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Hi, I begin my junior year in a week. We just finished up with a 2 week clinical after fundamentals, assessment and patho. Just a 2 day break for Christmas and now a week off. (sigh...) Just remember to get sleep (I've been doing about 4-5 hours a night for over a year and it's not fun,) eat regularly and get help with anything early on. Do all the readings and watch all the videos as soon as possible. Our syllabi for the first 3 weeks contains no less than 50 chapters of reading, lots of writing and 1 day of clinical per week. Don't be afraid to make yourself known to the professors. Many enjoy giving advice as long as they know you are covering all the material. Sit right up front in the lecture hall and show your interest. Remember, they have the power to grant you that extra point or two that can mean the difference between advancing or failing. In our med-surg cource, they have 9 grading areas to weed out those they don't think will be safe practitioners. Much of the communication and theory is common sense or just plain bullshit. Just tell them what they want to hear and free up your mind for the demanding and critical thinking stuff. Hope this helps! I am lucky to have a 3 day a week schedule for the first time in over a year. Yeah!!! G

Just got a pair of New Balance 811's, inserted high end gell...total of 80 bucks for next weeks clinicals. Most comfortable shoes I own and they are sneakers disquised as white shoes. Made right in Maine. Find them in an athletic footware store near you!

I attended 5 schools in one semester for 20 credit hours during my pre-req days! G

Venipuncture was the most awesome job!!! The best part about it is dealing with people within that 18" personal space you will touch on in proxemics in nursing school. Best interpersonal communication experience you will find!

Still in Bsn school, but the cold hard facts are in and it all comes down to the bottom line. From what we are being told by the director who is on the national board that sets standards for all the universities is this... Statistically, ADNs can care for 4 patients safely, BSNs, up to 8, safely. The immediate trend will be to require ADNs to get on the BSN tract or lose their jobs, or be relegated to techs. The MSN will be in charge of care plan coordination at the floor level. NPs will take about 12 more credit hours to earn a DNP (doctorate in nursing practice). Good idea, actually. If you think about it, the core assessment and clinical courses at the BSN level are all pre-requisites for the same advanced courses required in the FNP program. G

In my program, by the time they give us algebra, stats, gen chem and phys chem, we were doing dimensional analysis in our sleep. We have Henkes Med Math that follows us through the rest of school. :) G

Man, What a cool thread!!! I have been an antiquer for over twenty years and have had the most gorgeous enamel bedpans glass syringes. They were sterilized and I know a lady in town who used to go into the local doc's office every Saturday to sharpen his needles. I can remember as a kid in the 60's going into the dentist office. Gloves? What gloves??? Gas...one rubber mask fits all!!! Glass bottle IV's in the hospital too! I used to collect fleams, blood cups/bowls for blood-letting and victorian type erasers that were sharpened for scalpels on the battlefield and other Civil War through Vietnam era med-surg kits and supplies. The fleams were made for peircing veins and some were extremely well made and signed by their makers and brought good money. Alas... I sold my entire collection to help finance my way through nursing school. Someday maybe I'll start collecting again. G

Pain management, acute and chronic should be a seperate course in nursing school. It can be a complex issue involving assessment, pt. hx. dx., etc. In my opinion, potential for addiction for reasons other than quality of life and normal functioning could possibly be emphasized in such a course integrating what you've learned in abnormal, pharm, community, rural and mental health curriculum. Might be a good project for a masters or doctorate level thesis. It's too bad opioids are getting a bad rap because of all the intentional abuse. Personally, I have an ongoing script for lortab. I take 200mg Ketoprofen SR for chronic arthritis. It's about the only nsaid that doesn't churn my stomach, and I've tried most of them. For acute attacks, I have an ongoing script for Lortab. It's a godsend. If I need a little help, split one in half. For worse pain, take one and if things are unbearable, I can take two. It's the only pain killer that I can function with cognitively and the only one that never constipates me or upsets my stomach. I am a junior in nursing school with a 3.56 gpa. G

No education is wasted!!! ASN is core nursing skills training. BSN is advanced critical thinking nursing. The extra psych, advanced chem, pharmacology are worth the experience and make some concepts easier. The management and human resource classes are priceless if you are palnning on moving along. G

Weeding out is the least of my worries. Jumping through hoops is just part of the process. The best was listening to two girls talking about a chem text last year and one of them said "Holy ---. Do you see all the words on this page???!!!" I think they got weeded about then! G

Wicked easy after a semester of college algebra and 2 chems!

Wow!!! All we got was sheep brains, hearts and eyeballs!!!

It depends what the chem is like! I'm taking intro chem (last pre-req) at a university known for it's chemical engineering program. I already had the higher phys chem within another branch of the university system, but algebra, applied math, statistics never prepared me for this stuff. Granted, I'm doing it in 5 weeks. Proceed with caution!!! G

There will come a time when your sick of working on your feet 12 hours/day and a dream job, 9-5, as a school nurse or perhaps a Dr.'s office will present itself and you can jump right into it. Huge opportunities out there that are worth the extra education. If you are young, doing 15-17 credit hours a semester will be a breeze and the time will fly!!! Good Luck.

