auralae

I have never had anyone ask, and I graduated from the ASN program a few years ago. I am about to wrap up my MSN, recently took a promotion, and they could not have cared less about my grades. They didn't ask to see anything. As long as you graduate and pass the NCLEX you are fine.

I would play it by ear. But in all honesty, a commute is no excuse for being late. I live 30 minutes away from my designated hospital & I leave an hour before I am scheduled to be there. This takes care of any traffic issues or if I need to stop to get gas, etc. I would highly suggest buying yourself a planner and begin using it ASAP. Personally, the only way that I can stay on top of everything is to write down all of my due dates and class / clinical times at the beginning of the semester. All of your requirements and your instructors expectations will increase the further you go. Part of this entire process is learning to be responsible for yourself and respectful to your instructors and peers by being prepared. You are going to school to be one of the most respected and trusted professionals out there, so it's time to start acting like one! Good luck!

I have had several favorites- I am in my final semester. My absolute favorite was the oncology unit. Some others were the ER, the elective surgery unit, and the orthopedic unit.

Our school custom built a packet for our first semester. About one month before that semester started, the same exact packet was offered on amazon. All it took was a call to the bookstore to verify the ISBN's. They weren't thrilled about giving them out, but did so nonetheless. The packet on amazon saved me over $250, and everything was new, so the codes worked.

Isolation rooms. You have to leave it hanging outside- you usually won't have time to go put it away somewhere else!

I'm in Missouri and our Dept of Health offers money in exchange for work at either any hospital in the state or any clinic in a county of need. I'd look at your state's dept of health website for something similar.

One of our instructors gave us a practice set of questions during first semester. I pull it out a week before we have to go back for a "skills fair" & math exam to study. It has always helped me pass each time.

I agree with many of the others! Check first that the edition isn't going to change before you begin. I have successfully bought from amazon, abebooks, and Chegg. I have never had an issue with the access code not working except for through a rental. I personally use the access code to take the online or disk practice tests. Chegg allows you to rent, if it's not a book that you'll need for the entire two years of the program. I bought the ones that I was going to need to re-use, and rented the rest. If you're not sure if you'll be re-using anything from semester to semester, just shoot the course instructor an email. They will usually be happy to tell you. I have also bought older editions on ocassion from graduating students- the teachers usually have a page conversion chart because they don't always buy the newest edition either. My teacher gladly let us make copies of the chart (even though I'm sure she wasn't supposed to)- as long as we did just one for ourselves and didn't share it with everyone. Just something else to think about! Good luck!

I think the issue all boils down to professionalism. Grades have nothing to do with how one is able to conduct his or herself. Our school made a point of telling us upfront at orientation that being unprofessional in any way would not be tolerated- and this included how we were seen outside of school and how we portrayed ourselves in general (as in any of our online profiles). Maybe the tech was hard to deal with. So what. As a nurse, you will have to deal with people like that more days than not. YOU will be the one who is expected to be professional about it. Take this as a good lesson on learning to be mature & learn to keep your opinions about others to yourself.

My current clinical experience sounds nearly identical to how your clinicals were. We are in 3rd semester- we have class all day once a week, and then that afternoon we drive to the hospital to get our patient information. The night before clinical, we fill out a "clinical prep" document, complete a medication prep, and then three times during the semester we complete a full-blown FPAT form & CPG along with the SBAR & regular charting that we do weekly. We are only allowed to give meds after checking off with our instructor, and then we are only allowed to give PO's alone without her (or our team leader's) presence. Our instructor will not clear us to even give a PO med if we are not prepared, or if she does not feel that we are competent to do so. Our instructor is on the floor *at all times*. As far as med passes, since we are currently on a pediatric floor, we have to research safe doses for our patients to verify what has been prescribed. I feel that our group does a fantastic job of being prepared & providing patient care- but with that being said, I can't imagine not having our instructor on the floor. That just seems horribly unprofessional to me.

Don't give up. New class, new question and new test format all add up for a huge change and a difficult task! I don't know how you studied, but what I have personally found the best results with is by utilizing the textbook's chapter questions, the book's disk practice questions, and the book's manufacturer's website review quizzes as well. I also have an NCLEX-RN Saunders comprehensive review book. I use it as well to review whatever we have covered in class, as the format of the questions are more likely to be styled like our classroom tests. I am 34 years old and in 3rd semester. I was like you in high school, I always blew it off, and I never developed any study skills until I started nursing school. So if I can do it, I am confident that you can too. Maybe you are studying too much... It is so easy to burn yourself out, and in the same process, not really gain much as far as understanding in the process. Keep working hard, you can do it! Nursing school is full of successes and failures, and in all honestly this probably won't be the only test you fail. And that's okay. Just keep doing your best.

