter 11 - Lab. values - review every day!!! 9. Saunders Questions & Answers review - Chapter 7, questions 126-150.

You see..."WorldTravelingYogi", here we go again on a religion! Obviously you need to work on that!!! :) As a Nurse you will be surrounded by clients with different cultural believes and instead of using your therapeutic communication you will talk about Tooth Fairy? If people find comfort in chanting - it is for their own comfort, if they fear and find peace in their prayers them let them be. I came across one returned missionary who served mission in third world country, who now can't hear God's name in common language because he saw so much pain and suffering. Nursing forum is not just for ventilation purposes and it is not a secular place. Secular place is a club where not all members invited! Nursing is not one of these clubs. I wish you to become a Nurse that everyone will cry on your shoulder!

I'm glad you like it! How does my origination relates to this post? I noticed that in USA people tend to ask this question to foreigners out of curiosity or lack of subordination. I should say that we are all from the same Universe! I call US my home and spent more then half of my life here. It is very sensitive topic for me like religion for others. I traveled around the world and found welcomed in all places. I don't discriminate others who are not native to this Land and grow up in the country with hundreds of different dialects and nationalities. If it's a patient, I will ask about their background for assessment purposes but otherwise don't ask me that question. Even for me it is hard to simply put my own nationality since I was born in one country, raised in multiple others and settled in US. :)

Good morning everyone! I used Nursing Drug Book, search online and "Pharmacology Nursing Process" book.

Let me ask you: " What irritates you so much when people are wishing you well?" I'm trying to understand your point of view... I was raised as atheist and our medical school had atheism as important subject for our studies. We went in depth through so many cultural believes. I only wish schools in America will teach you that. If you can't handle when your professor were saying "God bless you" or other fellow nurses comments - then you need to investigate what is behind your own believe system. Because I see your professor less hostile towards students then you towards anybody who mention Gods name in common language. I went through Kaplan course myself and can't say anything less about their program. I like their strategy and Decision tree. But at this time I decided to go over ATI course. https://www.atitesting.com/Home.aspx Their overview is in more depth and on a top of everything they assign a mentor who will guide you through your preparation to the exam. Their questions are harder then Kaplan and actual exam. I will advise you to prepare well on your first try otherwise it will be harder to pass. Every single time system remembers your previous mistakes and digs dipper into your knowledge. This why I took Anatomy and Pathophisiology on iTunes so my medical terminology will not fail this time. Since you are an English speaker and went through school here you have less things to worry about. Like you mentioned about your attention span - create controlled environment for your own studies. You need study buddy who will be more in control then you. Get yourself accountable! Mentor will help too! I found myself that all these review programs are great but nothing can be better then Refresher course through reliable college or University. Bay Area has several places like that where you can talk with Program Director and attend their hands on Lab's. Don't blame your school for lack of knowledge... I spoke with a lot of nurses with BSN who knew just basic when they started to work at the hospital and it was a hit of reality on a floor for them. Some are left profession for good, some overcame challenges and working now at great clinics. Nursing pathways are not covered with roses but it's a great pleasure to offer your shoulder for the ones who needs it the most. I worked as RN before, traveled a lot too and can compare education and medicine. Americans are so fortunate to have what they have but most of these things are taken for granted. In "third world countries" nurses are making their own cotton balls and dressings, disposable needles are miracles, lack of medications and simple surgical instruments... not to mention diagnostic tools... Using "Doppler" for pregnant women??? Forget about it!!! My list can go on and on. I will continue my posts, thank you for noticing and I'm glad you like it! Pharmacology I took from several sources: mostly from Nursing Drug book, online search and "Pharmacology Nursing Process" book. We had some copyrights issues there but I will try to fix it by publishing my own notes about Pharm from now on. :-) If you will have any hard times understanding something - keep in touch! I will share with you everything that I know. That was on my Readiness test, Q-Bank was 72%, and Diagnostic 56%.

Day 5, Saturday -10/20/12 1. Finished Saunders Chapter 11 - "Laboratory Values". Questions 63-76. 2. Nursing skills review: Chapter 9 "Communication"- "Basic Nursing" by P. Potter and A. Perry 3. Medical terminology by A. Prendergast - Chapter 5 - "Medical Specialists and specialties". 4. La Charity - Chapter 5 "Infection control" ( questions 1-23). 5. Pharmacology - Anti-Infective Meds for this week - 5 day -Antibiotics - Monobactams (5) 6. Anatomy and Physiology - Lecture 6. Links are included in my first post. You can listen them on iTunes. 7. Pathophysiology - Lecture 5. Can't do nursing without it!!! 8. Lab values - from Saunders Chapter 11 - Lab. values 9. Saunders Questions & Answers review - Chapter 7, questions 101-125.

I scored 67 % on Kaplan before I took my exam and I still didn't pass... As a foreign nurse, my problem is in terminology and abbreviations. I was advised by my friend who took exam and passed on a first try - besides reviewing your materials try to understand how things really works, ask yourself a lot of questions during your studies and paraphrase something that is very hard for you to grasp. Evaluate your study abilities... some people better in groups, some are visual learners... it will help you to choose adequate program. :) I found ATI program for myself. How did you choose your school? With religious topics... I try to understand people instead of criticizing them... Some day you can have a client with totally different point of view then yours and what are you going to do? It is part of who you are and try not to ignore important values because religion can have such a strong effect on everything... life style, food, habits :-) I know some people find comfort in blessings and some are just atheistic. Try to think like a Nurse! If you have problems with your studies - feel free to connect!

