SaraStevenson

Thank you everyone for your input. I was choking up and trying to hold back tears handing in my two weeks notice at the vet today. But after reading your comments i feel much better about my decision. I started training today at the new job. Pretty overwhelming.

I just took pharmacology and it was my best grade out of all my classes for the semester. You won't start out learning about drugs right away. You will learn about pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. This is the basis for understanding how drugs work. Peripheral nervous system drugs can be hard. You should know your receptors and what they do (alpha1, alpha2, beta1, beta2, nicotinicN, nicotinicM, Muscarinic). As this will help you understand the effects of many drugs. My school really emphasizes cardiac drugs so make sure you study those and have a good understanding of how the heart works. I love my textbook and it is helpful to read through or if there is an online resource for your book look over the key points. My teacher has the "pharmacology made insanely easy" and she really likes it. I have the Mosby's 2014 Nursing Drug Reference Handbook and Pharmacology Memory notecards. I love them they are easy to use and have a lot of information. I wish you the best of luck!

I took it last year and it wasn't too bad. I have never been very good at math. In fact throughout high school I always had a tutor for my math classes and I got through it with an A. My advice to you is to take good notes during class and do not skip class. Don't be afraid to ask questions. It helps to show up to class a little early and talk to your class mates about things you don't understand and also to form a study group. Sometimes when you don't understand something someone else can explain it in a way that makes sense to you. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do your homework. Right after a lesson I did my homework and then made notes on things I wasn't sure about to ask during the next class. I did all my homework twice. Soon after class so I could review what I had just learned and to prepare myself for the next class and right before an exam to make I was confident in my knowledge. Doing it twice really helped. Every once in a while there would be a concept I didn't understand so I searched on youtube and found videos that were very helpful. The hardest thing I learned in statistics was proportions. At my school I have to be full time for financial aid so I took other classes while taking statistics. As long as you take the time to do your homework, reteach yourself the material and ask questions you will do fine.

I am currently a full time nursing student working towards by BSN. I have had a job at a veterinary clinic for the past 5 years. My first passion was in veterinary work but I decided nursing could be just as rewarding and posed better job opportunities. My CNA certification is about to expire so I decided to apply for a CNA job. Also my job at the vet is on a fixed schedule which won't work with school because I am starting clinical next semester. I am very sad to be leaving my vet job but I feel a CNA job will make me more comfortable in clinical, help me with course work and perhaps give me more job opportunities when I graduate nursing school. The hours are 3-11 Saturday and Sunday every other weekend. I hope I can handle it with school. I hope I am making the right decision and I want to know what everyone else thinks about working as CNA while in nursing school. What are the pros and cons?

I am currently a full time nursing student working towards by BSN. I have had a job at a veterinary clinic for the past 5 years. My first passion was in veterinary work but I decided nursing could be just as rewarding and posed better job opportunities. My CNA certification is about to expire so I decided to apply for a CNA job. Also my job at the vet is on a fixed schedule which won't work with school because I am starting clinical next semester. I am very sad to be leaving my vet job but I feel a CNA job will make me more comfortable in clinical, help me with course work and perhaps give me more job opportunities when I graduate nursing school. The hours are 3-11 Saturday and Sunday every other weekend. I hope I can handle it with school. I hope I am making the right decision and I want to know what everyone else thinks about working as CNA while in nursing school. What are the pros and cons?

Hello, I am a new nursing student. This is my first year in the program. I started at a technical college because I wanted to get my ADN until my mom sent me an article that employers prefer BSN over ADN. However, with my online research I am finding there isn't much difference. As a new nursing student nursing school is overwhelming and hit me like a ton of bricks. It is definitely the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I can't believe I still have 2 1/2 years left. Not only that I've realized as a first year nurse it doesn't get much easier. I transferred to a private school and had to a take a year of religion classes before getting into the program and my school debt is piling up. I am concerned that the BSN and ADN pay scale is so similar adding to my concern about paying off student loans. Also, what are there any incentives to BSN besides advanced practice? Do BSN's offer better patient care and patient outcomes? Will BSN give me more job options? Will have better hours? (as in not having to work third shift)