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I'm in a 4 year program and last semester I had OB clinicals from 0700-1530 (one day) and mental health clinicals for 8 weeks from 1300-2000 (one day) and switched to a community site from 0800-1100. Now for medsurg, I'm there one day a week from 0700-1530 again with prep work the night before.

I'm not sure on your situation, but if you're worried about lack of clinical experience, you could try getting some of the same aspect by working as a CNA? Try talking to your advisor again because it will show that you are really committed to nursing and talk to your pharmacology professor to go over your final exam to see your mistakes and how you can improve next semester. You will want to study a ton over winter break to prepare on pharmacology! For example, if you have a smartphone, you could make digital flashcards to test yourself on the go. It must be really frustrating but you need to pass the class that goes over the basics. This might be one of your lowest moments right now, but I hope you will persevere and reassess on how you plan on achieving your goals.

I don't really post my grades on facebook, but I don't mind if someone is like "A in a class!!!" because I would feel super happy for them. I usually say I passed my classes instead.

I would try a nursing home or home health care agency (if you don't mind driving and a varied schedule). Hospitals usually require previous experience as a CNA or medsurg clinical experience as a nursing student. Otherwise, if you don't mind not getting a different job at a hospital, there are transport tech jobs available!

I'm really sorry for you!!! I would forget my watch for clinicals too but there were physical old school clocks on the wall and the digital thermometers had a timer option. The major problem was that you pulled out your cellphone. There were other options that you could have taken and make sure to apologize a ton about your mistakes. I think you should do to the best of your ability to get accepted again for another semester. Hopefully you'll take it as a second chance and ace your nursing program!

There's the direct entry option. Half of the students in my clinical classes are DE students and my godmother's daughter got her's after getting a bachelor's in biology. I heard they were cancelling out the MSN soon though so everybody would have to get a DNP instead so you should make your decision soon.

I think it would be right to say "you are in my thoughts" to be neutral to the patient and show that you care, no matter what they believe in. If the patient asks you to pray with them, I think that's okay because it will provide comfort, companionship, and address the spiritual needs of the patient.

I got my CNA license in August (in Wisconsin, you have to have your license before you can start working) and applied in October since my schedule got lighter and I wanted to work during winter break of college. I applied to online ads on the local job website and I got a job at a home health care agency! It's basically driving to a client's home and taking care of them. I'm PRN right now as they try to find clients that fit my schedule (weekends) that aren't covered. Good luck!

Every nursing diagnosis needs "as evidenced by" aka aeb and "related to" aka r/t. Here is one that I did for a class: At risk for suicide related to hopelessness, increased anxiety, poor rapport from family as evidenced by suicidal ideation, statements of despair. Hope this helps!

A lot of exams are scantron now. Depending on the professor, you might do a class review of your scantron and test after your exam has been graded. Also, they will probably offer office hours before finals so you can look at your old tests. You can do one-on-one review too if you really want extra help on going over an exam.

Seconding t2091! I was extremely awkward in communicating with patients but the other nursing students who were CNAs had a lot of experience with asking things calmly and smoothly with good bedside manners. It might also help with the not really interacting closely with patients until your junior year of clinicals (or whenever they start).

Defs go with the anonymous report! You need to be subjective as noted by the other people said! Good luck with the rest of your clinical and make sure your CNA care is top-notch instead~

If you don't have experience, you can always work in home health! I just got hired and it's mostly PRN for now but it's driving to client's homes and taking care of them. It does lack the social aspect since it's mostly working by yourself but the hours can be much more flexible (like 2+ hour shifts per patient).

Wow, this sounds awesome that you love working as a CNA! You could always do an alternative to a nursing home if it gets too much for you like a home health care CNA? It's more driving but more one-on-one with clients!

It's fine to change to PRN (as needed) shift as long as you notify your employer. But not answering your phone is irresponsible and will be a major impact on future jobs since they call your past employers for job verification and they could leave a bad review. Also, we don't have much information about your job (are you a CNA in a hospital or nursing home or home health care?) to leave concrete feedback. Feel free to express your frustration here though!

I'm not sure if you guys have Evolve, but my textbooks always had extras on the website. I would recommend buying the complementary study guide with your textbook in order to have practice questions. Have you gone to meet with your professor yet? They are usually very helpful and look at you in a different light since you've gone in and acknowledged that you are having trouble understanding and processing the materials. As everyone else said, how much do you study? You have to change your lifestyle if you want to pass this class and focus on studying the materials. Have you read the textbook at all? Try joining a tutoring group, explain the information that you've learned to roommates or friends or family, make med cards or a comparison chart for pharm? If you're having trouble in fundamentals, make sure to practice your skills on your own time? Good luck!!!

For my BSN program, we have fundamentals during our sophomore year and clinicals starting our junior year. It was super exciting since I am currently taking mental health and childbearing clinicals!!!

I use a 2 inch binder for each class? And when you're printing out your powerpoints, you should decide on whether you'll print it fullsize (1 per page) or go 6 slides per page~ Fortunately, I live on campus so I can always dump my morning class binders in my room before my afternoon classes (can you do this too?)

I passed my Wisconsin CNA exam on 8/8/12!!! I was super nervous but I did well!

This totally sounds like the 15 day course that I took. You should have gotten time in your class to practice it but next time, try to go first to make sure you have a chance? How big is your class? These skills are easily practiced at home but when you do it in class, you have your classmates and instructor to catch your mistakes. Common sense, as MJeanRN said, is part of the reasoning on when and why you do certain actions, like before a water skill, make sure to put on gloves! Or if you're doing female pericare or catheter care, the sheets will be "dirty" in order for you to perform the skill so you put on gloves! Step-by-step is important in the promissor exam as you'll need to mention if you missed a step of the skill. Learn from your mistakes and take advantage of observing others as they do the skills. Did you get a small booklet about the skills on the exam? All the steps are listed in there and the textbook. If you don't get something the day that you practice it in class, review it at home if you have time because a skill takes up to 15 min tops once you get the hang of it (unless it is full bed bath, but that's a real life skill & modified bed bath is what you're tested on?) Try to become friends with at least one person in your class. Good luck with the rest of your class and hang in there!

Good luck in your class! I just completed a 15-day CNA course (super intense!) and I must say that the quality of your class might depend on your classmates' personality and where you're taking it. There were 2 guys in my class (they were mid-20s & 40s) and we had a wide range of ages too (high school to middleaged). It's definitely interesting to learn other people's backstories too, like how one person had to take the whole course over again because Wisconsin requires 120 hours of training (with 32 clinical hours) and she moved here from another state with that had less hours for certification. And the instructors always have related stories to share with what you're learning! I would recommend being outgoing and try to get along with people in your class because you might have to do clinical hours together and you'll have the chance to practice with various people. There are a wide variety of students in class and some people sailed through the skills part of the class easily while some needed to practice and review the skill a bit more to get it perfect. Please remember to be respectful to your instructors, even if you clash with their personalities, and try to get the most out of them for what you're paying for the class or the 5 points at the end when you get your CNA certification. Most instructors want to make sure that you're doing the skills correctly... they will correct you over and over until you get it right (from personal experience) and they've been teaching for a while so I agree with Baubo516, they're pros at trying to help you get better! So what skills are you up to in the class? Or are you up to clinicals? One of the hardest skills for me was transferring someone to a wheelchair because at the beginning, I would somehow forget to lock the wheels. When it came to clinicals, it was hard NOT to forget when you have your first patient and you don't want to mess up for their sake. And I aced that part on my certification exam yesterday! Once again, good luck with the rest of your class! PS male nurses are a rarity but very appreciated! It's always great to add diversity to the field of nursing~