Mymimi

Excellent advice, and good luck to those of you going into the nursing education field. This is my second year as full time faculty in a BSN program. It is extremely difficult to go from being an expert to a job where I am a novice! One of my mentors told me that it takes about 5 years to have a solid educator. My background is critical care, and it takes 2 to 3 years to have a solid ICU nurse. The pointers/tips that I have learned on this website have been invaluable to me. Especially, my first year, I wanted to RUN back to critical care! The students make it worth it. Thanks, VickiRN Mymimi

I would like to pose a question in the midst of this discussion. As nurses we are liasons for our patients, their advocates. In my almost 20 years of practice have encountered many situations in which I spent a great deal of time educating the patient, family on the DNR status, quality of life, and the options available. There have been times that the patient and family wishes were not carried out, and it was directly related to one or more interventions of physicians that were not willing to carry out family and patient wishes. Do any of you believe that maybe some health care providers are not secure in their own afterlife, along with their training, cultural issues, whatever it may be driving them perform interventions that may keep the patient alive, but not give them quality of life? Could the root of this be they don't know where they will go if they die? I will continue to be an advocate for what the patient wants.

I receive literature from Walden, I am so glad to hear that it is a great place to get an education. I have steered away from out of state tuition, due to high tuition costs. thanks

Thanks!!

I, too am anxious to get into a DNP program. It is my understanding that some of the programs will be organized for MSN candidates and it will not be necessary to obtain a NP prior to admission. Has anyone heard of programs that include the NP as a part of the curriculum of the DNP tract? Mymimi

Just a thought, be sure and check out what is available in your state, considering out-of-state tuition. Good Luck! Mymimi

Great story!! A reminder of WHO is REALLY in control. Things happen for a reason, and there were many guardian angels on duty! Thanks for sharing, I will be able to use this example with my students, I also teach undergrads as well as work CCU. thanks, Mymimi

I have not heard of this syndrome! We use propofol routinely. How do you like the intesivist in your hospital? We have discussed using them, but are not using them at this time. thanks, Mymimi

At a conference I attended in Memphis, TN, several suggestions were made for post conference. One program assigned each of the students a medication to discuss at the end of the day. Each student knew which day and which topic/drug to discuss. Someone else suggested playing a game of triage the patient. A group of 2-3 students were given admissions, discharges, and # of beds. They had to make patient assignments according to admission slots and patient acuity. Again, the concept mapping were used on a specific disease process, and was done as a group. l

Thanks for your tips on critical thinking. I just attended a critical thinking workshop and the things you suggested were exactly what was talked about in the workshop. Many of the clinical instructors are using the concept maps to replace careplans, and instead of the hours of grading careplans, are going over the concept maps individually with students to find out where their thinking is. Some give letter grades, but many were pass/fail. Excellent suggestions, thanks for the tips.

I am also from Texas, and we are limited in the number of clinical sites, with a 30-40 student increase from last year! The Texas BNE does limit the number of students per instructor as mentioned above. I have had first year nursing students this semester, the nurses were wonderful, and I had students on one floor only. It was great! For the seniors next semester, I will have them in several different areas. It seems every area in nursing has a shortage, including clinical areas. Our hospital restricted the number of students on the floor at one time, also.

Robin Denison is from Kentucky and has written the "Pass CCRN" http://www.robindenison.com (I'm not sure of the website), my book is at work. She is excellent, and takes the test every couple of years to stay up to date. Her book is in the second publication. Hope this helps. lvc

Vicky, Great advice! As a new educator, I, too needed to hear your words. Thanks so much. lvc

http://www.aacn.org is also a good place to go for critical care literature. At our hospital, we use their program for orientation to critical care areas. It is also an excellent resource for evidence-based articles and research. lvc

Our time in the clinical area is soooo valuable, I don't want to let the students off to go smoke. They need to use every minute to learn. I totally agree with the smell. I am very thankful that I don't smoke anymore. Actually, I am for a completely non-smoking hospital environment! lvc