My school is similar, during the first semester of the program we lost 40% of our group. I haven't looked into how many we lost after second semester.

Some of our books are reused throughout the 4 semesters, some aren't. I have bought and rented from Chegg, Amazon, Abebooks, and a discount bookstore in town. I made the mistake of buying from the school's bookstore once during my gen eds- I'll never do it again! Even the "nursing packets" (books and special online access codes) required by certain classes were cheaper on Amazon. I just called the bookstore and got the ISBN's. The bookstore wasn't thrilled about sharing that information, but it saved me several hundred dollars!

I was the same way. As a child, I was so shy that I would sometimes cry if I got embarrassed. I went through first semester watching my clinical partner talk away with patients, classmates, etc. It finally hit me about halfway through that if I was going to be a great nurse, I was going to have to be a great communicator, and that standing back and watching would do nothing for me in the long run! So long story short, you won't get over this until you put yourself out there enough. Eventually it won't be uncomfortable. Promise.

Our nursing program requires us to have one, along with several other vaccines that we have to keep up-to-date. I'm surprised that it's not a requirement if you are in a nursing program.

I go to a small school, which only takes 85 students per semester, out of over 300 (on average) applications. In my first semester, we lost 30% of our starting group by the end of that short time. This was the actual program though. Anyone can take the pre-reqs, but not everyone can handle the nursing program!

Here in MO, they are telling us up front to get our BSN. The two hospitals in my town are sending their veteran nurses back to obtain the BSN as well, so even though I wasn't planning on it up front, I am now dually enrolled so I can knock some of it out while in the program.

Here's what we were required to bring for our first semester: Stethoscope (you'll just wear it though) Nursing Diagnosis Handbook Pen Light Bandage scissors Pen Name badge Required paperwork I bought a messenger-style bag and kept everything in it. We had access to computers in each room/nurses station/classroom so we didn't need to bring a tablet of any sort. (I did use an iPad for funds and pharm lectures though) Our "classrooms" were located on each floor, adjacent to the nurses lounge. These rooms were locked, and we could only get in with our badge. Our class was split into smaller clinical groups of about six to eight people, each group having a different floor, so it was just your small group & your instructor who had access to the room. So all the bigger things were left in the classroom. As far as little personal items, I kept a little zip-up bag with tampons so I wouldn't have to take my purse to the restroom with me. I kept a tiny sample freebie of lip balm that I got from Sephora in my bag as well. I did not take my purse, and my wallet was kept in my school bag. Another thing that I bought that I LOVED, was a tiny spiral-bound notebook from Staples. We were required to chart both in the computer system & on a paper form that we turned in to our instructor weekly... so it was really handy to have that tiny little notebook to jot down patient assignments, or notes for questions that could be asked of the instructor later. (It was small enough to fit in my pocket.) We only had a 30 minute lunch, and that was iffy some weeks just because of the need to complete paperwork in time, so I would suggest packing a lunch in a little insulated lunch bag. I just made mine the night before so I wouldn't have to worry about it the next morning when I was exhausted from waking up at 5am! I think I only ate in the cafeteria twice during my whole first semester last spring. I just usually didn't have the extra time. One thing our instructor was big on, was the fact that our meals came *after* we knew we would have our paperwork ready by the time we would have to leave. Another thing that helped me out greatly was to pack everything the night before. I mean everything, down to having my uniform, socks, shoes ready, so I wouldn't have to look for it that morning. I also showered the night before, as we were required to wear our hair back anyway, and I knew I would want to shower as soon as I got home after being in the hospital all day. Hope this helps!

Flash cards, or a flash card app like flashcardlet for pharmacology. A really good, detailed planner to keep all of your classes/clinicals/labs/assignments straight. It can be extremely overwhelming!

Leave yourself enough time to study & practice the basics. KNOW YOUR CONVERSIONS! Seriously. I memorized the basics of them & wrote them down as soon as we started on my scratch paper, so I could reference them later in the test. This really helped me.

Know your conversions. I memorized the basics & wrote them down as soon as I sat down so I could reference them later in the test. This probably helped me the most.