Thank you "Esme12" for editing out thread! We will try to respect copyrighted materials and post only our own notes. I think most of us will agree with that!

Mine is scheduled on Feb 18th, if I finish my review sooner then I will reschedule. How about yours?

Dear readers! Please review testing rules, it is very important to know so you will avoid any possible failures. Read it very carefully prior to your exam. https://www.ncsbn.org/1268.htm

This is free Kindle edition of Kaplan RN course book. May be it will save you some money on review books. The RN Course Book: Kaplan: Amazon.com: Kindle Store

Day 4, Thursday -10/19/12 1. Finished Saunders Chapter 10 - "Acid-Base Balance". Questions 53-62. 2. Nursing skills review: Chapter 15 - "Fluid, Electrolytes and Acid-Base Balance"- "Basic Nursing" by P. Potter and A. Perry 3. Medical terminology by A. Prendergast - Chapter 4 - "Medical instruments and machines". 4. La Charity - Chapter 4 "Immunologic Problems" (1-24 questions). 5. Pharmacology - Anti-Infective Meds for this week - 4 day -Antibiotics - Macrolides and lincosamides (7) 6. Anatomy and Physiology - Lecture 5. Links are included in my first post. You can listen them on iTunes. 7. Pathophysiology - Lecture 4. Can't do nursing without it!!! 8. Lab values - from Saunders Chapter 10 - Acid-Base Balances. 9. Saunders Questions & Answers review - Chapter 7, questions 76-100.

Good day everyone! So happy to hear that this post helps you with your studies. It is not that complicated... persistence is the key! Yesterday was my birthday and I will post my progress today. Let's continue!

Sounds like you exhausted yourself and depression is kicking in. All I can read in your post is negative with so much anger. Are you doing any physical or any other exercises to take some physical and emotional load off your shoulders? Night shifts can be tougher then day shifts, and if you are not a night person... it can put even more pressure on you. Try to evaluate what you really like and find pleasure to expend your perspectives about medical field. There are so many possibilities after you get that licence. Wish you the best!

Dear nurses! Tomorrow, Oct 18th, Kaplan is holding free online seminar about critical thinking. If any of you are interested you can enroll today. Event Schedule

Day 3, Wednesday -10/17/12 1. Finished Saunders Chapter 9 - "Fluids and Electrolytes". Questions 36-52. 2. Nursing skills review: Chapter 7 - "Nursing Process"- "Basic Nursing" by P. Potter and A. Perry 3. Medical terminology by A. Prendergast - Chapter 3 - "Medical conditions and diseases". 4. La Charity - Chapter 3 - Fluids and Electrolytes ( 21 questions). 5. Pharmacology - Anti-Infective Meds for this week - 3 day -Antibiotics - Fluoroquinolones ( 9 ) 6. Anatomy and Physiology - Lecture 4. Links are included in my first post. You can listen them on iTunes. 7. Pathophysiology - Lecture 3. Can't do nursing without it!!! 8. Lab values - from Saunders Chapter 9 - Fluids & Electrolytes. 9. Saunders Questions & Answers review - Chapter 7, questions 51-75

Wish you all to be as wise as an owl!

Problem with that is if you don't know the content you end up memorizing bunch of trivia without knowing the roots. After a while you will answer more and more questions correctly but did you really prepare yourself for everyday challenges? Practice is the key here - I do agree with that! As a foreign nurse I have to admit lot's of things must be reviewed before I sit for exam. :)

Day 2, Tuesday -10/16/12 1. Finished Saunders Chapter 8. Questions 26-35 after this chapter. 2. Nursing skills review: Chapter 5 - Ethics - "Basic Nursing" by P. Potter and A. Perry 3. Medical terminology by A. Prendergast - Chapter 2. I'm foreign nurse and need to review medical terminology with abbreviations. 4. La Charity - Chapter 2- "Cancer" (27 questions). 5. Pharmacology - Anti-Infective Meds for this week - 1 day -Antibiotics - Cephalosporins ( 22 ) 6. Anatomy and Physiology - Lecture 3. Links are included in my first post. You can listen them on iTunes. 7. Pathophysiology - Lecture 2. Can't do nursing without it!!! 8. Lab values - Albumin, Alcohol, Aldolase(ALD), Aldosterone, Alkaline phosphatase (ALP). 9. Saunders Questions & Answers review - Chapter 7, questions 26-50.

Saunders has assessment test - I scored 60%. Did you use pre-diagnostic test with Hogan's CD? What are your weak points in Endocrine system? I'm trying to understand and not to memorize content, if I have some problems I go back to Pathophysiology... My house is covered with sticky notes. I spread all materials that I planned for a day for 15-20 minutes increments. I don't study for hours straight because it is not effective! Later on you will be able to recall these tons of information from long term memory.

I will be glad to ease someone's struggles with exam preparations. We are in the same boat! Keep study!!!

Dear "begosh"! I do have that book too, I like to have her as a backup resource, if I stumble in some areas, but I found her questions very easy... not like on actual exam. Chapter 42 - you are a head of me, looking forward for our challenge! If you have questions or just can't find something, let me know. It is really doesn't matter what book to use as long as we have simple outline to cover for our exam. Best wishes on your studies!!!