bethg5

Also people that cannot afford full-time home care or those who take care of themselves are prone to ulcers. My mom who is 52 has very fragile skin. She is constantly getting skin tears. I recently called her to give her some information on how to care for them and I asked her how some of them are looking. She said one is over 3 weeks old and won't heal. I told her she needed to get it looked at because it could be infected and she said "oh I'm guessing it already is". So even though this isn't a pressure ulcer it informs one that lots of people don't seek care for skin problems. This summer when I visited her I was shocked at how many skin tears she has and she has yet to see a skin care specialist. Our instructor said as bad as they look, people tend to loose the sensation in the area that is infected, so people tend to just ignore them,especially when they are home bound.

I don't know what the job outlook for RT's are and I have heard many different stories. Some say it's easy to locate work and others say they have only found part-time work. The program is a stressful one, but not anymore stressful than the nursing. I have talked to several students who are in the program both 1st year and 2nd and they seem to like it. I could not do the work because my weakness is mucus. You should really attend the information session, it will also be required for your application process. The prereq's for nursing haven't changed at least for the last couple of years. To apply you have to have taken chem, bio, math, and a computer course. Before you start the fall nursing semester you have to take English and psychology. I hadn't taken my ACT for over 13 yrs and I actually did well when I retook it for the nursing program. Taking all these college courses really helps with that test. I can email you the points breakdown if you want them so that you can see where you sit in points. Sometimes its not as bad as you think. We have several in the program that thought they would never get in, but sure enough are! Good luck! Beth

I am currently in the nursing program at MCCC. It is very competitive and based on a point system. The points are based on GPA, ACT, credit hours completed, science grades, and whether your a resident or not. You earn the most points for GPA and ACT. The cut off was 60 points this year, which was very high. The year before it was 57. There are hundreds of applicants each year with only 40 being selected a year. Most people I have talked to had either 4.0 and 22-24 ACT or 3.7 gpa and a high ACT score. There is no waiting list because it is point based. Just like any program it has its ups and downs. The cut off date for applying to either program is May. They also form an alternates list after they select the first 40. This year I believe 8 people were called in off the list because of people dropping, so my tip is to get the best grades you can and retake the ACT until you have a score you are happy with. When I checked on the respiratory programs I was told that the decisions on who makes it in are based strictly on whether or not the selector likes what she sees in your porfolio. I haven't seen anything related to a point system for entrance. They are getting ready to hold a information session for people interested in monroe's program. You can find the info at monroe's website. I actually talked to a girl who made it in the program who didn't have top gpa or act scores, so there must be some truth to what I was told. If you have anymore question you can drop me an email. Beth

That is too funny because I was the same way!! I was so excited to be hearing something that I would completely miss where I heard it. I am still having trouble with that.

When we do clinical checkoff we have to use the schools ancient stethoscope. I was not able to hear anything until a few days ago. Everyone around me could hear fine with the schools stethoscopes, but not me. I would come home and hear it fine with my high dollar steth. Well I finally figured out my problem....It was placement of the stethoscope and making sure I had the steth pointing out in front of me a little. The only reason I was able to hear it with mine is that it is a high dollar steth so it was picking up the beat. Now when I practice in lab I make sure I use theirs and make sure my placement is correct. I was a little to centered before. I hear it just fine now in lab so I am not stressing as much about skills check off. Good luck to you and just keep practicing!

After seeing how bad my daughters girls scout patches looked I think I will stick to velcro. :rotfl:

Some of the students at our school use velcro. Our patches tend to bleed in the wash so the instructors mentioned this method at orientation.

If you plan on getting a BSN or MSN you will want to check with a University and make sure that your English class choice will fulfill your graduation requirements. Some Universities require English Comp I & II. I have the same option at my school but the catch is that most of our local universities won't transfer my English if I don't have both I & II.

Medical terminology at our school is tough!! My advisor said it has one of the highest failure rates out of courses offered. I think some people under estimate it. I had to study, study, study! I studied more for this course than I did in chemistry or biology. I got an A but more did I work for it. I also was taking it as a filler course and boy did I regret it once I saw how much work it required. My tip on doing great is flashcards!! I had at least 200 flash cards a chapter. My husband thought I was crazy when I kept telling him to pick me up flashcards after work. Finally he brought home a case. LOL

I got accepted for this fall with a 4.0 I think the lowest you could have had was a 3.8, except our school is based on a point system so if someone did extremely well on the ACT then they could have a slightly lower GPA.

I think it is completely common to feel the way you are feeling. I am a mother of 3. I have a 12 yr old, 6 yr old and 3 yr old and I constantly wonder if I am doing the right thing. My husband is very supportive, but he works a lot of hours. I stress that I won't be able to give the kids everything that they need. I would never put schooling first, so that is why I double guess my decision. I feel like if I am going to do nursing school then I need to be able to give it a 100% and I worry that I will not be able too. Hopefully I will be able to juggle both and everything will be fine. I guess if it isn't, then nursing school wasn't meant to be right now. Good luck with the route you choose to take. It is a very hard decision to make.

I just completed this course in the fall and it is not a required course at my school. I gained a lot of knowledge from this course that was beneficial in my biology course and of course helps out in A & P. Just keep in mind that this is not an easy course. My school only counts it as 2 credit hours and it required more study time than my 4 hour biology course did. I studied non-stop and barely ended with an A. A lot of people under estimate this course and then end of failing it or not getting the grade they hoped for. So just make sure you don't overload your schedule. It would be horrible to ruin your gpa over a course that isn't even required.

I would agree about Micro. I have heard horror stories, especially depending on the type of teacher you get. A friend of mine is taking it over the spring semester and she feels overwhelmed. I would think that you will be one busy person with both of these combined. For our nursing program we take Micro and pharmacology together over the spring and it is one tough semester. I got a taste of how tough pharmacology can be, because there was a chapter on it in medical terminology.

Don't under estimate Medical terminology. I just finished this course online for the winter semester and it was very tough. I guess it also depends on the school, but at our school this course has one of the highest failure rates out of all courses offered. My advisor said that people under estimate the work that is required. Just make sure you memorize, memorize, memorize!! We did 2-3 chapters a week, which was tough. I have always had a 4.0 and took this as just a filler course; I barely survived with an "A". I worked harder in this course than any of the other courses I took last semester. I learned a lot from this course, so it was well worth the work and time I invested. I have always found that there is a lot more busy work with online courses, so they are not really easier or harder, theres just more assignments to keep you busy. Good luck and remember to never get behind in your work.

It's not to say that they will be different, but you will want to verify that they will transfer to the nursing school that you will be applying to. Our school offers only 1 biology course for all majors and it still transfers to other schools in the area. They are switching it next year so that they have a separate biology course for those entering a medical field. Everyone else will take a separate biology course which will now be a 2 semester course, so that it transfers easier to a 4 yr University. Currently we have to take zoology if we want our biology to transfer to a 4 yr University. It really just depends on your transfering school.