Nursing school is a lot like bootcamp, except you spend at least 20 hours per week typing, 20 driving and getting the laundry done when you can!

I went back to school 30 years out of high school. First rejection at the CC level and I got into the universities BSN program. I travel 2 hours each way, 4-5 days a week, work nights and the payoff is just 2 years down the road now.

Go ahead, take the plunge and pay for the course. Part of the fee is 15 bucks or something for insurance so you can do a 10 hour clinical at the local hospital or something, perhaps. I'm in my third year of the BSN program and I had my wife in the ER last week. The RN had good technique for finding veins, but her phlebotomy skills were lacking. To take a patients blood, not inverting a citrate, stat chem and lavender tube, as well as drawing with unlabeled tubes are some of the important things you will learn not to do. If the place was busier, who knows who's blood would get mismatched. Very good skill to have regardless, and the training goes a long way to teach interpersonal communication. It can also give you a part time job down the road while in school! G

Hey! Catting aside, I'm a 46 y.o. male, half way through my BSN and I'm looking at a pair of new knees in a few years. They got that way from a lifetime of other unrewarding, demanding work. I'm really looking forward to a more satisfying, albeit physically demanding career for once!

HI! Taking my last chem class this summer to complete 68 hours of pre-reqs. Start BSN program in September.....FINALLY!!!!

HI! I just took it, with micro and 3 gen-eds, I might add. Got an A. General and organic chem understanding is a must, but they might review that with you. The most work was the reactions in glycolysis, krebs and ETC that need to be memorized as well as esterification and saponification etc. If you paid attention in A&P and nutrition, you will understand most of it. I took it from another part of the university system as allied health chemistry in lieu of basic molecular biology 208, and they are letting me take basic chem for May term in lieu of BMB 207. I absolutly loved it. Good Luck!!!

HI, I'm 46, just finished 5 semesters of pre-reqs and begin 5 semesters of nursing classes for my BSN this fall. I just love it. He will know after a good semester or two of the requisites if it's for him. I never went to college a day in my life before this and dropped out of hight school to work for a living. I've aced all but 4 classes out of 68 cedit hours and settled in at a university level school just nicely last year. My experience is that it is 99% personal responsibility, but I have found everyone from students to professors to be extremely helpful. They want you to succeed!

I'm originally form the area. I'd love to work at BI/D someday myself. Wicked busy, state of the art teaching hospitals. If you like culture and things to do, you will never be board. They only problem is housing and rentals. Very expensive. Lots of commuting options, try hooking up with others to share a place. Good luck! what else do you want to know?

HI! I begin my nursing curriculum this fall. Just for gp, and resume enhancement, I took a 50 hour phlebotomy course last summer. It not only calmed my fears of sticking people, but gave me valuable clinical and interpersonal communication skills that will go a long way when clinicals begin. I love it. Considering my present occupation is on the line, I figure I can work a phlebotomy shift part time to help get me through the rest of college. Even though I'll automatically have my CNA certification after the first nursing semester, plebotomy is a super way to learn to deal with people from all walks of life and is an excellent adjunct to class by helping you develope a more comprehensive understanding of blood chemistry, urology etc. at the same time. If you get to know the lab techs, they might let you hang out and learn even more to supplement your knowledge of lab tests and values.

Best of luck everyone! I didn't feel like waiting around for ADN entry. Every school is a couple of hours commute anyway, so I hooked up with the university for the rest of the pre-reqs with guaranteed slot in the nursing program instead of spinning my wheels for a couple of years for an ADN. It surprised me how fast the last 2 1/2 years have flown by. The large flagship campus was a little intimidating at first with most of the kids and some of the professors young enough to be your kids, but the program allowed me to obtain some of my classes via distance education or other classes within the university system which helped me get the required stuff done within a years time. Other than that, it would have been a year longer because the order they offer the two chemistry classes. So I ended up taking the higher chem this spring (its the only chem they will accept even within the university system) leaving me with the basic chem this month. They are very picky about their chemistry!!! Probably because of their chem/engineering programs. I've also noticed that unless its a huge lecture hall class, the instructors enjoy their older nursing type students because they ask good questions and provide decent feedback when called on for a coherent answer. LOL!

Hi! I first posted here over two years ago, and have just been lurking around since, when I first decided on going to college for my first time at 43 and become a nurse. I got some advice from a few posters and did three adult ed. classes, went the community college route for 1 1/2 years and decided to go for it, and enrolled at a 4 year university for the BSN. I've one May term chemistry to go (they require 2 terms) and I begin the first of 5 grueling semesters of nursing this fall! 68 credit hours later, I've aced all but four classes. I'm psyched! I just thought I'd like to see how other non traditional BSN students out there are getting along, especially if they found a wait to get into the tight ADN programs.