coffee719

Work in the operating room

Hi Godiva19. I went to the BAT program. You can't really go back and forth to NYC, sorry but that would be ridiculous in this program. IT IS SO INTENSE. Every minute spent is spent studying or being in class or clinical. You will have something due pretty much every single week, or an exam. I am from Brooklyn and I tried to go home on weekends but it became really stressful and just stupid after awhile. A weekend isn't long enough to commute back and forth. And as far as the busses, it won't make much sense to take them for a weekend. I took a bus for our summer break but our break was a week long. JosephKey, I wouldn't go to Binghamton. Though I am a graduate, I really didn't like it. If you're looking for a really great intense patient care experience you wont' find it in Binghamton. I have no idea who this Applesause post is but I have to agree on (some) things they said. Clinicals were horrible. I used to go in the bathroom and cry because it was so boring (we would get one patient each and pretty much stand around for eight hours hoping someone needed a foley catheter insertion so we could all fight over who got to insert it.) Seriously if you can get into nursing school in an urban area go for it. I'm happy with my career right now but I will never ever say I liked Binghamton nor did I feel I got a good education. The way they taught us med math was an absolute joke, with one power point lecture in the summer and two math questions on subsequent exams. Meanwhile my colleagues who went to a community college nursing program said that med math was drilled into them and they practiced constantly med math. Not me, not Binghamton. I have to say most of what I learned was from studying for the NCLEX. The program is extremely community based. If your interest is in public health or community nursing then Binghamton is for you. I did a lot of community presentations and research papers about the community. I also had to go to a nursing home and take the elderly people out (with my classmates of course) to a baseball game and we grilled hot dogs for the day. That was considered clinical hours unbelievably. As I said clinical was a joke and now I work at a university medical center in an urban area and the nursing students that I see everyday are so lucky with their patient load and experiences. On one hand, now, I don't care but when I was in the program, I was not a happy or satisfied camper. My advice, don't go.

I read this entire forum thread over a couple of days. I am an OR RN. All I wanted to say is how laughable this whole thread is; I can't understand why or how nurses compete with other nurses and feel the need to justify why nurses choose to have certain roles. It's just absolutely ridiculous. It's like a group of squabbling, grumpy old female nurses in the break room ******** about this and that. Who the hell cares about my job and why I chose to do it? That's the beauty of nursing, there are SO many areas and fields we can go into. Did anyone ever think maybe OR RNs like being in the OR because they DON'T want to work the floors? There is something for everyone out there and there's absolutely no reason to analyze the living hell out of it and waste so much time and energy trying to defend and justify it! It's so silly, really I couldn't stop reading this thread because it was just so stupid, like watching a train wreck. I really don't care what other nurses think of me and I don't spend my free time obsessing over what other nurses do in their roles. Everyone needs to stop it and appreciate the fact that nursing has such a varied, wide area of opportunity and there's a field/role/specialty for everyone. Spend your time wondering how you can improve YOURSELF and not berating others!

madonnaca8430 I have a lot to say about this! I just graduated from Binghamton in May. But, I got into NYU as well and was struggling with my decision to the point of craziness for about a month. I was going to go to NYU and bit the bullet about the cost but Binghamton sent me an acceptance email literally two weeks before I was to start at NYU. So because Binghamton is 75% cheaper than NYU I withdrew from NYU and accepted at Binghamton. However I regretted it and regret it. It's up to YOU. I learned that it's up to what YOU want in school, what makes YOU happy. I too agonized over the price tag and although I saved a ton of money, I wasn't happy in Binghamton and I wasn't happy with their program, not ONE bit. Why? I'm from NYC, lived there, went to college there for my first degree, and worked at a hospital there. Love the city. Love the experiences, the environment, the schools, everything. Obviously Binghamton was the polar opposite not only in the city itself but in the professors and the hospitals there. I was not impressed and basically I just think I would have had a better experience in NYC. So my point is, you have to think about what you want. Yes NYU is disgustingly expensive but sometimes happiness is worth a price tag. This is MY OPINION and I'm hoping I don't get responses with people telling me that Binghamton is an excellent school etc and I didn't appreciate it, blah blah blah. Sure it's a great school but it wasn't a great school for ME. So that's my advice and 2 cents. Yes it doesn't quite matter where you go to nursing school since you will become a nurse anyway...and it's more practical and logical to pay the least amount of tuition for the same degree, I get that. But I learned sometimes practicality isn't as important as personal preference and happiness, that's all.

