Rosa2Little

I have the Dansko Marcelle (Mary Jane) and they are great. I also have the Sonja and the Professional -- which can bother my instep after a long day ( I have a somewhat wide foot and a high in-step). I have heard that the Pita style runs wider. In any case, at $110 dollars, try before you buy. The one bad part about Dansko is that one pair of size 38's can be tight, and the next pair of size 38's can be just right.

Driving down the highway and reading medical acronyms in the license plates... oh look there's THR followed by a DVT! Ironic? Or perhaps I've been studying a wee bit too hard...

"You're too nice to be a nurse"??! I say we add this to the stupid statements people make, like "you are so smart, you ought to be a doctor". Go right on, being nice, smart, caring, efficient, etc... Nursing embodies ALL of these traits. Sounds to me as if your classmate has much to learn.

Flow rate (gtt/min) is used if you are regulating the IV infusion by gravity. If you are using a pump, you simply set the pump to ml/hr. You have 50 ml (includes the 1 g of Ancef that is required) that needs to be administered over 30 minutes. Pump setting must be ml per hour, so set it up: 50 mL/.5 hr = 100mL/hr

Hi Daytonite, I really like the doc you are working on. Good Flow. I would add in code status, and precautions/safety issues. On the meds part, a nursing considerations column would be nice. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You would make an AWESOME nurse educator. Many of us here on this forum have benefited from your experience & wisdom. A BIG thank you for all you do for us!:flowersfo

I bought the Mikael corner workstation from Ikea yesterday. I just finished setting up. So far, I think it will work well. I'm so excited to have some space of my own!!

Thanks! I needed a laugh this morning!

Perhaps I am being too optimistic as to the skill set of today's student nurses (but I hope not). I will say that for the future of the nursing profession, these skills should be obtained either through previous experience, or because the student rolled up their sleeves and delved into their work. I think on that point we can ALL agree!

If you were the patient and your nurse had to mix and draw up your insulin, what % of the time would you expect his/her calculations to be correct? Just another way of thinking about it...

Learning to be part of a group -- managing a project, alternately leading and following is an important part of life (I might also add the importance of solid public speaking skills to the mix). As a parent of a child entering college as a freshman in the fall, I would feel her education would be lacking if these these aspects of education were not addressed. However, the face of the nursing student is changing. We are often older, with a few more lines on our faces, possibly on a second career, or advancing our nursing practice. We may not have depth of nursing knowledge (at least those of us new to nursing), but we do come to the table with many skills-- often including interpersonal and organizational skills needed for successful group dynamics. I received credit for my previous degree, and I CLEP'd out of classes such as Intro Computers and Basic Programming. If only there were a CLEP for group projects -- been there, done that, got all four credits! Now please stop tormenting me with the "learning experience" of a group project!

of course. you will sometimes have co-workers, clients and even bosses who are less than pleasurable to deal with. you smile, roll up your sleeves and deal with it -- the adversity should remain unseen to the client/patient. however, we do have a choice in the situations we place ourselves in most of the time and in our response to that situation. in the work environment, my compensation was based on 100% of the result of the group effort... i chose my group carefully. the original poster's complaint (valid, imho) was that the group project represented 60% of the grade. in the real world, if my compensation were based on a variable that was 60% beyond my control, it would not be a situation i would choose. hence, accept employment elsewhere. one more point... as a manager, it is far easier to hire the right people to comprise the team, than to let the wrong people go. i have had that unpleasant task on my plate, and i will taking hiring over firing any day!!

With all due respect, the difference between nursing school projects and real world projects, is that in the real world if a team member is not pulling their weight and they do not produce, they will be the first to be let go. In my past career I managed a multi-million dollar sales territory. I led a diverse team, comprised of an inside sales person, many engineers and a project manager. It took the input of every person to get the job done smoothly and have the client happy at the project completion. Should someone not pull their weight, the project would be compromised. This would result in a credit to the client for their inconvenience -- hitting my bottom line, and as a result my paycheck. :trout: I made darn sure I chose my team players carefully. In nursing school we are often assigned to a team NOT of our choosing. I have yet to see any adverse repercussions for team members on group projects who do not pull their weight. While I agree that it is a valuable lesson to work in a team, I get very frustrated when my grade is adversely effected by slackers. Sorry, but school group projects are my pet-peeve.

