humanoidRN

Thanks for the replies! The problem though is that a few of us taught ourselves Maslow, ABCs, and how to answer NCLEX style questions from well established names in nclex prep (Saunders lippincott Kaplan) we only heard of maslows hierarchy in passing on one slide. No talk of ABCs or how to prioritize. I understand that they can't possibly go through every scenario for these questions that would take a lifetime. I feel that if I had instruction on how to prioritize from the beginning with info like Maslow, ABCs, and nursing process, then I'd be in a much better place. Also it wasn't until halfway through this semester (our second semester) that we were told we need to: assume there's an order for everything(even though we were told first semester not to assume anything), we were told about ABCs after our third test, also we were informed that we should review nclex questions from other authors. I do approximately 800 nclex questions from various books, keeping in mind that our school book sometimes teaches aspects differently (I always go with our book info) and I can get majority right. Multiple times we have found evidence to support our answers in the book, however we are still wrong. Our tests do have rationales, however none of these have book page references, and majority of the time it lacks in differentiating between the two "right answers" in the rationale, or the rationale is actually worded in a way that supports our answer.

I was also nervous for my first OR experience, crazy mine was also a TKR! The nurses I helped were awesome and showed me everything, just always be mindful of where you are at at all times. I would recommend if they don't already tell you this, ask them to tell you exactly where to be in order to be out of the way but still see what's going on. Remember to stay as far away as possible from all sterile fields, even the ones that you think they are finished with, just to be safe. Walk on the outter edge if the room with you front facing the middle of the room, it's seems weird but the staff in the OR were highly appreciative that I was so aware of the fields at all times. Once you get over that, just breathe and enjoy. Many people think they won't be able to handle watching surgery, but if done right, there will be minimal bleeding and you can see all the pieces perfectly. I hope what I said has helped, and I wish you the best! (It's my first day on postpartum tomorrow so I'm in the same shoes)

Hello AllNurses, I am creating this thread to ask for some opinions. First lets get some background information. I am a 20 year old from an anonymous city, state. I graduated high school in May 2011, I graduated #3/168 students with a 3.986 average my ACT score was a 26. I graduated with honors, multiple scholarship offers, and 9 college hours. I have always wanted to be a nurse and am adamant about becoming an RN. I chose my current nursing school over 5 other colleges that offered me scholarships, this school did not offer a scholarship because it is a 2 year college and I made the decision to go based on past students of various programs and DONs of 3 hospitals saying that this school was the best RN program because they are small, professional, and very rigorous. So I skipped my freshman year because of dual enrollment classes and my high ACT score. I challenged 2 other prerequisites and received credit, then did all other prerequisites in two semesters. I applied to the program, reviewed a 77 on my TEAS exam, and got in. Here's the thing, upon getting in I got an inside scoop of everything. Of course everything was disorganized, the instructors posted things online what not. Lecture came around and I realized that none of these people had a drive to teach. Questions would be asked and teachers would be speechless and couldn't answer them. Teachers come in late for lecture, then struggle to read off the monitors, not knowing how to pronounce words. For testing questions would directly go against what the book states, instructors would write questions based on their personal experience and not what is supposed to be done. Also there was an instance where the instructor told us in lecture not to worry about information and that she would not ask questions from it. Well surely it was on the test, we even had proof of what she said recorded. For drug calculations an instructor tried her best to teach us how to calculate dosages, however it was using what i call "witchcraft" and not real math. then for instruction on the nursing process and nursing dx and care planning we received a 30 minute demonstration and that was all. So that was last semester. This semester, we were told by our coordinator that there were no changes in policy and everything was the same. However they dramatically changed quite a few policies. For lecture the teachers seemed to present minimal information for a vast amount of information, I'm sure y'all allllll know those med surg tests with 18 chapters lol, the problem is that none of these instructors know the information to the extent that they want us to know it. We have one instructor that tells us what to concentrate on for the test so that we have a general idea what to study, however she makes it clear that all material is fair game, so we read everything but concentrate our focus on what she said. When we ask critical thought questions that arise from the book or lecture, we get the same blank, generic answer. Needless to say, by test 3 of 6, 80% of the class is failing. Tests have a focus on prioritization this semester (being nclex is heavy with prioritization this makes sense) however we have never been taught prioritization nor given examples of prioritization. Our book lists possible interventions, like for a client desaturating, raise the HOB, put o2, call HCP, chart all interventions, however it never tells us do we raise HOB or put O2 first (in the real world these are done almost simultaneously however we need one answer) therefore we need that instruction in class. When we asked to be taught this, our reply from the instructors was that they cannot teach us prioritization...however I've seen posts on here, spoken with other students from other programs, and spoken with other program directors who say they teach prioritization because it is a vital part of nclex and of being an RN. Also for testing we have the same problem of one Instructor wants us to forget personal experience for the test and go by the book, the next instructor wants us to go by her experience, the next one wants you to forget all NCLEX formats and test taking strategies because she totally goes against all of them. Personally I feel let down by this program, I have had to teach myself in clinicals because instructors just can't teach us. My instructor last semester told students "if you have a problem, go find (my name)" and this semester my instructor would let us harm the patient with a mistake, then softly tell us what we did wrong after the fact. My patients all love me and tell me and my instructor how great of a nurse I am. I also make it a point to help take care of as many patients as possible (my assignment or not) because I want to be that person that makes a difference with their care. I am currently the class SNA president and my opinions reflect those if majority of the class. I am also currently failing and most likely will fail. What I am asking from you is to give your opinion. Am I wrong for feeling let down? Is there really something going on here? Can instructors really not teach prioritization? Any opinion is good, just please don't insult me.