wsiab

Gotta love those "macrosomic" 6-7 lbers.

We have an 8 bed triage unit staffed with 2 nurses. It works great, the goal is to get an NST and assessment in 20-30 minutes. Women that get sent home are usually there from under 1 hour to 3 hours. For long term observation we will put them in a room based on availability. Women who get admitted are can spend 5 minutes to a few hours there depending on why they are admitted. Of course the clerks and charge nurses are very good about wheeling anyone who has that look (you know, like she is going to pop out a baby on the floor before she can manage to say her name) directly back to a room and getting help.

Holidays off....That's funny. We are required to get christmas or new years off, based on seniority. If your holiday off does not fall on one of your regularly scheduled days off, then you get signed for an extra shift to make up for the day off. Holidays off are like the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and magical chocolates that if eaten between the hours of 1am and 5am have 0 calories.

Definitely not. I took physics as an elective because I loved it in highschool, very fun class, challenging and stimulating but definitely not the most difficult course I took... It just requires strong math skills. Anatomy requires a lot of memorization and lab time, Physiology requires a lot of critical thinking and lab time, and Chemistry requires a lot of memorization, critical thinking, math and lab time. Physics is different than A&P and Chemistry, but not harder... It definitely doesn't stack up to the work load taking two science classes with labs in one semester. Hang in there, your friend is probably just venting.

We started with 36, lost 5 over three years (only one actually left the program, the others did not pass a class and wound up a semester or two behind us), we gained two from the semester ahead of us and one who transferred into our class with credits from another school. Mostly it balanced out, graduated down two total.

Our registrar's office had a form for requesting letters of recommendation that I found useful. On the form you put the reason you were requesting the letter, your GPA, organizations you belong to, activities you participated in, and specific skills or qualities you would like to have addressed in the letter. You filled in specific information the school or scholarship application was looking for in the blanks. I found it very useful in obtaining appropriate letters of recommendation for scholarships and jobs after graduation. Try giving the person an outline with your basic information as well as the information/attributes the school is looking for in the letter that you would like them to address.

You have a patient that wants everything natural...Charge Nurse calls you and asks if you are going to need the anesthesiologis soon because a)he or she is going to bed or b) "we are looking at possible back to back csections soon...If you tell her no....Pt will demand an epidural now, as soon as the anesthesiologist has gone to bed or OR.

Hi Shannon, I don't know if you finished your program yet, but you could talk to the person handling your training program and see what the unit has to train with. We have those plastic dilation models in each room so that if you are ever unsure about an exam you can double check (they can be photocopied and kept in your pocket as well). We also did a skills day in our training program and practiced ve's with boxes that had rubber heads, cervix, etc. Do as many as you can, triage can be a good opportunity for practicing early ve's. The advice about walking your fingers to the cervix is good. Also for a posterior cervix you can try lowering the head of the bed all the way and having her put her fists under her hips. Also could try feeling circular objects around the house and trying to guess the diameter without looking. Hang in there. BTW Congrats to you and family.

Try looking at the patient's diet (specifically protien intake), BUN can be increased by a high protien (meats) diet.

When it comes down to poking eachother, you are usually at a point where you know your classmates very well. There is the expectation that if you are going to learn on someone else that you will allow someone else to learn on you. However, some people absolutely can not deal with being stuck, and I am sure that no one will want you to pass out in class. When we practiced injections and IV's, people that had serious problems with needles were up front about it and there was usually a friend that did not mind needles so much and was willing to be practiced on by two people to balance things out. I volunteered for a few additional injections/venipunctures, the fewer people that have to be picked up off the floor the better. Just be upfront with your peers and instructors. P.S. don't feel bad if you do get sick or pass out. For venipuncture in particular, there were a few people that had never had a problem before and still did....It happens.

Bricklayer's Lament by the Cory Brothers

I agree with Heather and Caroleann. I am just finishing up a three month L&D training program (including circulation for sections, and mom/baby recovery)and that seems to be the norm. We had a couple weeks of classes and then switched over to one class per week and 3 clinical days with preceptors. 3 months does seem kind short to do L&D, post partum and nursery. Congratulations on Graduating, and good luck with your new position.

San Francisco Bay Area, California. $24-$28 plus differential.

A&P can be difficult, but I do agree that if you are doing well in A&PI you could probably handle A&PII over the summer. We seperated A&P, I took anatomy over the summer (5 units in 6 weeks) and still did well. I would recommend taking algebra another time if you are taking A&P over the summer if at all possible, especially if math is challenging for you. Summer units take up a lot more class and study time per week. Look at how many units the classes will be combined, if you are trying to cram over half of a regular semester's full time units into 6 or 8 weeks, study time and scheduling the courses may be difficult, especially with lab courses. I did summer classes almost every summer while in school and it did help cut down on my general ed load so that I could focus more on my nursing courses. Good luck, it can be done. [This message has been edited by wsiab (edited March 12, 2001).] [This message has been edited by wsiab (edited March 12, 2001).]

We had to do the same thing for our rotation, our instructor provided us with a list of common OB meds to make cards for (it wasn't very long, maybe 20-30 meds). The meds can be found in you standard drug hand book. If you are looking to cut down on prep time, consider splitting the work with friends since you all have to make the same cards. Also if you can't find one or two of the meds in your drug book, ask a friend it's probably in theirs or look online.

23 - graduated 12/2000 My class ranged from 22-45, most were in the 25-30 range.