I am currently doing the BSN program full-time after leaving the high tech field. The program at my school allows me to take up to 3 grad level classes that will count toward my master's as well. This option is open to anyone who keeps an honors level GPA in the nursing program. I'm starting this next semester, with one grad class in addition to my UG classes. My plan is to switch to part-time and work as an RN part-time upon graduation. Doing the NP program part-time should take 2 additional years. I hope to get an NP position shortly after graduation, but I am committed to doing whatever it takes, and if that means working as a staff nurse for a while longer, so be it. I look at it as if, hey, I'm going to be 45 anyway -- might as well be working on what I want to be when I grow up!

There's enough seriousness on the hospital floor that can't be helped. Why not give your patients something to smile about?

PowerPoint can be a great tool, if it is used to augment the material. When professors simply read from the slides, or worse, have a slide show comprised of the tables or boxes that are in the text, it becomes PowerPointless.

In my program there are many papers to be written. We are forewarned that if we are planning to continue into the grad program, there will be more papers and more research. However, I would not recommend taking an English writing class if your grammar and writing skills were fine twenty years ago. It's rather like riding a bike -- you never really forget. Additionally, you will find that writing papers for your prereq science classes (and later your nursing classes) will require you to write in a scientific style. This is really quite different from the writing style used for English or creative writing classes. If you are comfortable with basic sentence construction and grammar, don't lose sleep. Many schools have a writing lab and hold workshops on writing in APA and MLA format. You pay for these services when you pay your tuition, don't be afraid to use them once you are in the program. Best Wishes on starting your new career!:balloons:

Great advice from Marla. All moms need to take that advice! My kids are 18, 16 (not so little), and 4. Yes, it's possible. Study, study, study, and then head to the playground and relax!

BSN program. No nursing class final grade less than an 80 (no rounding) and a Math for Meds final exam grade of 90 or better to progress in the program, no other class less than a 75. A 3.0 or better to take the grad level classes. 95 - 100 = an A, or a 4.0. !00% NCLEX pass rate.

I would have answered "A". There was simply not enough information provided in the question to choose "C" -- particularly if the question was "what should be the nurse's first action", as the NCLEX questions tend to do. It was a poorly written question. It required you to make an assumption about the situation and jump to a conclusion. You'll come across professors who will throw the question out, and others who will never admit they just might be wrong. Best you can do is shrug it off.

If men currently make up something like 9% of the nursing work force, and the overall goal of the profession is to increase the # of nurses, expand the role of the nurse, and welcome diversity, how does the cap symbolize the future of nursing? I see how it respects our past and honors those who have gone before, but what of the future? How do men feel about it? Guys???

Great advice! :yeahthat: Remember, you are going to be 33/34 (or insert any age here) whether you have a degree or not. Age should never hold you back from your goals. Signed, a 40-year old junior in college on her third career change whose senior year will over-lap with her oldest child's freshman year in college(!)

Are you assuming, or are you 100% certain that the applicant did not submit an on-line application as well? I have used on-line applications and have found that in some institutions they are received in a timely manner, and at others... well, to give you an example, I just heard last week from a certain non-profit for whom I had filled out an on-line application to perform volunteer work. The e-mail response indicated that they had just received my "inquiry" -- if I was still interested, they would mail an application to me. That's 4 months after I filled out an electronic version!! I agree with the previous poster who called some of these electronic portals "black holes". The goal for any organization is to hire qualified, dependable, long-term employees. What does it matter whether they are hired by H.R., the manager, or by personal referral? While I do not believe in blatant disregard for any person in any position within an organization or the over all disregard for rules, I do believe there is nothing to be gained in a my way or the highway mentality. Great topic & discussion!

If you did okay in algebra, I think you'll be okay with the math. :yeahthat: You will need to understand the nursing journals, and you will use it yourself in Nursing Research class if you take any grad. level classes. Looks scarier than it is. I loved this class!

In addition to flashcards, I found it helpful to organize my notes, handouts, etc. in a divided binder. I organized each divider by system -- i.e. bones, muscles, cardiac, lymphatic... Continued with this thru A& P II. I still use these binders as quick reference ( I am in my 3rd year of a BSN program). Good Luck! :balloons:

Daytonite, I think you should consider getting your PhD and become a nursing instructor. You have a real knack for teaching as evidenced by your posts on many threads.:)