Well, since I can't speak for any other nursing program but my own, not sure how much significance my opinion has, if any. But wanted to say that I couldn't agree more and I was largely disappointed with my nursing program. I'm not kidding when I say i'm learning more now studying for the boards than I did in my clinical rotations.

Jen, I am SO sorry I didn't back to you sooner! I hope you see this. I just literally forgot to log back on to here after graduation! Sorry! I am going to be very honest with all my answers, not to deter you or be biased or anything, just going to be honest!!!!!! I'm happy to answer everything, because I didn't get/find much detailed information when I was applying so I know information from someone who experienced it is helpful!!!!! Overall, did you like the program and have a positive experience? Are you glad you chose that particular program? Honestly...honestly..no. And this is ME personally. For ME, it was too fast. I wanted a 12 month program so badly but once in it I was like holy **** I can't keep up. For ME it was too much information way too fast. Keep in mind also I'm NOT a science person, my background is the arts and history. I had NEVER taken a science class before until I took my pre-reqs. So, what I'm saying is that maybe someone with a really strong science background wouldn't have found the pace so fast. As a matter of fact there were people that got 100s on pathophysiology exams while I struggled to get low 80s. I felt like I needed more repetition, more attention, more "till it sinks in", not just a lecture through powerpoint where the prof whizzes through the material because, and I quote, "This is the BAT program, you're all smart, I can skip this part right?" I keep repeating that this is just for me personally because I don't want you to think bad of it. Everyone has a different experience and I especially learned that everyone has a different learning style. I realized quick that I HATE power points. I'm not that old lol but in my first undergrad I had never been taught by a power point ever. So this was brand new to me. And I don't and didn't like it. I like to be taught, to have class discussions, to learn by videos or learn by doing, but that's not so in this program. I'm telling you I am so sick of power points. Secondly that I think is most important is I don't know where you are from originally but I am from NYC, I went to college there and worked in a hospital there too for 3 years. So I got very used to that. It was very difficult for me to adjust to upstate. I never went upstate ever before. The truth is the only reason I went to BU is for the SUNY tuition. I could not afford NYU. But anyway my point is I never really was happy there and it did affect my studies. Did you feel that there was anything lacking in the program or wish there was more of? I think my standards and expectations were too high sometimes and maybe so, but I just wish there was more to the program. Sounds like an oxymoron as I have said it's too fast. Well what I mean is that I wished we practiced injections more than one hour in lab before we did it in real life. I wish we used the SIM mannequins more than 3 times the entire program. I wish we had clinical every day in the spring to really learn and practice everything instead of twice a week. Twice a week is just not enough. I would practice something on Wednesday and return next Tuesday having completely forgotten what I did and how I did it. Another thing I should say is that since I had never been to nursing school before this I can't compare to anywhere else. So for all I know every nursing program accelerated is the same?! How difficult was the program? Did the accelerated nature/pace of the program ever feel too overwhelming? Again this is for ME personally...don't want to deter you...it all depends on how you handle stress and I do believe also on your background. I found out that I can handle stress, but I can't handle it that "well..." I was just stressed out a lot. There are times where you will have like 5 research papers due, clinical assignments, plus exams in a matter of a couple weeks. Really, it doesn't sound too bad. But some assignments can take foreverrrrr, and most of the research papers are pretty tedious and boring. In terms of how difficult it was...it's hard to say exactly...well it was difficult, but not impossible. I would say that the summer was easy. I was really fine in the summer. Once the fall started and I was going back and forth to Syracuse and the assignments were piling on is when I got stressed. There were times it was really overwhelming, but I know I'm not unusual in that way. Many of my friends got super stressed at times, but the great thing is that everyone is in the same boat and everyone supports you when you feel like you're going to lose it! Were there many students coming to the program without any healthcare work experience? Were there many older students? Actually I was surprised how many students DIDN'T have an ounce of experience. And meaning not only did they not have healthcare experience, they had no "Real life" experience- many had JUST graduated and entered into the BAT right