Looking at your original post, it appears to me that one of the programs you may be considering would be Samuel Merritt's ELMS program. I recently graduated from their BSN program. One thing to be aware of is that an entry level masters degree in nursing is not an advanced practice degree. Yes you come out of the program with a masters in nursing/ case management, however, this does not qualify you for to be a NP. Half way through the program you are able to sit for NCLEX RN. The program is designed for students that want to become RNs and already have Bachelor's degrees in other areas. If you want to become a NP and start with an entry level masters program, you will still have to go into an advanced practice NP or PA program afterwards. I think this also may be the difference between prerequisites that you may be encountering, entry level programs require only the same prerequisites as your basic RN program. NP/PA programs are advanced practice programs. I do know that Samuel Merritt does have an NP program that does not have a lot of practice requirements, because some of my classmates are going directly into it next fall, youm ay be able to do the ELMs program and go directly into an NP program....It might be a good idea to schedule an appointment with Anne Seed, she is very friendly, she can go over the programs with you and help you figure out what classes you may need to take before entering the program (it's what she does).

sorry about the typos, I broke my finger the other day.

A good place to start is with the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) to see what type of federal sid you qualify for. Also check out what programs the state offers, they are usualy based on your FAFSA score, (CA offers assistance with junior college fee waivers and grants). Check with any organizations you or family members belong to to see if they offer scholarships. Check with your employer to see if they offer education assistance. A good site to look for financial aid online is www.fastweb.com, they have a database you can search for grants and scholarships based on your major, etc.

The school I graduated from offered a RN to BSN program. I think that takes about 14 months to complete (4 semesters full time including summers). The classes for the program were scheduled to allow for students to continue working while earning their BSN.

My experience has been that the nurse is responsible for counting and verifying the current count for narcotics prior to removing the med to pass it. The count can be signed off on a controlled substances sheet, or can be tracked by user ID in a pyxis system.

Hi, I graduated in December, took my boards in January, and passed. Personally, I like the advice that our instructors gave us: that review classes can be helpful, but they are expensive and you can study for the exam and pass without taking them. We were told to evaluate our self study skills and consider whether we could be motivated to review on our own or whether we needed a class structure to follow to keep up the studying. We were told, if we decided to study on our own: 1) to get a good review book with questions (flip through the book and look at the content, read some of the questions to make sure that they are truly NCLEX questions looking for understanding rather than recall) 2)to use the computer programs available at the computer lab/library to practice (I found CAT RN useful and it works just like the test, NSNA's CAT test questions are good too), computer programs can be expensive too. 3) to do a lot of practice questions to get used to NCLEX questions and help with review (we were told 1500 minimum) 4) pace yourself, start with review, uses questions to evaluate yourself for weak content areas, (7 weeks was recommended, I did it in 5) 5) if you have a study group from school, keep meeting and study together (we did it once a week, for each area there was always some one that knew it well and served as a good resource, and we kept each other motivated) I don't know anything about the Lagerquist classes, however I do have friends who did Kaplan. Some have stated that they would have liked to have done more actual content review in the class, but that they did a lot of study questions, practice tests, test taking strategies. Their CAT simulator program is also supposed to be pretty good. Each member of my study group had different NCLEX books, so in study group we had a wide variety of questions and study tips. Two of my group members had the Kaplan review and questions books, they liked them. I used NCLEX Review Made Incredibly Easy and the question book that goes with it (it looks hockey, I bought them at a CNSA conference because the were on sale cheap but it had a good basic content review and I finished it with a good idea of what areas needed to be reviewed in more depth with my notes). Hang in there and don't let the test freak you out (I lost way to much sleep over that test). You've been in school for a while know and you probably know what kind of studying works best for you. Stick with what works for you. CONGRATULATIONS! HAVE A GREAT FINAL SEMESTER AND GOOD LUCK ON YOUR BOARDS.

I agree that it would be a good idea to look for other classes. If the hospital is not offering lamaze, there are usually other instructors that do. Sometimes planned parenthood has referrals and information about childbirth classes. Another thing that you could try to increase your exposure, would be to work as an student nurse extern/ NA on an L&D or PP unit.... I found that to be a useful learning experience that was also helpful in getting a new grad position in an L&D training program.

I have a friend that just became a doula, and she's very excited about having her first patient. She asks a lot of questions, and I try to steer her in the direction of reliable information and put her in touch with good resources. I did have a patient that had a doula attend her delivery during my senior preceptorship. Her doula was very supportive of both the patient and her family. She was very helpful in relaxing the patient. She was very knowledgeable and was an excellent patient advocate. My preceptor and I provided care as you would for any other patient with a strong labor coach, and answered her technical questions as complications came up. It is important to make your own assessments and evaluations and provide appropriate teaching when working with a doula. I do think that doula's can be very valuable to the patients that use them.

I am a new grad startingin L&D. I think that it is great to try and seek out learning experiences outside of class to explore areas you are interested in. As part of our OB rotation, we attended a childbirth preparation class. All of the information provided in the childbirth class was simplified info we learned in our theory class. I also did my senior preceptorship in OB and my preceptor taught evening childbirth classes as well, I also attended some of these. If you are concerned about brushing up on the content, you will probably get a thourough review and learn new information in your OB theory class. However, I do consider attending childbirth classes to be a valuable experience, you get to talk to patients and see their perspective, and you get to see and evaluate teaching methods to further develop your own. The more you do to explore an area you are interested in, the more likely you are to be certain of your decision.