away. Like, they graduated from their first BA/BS in May 2013 and started BAT in May 2013! So there were a lot of a 20, 21, 22 year olds. There were a handful of 30+. A couple of married people with kids. One or two 50+! I would have to say the majority was in their twenties. Experience wise besides what I already said, some people had phDs!!! Some had masters degrees, many were CNAs, some were EMTs/paramedics, some had only simply volunteered, some had no experience etc. I had about 4 years healthcare experience. For clinicals, did you have a choice of where you went? Where was the furthest you traveled for your clinical and how many days a week? Kind of but not really. I think you put in for what section # you would like for the fall, each section has different placements (but everyone does the same rotation. Like everyone does maternity but we all get sent to different hospitals). For the spring, you fill out a form with your 1, 2, and 3 top choices of where you want to get placed for the spring. But I didn't get any of my choices. I got placed somewhere totally random that I never asked for. Some people did get their top pick. I have no idea how they chose who got to get one of their choices or not. Did you have favorite place and unit where you did clinicals? Did you or any of your classmates get to have clinicals at the Golisano Children's Hospital in Syracuse? No I didn't, I was really unimpressed with all the local hospitals and as much as I'm sure I sound like a snot, I just think I was very spoiled where I was working in NYC. And I don't know if anyone had clinical there, really no idea. What was your schedule like on a typical day or a week? Fall was the worst, clinical 4 days a week from 7am -3pm then class in the evenings. But it lasted only 2-3 months. Everyone kept saying to each other just get through the fall! Spring is the total opposite, one day of classes and clinical twice a week. Were there many papers and/or group projects assigned throughout the program? YES OMG YES What did you feel was the most challenging class or classes? What did you feel was the most challenging part of the program? Patho wasn't easy for me, pharm wasn't that easy either, as it was online (one of my major gripes as well, pharm should have been LIVE IN CLASS!!!!) Maternity was hard because that's just not my cup of tea....pediatrics was hard too because again that's not my cup of tea. Do you feel prepared to work in the field? No! But don't worry the consensus amongst the entire program was that no one feels ready. We're all scared and feel like we know nothing. We kept being told that's normal. Does it seem like your classmates are able to find jobs? Are the people that come to the program to recruit? I was really disappointed in this. I was told at orientation that all these hospitals from NYC came to BU to recruit because "they love BU students." But never did I see or hear of that ever. If you are staying local I can almost guarantee that you'll get hired. The two local hospitals, Lourdes and UHS hire new grads I swear starting in like February. However if you are planning on working downstate like in NYC or LI, it's that simple. You need to be licensed first before they will look at you. Which is fine with me, I was expecting that anyway. So right now I'm just enjoying not being in school and studying for the boards. ALL of my friends who are staying in Binghamton have jobs already. Anything you wish you did differently or knew before going into the program? I wish I knew it catered to who wants to stay local. I really believed they had contacts elsewhere and could help you find a job or at least give you advice or had SOME knowledge about hospitals besides Lourdes or UHS. If you aren't planning on staying local just be aware of that. I know I will get hired somewhere I'm really not nervous about that but I truly and largely felt that our professors knew only about UHS and Lourdes and those are the only two hospitals that were talked about to death the entire program. I always felt like, "Um hi, I'm not from here and not going to stay here...so...." A couple of professors made it very obvious that they did not like downstate much. And last but not least, if you have absolutely any other advice you can think of, I am all ears! My goal is to get most out of the program and also be in the best position possible to be hired upon graduation. I think it just depends where you want to end up, location wise. I really believe if you're staying locally you're set. Even the girls who had no job experience got hired. Make sure you take care of yourself during the program and don't go crazy! Thank you so much, coffee719! Congratulations again on your graduation! (I hope the rain goes away and you have a nice sunny day this weekend for your graduation :) Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm about to graduate this weekend from the BAT. So ask me any questions!

hi all, I am graduating this weekend from the BAT program. Ask away if you have any questions for me!

Dee789, I was in the BAT program last year. I am also from NYC. I drove down nearly every weekend the entire program. It's 3.5 hours from here to Brooklyn.